Living On The Edge

the siren rang out
the tail light
he forgot  to fix the tail light
this could be it
a death sentence
an instant execution
he got a ticket
lucky this time
but for how long ?















 1974 - 2020

poor George Floyd
not so lucky
R.I.P

Writers Pantry # 22

April Poems - Day 25

   
Supper at Emmaus - Caravaggio

Day 25

no need for words
a genius says it all
through paint and brush strokes




Day 26




 she leafs through
the glossy magazines
strewn across her bed
a pile of broken dreams


Day 27




 Lee Miller, combat photographer  in Hitler's apartment Munich 1945

her muddy boots
a breath of fresh air
on his  pristine bath mat

did he masturbate
to his own image i  wonder
heil schatzi

contaminant green
good colour choice schnucki
s'pose the lamp shades were made
from human skin too

Day 28 






2020
year of the silent killer
marking the door with lambs blood
wont do it this time


Day 29

 

marmalade boy
knows he is beautiful
he is told every day
by his adoring slave/owner

lying diagonally across the  big bed
in a ballet pose his preferred sleeping position
his owner carefully  attempts to fit in without disturbing him

she reads him Christopher Smart's poem
about a cat called Jeoffrey
he yawns and falls  asleep
as if he would be interested in
a tiresome medieval neurotic cat
who eats mice

he purrs softly and dreams of
fresh salmon and crab meat
while his owner
 crouches uncomfortably
 on a small corner of the bed

Day  30

never again
this is the last year
she usually says

this time 
she is looking forward
to being able to return
next April

hoping she will be granted
another twelve months
on this mortal coil

God willing


Writers' Pantry # 18

April Poems _ Day 20

Day 20

 found again
lying for decades
at the bottom of an old chocolate tin

gift from a  little  beggar boy
would not accept payment
remains a mystery



Day 21

 Transliteration

Erlkönig

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

---

Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind? Es ist der Vater mit seinem Kind; Er hat den Knaben wohl in dem Arm, Er faßt ihn sicher, er hält ihn warm.

 who spat in    church that windy night?
it must have been father with some kid
in a knobbly woolly hat boy dem arms are huge
Erm farting is sick, no way to warm up a seat

Day 22







memories
of a sweet little boy
absorped in his tin tin books
all those years ago

 les carottes sont cuites
 the die is cast
 you've cooked your goose
 you've made your bed

 bon chance mon amour
 adieu

Day 23

respect  reveal rediscover renounce review

weekly scrtibblings #16 PSU 

rediscover self respect
resolve never to tolerate bad behaviour 
renounce  your enemies
review  these thoughts
change your mind if you like




Day 24 

I have eaten
the plums that were
in the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving for breakfast

 Forgive me
 they were delicious\
 so sweet and so cold

 William Carlos Williams

my shrink dr feelgood said
i should be myself
so i ate your watermelon
in the fridge

even though
i knew you would mind
i did it anyway

it was delicious
like only forbidden fruit
can be

 my  mantra echos
across the room
me
me
me
me
as i gaze  adoringly
at my own reflection

Artwork by Andre Pijet

April Poems

Day 6


it is a strange feeling
not celebrating palm sunday or holy week
life is full of surprises

ship of fools
spreading all that plague
she'd rather sit at a table
under the clothes line
in a field sipping tea
out of a chipped yellow rose patterned cup
than be locked up in sardine can cabins
with superannuated geriatrics

journalists continue to flood the media with bad news
it is the time of the germ warfare sci fi horror movie
played out for real

THIS WEEK'S WORDS come from "Meeting the Light Completely" by Jane Hirshfield: strange, field, table, surprises, chipped, yellow, roses, fools, cup, flooding, clothesline, time

Sundays Whirligig 

 

Day 7 

  

 

a kitchen composition
tiger lilies with  purple  garbage bag
the camera lies

Day 8






Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day

no please don't
this tousled look is not my intention
have not been to a hairdresser in weeks
locked  down because of the plague
you would remember what that is like

it's your birthday soon
what to give a dead playwright
 perhaps a lovely thought missile
penetrating the firmament

even at school
i was a serious fan
though i doubt we were meant for each other
particularly when i found out
you only left your wife  the second best bed

Day 9 




global plague
social distancing
maunday thuirsday
let us pray
this will not be our our last supper

Day 10 


 

Good Friday

this year the churches are empty
the black death is upon us
hard to process it
it used to be a busy painting
in an art history text book
before it arrived on the door step

we pray for mercy
kiss the crucifix
on grandma's rosary beads
hoping
we have not pushed the boundaries
too far this time

Day 11



 

the language of flowers
red roses for love
yellow for friendship
an offering of both
with a blue sky bonus
sad it's all come
too late

Day  12

Easter Sunday 







He Is Risen
the churches are closed
the shops are closed
no one around
makes no difference
He is risen
nothing can change that
He is risen - Hallelujah

Napowrimo 2020

Day One 






aumty nin's yellow canary
sang all day long
whilst she bustled about
chatting to him in
her little garden kitchen
the door to the cage was always open
unusual he did not take off
perhaps someone mentioned coal mines
that or he was happy where he was

Day 2 

rhyming couplets

 
a virus wants to kill us all
the worst pandemic since the fall
we plead with God to save our skins
perhaps it is the wage of sin
when this is over we must change
return to simplicity and engage
with elevated minds and spiritual thought
not things and trinkets that we've bought
meanwhile we should sit at home
using the  time to write good poems
tidy the sock drawer make some calls
the neighbours freak and climb the walls
if they hear happy birthday one more time
you'll find them swinging from the blinds






 Day 3

senryu




p c execution
death by  trombone firing squad
what a way to go

Day 4




as a child
this was her swimming hole
she knew every rock  nook and cranny
somewhere down there  was a silver ring
lost decades ago -  long gone
he said it belonged to his grandmother

in her dream swimming underwater
she sees a gleam - the ring
wedged under the corner of a  rock
part hidden by the waving seaweed

every time she returns to that beach
she dives in 

gone
gone
gone
long ago
yet
she still looks in that same spot
you never know


Day 5




1938-2020 

Shadorma

you have gone
many will miss you
in this world

magic songs
cool special and romantic
rest in peace sweet bill

Brucia La Terra

he had a big heart
trusted her to keep it safe
he was like her own
she  kept him close  in  her thoughts
whispered hope  via the trade winds

Carpe Diem Wednesday Tan Renga # 16

White chrysanthemum 
I look holding it straight
no dust at all 
Basho

my mother used to pin one
to her dress on her birthday