Going The Distance
April 2017
#100
Keys On The Hall Table
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Do you reflect the real me?
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Or is it I reflecting you?
Glass, silver painted
Whole and ornate
China doll; cracked,
In mind and body
Eyes that never close,
But do not see
Rivulets of red
Tracking my cheeks
A cosmetic face
Blue eyes smudged
Dashed with black
Painted; with,
False impressionism
Plumped up lips
Fresh from the fist.
Mirror, mirror on the wall
Hold a broken reflection
For this image is fading
The stronger woman
Is whole.
Jan Hedger
WOW
An Officers Death
Sid slumped at his feet
bubble of spittle, blood washed
grew from loose-jawed mouth
With stub of pencil
he crossed the black book of names
one more page, death full
Random shots rang out
across the barbed wire line, death
or self-death, unmarked
His mind slipped to a
vivacious mademoiselle
his boys never knew
And as rats ransack
the flesh, of his dying men
he scribed his own name
Jan Hedger
WOW
Enduring Love
Love, blossomed pink
on the fair skin
of the sweet lass
awaiting;
The young man, late
rushes in haste
the violets crushed
in his hand;
Arm in arm
they strolled
along the promenade;
The girl
and her soldier
Precious times
together
in 1939.
A broad smile, beamed
from the woman
with a ring of violets
in her hair;
The weary soldier
steps down
from the train
returning her wave;
Meeting eyes
they embraced
oblivious to the crowd;
The bride to be
and her groom
A future life
to live together
in 1945.
Jan Hedger
WOW
Running The Distance
Amongst these flowers of Spring
The distant stars shone
The light of day sank into night
The ripples of water,
The sea spoke its emotion
As the distant land
Found its joy...
(c) Josie Lawson All Rights Reserved 5/04/2017
GROW
Going The Distance
Well, did Kipling say it all?
In his poem, "If " he could have said:
Then you'll be a woman, my daughter!
However, it would not scan so well....
Thomas Gray seems to get me more in his Elegy
with his powerful line:
" Full many a flower is born to blush unseen."
Alfred Noyes writes in, " The Highwayman "
" Had watched for her love in the moonlight,
and died in the darkness there."
My tears fall on reading these lines.
" To his Coy Mistress. " Andrew Marvell excites me as
he ventures all the way in his love for her when he writes:
"Thus, though we cannot make our Sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
All these great poets have gone all the way for love.
William Shakespeare writes in Sonnet 18:
"So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."
In Twelfth Night he writes so musically:
"Trip no further, pretty sweeting;
journeys end in lovers meeting."
Stevie Smith's life came to a sad and early end in the sea
after she wrote: " Not Waving but Drowning."
I finish with a lighter journey by Edward Lear's
"The Owl and the Pussy-Cat."
They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong -Tree grows.
Cheers,
David King
Time Is The Distance
It was the day
The day had come
I had the electric current
Placed through my head
Ready - ready for the distance.
Although I was calm
I was scared
I stayed calm for the family
We had been told I might not survive
It was a major operation.
I had a 'pituitary tumour'
I did survive
I had it rough
I also had a 'brain leak'
It is now 2017,
The operation was 2009
I definitely went the distance
8 years to be precise
For here I am - Alive...
(C) 3/04/2017 Josie Lawson All Rights Reserved
GROW
Resolution
Borinquen Must Be Heard
Gazing up towards the sky for a new dawn song
Rising from all corners
The sunlight across the old barriers
Of people’s assembly surface in San Juan, in Ponce,
in Mayagüez, in New York, in Filadelfia, and in Chicago
Breaking the chains of the Puerto Rican debt
Hundreds of schools are being crippled
and pensions will soon fade away
The dog-eats-dog as St Andrews Bank has its dirty hands
on the biscuit jar
Echoes of people marching for their future
Echoes of being alive and not being buried
As Puerto Rico declares “No” to the bankers
and “”Yes” to the workers
Power to the People of Puerto Rico!
© Carlos Raúl Dufflar 3/8/17
The Bread is Rising Poetry Collective
World Poetry Day
Besides Snake Hill
We proclaim World Poetry Day
For the future of language and poetry of our generation
Of the poet speaks of love that heals our very soul
On the trail of our greatest poets
Julia de Burgos, June Jordan, Gwendolyn Brooks, Jayne Cortez, Amina Baraka,
Audre Lorde, Cenén, and Georgina Herrera
Between the madness of the colossal empire
We all sing peace and looking forward
And sitting in silence listening to it softly as a morning sunrise
As John Coltrane blows a beautiful tune on mother planet
The ruler of our earth – it’s not man, but it’s Pachamama
And in honor of the mother of civilization
Raimunda and Rafaela
© Carlos Raúl Dufflar 3/8/17
The Bread is Rising Poetry Collective
An Ode To Jeremy Corbyn - The Only Hope For Our Future.
Oh Jeremy C, he fills me with glee,
I love his beige shirts and philanthropy.
His morals are golden, just like his soul,
his views on renewables and hatred for coal.
He rides the tube, no need for a limo,
I bet he sleeps well on his ALDI pillow.
He might not be, a posh 'Eton boy',
But we do like his cardigans and corduroy.
He likes cats and that’s OK with me
He also likes students and hates uni fees!
Education is key in Jeremy’s dream
Let’s have more of those; apprenticeship schemes!
Housing for all, no more sleeping on the street,
Close the tax loopholes, get some bobbies on the beat.
Save the fire stations, they save our lives.
Save the NHS, let’s not privatise!
His expenses bill is squeaky clean,
He’s partial to growing a few runner beans.
Allotments for all, self-sustainable living,
No more food banks, lots more care-giving
We don’t care if you don’t wear a tie
We’re just happy that you don’t ever lie!
A suit's just a costume, means little to us
What’s the point in Armani if you’re catching the bus!
The National anthem: just a song for the Queen,
How many foodbanks has she ever seen?
His views on Trident, mirror us all
Do we need to spend billions on preventable wars?
Make way Mrs May, you’re about to be axed.
We don’t share your love for avoidance of tax
The papers are struggling, they can’t find a sin.
Make way for Jezza, he’s going to win!
Ema Brunton
In Lent
April Fools Day today the legend of Celts
That March was going the distance
To kill the old brindle cow fury rose
Causing havoc rain snow hail-stones
Storming stoning pereshing froze
March borrowed three days from April
Going the distance determined
In order to kill the brindle cow
For the boast that March couldn't kill her
For this insolence March raged furiously
On third borrowed day the cow died frozen to death
This days are still known as the borrowed day
Going the distance in Lent
There is a reward Easter Egg
John Joseph Sheehy