Pearls in the garden
gleaming through the bawdy weeds
singing of the spring
poem
Vision Testing Politicians
Optimism – Haiku
Though there’s no blue sky
You can always find the sun
If you care to look
Confidence
A bird in my hand
It sings its beguiling song
Then flutters away
Bounty – haiku
A laden table
heavy with spring’s sweet nectar
is a gift to share
Grow – haiku
A verdant pansy
Flourishes pristine and bright
Against crumbling wall
Something in the air – haiku
English summer time
and oh how the marble sky
hangs heavy tonight
Rabbits – Haiku
In the world of dreams
we can pursue our rabbits
for there are no rules
The Craftswoman – for Peggy
I wrote this poem after the death of my mother-in-law on 16th October 2018. I was really pleased that the family liked it enough for my brother-in-law to read it out at her funeral this week.
In her youth she learned to make things,
Oh yes, her boys were testament to that.
Her needles clicked to keep us warm,
and her machine trundled stitches,
turning tailored suits for working life
and childhood clothes for grandchildren.
With painted nails and silk threads she wove
bright flowers, embroidering colour
into all the corners of her home,
where friends and family shared the yarns,
those times that knit a life
worth wearing.
And all the while her garden grew.
Every plant, she knew, by name,
their differing hues and habits,
like children sown with confidence and skill
the clematis, fuchsias and scented stock
all flourished in her daily care.
Her nimble fingers now lie still,
the crafts she loved abandoned,
and in that belovéd garden
the last roses sadly droop their heads.
Yet her flowers will still bloom in spring
and fond memories will forever warm us.
Please
I didn’t have a sixteenth birthday party
I’d fallen out with me dad
Over a Beatles song
Who knew a man could be so mean
To snap his purse shut
For being proved wrong
Did he love me?
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Well, he said he did
But he wouldn’t pay for a party
For an ungrateful girl
Who disagreed with her dad
So while hippies swayed at Woodstock
And the man walked on the moon
I sat in my room and cried
Over my own stubborn streak
And a dad who didn’t
Please me.