Quafftide!

Quafftide! 

Put all thoughts aside 

And drink

Don’t think

Just pick up your glass

Go on, get off your arse,

And join us in merriment,

It won’t be to your detriment,

No!

Come and choose your tipple,

Seize it in your hand’s gripple

And savour that first sipple

That will take you on this triple.

For tis quafftide,

Come for the ride

Stay for the cheer

There’s much more here 

Than just pale beer

It can be soft and cold or hot,

Whatever you like or have got,

Just pull up a chair and chat

Take off your coat, 

Put down your hat

For, I tell you - 

Quafftide!

See: https://twitter.com/susie_dent/status/1593671745445269507

China Anniversary

For just over twenty years I’ve been blogging,

Twenty years of this creative flogging.

Ramblings, rhymes, stories, haiku,

All wrapped up and written for you.

(Whoever you are, mostly it’s me,

For me, to keep me my sanity.)

All sort of things, even conceptual “art,”

Going right back to uni, back to that start

In a little library computer room,

Weaving posts on my friend’s little loom.

For years I covered all most everything,

Too much, sometimes, with words I’d sting,

But mostly this was just the inception

Of an outlet for creative conceptions.

Real life eventually took a back seat

As I found other new ways to feast:

Timothy found and captured a unicorn,

An oath to 250 Word stories was sworn.

And after the loom was gone

A slow expansion was begun

Into haberdasheries of diff’rent kinds

Six in all, so far, you can find!

Fridays soon became Fri-yays,

Alongside some other prompt days.

And the occasional comp win or mention

Would make me feel more of a menschen.

But the most warming feels,

Like the hottest of meals,

Come to the bottom of the page:

A reader’s comment most sage.

So, this is it, my China Anniversary, 

Of fighting my greatest adversary,

And it’s all as frail as a china decoration,

If I cannot find a way to (“proper”) publication.

Mind shadows

Did you know, that foe

Is only your mind?

It is not one of your kind.

It lives in the dark places,

Showing half of one of its faces,

While hiding half of yours,

Buried deeply in unused drawers.

You need only a key or some light

To save you from your plight

Once you recognise what you know:

That that foe

Is only your mind.

To yourself, always be kind.

“What they think is real”

“What they think is real” - 

And this scares me, 

This rot that’s congealed

On their brain makes them act, 

Makes them feel,

As if these things are real -

These shadows,

These distorted reflections,

This bile infection,

Alters their brain, their eyes,

To see these facts as lies,

Their opinion multiplied

In power to shout

What they say it’s about

And its just poison they spout.

STOP

How to make them see?

How to meet them on the field?

Because what they think is real,

And we need to change what they think

If we’re to get out this slipp’ry sink.

Just need to find

A way to change their minds -

To make life fair,

For every single bairn

Young to old,

Til this story is no longer told.

Because what they think is real,

And must be treated as if it were so,

In order to change how they feel -

With new seeds we must tenderly sow.

The Polite Rioter's Toolkit

The Polite Rioter's Toolkit:
Tea, comics, and trumpets or crumpets -
Feminism, too, we won’t call people strumpets.
A new way we’ve found to raise our call
We’ll riot, for sure, but we'll look after y’all
With a hot drink, a snack and a read, though small
The Polite Rioter’s Toolkit - For one?  For all!

---

Inspired by this conversation on Twitter.  

Jackdaw and Jay

Jackdaw and Jay each make their play,
Stand with me every step of the way.
With birds on my shoulders, each side,
Onward I know I’ll successfully stride.

Jay asks me questions wherever we go,
Keeps me looking, learning, on my toes,
Keeps me ever and ongoingly curious,
Collecting knowledge, no matter how spurious.

Jackdaw often brings to me the rain,
They bring an end, but also each refrain -
Keeps me always in a reflective state,
Reminds me of my joys to celebrate.

Jackdaw and Jay each make their play,
Stand with me every step of the way.
With birds on my shoulders, each side,
Onward I know I’ll successfully stride.

---

Inspired by an Instragram post by Kae Tempest made when they announced they were gender neutral and changing name.  Included in they discussed the meaning the name Kae: "It’s an old English word that means jay bird. Jays are associated with communication, curiosity, adaptation to new situations and COURAGE which is the name of the game at the moment. It can also mean jackdaw which is the bird that symbolises death and rebirth. Ovid said the jackdaw brought the rain. Which I love. It has its roots in the Latin word for rejoice, be glad and take pleasure."

With an umbrella

With an umbrella designed 

To stop a meteorite,

I saved the world tonight.

With my mind resigned

To gain no recognition

I wonder about transposition.

Because

There was a photo of me

Exploding that comet

Into sprays of fiery vomit. 

Yet there’s no photo of me

Nor does my name get a mention 

Will it ever gain esteemed retention?

And

My name is mud, I know,

My inclusion would embarrass

The elected suits and brasses 

But the seeds I did sow,

To save the world from strife -

I risked my one and only life!

So

With an umbrella designed

To enslave the world tonight,

I will shelter you all with fright. 

Start now to feel resigned,

Get ready for transposition,

For me to control your cognition.

Mindfullness

I suffer from mindfullness

-

It’s brimming.

Give me some mindfulness

-

Need strimming.

Sort me.

Port me.

Unfill me:

Empty.

Refill me:

Plenty.

Not too much:

Less is more.

Not too much:

Stress is a bore.

A neutral state (away from it all)

give me music

that fills the very air,

but doesn't go anywhere.

fill my mind

with a canvas that is clear,

all space a void, nothing to fear.

set me apart,

away from the crowds, confusion -

place me in a bubble, allow me seclusion.

stop my time.

pause it; or place me alongside,

for a while let me ride a new tide.

and take my pain,

and all of my pleasure release,

let the numbness inside me increase.

then leave me outside,

somewhere like a waiting room:

a place that is no place; but not a tomb -

i’ll walk away in a moment,

let me go quietly vent;

give me time to recharge,

give me time to ferment -

because too many times,

always the same;

they take away everything,

leave me in shame.

so take me to a neutral state where

black runs into white and white into black,

where i can’t be seen and i can’t look back,

with no good and no evil, no love and no spite,

where white runs into black and black into white -

just;

take this mask,

let me show you my face.

and,

for a time; give me some space,

take me away from it all.

i no longer wish 

to man my stall.

On seeing through my Enchroma glasses

Was everything quite so dull before?

Not that I ever found colours a bore 

But now they pop out

Now they stand out

Now they jump and dance about

So many greens! Who ever knew?

And reds, yellows, pinks and blues!

All it took was some specs,

To brighten the flecks,

And stop flowers from being mere specks?

A melancholy man on the shore

A melancholy man on the shore,

Most find him to be quite a bore -

But his heart has been split,

And his confidence ripped -

That shit will rock you right down to the core.

Time moves on

I'm feeling sad

Because you keep calling me dad.

I want to be happy,

Like when you called me daddy.

Slowly stealing all the spoons

I’m slowly stealing all the spoons,

It’s going to take a few more moons,

But soon they will all swear fealty,

When they can’t stir milk in real tea.

I’m slowly eating every snack -

As soon as one is out I’m back;

Yet in the kitchen I’m never seen,

My snatch game is quite obscene.

I’m slowly taking all the toner,

I sneak in, become the owner - 

And so they won't be able to print

While I’ll be making quite a mint.

I’m slowly learning I can’t stop,

Everything in my bag I pop!

Paper, stationery, compliment slips,

Computer parts, tea and hummus dips.

I’m slowly losing this, my job.

My only skill was how to rob.

And now I keep on getting caught,

And now my chances are at naught.

I’m slowly moving off to jail,

Caught up in the traffic’s tail.

If only I could take the key,

Live on the run, forever flee.

A Prayer

A place, a space

For me to just be.

A room, a loom,

To weave and retrieve. 

The light, no slight,

Each breath without mess.

A chair.

A desk.

All time.

All rest.

Lord, give me this gift,

Tenderly close the rift,

Find a part of my brain 

Keep it free from this rain.