LEADERS - not followers

Friday, February 27, 2009

Feb 26 2009

ASK ME IF I LIKE HOSPITALS

For TOP Anaphora

Don’t ask me if I like hospitals
Don’t ask me; try asking someone else
Ask me if you really want to know
About why I don’t like hospitals

Overcrowded, congested foyer
Full of theatre gown clad patients
Some are in wheelchairs, others in beds
All of them hooked up to saline drips
All exhausted, stressed and frustrated
Nurses (with clipboards) dashing about
Doctors (with stethoscopes) dressed in white
Porters follow-my-leader, pushing
Trolleys laden with medication
Public address playing pop music
Every few seconds interrupted
By hysterical-sounding voices
‘Such and such a doctor must report
To such and such a ward right away’

This must be why my head is spinning
This must be why my heart is racing
It must be time to make my exit
Atmosphere is intoxicating

Such a chaotic, surreal scene
Along with that antiseptic smell
That lingers inside all hospitals
Causes me to consider reasons
Why I’ve always hated hospitals

The underlying, subconscious fear
Of faulty surgical procedures?
The knowledge that so many people
Enter on their feet; leave in a box?

I don’t know for sure; I only think
That hospitals are nasty places
That it would be good if they were more
Like in ‘Carry On’ films…but they’re not
So no wonder nobody likes them


DIAMOND DAY

Feb 26 2009 - Diamond is one year old

That priceless sparkle
Is all the treasure I need
You are my Diamond
THAT PRICELESS SPARKLE
You are my Diamond
All the treasure I need is
That priceless sparkle

HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY, DIAMOND!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Reflection

For NaisaiKu Challenge 2 http://naisaiku.blogspot.com/

REFLECTION


























I Googled NaisaiKu - 564 entries.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

NaisaiKu-niversal

NAISAIKU-NIVERSAL

For NaisaiKu Challenge
Sunday Scribblings - Trust


THAI ALPHABET

เขา ทำ รองเท้า หาย
‘อะไรวะ เขา เมา มาก’ หล่อน ถอนหายใจ
‘สวัสดี’ เขาหัวเราะ
‘อะไรวะ เขา เมา มาก’ หล่อน ถอนหายใจ
‘สวัสดี’ เขาหัวเราะ
‘อะไรวะ เขา เมา มาก’ หล่อน ถอนหายใจ
เขา ทำ รองเท้า หาย


TRANSLITERATED

Khao tam rongtao hai
‘Arai-wa khao mao mark’ lon thonhaijai
‘Sawasdee’ khao hua-ro
‘ARAI-WA KHAO MAO MARK’ LON THON HAI JAI
‘Sawasdee’ khao hua-ro
‘Arai-wa khao mao mark’ lon thonhaijai
Khao tam rongtao hai


CODED - (THAI NUMERALS)

๕๓๐๔๕ ๕๑๔ ๕๓๕๐๗ ๓๔
๕๔๖๑๕ ๓๔๕ ,๕๕๓๗๖๓๗ ๕๓๔ ๗๗๓๔ ๔๐,
๕๓๗๖๖๑๖ ๓๔ ,๐๗๗๓๔,
๕๔๖๑๕ ๓๔๕ ,๕๕๓๗๖๓๗ ๕๓๔ ๗๗๒๔ ๔๐,
๕๓๗๖๖๑๖ ๓๔ ,๐๗๗๓๔,
๕๔๖๑๕ ๓๔๕ ,๕๕๓๗๖๓๗ ๕๓๔ ๗๗๓๔ ๔๐,
๕๓๐๔๕ ๕๑๔ ๕๓๕๐๗ ๓๔


CODED - (WESTERN NUMERALS)

53045 514 53507 34
54615 345 ‘5537637 5,34 ,7734 40,
5376616 34 ‘,07734,
54615 345 ‘5537637 5,34 ,7734 40,
5376616 34 ‘,07734,
54615 345 ‘5537637 5,34 ,7734 40,
53045 514 53507 34


DECODED











Monday, February 16, 2009

More Naisaiku

NaisaiKu 1-3-1 to 6-8-6

Find out how; visit - http://naisaiku.blogspot.com/

Now
For something
New
NOW
New
Something for
Now

That’s you
Sweet Talking Guy
Blogger
THAT’S YOU
Blogger
Sweet Talking Guy
That’s You

Fun with words
Spoken and written
‘Naisaiku’
FUN WITH WORDS
‘Naisaiku’
Written and spoken
Words with fun

I don’t ‘Haiku’
I ‘Playful Verse’ – and more
I ‘Naisaiku’
I DON’T ‘HAIKU’
I ‘Naisaiku’
I ‘Playful Verse’ – and more
I don’t ‘Haiku’

If it’s worth saying
It must be worth repeating
Don’t just say it once
IF IT’S WORTH SAYING
Don’t just say it once
It must be worth repeating
If it’s worth saying

Wendy Naisa must know
Nay Say Ku. Or Nigh Sigh Ku; which?
Nay Sigh Ku? Nigh Say Ku?
WENDY NAISA MUST KNOW
Nay Sigh Ku? Nigh Say Ku?
Nay Say Ku, or Nigh Sigh Ku; which?
Wendy Naisa Must Know

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Fulfilment

FOR MONDAY POETRY TRAIN REVISITED
FULFILMENT
Sow's Ear


Existing below
the poverty line,
a proud woman
gives thanks to Buddha,
observed by the monks
of Wat Sutapradid

Short of a few Baht,
Yai Phrae , as she’s known,
‘Old Mother Silk’,
scratches a living
helping to raise pigs
for a few hours a week.

Her payment, not cash;
Ears, trotters, noses
and intestines
she takes to market
in nearby Non Sang
on Wednesday afternoons.

Traded, not for cash,
but rice, or silkworms
in their cocoons.
Yai Phrae is content
with the arrangement.
She walks with head held high.

The Dak Dae – silkworms,
she eats with Khao Nieow -
glutinous rice.
She’s a survivor.
Nothing is wasted;
and nothing discarded.

Cocoons become thread,
spun on an old wheel.
Below her shack
the thread is tie-died,
and a makeshift loom
transforms thread into cloth.

Cloth becomes dresses,
jackets and trousers,
accessories.
Practical magic;
sow’s ear, now silk purse.
Poorest girl now best dressed.

Twenty years later,
her shack is transformed
into a home.
No cash is involved.


There’s still work to do,
but her life is complete.


Silk Purse

***

The cocoons are boiled to release the fibres,
so they can be spun into thread. This process
also cooks the cocoons’ residents; silkworms,
which are edible.
When alive, the silkworm is Tua Mai, in Thai.
Once cooked, it is known as Dak Dae.
The word for ‘silk’, generally, is Mai. More
specifically, ‘silk thread’, but used in reference
to silk items.
The word Phrae, is used exclusively in reference
to a length, or lengths, of silk fabric.

Saturday

For Sunday Scribblings - Sports

SATURDAY

Kippax, Kop
Stretford End
North Bank, South Bank
Fan-base blend
Murmur – calm
Cheer – thrill
Chant – passion
Whistle - shrill
Man to man
Heart to heart
Mouth to mouth
From the start
Outside Left
To Inside Right
To Centre Forward
Goal in sight
In the box
Odds-on bet
‘Keeper dives…
Offside, yet

Half-time news
Who’s in front?
Oohs and Aahs
Comments, blunt
Lukewarm Bovril
Tommy Hall’s
Greasy Joe’s
To line the walls

Second half
Goals galore
Rovers, Rovers
What’s the score?
(Rovers, what’s the score?)
Referee’s
Final blow
Who’s the best?
Now we know
Four-nil win
Fans depart
Pundits probe
Inquests start
Bus-ride home
Glad we came
So much more
Than just a game

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Love and Eternity

TOP
MAD KANE
MONDAY POETRY TRAIN REVISITED
For TOP - Aubade
FOREVER AGO

A
lonely
man must wait

At last she comes

Claims her love will last
for ever … never fade

Dreaded vote of confidence
precedes her planned intention

Terms, conditions, warnings, threats
In place of passion – tension
accusations, denials
questionable endeavour

She leaves as dawn announces
the first day of forever

Alone again so soon
a man considers

How rapidly

‘Forever’
becomes
a

distant memory

For Mad Kane's Haiku and Limerick
A CURE FOR LOVE?

When Doctor Love came to town
To cure the ‘stood up’, ‘let down’
He hired a stadium
And The Palladium
Such was his world renown

The tickets were sold out; gone
No seats for the love-sick; none
Intended for only
The sad and the lonely
It turns out that’s everyone

For Monday Poetry Train Revisited
ETERNAL

I wouldn’t want eternal life
A hundred years would do for me
I couldn’t take the stress, the strife
Of living for eternity

Loss of my hair, teeth, faculties
Would make me wish for death’s dark door
I couldn’t cope without all these
An OAP for evermore

I’d try to end it with a knife
Unless I could be shown the proof
That, given with eternal life
The promise of eternal youth

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Art

For sunday Scribblings - Art





Cover art for my second book
'A Fetish For Frustration'.
Painted by Stan Ski.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

Naisaiku

For details, check this link

http://www.naisaiku.blogspot.com/


Cost of reversal;
Revision of attitude
And failure of cause
COST OF REVERSAL
Cause of failure and
Attitude of revision;
Reversal of cost

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Repetition

For TOP - Repetition

ANOTHER DAY; ANOTHER…NEW YEAR?

Is it New Year again, already?
It seems like only yesterday
But, then again, perhaps it was
Time flies so fast, it’s hard to say

As one year ends, another New Year
Rides the cycle of repetition
But who can say which is New Years Day?
Each culture has its own tradition

Was New Year’s Day the first of the first
As Gregorian calendar states?
Eastern Orthodox Church year begins
The fourteenth (first, by Julian dates)

Back in Old Russia, the fifteenth day
Of the first month was Happy New Year
And one of twelve animals greets us with
‘Kung Xi Fat Choi’; you know I refer

To Chinese New Year; the year of the Ox
Lunar cycle, twenty sixth, just gone
But this could occur, depending on year
Between Jan and Feb twenty one

Then in Japan, twenty seventh of Jan
The tradition has been preserved
Yet in Tibet, New Year is set
Jan thru Mar, when Losar is observed

In case I missed you in January
I’ll repeat it for your benefit
‘Happy New Year to one and all’
But that isn’t the end of it

On the first of March, in old time Venice
They held their New Year festival
And March sees the Vernal Equinox
Some found this date more logical

Traditional springtime ceremonies
Mark the old year, over and done
Tamil Nadu, thirteenth, fourteenth March
Baha’i – Naw Ruz – day twenty one

Bengali, centrally on day fifteen
In Kashmir, the nineteenth, by the way
Thelemic New Year, moon permitting
On day twenty…give or take a day

Saka is Balinese, Javanese
On March thirty, New Year is beckoned
In Andhra Pradesh, it’s Tulugu
On March, or April the twenty second

To all you modern-day April Fools
An excuse to joke and play
But April the first, was the first of the year
To Assyrians, back in the day

Also in April, the sixth day sees
In UK, the New Tax Year begin
While on the thirteenth, the Sikhs celebrate
And their own New Year is let in

From the thirteenth to the fifteenth day
Treat the New Year with TLC
In Thailand, Laos and Cambodia
April’s three days of festivity

‘Sawasdee Pi Mai’, the greeting in Thai
As Songkhran water battles take place
Get soaking wet…or try to stay dry
If you find you can’t take the pace

New Year in French Republican times
Was the twenty second September
And Diwali repeats annually
In October or November

November thirty; St Andrew’s Day
Or the Sunday closest to this date
Is Roman Catholic Ecclesiastic
New Year for priests to celebrate