STITCHED UP

For Sunday Whirl: Bound, Within, We, Think, Way, Damaged, Men, Women, Power, Wish, Single, Thread
And Haiku Heights: Witch

TREAT OR TRICK ?

Bound within this spell
could we think of any way
to mend damaged hearts

Could men and women
transfer power from a wish
to a single thread

Or would we deploy
a darker shade of magic
the craft of witches

IN A WHIRL

For Sunday Whirl
This weeks words are:
Shelter, Cafe, Job, Happening, Guide,
Score, Fern, Face, Sturdy, Peanuts,
Handle, Recommend, Cabinet

JOBSEARCH

Seeking shelter from the rain
Enter internet cafe

Need a job - what's happening?
Online guide will know the score

"Twelve thousand species of fern
Require replant to face south
Steady graft for sturdy guy
Permanent post"... Pays peanuts!

Yours if you can handle it
Wouldn't recommend it though...

File that in your cabinet!

STILL STANDING

For Sunday Whirl

This weeks words are:
Thunder, Vowed, Inherit, Deeper, Stand, Umbrella,
Become, Joined, Shifts, Excuses, Childhood, Light.

It's been a long time...

LIGHT SOURCE

Under a dark thunder cloud
we both vowed to inherit
a deeper sense of merit
letting us stand together
under the same umbrella
to become joined at the hip
working continuous shifts
to un-make old excuses
renewing childhood truces
... and at last seeing the light..

EVAPORATED

For A Wordling Whirl of Sundays
This week's words: tugs, seaweed, released, breathes, slides,water, river, supersedes, evaporation, mist, tiny, embroidered

WISH YOU WERE HERE?

Evaporation, condensation
Tiny particles of vapour
Mist, to you and me

Dreams released; truth supersedes them
Picture slides back into focus
Face reality

Your embroidered imagination
River cruising, water splashing
Sun soaked summer leave

Our experience – tug boats, seaweed
Frost bite, seasick and an oil slick
As I live and breathe…!

SEASON

For Writers Island #19 - Season



CHILL

Her appearance was totally unexpected and her surroundings, though vaguely familiar were at the same time unusual. Instead of her customary preference to soft pastel shades, she wore a long, black cape, buttoned to the neck. The fur trimmed hood, thrown casually over her head, was speckled with delicate, white flecks of snow, fallen freshly from above. A trail of dark footprints in the icing sugar path behind her, led back to a point, where I could just make out slender tree trunks, rising and bowing to form a canopy of oversized leaves, enclosing the pathway like a tunnel. They faded out of vision in the descending gloom as a fresh fall of fine snow began.

As she opened her mouth to speak, an icy blast of air whipped her words away, whistling through the trees, and bringing with it a further, heavier fall of snow. A whirling wall of whiteness obscured the entire scene.

I awoke, shivering, disorientated and confused.

Initially, I attributed the chill I felt to the dream and my sudden return to consciousness. But as the chill continued to bite, I realised that I was experiencing something I’d not felt these past three years; cold. Not the artificial attempts of air conditioners, but the bone gnawing grip of winter.

“I’m still asleep.” I said out loud, immediately realising I wasn’t. It was almost light, so I sat up to take a look out of the window and try to make some sense of my dream. Outside, a thick blanket of fog, restricted vision to a few yards and an eerie silence added to my confusion. I inhaled a deep breath, which felt sharp as the cold hit the back of my throat. As I exhaled, a jet of steam shot from my mouth. For a fleeting moment, I imagined I was back in England and lightning flashes of memory reminded me of those bleak winter days, when it never quite seemed to get fully light.

LIMITED

For We Write Poems - Take it to the limits

INTO MY MIND

I’m going
Into my head
To see if it’s true
What they said about
No bread and half a loaf
Both not the full shilling
But the thing that’s nearly
Killing me
The thing I’m
Really dying to know
Trying to be
Oh so sure of
And not just so by the law of
Averages
Is this:

What exactly is the score?

Now
I’m not the sharpest tool
But I’m not a fool
Or am I?
Can I be less
Serious?
Clearly this is more the case:
No empty space between your ears
May not be
All that it appears
A full loaf only half baked
Make no mistake
Believe you me
Is gonna be
Most detri…
…Mental…!

So you see it’s not true
What they said…

…Now I’m going
Out of my head

OUT OF MY MIND…

WORDLE WORLDE

For A Wordling World of Sundays

This weeks words are: Aching, train, scribbling, thirst, resilient, sustain, revenge, visions, thrumming, animated, hillsides, whispered


BLACK SHEEP REPRISE

Resilient enough to sustain the pressure
Without upsetting your train of thought
You whispered calmly your good intentions
All the while, aching with thirst for revenge

Meanwhile, my head thrumming, I was having visions
Of you scribbling animated scenes
Of hillsides draped in death and destruction
... Like the ones you sketched when you were younger...

IF I KNEW YOU WERE COMING

For One Single Impression - Borders
And Sunday Scribblings - Cake


UNCOMMON

Friday sunshine in that London
South of the North-South divide
Mouths open wide... in awe? Or is it for
Cup cakes, tea cakes, just like Ma'am makes?
Or a cup of tea and a slice of cake?

Highland pipers, piping out
The icing on the cake - Kiss me Kate
That wedding gown - the talk of the town
Designed by the last queen of Scotland
Makes you look dainty as a fairy
... Or some fairly Great Escape artist

Oh William, it was royally nothing!
Just some old thing I threw on
Had it since I was crowned McQueen
Miss Happy Meals, Two Thousand and One

This day has all the ingredients
(All the greed and ignorance)
Just don't mention the Battenburg
So many layers could emerge
And I do have a figure to maintain
So I'll refrain, on this Occasion
With the Nation looking on

Of course I want to have and to hold... it
But those commoners - we'll let them eat it!

DAY 30 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island


LAST SHOUT?

Before you know it…
well…it’s all over.
That’s bar the shouting,
which in this here case
(and here at this place
- The Rub a Dub Dub -
which in this here case
is only the name
of your local pub
- not some Cockneyesque
Rhyming Slang thingy -
on tonight’s mission
to get legless; drunk,
you and your mates)
means shouting as in
shouting up the ale.
Your final round of drinks


YOUR FINAL ROUND OF DRINKS
(A Syllable Sestina)

“Your final round of drinks?”
Winks – “Pour off, my sound gal!”
Mal Brown sinks four… sigh… quaff
Froth shall fly! Blink, roar, frown…
Browned off? Normal… Drinks dry
five rounds – stinks of alc… More…?

DAY 29 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island


I WOKE UP THIS MORNING…
(in a ditch within Crawling Distance of home)

Friday night, just finished work
By work I mean that thing I do
With bright orange, reflective tape
(Y’know, the sort that indicates
A potential roadside hazard)
To pass the time until that thing
That we all live for - the weekend
I’m not talking about that
Crime Scene/Police Line Do Not Cross/
Danger – Unexploded Mine
Type of tape, but rather that
Bog-standard, common or garden
Bright orange, reflective stuff
Supported by steel spiked poles
Used to cordon-off areas
To warn of road works… and such like
Y’know, to prevent accidents
That’s the theory, anyway
And the way the whole thing works
This very theoretical
Accident prevention thing
Is all down to one thing; this:
The reflective properties
Of the ultra-bright orange tape
Which is not only reflective
No – more, so much more than this
It’s thoughtfully reflective
Indeed one might even say
Considerately reflective
Because not only is it
Reflective of the light of day
But also it’s reflective
Of artificial light sources
During the hours of darkness
Which means you’d really have to be
Some kind of fool to miss it
…Wouldn’t you?

DAY 28 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

For Mad Kane’s humour blog
And posted to Writers Island


GOOD FIGHT

A fellow who loved a good fight
Had a go at the wrong guy last night
One punch to the jaw
Sent him straight to the floor
And our fellow was out like a light

A fellow who loved a good fight
Said ‘Come on then’ to guys twice his height
To guys twice his weight
‘Who you lookin’ at, mate?’
And to everyone else, ‘I’m hard… right!’

A fellow who loves a good fight
Gets involved in a brawl every night
He warns when he starts
He can do martial arts
A bit like Bruce Lee, but not quite…

DAY 27 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island


OVER TIME

So you’re lying there
Feeling quite pleased with yourself
Feeling pretty smug
And you remember
Why it is you feel so smug
It’s only because

Despite getting drunk
You still managed to get home
On your own two feet
And you remembered
To set your mobile’s alarm
…Weekend overtime

Which doesn’t pay you
Enough to cover last night
What you drank, smoked, ate
But still worth having
Even after Income Tax
…Just about… innit?

It’s almost as though
You’re willing; even daring
The alarm to ring
And in doing so
You’re actually causing it
To sound its ringtone

Just as these smug thoughts
Of Mission accomplished, and
Next weeks fat pay cheque
Navigate the space
(Empty space) between your ears
The useless thing sounds!

And the reason for
The sudden transformation
From ordinary
Common or garden
Mobile communicator
To a ‘useless thing’?

A look at the time
Tells you it’s nine fifteen
Not seven fifteen
You’ve gone over time
Late for work an hour ago
What’s all that about?

DAY 26 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island


FAST FOOD TO TAKE AWAY OR SIT-IN

To the chippy with Charlie it is then
“Fish ‘n’ chips twice mate,” Charlie shouts
Looks like he’s ignoring you, Charlie boy
“Fish ‘n’ chips twice mate,” he shouts again

“I heard you the first time, second and third
Saying ‘fish ‘n’ chips twice’ two times, makes four
Makes some people laugh… but you look drunk
So I’ll just… get your fish ‘n’ chips… twice”

“That would be nice, if you’d be so kind
Because what I really wouldn’t like
Is to have to ask you for a sixth time
I know my limit and you should know yours”

“Ha ha… a sixth time… I like your style…
O.K I’ll… just get on with it then”
“You’re a gentleman and a scholar
But I bet you already knew that”

“Oh, by the way, is it takeaway
Or is it, perchance, to sit-in?
Thought I’d better ask, ‘cos you never did say
And I wouldn’t like to get it wrong”

“Is that another one of your daft ‘jokes’… ?”
“What d’you mean…? Oh, I see… SIT in
You don’t wanna be sitting in your food
…I really never thought of it like that”

DAY 25 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island

Brenda at Beyond the Bozone set us a wordle using the following words: cheap, steal, tissue, tattoos, quenching, pinwheels, replenish, piquant, diminished, creep, eternal, sharp, squeeze

INDELLIBLE

Sharp shooter, standing by
to squeeze artistic trigger,
designed tattoos proclaiming
promise of eternal life.

…They didn’t steal the creep show.

They (just like those pinwheels
of responsibility)
diminished to a three-ply
tissue of lies, lies, lies.

Merely cheap, fast comfort food
served with a piquant relish.
No intent to replenish;
just to leave a raging thirst

…that knows no quenching drink

DAY 24 - NAPOWRIMO 2011

Posted to Writers Island


FAST

On Friday nights we go to the pub
And meet up with a guy called ‘Fast’ Pete Jones
Asking him to shout up a round is
Like trying to get blood out of a stone

It’s true to say that Fast is really slow
But in a way he can be really fast
He’s always the first to ask ‘Who’s shout?’
But he makes sure he always shouts up last

He times his arrival at the pub
To coincide with the first pint being downed
So he’ll be last in line for the shout
And shouldn’t need to get a second round

Our mate Fast is a man with a plan
On a mission to dodge the rounds
Get drunk as a skunk, eat a takeaway
And all for only twenty pounds

Or sovs, or nicker, or even quid
Whichever slang term you prefer
Or years ago you could have said ‘notes’
When pound coins were still made out of paper

But what’s it gonna be on the menu tonight?
If Fast doesn’t waste his money on a cab
Maybe steak and kidney pudding and chips
Or perhaps he’ll get a doner kebab

He can never rush decisions like these
(We’ll make him buy more beer if we can)
But one thing’s for sure with our mate Fast
He’ll make certain he achieves his plan