Goodbye, Victor Tango - Stephen A. Roberts

Image: Facebook - Joey & Friends - The Trislander Appreciation Page

You were a punky little thing in 1977;
and your snarling youth
never really left you,
even as you grew old and settled into
a life of loyal service.

How many glorious days did you soar into the air,
your island realm spread out before you -
and in those moments
all thoughts of life in Joey's shadow
were drowned out
by your own
triple-engined drone.

Now it is time to be pensioned off, and after
one last hurrah in Sarnian skies
you head for Duxford
dipping your wings
in farewell;
Goodbye, Victor Tango.

Stephen A. Roberts

Black Wave - Richard Fleming

The sea is like a black-edged card.
Oil creeps in on a rising tide,
announcing doom: another spill.
As stricken seabirds, petrified,
lurch over rocks or huddle still
awaiting death, their feathers tarred.
Black fingers reach into our lives.
A tanker, carelessly maintained,
managed by fools, ineptly crewed,
has left our waters grossly stained.
When rich marine life faces crude
and brutish oil, nothing survives.

Behind this little tragedy,
as always, greed and grasping hands.
Voracious men, whose selfish world
is ruled by bankers’ brusque commands,
care nothing for the curses hurled
by we who toil beside the sea
to rescue one or two or three
fouled victims from spoiled habitat.
While many thousand birds have died,
survivors surely wonder that
this nurturing, sustaining tide
became, today, their enemy.

Richard Fleming

Stumbling Through - Tony Gardner

Looking at me, you may think 'He's OK'
Doing just fine, walking down his own way.
I suppose that maybe partly it's true
But for most of my life, I'm just stumbling through
Through feelings of confidence, feelings of worth
Of making the most of my short time on Earth
What I morally owe, what I'm entitled to
In this crazy minefield, I'm just stumbling through.
Through times of despair, disappointment and woe
Through happiness I never dreamed I could know
Through dull days and bright days, I always knew
Through all of my life I'd be just stumbling through
Should I do this or that or try something new
I'm just doing my best and stumbling on through.

Tony Gardner

Chosen Paths - Julie Gallienne

Life is a lesson
we've agreed to learn
until we are returned to source
when it's our turn.
If we make mistakes
along the way
they are the dues planned
we agreed to pay.
But upon this journey
our time on earth
Spirits guiding light
is with us from birth.
Our hearts can be filled
with joy and bliss
through meditation
we can achieve this.
So open your hearts
and pass the love around
to people you meet
because what you give
they will repeat.
As I sit in contemplation
amid a life
of shattered dreams
I have come to the conclusion
all is not as it seems.
Yes
My life path has changed
to the future it's meant to be
but my final destination
is not entirely up to me.
I have a guiding hand
to push me along the way
but although I can give input
I can't have the final say.
A higher consciousness
to my greatest good
is prompting me
until I've understood.
If all the world
behaved this way
every war
would be held at bay.
We would live in peace
and harmony
talk through world problems
with tolerance
calmly.
No showing of anger
no shifting the blame
pointing the finger
never again.
So if we all do a little
to help earth's people
the effects will expand
into a ripple.
Let this be felt
all over the world
so the future we demand
can unfurl.

Julie Gallienne

Brick Wall Battles - Lester Queripel

‘Brick wall battles’ can be won.
Not every single one……..but some.
You might get a headache.
An awful backache.
Even occasional heartache.
Think you’ve had all you can take.
But don’t let your spirit break.
Because ‘brick wall battles’ can be won.
So keep going….….keep going on.
Because ‘brick wall battles’ can be won.

Lester Queripel

Vegetarian - Kathy Figueroa

It's delicious
And delightful
It's nutritious
But not frightful
Because it's not filled
With blood and gore
No animals have to die
When I buy food at
The grocery store
I'm on the vegetarian diet
That includes fruit
Vegetables, nuts, and seeds
Sometimes I add
A few edible wild plants
Because wild plants
Aren't always weeds
Yes, I love vegetarian food
And have it every day
Usually, it's raw because
It tastes better that way
I make salads in minutes
With many different
Vegetables, spices, and olive oil
No longer, in the kitchen
Over a hot stove, do I toil
Recycling is a snap
The peels are just
Composted outside
Vegetarian cuisine is easy
Healthy, ecologically friendly
Makes me feel good
And best of all
No animals have died

Kathy Figueroa

“Vegetarian” was first published on March 31, 2011, in The Bancroft Times newspaper, and later in Kathy Figueroa's book, "Paudash Poems,” which was published in July, 2012.

Guernsey Tsunami - Greta Flood

High, high as Vale Church spire it rolled:
it bypassed Herm as on it bowled
then gathered speed and gathered height
till something in the change of light
silenced the gulls, caused dogs to bark
and people at Bordeaux remark
that fishing-boats out in the Bay
behaved in an unusual way.
Down at the Kiosk, talk was stilled,
as eyes turned seaward, hearts were chilled.
Men clutched their wives, wives hugged their brood
for out at sea a mountain stood;
a wall of water soaring high,
metallic in a darkened sky.
A wave, gargantuan and pale,
engulfed, then swallowed up the Vale.
As boats and cars were swept away
and houses left in disarray,
inhabitants of coast and lane
tried swimming but all was in vain.
There was no hope: they drowned like rats,
themselves, their children, dogs and cats
No one survived. It was a purge.
All perished in the deadly surge
like flies beneath a huge fly swat,
the locals, non-locals, the lot.

Greta Flood

Spider’s Feast - Diane Scantlebury

Captured in a cruel web
Her lurid wings flutter fast,
As she struggles hard against her fate
Body arched, the throes of death to wait,

No more to soar up to the heights
No more dancing around flowers aflame,
By curiosity drawn to her own demise
And to be a spider’s feast is such a shame,

Like her we’re here on borrowed time
A chance to shine for what it’s worth,
Drawn as moths around life’s flame
In our brief last dance upon this earth.

Diane Scantlebury