The Wrong Place? - Lester Queripel

Everywhere I went I felt as though I was in the wrong place.
So I jumped aboard a spaceship and headed for outer space.
My destination was the Moon.
I thought there'd be plenty of room.
But when I got there I wasn't alone.
So I jumped back in the spaceship and went back home.

Lester Queripel

Days We Knew Before The War - Lyndon Queripel

I am a generaI and I lead the fight
My blood will tremble at the sight
Above the ranks I'll get the thanks
Blazing tanks through flanks of the night

I am a hero and I’m strong and brave
See the free country I fought to save
Pin medals on my chest and put the best
Flowers fresh and blessed on my grave

I am a coward and I had to run away
My feet on retreat for I could not stay
I’m still alive and so I try to survive
For I might yet fight on another day

I am a bullet and I found my mark
I ricocheted along with a spark
A soldier falls behind the walls
Telescopic sights, infra red dark

I am a child and I’m waiting for
My father’s face at our back door
Until his return how I still yearn
For those days we knew before the war.

Lyndon Queripel

Fancy Food - Joan Etoile

Does every cook want to be a celebrity?
Me, I just want a bit of tea
With no posturing or tasting menu
A plain steak please, leave out the wagyu

Why do these people crave shallow fame
Their TV faces lit by the blow torch flame?
A modus operandi that makes no sense
When using the simplest ingredients

It takes no time to make a Guernsey treat
Some crispy vraic or rabbit's feet
Do I need to be told by chef Ram-say
That my bean jar is a cassoulet?

Joan Etoile

The Phantom Bikes of Grandes Rocques - Tony Bradley

It's just after dawn, I'm on the beach again
and something so really strange occurred
I saw it, or did I fantasize . . . ?
(I'm quite capable, . . . I'm a bit of a nerd .)

Two bikes raced along the road, beyond the dunes
but my still sleepy eyes and brain detected
in an eery moment, that made me shiver
there were actually no humans connected.

I paused, half-asleep, to consider the event
I probably appeared cool, quite laconic
I reasoned, that if there had been riders aboard
they were obviously invisible, and at that speed, bionic .

I was suddenly startled again, whilst still assimilating the facts
another bunch, three this time, in the opposite direction
I know it wasn't the Valkyrie, or headless horsemen
but I don't view that beach now, with the same affection.

Tony Bradley

Frog Army - Diane Scantlebury

From the pool
And strangely squelching,
A dark horde emerge
In clinging black suits,
Bare feet slip slapping
On wet tiled concrete,
As they tip water from
Their sodden rubber boots,

Now stripped to the waist
They peel off dripping trappings,
To dry out in the heat of the sun,
Reborn from the chrysalis
Of their soaking wrappings,
A bronze-bodied army,
Laughing, drenched and having fun.

Diane Scantlebury

A Little Room For Me - Ian Duquemin

I wondered where you went to
I looked but you weren't there
I thought that I might follow
But with thought I didn't dare
I ask that you might listen
I was blind and couldn't see
My prayer is you might try to find
A little room for me

I threw myself in darkness
Found the place called Babylon
Not knowing of the hurt I'd find
Believing it was fun
I've worked hard for redemption
Packed my bags so I could flee
And I'm asking you to try and leave
A little room for me

My lies were only mortal
Now stains I've left behind
A lifetime spent deceiving
Now seeks for peace of mind
I've thrown away my hatred
From sins I've broken free
And all I need to know is there
A little room for me

I've called your name a thousand times
Yet not heard your reply
I've gazed at every shining star
Not one has caught my eye
Amidst this vast eternal
I hope there just might be
A chance that you have saved a space
A little room for me

Ian Duquemin

The Naturist - Edward Bare

Supine in the breathing grasses
I lie, as a rider passes:
slender woman on a hoss,
figure not unlike Kate Moss,
gees her hoss and tosses head,
goes another way instead.
I would rather that she’d fainted.
Now we’ll never get acquainted.

Edward Bare

Armchair Warrior - Stephen A. Roberts

In the land of vacuous bling
In the shadow of statues and kings
There's a small but well insulated house
Where the armchair warrior moves his mouse

The peace dividend sits in folds round his waist
As he engages in a combat he's never faced
One day he's a Soviet, the next a Peshmerga
Whatever his role he's still got a burger

The screen character ducks, rolls and then dies
He pauses the battle to reach for his fries
The Goddess of War beckons, he willingly greets her
Then offers her death with a slice of his pizza

Stephen A. Roberts

Drifting Tunes - Tony Gardner

Oft times at night I catch the drift
Of songs from long ago
Sometimes it seems I feel the things
I'm sure I cannot know
Days gone by and in the past
Long before my time
Are fresh and present and alive
And sharp as winter's rime
The songs rise raucous in the light
Of the campfire's mystic glow
Or from rude bar rooms of the West
Where rough, raw whiskey flowed
The strains come whisp'ring through the years
Tunes that I feel I know
Some drift still from the Western front
A hundred years ago
It's just half-death before I sleep
When these false mem'ries wind
Their strange and half-known melodies
Around my drowsy mind
Soon I'm asleep and unaware
Of tunes that come and go
But oft at night I catch the drift
Of songs from long ago

Tony Gardner