Envy - Oscar Milde

I don’t know why I envy him.
I think that he should envy me.
He may attend a fancy gym,
look GQ cool, write poetry,
play the guitar, be tall and slim,
and get in smart night-clubs for free,
but, to my mind, he’s really dim,
the fool behaves impulsively,
goes off to Paris on a whim
and never hints at taking me.
He thinks me dull, he calls me prim,
he’s puzzled by my secrecy.
I may be short and hardly trim
but I’m a billionaire, you see.

Oscar Milde

Dog Days - Richard Fleming

Days gallop by, months, years, so fast
that panic of a sort sets in:
you feel that all the dreams you had
have slipped away, it’s all too late,
so when the scent of what’s escaped
drifts on the wind, your nostrils twitch
and, disregarding all the rules,
you follow it in hot pursuit.
In consequence, lives are destroyed:
homes, futures, harmony and hearts.
Too late, for what you lost, you yearn.
Old dogs, new tricks? They never learn.

Richard Fleming

It's just a Flat Cap - Kriss Lee

It's just a flat cap
Seen on stages worldwide
worn with aplomb and pride
Rakishly clamped down
Atop a head of aging curls

It's just a flat cap
Worn by my Grandad
Saw action through two wars
Still on his head at the end
Went with him to the grave

It's just a flat cap
Worn by the conductor
On the southbound train
Sweat stains in the band
Smuts stuck to the peak

It's just a flat cap
Worn for such comic effect
Peak aimed skywards
Cockeyed angle on his head
Mr Grimsdale, yelled out loud

It's just a flat cap
But more than that
It's a symbol of hard graft
A metaphor for common man
A hat worn on all occasions

It's just a flat cap
I said as I left it on my head
But we're having Sex she said!
I reached for her and drew her close
OK she sighed, "You can leave your Cap on"

It's just a flat cap
Worn all day to keep me warm
But no matter where I go
At the end of the working day
Home is where I lay my Cap

It's just a flat cap
But famously on a workshy head
Provided much needed comedy
Lightening the days toils and woe
Trying all the time to hoodwink Flo

It's just a flat cap
With a peak and not a point
Nicely rounded to fit upon Oblio's head
But perfectly weighted too for flight
Allowing Oblio to win at Triangle Toss

It's just a flat cap
Hiding multi coloured hair
As I get older it might be more fair
If used it for another purpose too
In front of my ugly mug might be an idea

It's just a flat cap
It's something else too
If you're guilty of something bad
You insulted me, or maligned me
This is for you, try it on, if the Cap fits, wear it

Kriss Lee

Joy Rider - Diane Scantlebury

When I’ve got dementia
You’ll drive me around in your car,
I won’t have a clue where I am
Or who the hell you are,
It’ll be an adventure without memory
That’ll make me feel happy inside,
Tomorrow there’ll be no recollection
So for now I’ll enjoy the ride!

Diane Scantlebury

Jungle Fever - Bare Gyrls

In the jungle, dancing naked,
gorgeous lady, well-appointed.
She gyrates, cries Shake it! Shake it!
Wow, she must be double jointed.
Crouching in the jungle leafage,
I admire her wondrous cleavage.
She turns cartwheels, she’s amazing.
Swings from branches, does some high kicks.
She could sell me double-glazing,
win my heart and the Olympics
but it’s hopeless, don’t you see ...
Beauty’d scorn a beast like me.

Bare Gyrls

Gamblin' Man - Ian Duquemin

My father was a gamblin' man
A loser all his life
He sacrificed his children
Made a wreckage of his wife
Many men would make a stand
Accuse him of a cheat
But he was more dishonest
And a master of deceit
He'd gather up the money
It was time for him to leave
Concealed were the aces
He had hidden up his sleeve

My daddy was a drinkin' man
The money served him well
Every night intoxicated
Always raising hell
He drank his pockets empty
Not a penny to his name
And come this time tomorrow
It'll be the same again
He'll drink away the evening
On the money that he wins
Thinking that the alcohol
Will drown away his sins

My father didn't go to church
He'd never sung a hymn
He often said that Jesus Christ
Had turned his back on him
And when he saw his shadow
That was crawling on the ground
He swore it was the devil
Who was always hanging round
And so he'd throw another dice
To fill an empty purse
The money spent, another bar
To make him feel worse

My daddy was a gamblin' man
A drinker all his life
He let his children suffer
Made a widow of his wife
And when he died, a funeral
Of course the devil came
To stand beside the headstone
Cast a shadow on his name
But that was many years ago
And this story's at an end
So I'll play another poker hand
And drink to you my friend

Ian Duquemin

Train Of Thought - Tony Bradley

It seems these days, that my memory deserts me
half the stuff I thought, that I was taught
I’m left stranded, at the station, ‘cos my education
just left again, on the last train of thought.

Tony Bradley

Child Of The Highway - Lyndon Queripel

Image:Johannes Plenio from Pixabay

I picked up my guitar
Put on my faded jeans
And headed down the road
To find what freedom means
I hadn’t gone very far
When I started looking back
At the fields where love had grown
And the harvest that turned black

Just like a wild flower
In a world of broken stone
I’m looking for some light
That I can call my own
But in this cold shadow
The sky is overcast
I’m haunted by my memories
And ghosts of the past

I’m a child of the highway
On the border I was born
It was on a stormy Monday
Just before the dawn

I looked into a mirror of magic
It was tragic as I saw through
Myself and every thing else
I once believed to be true
A distant star was shining
High over my destiny
But the closer I seemed to get
The further it seemed to be

I found an old newspaper
But there was no date
On the front page was a story
About me and my fate
Was this just a dream
There must be some mistake
No secret kept,I’ve overslept
But when will I awake ?

Lyndon Queripel

Haymaking - Tony Gardner

September, start of Autumn days
Lets in the busy harvest ways
And longer silver shadows cast
Our memories to harvests past

No combines, just the sibilant swish
Of blades when scythes and corn stalks kiss
And hay tossed high on horse drawn drays
And friendships forged in those warm days

And friendships sometimes grown to more
For Love in Summer seems so sure
It's sixty years ago today
We raked and tossed that new mown hay

It hasn't been a day too long
There's not a day I'd want to miss.
Our life's been like a Linnet's song
And started with a harvest kiss.

Haymaking - Tony Gardner