Walking amongst you - Tony Bradley

I've been advised to walk backwards, and sideways
in order to improve my balance, and gait
I always avoided PEOPLE watching me walk
'cos it's never been normal, not even straight .

Backwards, sideways, on the beach
but only when I'm on my tod
'cos if too many PEOPLE actually see me
they'll be talking together, saying I'm odd .

It's essential that I do it, said the specialist man
so I'm persevering with it, a bit each day
I go out of view, or 'PEOPLE' will laugh at me
and white-coated ones might carry me away.

Tony Bradley

Image : Pixabay - creozavr

Safe Haven - Kathy Figueroa

The fragrance of baked apple fills the air
It’s quick, tasty, and healthy lunchtime fare
Soup made from barley, lentils, beans, and rice
Will have a good flavour, with added spice

The kitchen’s a safe haven these bleak days
As the virus mutates in scary ways
It’s better to stay home, behind closed doors
When new strains emanate from distant shores

Kathy Figueroa

Image : Pixabay - Bru-nO

Snow Horses - Tony Gardner

In the frozen North where the Ice Wind blows
And the Devils dance in the thick, thick snow,
Where the nights are long, and the daylight brief
And Jack Frost paints every Aspen leaf.
The horses pass with never the sound
Of their hooves ringing out on the deadened ground.
While the white Owl glides almost unseen
Around the haunt of the cruel Ice Queen.
While the Devils dance where the ghost trees stand
In this beautiful, deadly, pure-white Land.

Tony Gardner

Image : Pinterest

A Mr E - Stephen Rowe

A reminder of an actual event whereby I knew someone as the former until it was the latter.


I thought he was a Mystery
Until one day it dawned on me
It may be Mr E

Stephen Rowe

Image : Pixabay - Anatoly777

Spades Apart - Trudie Shannon

Apparently social distance is
Two metres
Or six foot six inches in old money.
But I utilise a common object.
A spade,
As in the garden tool
That we dig holes, trenches and graves with.
The whole spade of course
From hand worn, wooden handle and weather worn shaft
To the curved metal blade.
It is useful to have something tangible
If a little unwieldy to carry around.
However the upside is that
When one does carry around a garden spade
Be it on the road or in a shop
Others naturally keep their distance.

Trudie Shannon

Image : Pixabay - MabelAmber

The Word-Hoard - Oscar Milde

Sup er cali fragil istic expi ali docious

The lyric really is correct, that word is quite atrocious.
Instead of writing tongue-twisters verging on absurd,
they should have used the letters to make hordes of shorter words …

delicious, superficial, supper, sausage, lips and luscious,
expedite, accept, except, sparse, copious and perspex
or saucer, soup, sex or speed, expose, excite, explode …

I could continue
but I’m bored.
Sit down and list your own Word-Hoard.


Oscar Milde

Rising - Ian Duquemin

I'd sit down and think of the times of my past
The shit and the shadows depression had cast
The troubles, the fears, in a future untold
I'd cling to those times, though they left me so cold
I'd grow from a child who was always in pain
I'd fall to my knees, but I'd rise once again
Over and over the hurdles appeared
But the falls became lessons I no longer feared
No barrier stopped me, I'd crash my way through
I tried to be someone who's honest and true
Those days as a child they were never to last
As you cannot move forward, if you live in the past
I think of those days with a new sense of pride
As no one can tell me that I've never tried
I give what I can to those living in pain
As I know in my heart... You will rise once again

Ian Duquemin
Image : Pixabay - Crucifurr

Isolation - Diane Scantlebury

In a room alone,
In touch with the world
Yet curiously apart,
On a singles holiday,
Without leaving
The confines of home,
A staycation in the rawest
Most literal sense,
Here time marches forward
Without consideration,
Punctuated only by room service,
Provided selflessly
By beloved ones,
Being spoilt by their concern,

Soon one tires
Of banal media entertainment,
Switch off and just listen,
To the rhythm of the rain
Tap dancing on the roof,
The swish of tyres
Speeding over wet tarmac,
Voices drifting in
From the unobtainable outside,
Feel the novelty
Of being still
And simply breathing,

Isolation allows time,
Time to rediscover and reevaluate,
To reset the mind,
To miss the warmth and comfort
Of human contact,
And perhaps appreciate more
The ones you love.

Diane Scantlebury