Standing Up - Tony Gardner

I   miss  my  younger,  fitter  self,  with  aches  and  pains  unknown
Maturity's  crept  up  on  me,  my  youth  has  long  since  flown
There's  much  I  can  no  longer  do like  drinking  all  night  long
Or  pulling  in  the  Tug of War, to  the  beat  of  Rugby  songs.
It's  simple  things  that  I  miss  most, like  picnics  with  some  friends
In  meadows  where  the  grass  would  tease my bare  feet  and  finger-ends.
I'd  lay  full  length  in  soft,  green  grass,  in  Eden's  Fields  I'd  reign
If  I  lay  there  today  I  doubt  I  could  stand  up  again.

Tony  Gardner


Image : Pixabay - Fotorech

Open Mic Evening - Tuesday 2nd November 2021- Cancelled

Open Mic Evening - Cancelled

Unfortunately the Café cannot host us this month.

We hope we will see you on the 7th December.

Cop Show Revisited - Joan Etoile

There's always a sexual tension 
Between TV coppers on the force 
But I'm not sure that I noticed it 
Between Sergeant Lewis and Inspector Morse 

Cagney and Lacey, Starsky and Hutch 
All loved themselves far too much 
Who loves ya baby Kojak said 
Then took his lollipop off to bed 

Romantic interest Columbo lacked 
And never got to remove his mac 
Naughtiness was never allowed 
For Chiefs Ironside and McCloud 

Today though, anything goes 
In the latest TV cop shows 
No traditional heists or busts 
Just endless tales of perverted lust 

Joan Etoile

Image : Pixabay - geralt

Lemmings - John E Blaise

He is in a queue a line of people.
No end in sight like a slow meandering river.
Dusty path sweltering heat sore feet.
Vultures ride thermals in the cloudless skies,
Below the humming buzzing flies,
The distant unknown creature cries.
Shuffle forward zombie like for hours and hours.
No end in sight no tunnel no light
Walk forward onwards in a trance.
Avoid the quicksand try to make a stance.
Some of the people wear masks or veils.
Bloodshot hollow staring eyes.
Snake like the line winds and moves.
Towards the final destination.
Shuffle forward zombie like for hours and hours.
Will there be sweet times peace and solace.
Is this the path to happiness.
Life's elixir,nirvana arcadia,Avalon Shangri -la
Is it close how far.
Time to contemplate reminisce remember.
How important and significant life has been.
He has arrived now all can be seen.
There is nothing nothing nothing nothing.

John E Blaise


Image : Pixabay - janeb13

Rodents - Diana Pritchard

A rodent is a creature who endures
a never-ending need to chew and gnaw.
Incisors growing constantly ensures
a strong developmental, ageless jaw.
A squirrel with a bushy tail must chomp
through gathered nuts from oak or pine or beech
while beavers busy making dams leave stumps
of trees they fell with axe-like accuracy.
They build their cosy lodge above their lake
while mice move into homes of someone else
and scratch at night to keep us all awake
and raid the larder leaving signs and smells.
It’s rampant rats we fear the most, it seems,
who find their way into our dreaded dreams.

Diana Pritchard


Image : Pixabay - Glavo

My Cat Yorick - Oscar Milde

Came home last night the worse for drink
and didn’t really pause to think.
Opened the window, popped the cat
outside to do its this and that.
Awoke this morning, shocking head,
tongue like sandpaper, full of dread.
My tower-block flat’s ten stories high
Alas, poor Yorick. Cats can’t fly.

Oscar Milde

Image : Pixabay - SarahRichterArt

A Little Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing - Lyndon Queripel

Do you know where we are
Can you count every star
With your naked eye
Do you know the way to go
Can you stop the acid rain
Falling from the red sky
Do you know if it’s a dream
A white vision of light
Or a flight of fantasy
Do you know the key
Is this life a mystery
A soul dance with destiny.

Lyndon Queripel

Image : Pixabay - PatoLenin

Daddy Long Legs - Stephen A. Roberts

Hey there, Daddio 
clinging to the window  
craning in to see  
where to leave your progeny 
I admire the symmetry  
of your elegant fragility 
with the waning of the sun 
you know your summer’s done 
are our autumns just the same 
staring through the pane? 

Stephen A. Roberts

Image : Stephen A. Roberts

Screaming Bees - Ian Duquemin

No angels came to greet me, only darkness 
Swarms of screaming bees had filled my mind 
Everything so black… Much like an ocean 
Drowning… I was motionless and blind
Strip lights flashing, in and out of focus 
Panicked voices, calling out my name
Every silent breath, a breath of struggle 
Numb from any feeling, or the pain 
No blinding light or doorway, lay ahead of me
No healing hand, or whispers of concern 
Nothing, but the sound of angry insects 
Breaking free to summon my return
I opened up my eyes, in some confusion 
Everything so sterile, white and clean 
Had I simply drifted here, from out of nowhere? 
A place the living never should have been
Fragile as a man of many ages
Nothing making any sense at all 
Left wondering… If I should ask forgiveness? 
Yet knowing that no one would hear my call
In life I wasn't worth the gift of living 
Yet even death refused to welcome me
And so I just drifted, through this life of wonder 
Where through the darkness, I had learned to see

Ian Duquemin

Image : downgraf.com - Pierre Alain D

Dark Nectar - Tony Gardner

Through  soft  September's  early  morning  mists
I  sally  forth  in  sturdy  thorn-proof  clothes
To  face  the  prickly  blackthorn  which  resists
My quest  to  reap  her  lovely  blue-black  sloes.
Soon  I'm  homeward bound  with  hard  won  prize
The  sun  breaks  through,  a  bird  sings  merrily.
But  now  it's  time  for  work  and  methods  wise
To  tell  and  mix  the  ancient  recipe;
 
       "Pick  and  prick  the  purple  berries,
       add  the  sugar  and  the  gin.
       Then  the  almonds,  not  too  many,
       seal  it,  let  all  soak  in."
 
For  months  it's left  until  at  Christmas time 
With  carols  sung  and  turkey  eaten,  then
Before  the  fire,  our  glasses  we  all  prime
With  dark  old  nectar  sweet,  -  our  own  Sloe  Gin.

Tony Gardner

Image : Pixabay - LaMaLaMa55