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