World Watching - Diane Scantlebury

Watching the world pass by my window
Some march fast,
Some walk very slow,
Up and down the challenging incline
To reach the places they need to go,

Some pause briefly in the doorway
To catch their breath,
Or to have a smoke,
Some faces sad, others expressionless,
Some laughing at an unheard joke,

Through the frosted one way glass
Upon their lives I can surreptitiously spy,
Captured in full colour,
For a fleeting moment,
The to and fro world that passes me by.

Diane Scantlebury

Samantha Barks . . . (there is a Heaven.) - Tony Bradley

She illuminates the stage, the TV, and my little world
such divine beauty, I'm sure I've pictured, since the day of my birth
never ever such passion, such talent, in one being
nor ever such loveliness, graced this Earth.

Tony Bradley

Cold Horses - Richard Fleming

Cold horses, in the field, forlorn,
are statues, stark, in pale half light.
Tethered beside bucket and hay,
they have endured a winter’s night
and must now face an icy day.
A half-moon lingers. This grey dawn,

diamond dew sparkles on their
mighty shoulders. They exist free
of man’s presentiment of death:
theirs is a careless reverie.
Life challenges: they acquiesce.
Rain, wind, ice, sun: they do not care.

Their gentle eyes meet my concern,
by the stone wall that separates
man from beast. I come with apple,
stand, wait. What differentiates
beast in field from man in chapel?
What do they know, that I must learn?

Richard Fleming

This poem first appeared in The Man Who Landed, as part of A GUERNSEY DOUBLE, a joint collection with poet, Peter Kenny.

For further details and availability of this book please go to http://redhandwriter.blogspot.com

Painting Words - Julian Clarke

Take your angry words
toss them to the sky
hear them jingle and jangle
breathe a hefty sigh;

on an artist's palette
land with a clatter
watching them mix in rainbows
hues all a splatter,

dip a fine sable
lilac is my cue
colours leap out from my heart
painting, I love you.

Julian Clarke

Poetry Not In Motion - Sara Kreckler

I sat down but I couldn't think
So I washed the dishes in the sink
One plate and one saucer
Then I thought of Chaucer
Also William Shakespeare
And whatshisname
But nothing came

I suddenly thought of something to do
Mix all the words together like a stew
Chaucer became saucer
Shakespeare became disappear
To be or not to be?
Now where have I heard that?
I'd get on my bike but the tyres are flat
Oh well......I guess I'd better eat my hat!

Sara Kreckler