Frog Army - Diane Scantlebury

From the pool
And strangely squelching,
A dark horde emerge
In clinging black suits,
Bare feet slip slapping
On wet tiled concrete,
As they tip water from
Their sodden rubber boots,

Now stripped to the waist
They peel off dripping trappings,
To dry out in the heat of the sun,
Reborn from the chrysalis
Of their soaking wrappings,
A bronze-bodied army,
Laughing, drenched and having fun.

Diane Scantlebury

A Little Room For Me - Ian Duquemin

I wondered where you went to
I looked but you weren't there
I thought that I might follow
But with thought I didn't dare
I ask that you might listen
I was blind and couldn't see
My prayer is you might try to find
A little room for me

I threw myself in darkness
Found the place called Babylon
Not knowing of the hurt I'd find
Believing it was fun
I've worked hard for redemption
Packed my bags so I could flee
And I'm asking you to try and leave
A little room for me

My lies were only mortal
Now stains I've left behind
A lifetime spent deceiving
Now seeks for peace of mind
I've thrown away my hatred
From sins I've broken free
And all I need to know is there
A little room for me

I've called your name a thousand times
Yet not heard your reply
I've gazed at every shining star
Not one has caught my eye
Amidst this vast eternal
I hope there just might be
A chance that you have saved a space
A little room for me

Ian Duquemin

The Naturist - Edward Bare

Supine in the breathing grasses
I lie, as a rider passes:
slender woman on a hoss,
figure not unlike Kate Moss,
gees her hoss and tosses head,
goes another way instead.
I would rather that she’d fainted.
Now we’ll never get acquainted.

Edward Bare

Armchair Warrior - Stephen A. Roberts

In the land of vacuous bling
In the shadow of statues and kings
There's a small but well insulated house
Where the armchair warrior moves his mouse

The peace dividend sits in folds round his waist
As he engages in a combat he's never faced
One day he's a Soviet, the next a Peshmerga
Whatever his role he's still got a burger

The screen character ducks, rolls and then dies
He pauses the battle to reach for his fries
The Goddess of War beckons, he willingly greets her
Then offers her death with a slice of his pizza

Stephen A. Roberts

Drifting Tunes - Tony Gardner

Oft times at night I catch the drift
Of songs from long ago
Sometimes it seems I feel the things
I'm sure I cannot know
Days gone by and in the past
Long before my time
Are fresh and present and alive
And sharp as winter's rime
The songs rise raucous in the light
Of the campfire's mystic glow
Or from rude bar rooms of the West
Where rough, raw whiskey flowed
The strains come whisp'ring through the years
Tunes that I feel I know
Some drift still from the Western front
A hundred years ago
It's just half-death before I sleep
When these false mem'ries wind
Their strange and half-known melodies
Around my drowsy mind
Soon I'm asleep and unaware
Of tunes that come and go
But oft at night I catch the drift
Of songs from long ago

Tony Gardner