Friend Of Mine - Ian Duquemin

Jesus was a friend of mine
We hung out every day
He asked me why I sinned so much?
And why I never pray?
I told him that I loved him
That I do the best I can
Said "I am not a preacher
I am simply just a man"
He told me of his journey
He'd come so very far
He pointed to the heavens
Towards the brightest star
He said that's where he came from
And I stood there in his spell
I wondered how this Moon child
Could have stumbled into hell?
I watched as he was talking
To the crowds that gathered round
I saw his lips were moving
But I could not hear a sound
And when I asked him later
Of the message I'd not heard
He told me not to worry
As he hadn't said a word
The further that we travelled
He moved too far ahead
It's then that I discovered
That I had been misled
I called for him to save me
But he did not hear my call
The man that I had followed
Was not a friend at all

Ian Duquemin

Depps of Depravity - Donald Keyman

I must admit I’ve hardly slept
Waiting for the latest dirt on Johnny Depp
Another day of lurid pages
Filled with tales of coke-fuelled rages
Is there a drug he didn’t do
Well, ketamine - he denies that too
Love and hate together can go
Sometimes it takes two to tango
For a prank the missus said
That she defecated in the bed
How did things get that sick
Was she bored of his pirate schtick?
The lawyers rub their hands in glee
Every day means a bigger fee
His legacy can’t be a major factor
Let's admit he's not a great actor
Forever now he’ll look back in anger
At these memories - preserved in Amber

Donald Keyman
Image: ©Anders L. Damgaard

Travellers, . . Stay At Home - Tony Bradley

God gave us talents to build homes
with limbs, and brains, to unravel
but not, the fleet foot of the antelope
nor the fishes' fins, or birds' wings, to travel.

Tony Bradley

The Troll - Tony Gardner

Deep there in the darkness underneath the bridge
Sits a scary fella, hungry for a meal
And if you don't tip-toe circumspect across
He may hear and grab you tightly by the heel
If he thinks you're tasty, he'll eat you with his bread
If he thinks you're pretty he'll take you to his bed

Underneath the dark bridge hides the scary Troll
Just waiting for his meal to come along
So tip-toe as you pass him, across his scary bridge
And never, Never, NEVER sing a song
If he catches you, he’ll eat you, with salad for his Tea
If he likes you he will cage you where none will ever see.

Tony Gardner

S.O.S. (Save Our Statues) - Oscar Milde

Prince Albert with his pier-side view
and Hugo up on Candie’s rock
must tremble, if a stone statue
can tremble when it gets a shock
as, one by one, monuments fall.
If one’s pulled down, what next, them all?

It must be worrying to be
a statue, innocent or not:
the subject of such scrutiny,
regarded by some as a blot
to be reviled, to have to move
because campaigners disapprove.

Things change, we know that, nonetheless,
while change is good, some is less so.
Should we not focus on progress,
move on from wrongs of long ago,
together face a future shared
where threatened statues may be spared?

Oscar Milde