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Monday, 6 April 2020

poem Stuck in a home


Stuck In A Home.


By Shelley Miller

You're finding it hard to be kind,
There's more interesting things on your mind,
Why look at me when there's nothing to see,
I'm not graceful, appealing, refined.

I mean nothing so why should you care,
I'm a saggy old heap in a chair,
Once I was sprightly, coveted nightly,
You don't know, you weren't there.

I mean little to you and it shows,
I'm fragile, an old wilting rose,
Once, I was happy, now sat in a nappy,
That's soaked and offending your nose.

It's pot luck, a roll of the dice,
A carer who cares to be nice,
A smile at the ready, hands that are steady,
Who speaks to you, not once but twice.

You glance at the clock on the wall,
Hometime, no longer on call,
You proffer a smile in a nonchalant style,
And believe that you gave it your all.

© Copyright Shelley Miller

Sunday, 5 April 2020

Footprints in the Sand 1

Footprints in the Sand 1.

by Len Morgan

The moment I set eyes on her I was smitten!  It was pure unadulterated lust.  If I could have, I would have stripped her naked and ravished her on the spot, her eyes told me the feeling was mutual.
"This is the girl I intend to marry," said Clive, my brother. 
She offered me her hand, "I'm Valery McDonald," she said looking deep into my eyes.
"Hi, I'm Charlie Kane," I said.  

Now I want you to know that I do love my brother, so while she went to avail herself of the facilities I told him that she would not make good wife material.

"She is not the girl for you Clive, so don't get your hopes up."
He took it badly and called me a lot of unkind names.  finally, he stormed out slamming the door behind him. 
I watched from the window of the family seafront chalet, as he stomped off down the beach, leaving deep footprints in the sand.

 He was out of sight when her immaculately manicured hand came to rest beside mine on the windowsill.  I carefully placed my hand over hers and turned.  With trembling breath, I drew her to me.  Her eyes sparkled with desire; I noted fresh lip gloss and perfume had been applied. Her body was firm and warm, responsive to my embrace.  We kissed, not as friends, but as demanding sensual creatures driven by an insatiable hunger.  Our lips met, tongues fenced as we frantically struggled to divest ourselves of encumbering clothes, while still maintaining close physical contact.  I looked deep into those dark sienna eyes, as I undid her bra, cupping her petite breasts in my hands.  I gazed in admiration at her lean naked bronze body.  I nibbled her hard dark nipples, she moaned and planted her knee between my legs, tantalisingly massaging my inner thighs.  We had sex.

 Hunger slaked we showered and dressed in silence.  It had been good; so we exchanged numbers and promised to meet again.  We dallied, drank coffee and talked, she told me that Clive was a mistake she wouldn't be making again. Finally, she left and I waited alone for his return.  I sat in the dark sad at the way the day had turned out for him.  I wanted to hug him and tell him I love him and why I had been so sure.

Life has a way of changing us all in odd ways that we can never fathom. Life is a cynic, a comic, a mimic, a purveyor of sorrow.  It makes friends of foes and enemies of friends.  One certainty in life is uncertainty, the other is death.

 When next I gazed out the window some hours later, all the footprints had been washed away by the tide but Clive had still not returned.  So, before leaving, I placed a carefully worded note in a prominent position, tactfully explaining all; as any concerned big sister would do.


© Copywrite Len Morgan

Saturday, 4 April 2020

A No.19 Bus ride Poem


The Bus Drivers farewell!?

by Sis Unsworth
 
It started without any warning
And it nearly mounted the kerb,
On the No.19 bus that day
The passengers all lost their nerve.

Will somebody please stop the Driver?
A man from upstairs then did plea
But the bus turned around, they left Rayleigh town
and headed straight down to old Leigh.

Whatever is wrong with the Driver?
A voice from the back did complain,
We’ve circled the weir for the third time
And now we are going again.

Please take me home an old lady did cry
And the passengers all tried to flee.
But the bus left the weir, he changed into gear,
and went back on the road to old Leigh.

The old lady then started shaking
and a girl in the front she did shout
for goodness sake stop for a moment
and please let us passengers out.

It is my last day, said the Driver
And look I can just see the sun
I’m retiring today, then I’ll be on my way
but first, let us all have some fun

The Driver turned on some music
and then he started to sing.
Then one by one they began to hum
eventually, they all joined in.

Why can’t we go down to the seaside?
One lady said, licking her lips.
If you’re going that way let’s make it a day
And all stop and have fish and chips.


They smelt the sea breeze from the estuary
and noticed the tide had come in.
The man from upstairs caught them all unawares
suggesting they went for a swim.

They sat on the beach in the sunlight
watched seagulls fly overhead.
They had fish and chips, and went for sea dips,
before they went home to their beds.

The Driver retired and was happy,
the memory so fresh will remain.
Now one day every year
they meet for a beer,
and do it all over again.


 © Copywright Sis Unsworth




Friday, 3 April 2020

Chain Reaction


 CHAIN REACTION                                                

By Richard  Banks

It was one of those meaning of life discussions in the early hours of the morning when everyone has had too much to drink and are talking half baked notions that hopefully, no one will remember when they sober up.
            With Amber it’s about fate; there’s no rhyme or reason with fate, it just decides on a whim what you should do and how, and then makes it happen. Free choice is an illusion. We are like passengers in a driverless car that has set its own co-ordinates.
            Lena disagrees as we knew she would. She’s a ‘New Ager’. For her, there’s a deity called Althea who’s sending out subliminal messages that we can do nothing else but obey. Some of us do good things, some of us bad, but even the bad is good because it’s all part of a great plan that she will reveal to us on the 1st April 2064. As this is less than a year away we don’t have long to wait. On that day I won’t be the only one shouting April Fool, but maybe not before midday.
            Ash is next to give us the benefit of his wisdom. He’s never read a book in his life but he’s seen every sci-fi film that’s ever been made. His theories invariably involve aliens from other galaxies, and tonight is no exception. According to him, the earth is no more than a computer simulation designed to test the social and political assumptions of an alien civilisation. Through us they sort out what works from what doesn’t before trying it out in the real world. That’s theory one. Theory two is that we’re all part of a TV reality show that’s being beamed across the cosmos. Ash is about to move on to theory three when he is brought to a halt by Costello who tells everyone that they are talking the biggest load of hogwash he’s ever heard.
            If Costello has an imagination he keeps it well hidden. His world, he tells us, is the real world and, whether we like it or not, we’re stuck with it. Things happen because people make it happen. It’s cause and effect, a chain reaction, one action impacting on another. There’s no fate, no Althea, no aliens, nothing but ourselves. Even the weather does what we tell it to.
            “But how can you be sure?” says Amber. “Maybe there’s more to life than what the five senses are telling us.”
            “And don’t forget the sixth sense,” squeaks Lena, “that’s the most important one of all.”
            Costello takes a deep breath. He’s tired and his new leg is chaffing the stump that was once connected to his right knee. He’s looking forward to unstrapping it and getting off to bed. Normally he would tell us to bugger off to our own homes but for some reason, that’s not yet apparent, he wants the debate to continue.
            “It’s like this,” he says, “a man takes the morning off work so he can visit his GP for a viro- jab. He oversleeps and leaves himself ten minutes for a hike into town that takes fifteen. If his car wasn’t at the garage he would drive there but, no matter, providing he arrives within the ten-minute slot allocated for his appointment he should be OK. At the top of his road, he turns right instead of going straight ahead, reasoning that the next turning on his left offers a slightly quicker route to the High Street where the doctor has his surgery. When he gets there the road’s busy with people going to their work and the local primary school. Normally he would cross the High Street at the traffic lights but he’s past these now and needs a break in the traffic to get to the other side. Several minutes pass by but he can’t get across, then he sees a gap, but the car he thought was slowing is speeding up, and ….”
  He can’t say it, so Amber does. “You got hit and lost your leg.”
There’s an uncomfortable silence. Costello brushes aside an angry tear and continues. “So, why did it happen, what put me in harm’s way? Nothing but me. I should have got up with the alarm instead of dozing off again. I could have collected the car from the garage at half-past eight, but I didn’t. If I hadn’t changed my route I could have crossed safely at the lights. If I had been thinking clearly I would never have rushed out into the road. Everything I did that morning contributed to what happened. It was a chain of events. If that chain had once been broken the accident would never have happened. So, that’s my theory. Am I right? You bet I am and I’m going to prove it, but I’ll need your help.” He looks directly at me. “I mean you, Scott.”
            “What do you have in mind?”
            “Have you heard of the TimeWalk project?”
            “Of course,” I say, “who hasn’t. It’s the biggest conspiracy theory since Kennedy. No one in their right mind believes it.”
            “I do,” says Ash.
            “And so do I,” says Costello. “It’s been going for seven years in a Government laboratory that doesn’t officially exist. The word is that they’re using it to unpick the Eastern Federation. Nothing too dramatic, just a bit of tinkering that will stop or alter the events of ten years ago. But the good news or the bad whatever way you look at it is that the genie’s out of the bottle. Someone’s sold out to the Mafia and now TimeWalk technology is on the dark web for whoever can pay the big bucks - journeys back in time to wherever you want to go”.
            “So you’re going back to undo the past.”
            “No can do,” he says. “Two men in the same place isn’t allowed. What would happen no one’s sure but it could be terminal. I want you to go.”
            “But suppose I bump into myself.”
            “You won’t. Don’t you remember? On the day of the accident, you were in Putingrad. You will be fine. Thirty minutes in the year before last, that’s all I’m asking. Thirty minutes. It’s all I could afford.”
            “So, what do I do in those thirty minutes?”
            “Break the chain. Make sure that I don’t cross that road when I did, delay me, make me cross at the lights, bat me over the head if you have to. Just make sure that at 9.05 I’m not on the tarmac in front of that car.”
            Costello’s trembling with emotion, he reaches across the table at which we’re sitting and grasps my hand. He’s desperate and I’m his best friend; of course, I’m going to do it.
            Two days later he takes me to a cafe in Brixton to meet ‘the people’ as he calls them. He gives them a bag full of notes, they check it, he leaves and I’m put in the back of a van with blacked-out windows. I’m expecting to be driven to some secret laboratory but that’s not the way it works. I’m given a preprogrammed wrist band. There’s a red button and a green one. Press the red one three times and I get to go to the time and place that’s been agreed. Press the green and I return to the van. If I don’t press the green within thirty minutes they will abort the transmission which, they say, will not be good for my health. I act like I’m not concerned.
            “See you later,” I say. I hit the red button and in the blink of an eye, I go from the van to the lounge diner in my flat. It’s 8.45. I have a plan that doesn’t involve batting Costello over the head. It’s simplicity itself. I drive down to his house, park up a few doors along and when he rushes out, red-faced with annoyance, I follow him to the top of the road where I sound the horn and call out his name.
            “Want a lift?” I say. Of course, he does. He sits down in the front passenger seat.
            “Can you get me to Ali Brown’s surgery in the High Street? I’ve got an appointment at 9.”
            “No problem,” I say. “We should just make it.”
            “Thought you were in Russia,” he says.
            I tell him that there’s been a mix up over flights and that I won’t be going until tomorrow. I have a childish impulse to tell him about TimeWalk but I don’t. The contract I signed with ‘the people’ forbids it, and anyway, how would it benefit Costello to know about future events that will soon be null and void.
            My mind’s too full of thoughts and I don’t notice the car in front of me slow down and stop. I slam on the brakes just in time. Costello jolts forward and almost hits his head on the windscreen. He looks across at me like he’s going to chew me out, then he remembers I’m doing him a favour and settles back in his seat. We get to the High Street and I insist on turning right across the carriageway into an alley that’s adjacent to the surgery. He jumps out, says “cheers mate” and strides through the side door into reception.
            Now it’s time to save myself. I drive home, park the car and hurry up to my flat. It’s 9.10. I stand on the exact bit of carpet on which I arrived and press the green button three times. To my relief, I’m back in the van and one of my minders relieves me of the wrist band.
            “Station?” he asks.
            I nod my head and within minutes I’m ushered out of the van within sight of Brixton Central. I take the hydrorail and get back home, mid-afternoon, hungry and tired. I’m desperate to go round to Costello’s, to see him standing on two good legs but at this time of day he will almost certainly be at his work; best to go there in the evening after 7. I cook myself an omelette and have all but eaten it when my mobile rings. A young woman asks if I’m Mr Barkley. I confirm that I am.
            “Sorry to bother you, sir. I’m Geena Grant from the Echo. I wondered if you could give me your reaction to the trial verdict.”
            “What trial?” I say.
            She seems surprised by the question. She begins a sentence, then abandons it. She starts again. “The trial of Dr Brown for manslaughter. He’s been found guilty. I thought you knew.”
            I tell her no, that I’m on the books of another doctor.
            She apologises. “I’ve obviously made a mistake. I thought you were Mr Scott Barkley of Medway Gardens.”
            “There’s no mistake, that’s me.”
            “Then you must know Mr Costello.”
            “Yes, of course, I do. What has he got to do with this?”
            The girl sounds as confused as I am. “Mr Costello died eighteen months ago as a result of a contaminated injection administered by Dr Brown. I understood it was you who drove him to the surgery. I’m sorry, I thought you knew all this. Is there anything you would like to say?”
            I’m in shock. When I speak it feels like someone else is talking.
            “Don’t ever mess with time,” I say, “who knows what it will bring.”


©  Copywrite Richard Banks
        

A sunny afternoon


Lazing On A Sunny Afternoon 

By Jane Scoggins

Early July, and Lorna was sitting in an old deckchair pulled out from the shed in her back garden. So old was it, that she had got a splinter in her thumb from the wood and had to find the packet of plasters. What a treat after thirty years living in city flats with no outside space, to move to a semi-detached cottage surrounded by countryside. She had not relished the thought of retirement initially but after increasingly competitive targets in the world of finance, she was beginning to feel the benefits of entering into a new world. The delights of slumping into a deckchair with no one to see that she was in an old faded sundress, bare legs and not a scrap of makeup on could not be described, just enjoyed. The years of expensive suits, heels and discreet matching accessories could now be a thing of the past. As would the strict diet, and tasteless seagrass smoothies. It had been hard work with no respite, in the world of high finance with increasingly unachievable targets. The glass ceiling had cracked a bit but had not yet been smashed for women in her profession. Looking around the neglected garden she wondered about getting a gardener or having a go herself at pruning the overgrown shrubs and mowing the lawn. Closing her eyes for a minute to defer having to make a decision she listened to a songbird and almost dozed off. The sound of a quiet female voice the other side of the overgrown hedge brought her back to the present.
    ''It's OK, I will phone and get someone to come and get us, don't worry''
     Lorna opened her eyes and listened again.
    ''Don't worry, it will be alright. Shush whilst I phone''
      A couple of seconds silence followed and then
     '' I have a flat tyre. Yes, we are fine. I have pulled into a field off the road. No, no one has seen me, there is no one about, just a cottage. Yes, use my phone tracker to find me''
      Lorna got up and moved towards the high hedge where somewhere amongst all that thick greenery would be a gate of some sort for access to the field and bridleway. It was not easy to open as the catch was stuck hard but when she did, she peered out to see who it was that had phoned for help.
    The young woman and small child must have heard her struggling to open the gate so were prepared to see a face appear but both looked anxious. The little girl held on to the woman's leg and hid behind her.
     ''Sorry to startle you. I was sitting in the garden and heard you on the phone about your flat tyre''
     The woman answered politely.
     '' Help is on its way thank you''
      The child peeped out from behind the woman's legs and then started to move her arms and hands rapidly about her head as an insect buzzed around her saying 'Ouch'' when at the same time a prickle from the field pierced through her sock into her foot.
      '' Why not come into my garden and wait? There are are no buzzy insects or prickles there''
       Rather reluctantly the woman looked at the child who had started to move forward. She turned to the woman
      ''Can we please?''
       Again rather reluctantly, but keen to appease the child the woman replied
      ''That is kind, thank you''
       Inside the gate, the child surveyed the small unruly garden and then flopped down on the grass, and took off her sandals and socks. A prickle had pierced the skin and a drop of blood oozed.
Lorna reached in her dress pocket and produced a plaster and held it out to the child.
       '' Can I put it on by myself?'' she pleaded
        The woman smiled and nodded her agreement. The plaster was put on more or less in the right place and with much concentration, before the little girl slipped her feet back into her sandals and secured the Velcro fastenings before exclaiming.


    '' We have a treehouse and a swing in our big garden, but you have lots of daisies, I know how to make a chain''
      With a bit of help from the two adults, the child made a chain and then put it on her head as a crown and danced about the unmown lawn singing London Bridge Is Falling Down, whilst the woman clapped softly and smiled. At the sound of voices, the neighbours' cat made an appearance in the garden. The child was delighted and sank to her knees to stroke her.
  ''That's Mrs Miggins'' said Lorna by way of introduction.
  Mrs Miggins arched her back and stretched her neck so that the child could stroke her under the chin as she purred.
   ''I like cats better than dogs, apart from Lupo'' she mused.
     '' Granny has dogs, but they are not always friendly and Candy barks a lot, and they sometimes growl, and that's not nice is it? Granny says that they are grumpy because they are old, and they can't help that'' she returned her attention to pampering Mrs Miggins and all was quiet. The woman in white jeans and crisp shirt had an elegance about her even when she crouched down to stroke and tickle the cat that made Lorna aware of her own scruffy appearance.
    ''Mummy could I have a cat for my next birthday?''
      ''We'll see Lottie. Perhaps''
   A car was heard drawing up nearby and a man's head appeared at the gate. The woman called to the child, then shook Lorna's hand saying
    ''Thank you so much for entertaining us while we waited, it was so kind of you to invite us into your garden'' and with that they were gone, the child still wearing the daisy crown on her head and giving Lorna a wave and a smile.
      Lorna went inside the cottage to make a cup of tea. In the hallway, she caught sight of her dishevelled hair and bra strap on display hanging down her arm smiled to herself mouthing 'country bumpkin!'
      Going back outside she found the child’s socks screwed up where she had left them under the deckchair.
    Lorna kept the socks in the kitchen for a few days and then took them upstairs and put them on her childhood teddy as a keepsake. They were almost new, pretty with a lacy top.
    It was not for a few weeks that Lorna gave another thought to the woman and child. She was shopping in Kings Lynn and saw a photograph in the window of the bookshop that triggered memories of that afternoon in the garden. The picture was of Anmer Hall, a house a few miles away used by Prince William and his family when in Norfolk.
  Lorna stood looking at the picture, and the one beside it of William, Catherine, and their two children.
   ''Oh my goodness, Lorna whispered to herself. I have come to live in Norfolk not far from where they spend their holidays. And I think I invited the future Queen into my back garden in my raggy old sundress, my hair in a mess and with my bra straps showing. I gave a plaster and made a daisy crown for a princess, and my old teddy is wearing her royal socks. No, really? Or am I imagining it? No, I don’t think I am. Why did I not think those faces were familiar, and come to think of it I am sure I heard her call the child Lottie when they left. And the dog's names, I will google them when I get home. I must tell Ted bear when I get back, he could be almost as important as Paddington.

 © Copywrite Jane Scoggins

Thursday, 2 April 2020

Death on the south bank


DEATH ON THE SOUTH BANK 

by Peter Woodgate
                                                              
An insignificant life on view
Amongst the laughter and the rain,
Just worthy of a glance, or two
To those, who stepped again and again
Over that ebbing entity.

I looked at the slender limbs and beak,
At widespread wings and pitiful eyes,
An ignominious frame, so weak
And gazing upward at the skies
A plea, I thought, for freedom.

With gentle hands I carried it
From that place devoid of dignity
And placed it at a site more apt
Where none but I could see
Its release from this cruel, cruel world.


©  Copywrite Peter Woodgate

Haiku

Not yet Spring

This first Haiku published in Blythe Spirit.  Winner 2016 - British Haiku Society:

by Robert Kingston

Not yet Spring
the neighbour's ball still
in the garden

pumpkin shapes
a child grinds out
a new tooth

snow angels
in the afternoon sun
mothers red face

Remembrance day -
polishing the buttons
on an old suit

between leaves
one story
of father's past


Essex haiku group

The group meets on the third Saturday of each month. Generally in the Chelmsford area.
The aim of the group is to experience, explore and share haiku related genre. 

For further details please contact, Rob Kingston via email at; rob_kingston@yahoo.com