Miracles

The first miracle is that the Universe exists:

the second that the Earth is so alive:

the third is Mankind:

and the fourth will be

if the second can survive the third.

When all is said and nearly done

then nothing really matters much.

When, without war or poverty

a life as comfortable as mine

begins to stutter to its end

there's little lost and still less won.

TWEETS 25

JAN 8  SUSSEX

I wondered why

so many cars on the road today;

then realised why -

all the ice and snow has melted away.

Changing gear is usually H

but more economical is W

ALLOTMENT

Another two hours in mud and cold:

there isn't any pleasure in it

but there is some satisfaction.

BED

used to be exciting - sex and cuddles

but now it's just a refuge from the daily troubles.

DISCO  OR  COCOA ?

One old woman in my bed

or lots of young ones in my head.

LIFE

like a fly's acquaintance with window glass

MORE BAD NEWS

The news seems always full of death and disaster,

a world out of control that we can't master,

tragedies of loss and grief far way beyond

my little limited life being in bond

to scrabbling for some trivial bum rhymes

and feeling guilty at being happy sometimes.

THURSDAY BAND NIGHT

The older ones are not attractive;

the younger ones need younger men.

At least the dancing keeps me active

partnering despair again.

I have a little poe tree

nothing will it bare

about my human frailty

but what I hereby share.

There's very little silver

and even less that's gold

and as for Spain's fair daughter

I wouln't be so bold

WINTER BREAK

Within this Spanish winter hotel

occasional sun warms the clientele

and stirs the dregs of teenage dreams

for so many old folks in jeans.

Can miracle births be expected when

these days there are so many pregnant men ?

We're not the wealthy but equally not the poor;

we have enough but naturally want more.

Among the sad detritus of old age

her flowing sunshine hair illuminates

the weary gloom and reaffirms

the beauty of the human race.

What I want in a woman is beauty

or at least some physical attractiveness;

lust was just an episode in the past

never intended to last.

Two sister children run their game

etching the adults' life in embers

with life in flame.

I got one hit from the Congo/Kinshasa

but no return and nothing from Lhasa.

SUMS

People like arithmetic;

they multiply.

I stand disoriented, lost in space,

devoid of bearings to locate the place

I left so recently but sadly now

cannot remember where it is or how

to find it in the quiet gloom

of vastness in this hotel dining room.

Domestic abuse

So many young and beautiful women

sparkling everywhere on TV

could make some men resent their own women

being only ordinary.

In a house across the road

there live a young woman and two young girls;

no man but also an older woman

and I asked the young woman "Is she your mother?"

"No, she's my partner."  Oh ! Touchez.

How sad for a woman to peak in beauty

only a quarter way through her life

but there is the consolation of children

hopefully when she becomes a wife.

Tweets 24

Too late. No threat.

------------------------

Winter is stalking my garden

but Summer's already gone.

Summer sunset - glowing coals.

Old and waiting to die,

life seems the dregs of a dream.

Is it just coincidence that the rise in child ADHD cases

follows the growth of 'gentle parenting' advice ?

COURTESY OF THE ROAD

Politeness can sometimes go too far

like gesturing 'thanks' to an empty parked car.

MANOSPHERE

While you may compliment a woman

a woman complements you.

OLD  FART

I'm out of place in a disco

but what would I rather see -

real young people dancing

or actors on TV ?

Searching the table among the glasses

the collared dove found food to go

scattering every now and then

crumbs for the sparrow waiting below.

                                

I like those discos when the music

is catchy enough for dancing

and when the women are beautiful -

young and slim and entrancing.

I tend to note the ages of the deaths

of those that merit mention in the news

and mildly gloat over those that I've outlived

pathetically challenging the fact that I lose.

Strawbery patch

I'm pleasantly surprised to note

a rather unusual absence of slugs

while searching for any hidden fruit

(ignoring the possible presence of bugs)

by feeling 'blind' among the leaves.

But then my hand feels something soft

and moist, surely over-ripe but retrieves

the berry by squeezing  . . . I'm shocked !

It moves ! Above the leaves a head appears.

I recognise it and now it's clear -

if you want to keep your strawberries slug free,

encourage your patch to be well-frogly.

Apples

Now the crows are attacking my apples

spearing them with their wicked beaks

but there's such a glut it doesn't matter

losing their share in the following weeks.

The garden is littered with baby apples

pushed overboard by the swelling sprays,

dessert for the resident slugs and snails

surviving the sweltering summer days.

The 'drops' I add to my compost bin -

a layer cake of everything;

the big apples will be sliced and stewed,

boxed in the freezer for winter food.

Is this what it's all about ?

A happy family life.

Then lonely grieving.

Existence without wife.

And the long leaving.

Tweets 23

 SCAMMED

It's not just the money. I can pay it.

But I don't like being taken for a ride.

It bruises my self-confidence

and wounds my vanity pride.

Some of my friends are flowers,

some fruits, some vegetables.

They charm the summer hours

with beauty and digestibles.

Gym weights hopefully build muscle.

They certainly build self-confidence.

I'm very grateful for a lucky life.

Not quite as lucky as it might have been.

But a lot luckier than many others.

Dictatorship is brutalism.

Dictator is too bland a term.

It should be Brutalist.

Tiredness can be lethargy or fatigue.

Which is yours ?

DOUBLE  VISION

She sees a possible husband.

He sees a possible fuck.

The Sea

Out of my depth and floundering

you tried to teach me how to swim.

I learned enough to stay afloat

and then you pulled me in.

Secure on land I found my feet

and gladly fell in step with you.

We marched together down the years

and hid the sea from view.

Through time we built a barrier

proof against any threatening storm

and in the lee we passed our lives

peaceful, dry and warm.

But then you died and suddenly

our guarding sea-wall cracked apart.

It cannot keep the ocean out

and I'm back at my start.

But this time's different from before -

no teacher tries to help me swim.

No longer caring if I drown

I watch the sea sweep in.

She lay so calmly after sleepless nights

I hardly had the heart to wake her.

She looked so peaceful in the morning light -

should I disturb her, did I dare shake her?

I sat beside her on a stool

and kissed her forehead, marble cool.

"Wake up" I whispered "Let's go home.

There's lots to do and I need you"

She didn't stir - I waited,

then reluctantly I left her.

I know she would've come if she could

but the coffin kept her.

Tweets 22

LITERATURE

Plays and novels basically

aim at entertaining:

the better poetry

aims at insight.

THE EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

should be re-named a scene contest.

All the songs are commercial rejects;

it's all about the visual effects (!)

If you want to harden yourself

against disappointment,

try growing plants.

If you want to practise hatred,

try gastropods.

The current attractions at my gym

are the smooth, well rounded bottoms

of various young, attractive women.

They wear such sexy, bum hugging shorts !

Oh, to be a short, bum hugger !

The sunshine tempts the men to shorts

but the women stick to longs.

Some politicians like the idea of The People

more than the people themselves.

          SCAM

The biggest con-trick ever

is Life After Death.

Dictators tend to stay in power

because they give so many lower

class people jobs, status and power.

Long is good; too long uncomfortable.

Wide is good; too wide improbable.

Long and wide is porn material.

Why don't creatures other than Man become obese ?

You don't see ovewrweight foxes, badgers, mice or geese.

It can't be just the hunger of animal appetite

with cows and sheep in acres of grass just there to bite.

Is it instead the hunger of the human mind

needing to be occupied to pass the time ?

Conclave

Why this conclave business ? Instead

why doesn't God from Heaven above

send down to settle on one man's head

his holy messenger pure white dove ?

Oh, sorry, of course. Poop.

A girl's dilemma

How was I supposed to know

that, if you left, I'd miss you so?

Now I'm so lonely I just cry

thinking about the reason why.

I never should have let you go

and it's so hard to handle so

if it's not enough for me to suck

ok, I promise, I will fuck.

Some sail the ocean, voyaging wide

daring danger with youthfull pride

run with the wind or drift with the tide.

Adventure is the fuel.

Some plunge the ocean, diving deep

beyond safe light where creatures creep

unknown to men who aim to keep

discovery as their rule.

Some travel wide and deep as well

heroes indeed as legends tell,

who enter heaven via hell,

their fame bright as a jewel.

Others are timid and stay at home

content to fester instead of roam

preferring shallows to ocean foam -

who's for a dip in the pool ?

The times they are a'changing

Whatever happened to those manly handshakes?

Metamorphosed into high fives, fist bumps.

But now mutated into male embraces - cheek bumps.

She wants

to be diaphonous as her dress,

an insubstantial spirit free

from all the disagreeable stress

of functioning biology;

to banish farts and faeces, sweat

and menstrual liquidity

but what I want is warmth in bed

her smoothness and solidity.

She hopes her pungent perfumes quell

all hint of animality

but I prefer the ranker smell

of female sexuality.

Despite our differences I learn

to treat her dreams with gravity

and she endeavours in her turn

to live with my depravity.

Cheap Playlist

The DJ danced

as if entranced

by the music that he'd played.

The people stood

as if of wood

regretting the money they'd paid.

I waited at the crossing for

the cars to stop and lights to change

but facing me they'd wait no more

to pass across and extend their range.

One after another, then twos then fours

past the red light they surged ahead,

unstoppable, ignoring the laws -

one hundred frigate birds overhead.

Tweets 21

The torment of a man's old age:

 young women

Avenida Vieira Souto

--------------------------

It's hard to judge quite which is best

of parading male and female breast -

the boobs on the birds

or the pecs on the geeks.

RANKINGS

----------------

The song before the singer.

The poem over the poet.

The art above the artist.

it's hard getting up

from bathing in the warmth

of the winter bedclothes

MENTAL  AVIANS

My thoughts used to perch

and sing like blackbirds

but now they fly away

like swallows.

TRACER  SHELLS ?

Somebody's firing silver bullets

streaking across the summer sky.

They seem to be coming from near the airport.

Does anybody know why?

WHAT A WOMAN WANTS

Boyfriend, lover, husband, father.

The essence of feminine beauty

is a pretty face and a slim curvy body.

The crux of masculine beauty

is a pretty face and a slim muscled body.

When to wear leather

depends on the weather.

Most of those mistakes I make

every single day

are due to one arch-criminal

who just won't go away.

Any relation to Moriarty?

Gravity !

Forget souls; try sufaces

Personalities are surfaces with idiosyncrasies,

not smooth but covered in bumps and dips,

snags and dents, scars and scratches;

too smooth and they just slide past each other

but sometimes the imperfections don't miss

but catch one another, so to speak - kiss,

and then each surface has another that matches.

TRICK OR TREAT

Past his youth and seemingly a lifelong bachelor

to everyone's surprise he suddenly had a ladyfriend.

No-one knew her or where he'd met her and he did not explain

but she was passably attractive and clearly younger than him.

He stopped his usual meetings with us, presumably besotted.

We learned about the marriage only after the event.

and  no more news until we heard that he'd become a dad

and nothing more for a year or so until we learned the sad

rumours of a very acrimonious divorce.

Of late he's started to rejoin his previous group of friends

but won't discuss his family and any mention offends.

He's very well off and I'm sure he can afford the maintenance

but I sometimes wonder how he views the whole experience.