SORROW

Sorrow is a frost that envelops the soul,
Chills the blood and numbs the mind.
Forgiveness is as hard as a granite heart - 
I am not a natural forgiving kind.

There are those with erasers poised and ready
To wipe the sins of the past away,
But the lifelong grief of the ones that remain
Might not allow their salvation day.

Some with guilt on their bloodied hands
Who pushed us closer to the grim abyss
Are still not worthy of a handshake grip
Nor the warm embrace of a Christian kiss.

LEAF

I hold the dry leaf,
crush it in my fist,
then clap the dust from my hands.
As the leaf vanishes into thin air,
I shrug and fail to care,
oblivious to nature's grief.

CELEBRATE THE FOOL

January jokers
February feckless
March morons
May maniacs
June jesters
July jerks
August asses
September simpletons
October oafs
November nincompoops
December dunces

Every month we see them
But it seems it is the rule
That April is the only month
To celebrate the fool.

STINGS

I've been told that I was stung in the face by a wasp
When I was a baby in my mother's arms.
She was on her way to the shop across the road
When the swift assassin struck me unawares.
I've been told that I screamed and my mother was frantic,
That I developed a slight swelling in the cheek
That Germolene or some such magic calmed eventually.

But I've had my revenge on hundreds of the little bastards over the years,
The stings of the father, you might say, swatted and squashed
By tennis racquets, rolled-up magazines, Irish News copies
And whatever else came to hand in duels to their deaths.

I have been stung many times since the first incident,
stings not so easily dealt with by racquets and magazines,
stings that didn't even involve the angry evil of wasps,
stings from shallow acquaintances and false friends,
stings that leave me with thoughts of vengeance, of loose ends.

READING 2 POEMS: CANDLES & NEOLITHIC

Here I am reading two poems - Candles & Neolithic

https://audioboo.fm/boos/2026693-2-poems-candles-neolithic

CONSCIOUS UNCOUPLING

*Conscious uncoupling,
Unconscious coupling,
Rational unbuckling,
Irrational buckling,
Knowingly unknotting,
Unknowingly knotting,
Decisively unzipping,
Indecisively zipping,
Conclusive untying,
Inconclusive tying,
Premeditated unshackling
Unpremeditated shackling..........

.......sad when things don't work out,
but no need to mangle the language in my book,
inventing phrases and descriptions at times
is just old gobbledygook.


*A phrase used by a celebrity to describe a relationship break-up.

THE GHOSTS THAT SELL MEMORIES by NIGEL USHER

Allow me to guide you towards The Ghosts That Sell Memories by Nigel Usher

http://www.narratoruk.com/2014/03/the-ghosts-that-sell-memories-nigel.html?spref=fb