LOOKING BACK 2022/LOOKING FORWARD 2023

Looking back,

there were decisions I should not have made,

there were decisions I should have made,

things I should not have said,

things I should have said,

people I should have forgotten,

people I should have remembered,

situations I should have avoided,

situations I should have arranged,

jobs I should have abandoned,

jobs I should have done.

*

Looking forward,

there will be decisions I will not make,

there will be decisions I will make,

things I will not say,

things I will say,

people I will forget,

people I will remember,

situations I will avoid,

situations I will arrange,

jobs I will abandon,

jobs I will do.

*

American professional baseball pitcher, Satchell Paige's famous quote always comes to mind at this time of the year:

"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."

And to that, I add:

"Amen, and onward."

 

LAST BLOG POST OF 2022 - PEACE, LOVE & UNDERSTANDING

 

A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS

TO

ALL THOSE OF US

WHO GIVE A DAMN

ABOUT

PEACE, LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING.

ONWARD 2023.

WHEN WE SHOUT HAPPY NEW YEAR,

LET'S HOPE SO.

TAMMY WYNETTE - THE STORY GOES

The story goes ......

...... that when Tammy Wynette told her first husband 

she was taking the three kids and leaving him,

to drive their beat-up station wagon to Nashville, 

Euple Byrd (his real and comedy name) asked 

why she was going there. 

"To become a star." 

The chronic, scathing Byrd spat: "Dream on."

With a CV of church singing and harmonising, 

and a teardrop-sob in her voice, she made records, 

hits of love, loneliness, heartache, heartbreak, divorce,

of being a woman, standing by her man, her men.

When I was a child, I wanted to be a bus driver, 

a priest, an actor, maybe a writer when I grew up, 

but I was never damned with any tight-lipped sneering 

“Dream on” dripping with sarcasm. 

My mother and several others, but especially my mother, 

encouraged my dreams as mothers do,

even though I never drove a bus, wore a collar, trod the boards, 

dreams of writer’s fame long gone.

Years after splitting, Euple Byrd asked

the famous Tammy Wynette for an autograph. 

She wrote: 

“Dream on!”

SANTA IN THE GARDEN

 

Santa likes to dig-dig-dig,

Santa likes to grow-grow-grow,

Santa likes to rake-rake-rake,

But most of all,

Santa likes to hoe-hoe-hoe

CHRISTMAS CRIB OUTSIDE ST TERESA'S CHURCH, GLEN ROAD, BELFAST - A MEMORY

It was the highlight of the year,
apart from toys on Christmas day,
to see the outdoor crib
where the baby Jesus lay.

Memory and maturity spoil
the wonder of it all
for the star was a bulb

and Jesus was a doll. 

MOTHER'S SON

 

It doesn’t take much –

the sizzle of bacon frying,

a wasp squashed by a newspaper,

a dandelion,

a soft handshake,

the smell of bleach,

champ and butter,

raindrops on a window,

an ink blot,

finding coins down the back of a sofa,

tomato sandwiches,

a TV theme tune,

washing up liquid bubbles,

stewed tea,

whispering a prayer,

melting candle wax,

talcum powder,

a full moon,

the rush of a tide,

a crying baby,

good manners,

a church spire,

daffodils,

Bisto,

knitting needles,

paraffin,

Forty Shades of Green,

furniture polish,

rosary beads,

snooker -

all this and more - 

mother's son.

IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN - HO, HO, HO!

 

Link to publisher FeedARead {It is no longer on Amazon.} - 

https://www.feedaread.com/books/Only-Yules-Verses-9781784070823.aspx

This book was published in 2013. An unsolicited comment appeared on Amazon. I call stuff like this little nudges of encouragement. Of course, for every flattering nudge, there are several pokes in the eye waiting in the wings. 

Here’s the comment from a man called Joe Koot:

“Only Yules and Verses is one of those special little books that you happen upon serendipitously. I have read authors' blurbs before extolling the mirth to be found in THEIR book only to buy the book and be severely disappointed. What an unexpected joy, therefore, to pick up this little gem and read it to the end with smiles, a few laughs out loud and some headshakes at the ingenuity of Joe Cushnan. I thoroughly enjoyed this and wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone. P.S. I am not a friend or family member of the author, but how I wish I were!”

Here's a sample:

WENCESLAS WEATHER

 

Good King Wenceslas looked out

And did a double take,

Despite all his initial doubt,

He rubbed his eyes awake.

Brightly shone the sun that day,

Sweltering hot and sticky,

He thought as this is Christmas Eve,

The forecast’s a bit dicky.

 

“Bring me shorts Bermuda-style,

Bring me sun tan lotion,

Bring me cola by the crate

And ice cubes by the ocean.

Bring my sunbed by the pool,

I can’t believe this weather,

I can swim around all day

In the altogether.”

 

Good King Wenceslas’s dream

Ended with a bump,

He fell out of his bed it seems

And bruised his ample rump,

Groggy from his accident

And dazed and half-asleep,

He gaped out through the curtain gap

To see snow six-feet deep.

‘APPY CHRISTMAS

To gadget geeks – Appy Christmas

To bakers – Bappy Christmas

To dentists – Cappy Christmas

To good blokes – Chappy Christmas

To audiences – Clappy Christmas

To birds – Flappy Christmas

To Tube guards – Gappy Christmas

To motor racers – Lappy Christmas

To explorers – Mappy Christmas

To babies – Nappy Christmas

To urban singers – Rappy Christmas

To boxers – Scrappy Christmas

To make-up artists – Slappy Christmas

To crocodiles – Snappy Christmas

To plumbers – Tappy Christmas

To puppies – Yappy Christmas

To video game players – Zappy Christmas