Poetry
Love poem 3: Your treacherous attraction
caught in your web
of divine beauty
I am consumed by
your treacherous attraction,
as it drives me crazy,
to absolute distraction…
Love poem 2: Piquant spittle
twisting
and turning
to impart flavor
enhancing
the relish
I truly savour
our tongues duel
and softly wriggle,
the quench
for love’s fuel
you kindly giggle
I taste
the zest
your piquant spittle
the remnants
of last night’s food
a little…
Love poem 1: I fall for you
kneeling humbly
looking up
I’m on my knees
adoring
your lovely face
stature
and feminine grace
I fall for you
14 love poems leading up to Valentine’s Day
For the next 14 days I shall be attempting to write and post a love poem every day.
Nowadays romance is often cheesy or commercialised. Or in Hollywood romcoms. Who writes handwritten love letters anymore? Maybe the odd card is sent? Where is Cupid? And where are his arrows?
Through all the recent hardships of covid and war, love may have gone lost a little. So I’m going to try and give love a little boost to hopefully get you in the spirit…
Love is in the air! Can you feel it? ♥️
Stay tuned…
We were children
we were children
of children
of some other children
that were
children
of children
with parents
who are dead
and they were children
once…
not twice
Hollowcause
lured
caught
assembled
marked
branded
abandoned
kicked
beaten
deported
dragged
shoved
pushed
souls exported
shot
killed
hung
gassed
terminated
cremated
burned
belongings flung
unreturned
the innocent
lost
the Holocaust
My Groucho moment
I, shopping trolley
I’ve been used
I’ve been touched
I’ve been dragged
I’ve been abused
I’ve been banged
I’ve been pushed
I’ve been shoved
I’ve been fouled
I’ve been abandoned
I’ve been smashed
I’ve been sunk
I’ve been drowned
I’ve been crashed
I’ve been lonely
I’ve been found
I’ve been battered
I’ve been bound
I’ve been held
I’ve been chained
I’ve been filled
I’ve been full
I’ve been stained
I’ve been packed
I’ve been smacked
I’ve been gathered
I’ve been left
I’ve been right
I’ve been strong
all along
Murder in East Kilbride
A newlywed
was found dead in a bed,
kilt by her husband
wearing a tartan coloured red.
Her recent spouse
had drank quite a lot
and was insulted
when she called him tosspot.
He killed her
and played his pipes that night;
woke up every soul
up to Glasgow alright.
The polis got wind
of the sound of his drone:
“We’ve got you by yer testes
now your cover is blown…”
Unhidden words
I set free
my words
and release them
in my writing
so no one
can ever capture them
and hold them
against me
including myself
Advice for cyclists
M’re people – a brief Shakespearean rant
My Groucho moment
A bit of tongue in cheek
we saw eye to eye
when she gave me mouth to mouth
and whilst we were cheek to cheek
I smiled from ear to ear
Hey Siri
New Delhi
smog
smog
smog
man-made fog
Beep!
Beep!
Beep!
cars that weep
Jetpacked
Help!
we are being Jetpacked
changing
from blue to green
WordPress
didn’t tell us
on that
I’m not too keen
Sometimes when one door closes in life, another door opens…
Mosquito
you pierce our skin
and create an itch
you really are
a needy bitch
My father is dreaming
staring
into the distance
far away
my father is dreaming
about the past
taking him to places
unknown spheres
remembering things
that wouldn’t last
I am aware
of his silent stare
and I shall kindly
leave him there…
Twinns
twice
an eggeth
we did cost thee
an armeth
and a leggeth
My Groucho moment
I love these days
I love these days
when it’s raining outside
and I can just hide
where it’s cosy inside
I lie in bed
got nott’n to do
I may have some cake
with a cup of brew
I love these days
Waves of wit
I’m floating
on a sea of words
carried
by waves of wit
Thesaurus
is my beacon
and helps me out
a tiny bit
Witty word: Teatotaller
/ tea-toht-ler /
noun
a person who has a strong, often uncontrollable, desire to drink tea all the time:
After buying 100 boxes of Liptons and popping the kettle on 24/7, it was determined that Mrs Drinkwater was a teatotaller.
Origin of teatotaller:
2023; poetpas©️; Modern English, based on late Middle English, based on silliness and wit.
Hey Siri
Food depression
I go to the store
I wander aimlessly
like the day before
I don’t know where to look
I don’t know what to cook
I’m not in the mood
for any boring food
I don’t want beans
or any other greens
and I do not fancy meat
I’ll get fish and chips
it might just make me happy
it shall be my treat
Neil’s dying words
I’m over the moon
Neil said
before he was dead
I shall now focus
on heaven
and go there instead
Tie the not
tie the not
but unleash your yes
it may bring you a thought
that might be fresh
24 hour rhyme
standing
still
a lamppost
with a clock
shedding light
on time…
a 24 hour rhyme
Happy 2023
Happy 2023!
Have a laugh,
enjoy yourself,
don’t hold back…
that is my plea!
My Groucho moment
God save our queen 🧷
Vivienne
you did well
you gave us punk 🧷
and anarchist apparel
we shall miss you
dear Westwood
you were unique
you did good!
R.I.P. Dame Vivienne Westwood
B your best
B
your best
and let the lights shine
within you!
On a swing
up
and down
your mood is
on a swing
from
high
to low
you do your thing
you fly
in the sky
whilst I
stand by
patiently
waiting
I do not know
why
Torment me
torment me
to absolute distraction
bring it on
if only a fraction
of your pesting kindness
playful love
you tickle me senseless
I’ll surrender
I’ll be defenceless
Boxing Day
Hurray, Hurray!
It’s Boxing Day!
All is on sale!
Come out and p(l)ay!
You are the best gift
~ Giulia Rosa
Some Irish Christmas songs
Santa Clause
believe in me
and be good
it’s in my clause
it’s understood
I want to know
I want to know
what you feel
I want to know
how you heal
I want to know
the best of you
I want to know
the rest of you
I want to know
Thinking
I have been thinking about things
but I haven’t given it much thought
Cold sun
the wind pests
by blowing
its morrow breeze;
the rays feel warm
yet I bloody freeze
My star
I love you
for who you are
you guide me
always
from afar
My eBooks
Full circle
I’ve gone
full circle
said the square peg
to the triangle
as silly as it may sound…
R.I.P. Angelo Badalamenti
Angelo Badalamenti was an American composer, best known for his work scoring films for director David Lynch, notably Blue Velvet, the Twin Peaks saga, The Straight Story and Mulholland Drive. Badalamenti received the 1990 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for his “Twin Peaks Theme”. May he rest in peace…
My Groucho moment
A stream of glee
I gaze upon
your blood red lips
for we are connected
joined
never to disguise
your smile
a stream
of glee
meandering
through our everlife
for we shall always be
A few alternative Xmas tree ideas
If you don’t want to put up a tree this year or don’t have the means, motive or opportunity, here are some alternative ideas that might bring you some joy. Or create something yourself. Dare to be different, dare to be original…
We are up against the wall
Bullet point
-
what’s the point
said the bullet to his gun - triggering me into foul play
is not what I call fun
Shower curtain
drawn
to divide
naked from air
all is steamed up
and I am just bare
Sacred vow
I shall always love you
and will always make you smile!
Get lost
I want to wander off
into the woods
to see the forest
where mist is king
and all birds sing
the air is pure
the soil mature
I want to get lost…
and be with me
TikTok
tick tock
TikTok
I will bide my time
without thy foolish crock
Windows to the city
the streets
all seem in place
the buildings
stand with grace
the skyline
and the clouds
hover over
busy crowds
the people
walking by
more than plenty
catch my eye
the sound of sirens
echo dread
fetching the wounded
and the dead
the windows
to the city
make the ugly
look so pretty
My Groucho moment
Dictionary
you are great
with words
with words
you are great
on you I can rely
to you I can relate
Winter is coming
the end is nigh
winter is here
it may be cold
it may be nuclear ☢️
Pity party
welcome
to my pity party
my endless sorrows
are nice and hearty
welcome
to my pity party
my blues
look colourful and are very arty
welcome
to my pity party
but please feel sorry
for poor me
today I may throw another
two
or maybe
even 3
You stare into the distance
off
to a world
of dreams
it seems
you are far away
at a place
where you’d like to stay
I see you gaze
desirably
unburdened
and free
Stuck behind a bloody truck
slow
slow
what the fuck
I’m stuck
behind
a bloody truck
every day
what can I say
get out my way
please go away
Thanksgiving
thanks a lot
for stuffing me,
said the turkey
to the cook
I think
it gave me the shits tho,
am I now
of the hook?
The rise of a new sun
the rise
of a new sun
at the break
of dawn
tries to squeeze light
through
my eyelids drawn
I try to resist
and turn
the other cheek
but I’m not ready yet,
I’m still
too weak
22-11-22
22-11-22
what are the odds
doubles halved doubled
you must’ve noticed it too
My Groucho moment
When I peek through the lid of my slow cooker
it will all come together
it just takes time…
An ominous gathering
they are hither
and they will surround thee
these spirits
an assembly
of wraiths
lost
forever
beyond all our faiths
Jim White – Bluebird
We suffer well
there is endearing
in fearing
in sadness
and good grief
we must sustain
and feel the pain
and hope one day
to find relief
A spotted bouncy deer
breezy break of day
a spotted bouncy deer
stands
near the perfect trees
hidden
in plain sight
slightly in fear
smelling
a potential danger
of a hunting stranger
Dead couples
walking side by side
like corpses that abide
abide by boredom
in ungraceful stride
awkward looks
routined ways
together trottin
like a pair of strays
their dying faces
at boring places
tell their story
of past gone glory
loneliness
galore
together
even a bigger bore
rejecting
true desire
afraid of sparks
igniting a fire
surprise surprise
it’s love’s demise
Imprints
imprints,
stuck
in their tracks,
left
a deep impression
with me
and are etched
in my memory
forever
My Groucho moment
Dancing dunlins
a flock
murmuring
in waves
waltzing
in the sky
dancing
and swirling
in the air…
I’m jealous
to be fair
A jolly good swear
Oh fuckitty fuck,
bullocks,
crap,
shit
and that sort of thing…
makes me happy,
sets me free,
and almost makes me sing
Golden brown
golden brown
the drink goes down
warm and slick
‘t gives me a kick
Sensibly silly and abundantly light
you inspire me to write.
how I love the way
you invade my mind
every day
and through the night,
always dreaming about you
being wonderfully springy,
sensibly silly
and abundantly light.
Eau de toilet
your wear a peculiar fragrance
it’s a particular scent I smell
I wonder if it is faeces
or if it is Chanel
The ball is in her court
she wants to play
hard
to get
the ball is in her court
is it a game
or is it a sport
Poetquoet
Many forms
much I marvelled waggish interpretation
my mind always strays to storms
with my folly always phrasing
I discovered many forms
An ode to mine beloved
so I take an oath into the future
mine beloved
an instant of the everlife
I warrant we shall be
one soul
to the end of days
connected
joined
ne’r to be silenced
in love
and we shall smile…
My Groucho moment
Why she’s mad volume 1
Smitten with her kitten
she is smitten with her kitten
she don’t mind the scratches on her sofa
and that she’s been gently bitten
Social media in the 50ties
You never came
I sat
for you
waiting,
anticipating…
you never came;
it’s such a shame…
~photo Burt Glinn
My scary pumpkin 🎃
cut up
carved
and mutilated
your mood
slightly aggravated
you stare
outside
whilst burning up
inside
If it wasn’t for you
If it wasn’t for you
I couldn’t be me…
My Groucho moment
Am I not enough
not wealthy
not poor
not perfect
not healthy
not sick
not sly
not slow
not slick
not strong
not weak
not right
nor wrong
not tough
not rough
am I
not enough
History
history
lies
in books
Others
others
look
too
much
like
others
only you
look
like me
Please disagree with me
please
please
please disagree
with me
I cannot wait
to set thee free
My daily struggles with John Edgar
the wire
makes me perspire
the switch
is a bloody bitch
the bag is always full
and the smell is rather dull
it fouls
it squeaks
it howls
it reeks
Hoover I hate you!
She ran through fields of corn
far away stars
and a pale moon for company
guided her
as she ran
through fields of corn
with ominous secrets
chasing her
since she was born
fleeing
from a false start
her heart bled
her soul torn
she did not get very far
as she was run over
by a swerving car…
My Groucho moment
My weeping willow
you may look down
yet I adore
your sorrow
I love
your woe
my weeping willow
Poetquoet
Wet dreams
I want to swim
around your curves
so slim
I want to dive
into your hormones
in overdrive
I want to sink
in your love
I think
I want to drown
in your eyes
so brown
Estate
the difference between living
in or on estate
could be £5 million
in an estate
one has the feeling
one has the whole place to oneself
whilst on an estate
we know,
and (un)willingly accept,
we all live in one house…
Birds on the water tower
they reign from their tower
their view is their own
they stare and they gaze
from their big water throne
they observe, coo and caw
as they rattle and whirr
moved by the wind,
in the sky they sing
and confer…
Unpredictable
I’m the most unpredictable twat
and I’m even unreliable at that
My Groucho moment
A very short story about a loving addict
you are the one
that I admire…
but it is a charging wire
that I require
You’ve grown on me
you’ve grown on me
said the wall to the creeper
you often suffocate me
but you are definitely a keeper
Poetquoet
Tis my brain
always on the go
connecting dots
and wires
putting words
into my fingers
as I tap them
on my screen
tis my brain;
it can be a blessing
and it can be a pain
The scattered leaves 🍁
endearingly
by slow death
they fall
graciously
down
altered in colour
from red
to brown
from crying trees
the scattered leaves
Hollywood hiccups: my personal annoyances
why do they always drink alcohol?
why do they always drink a lot or binge drink?
how do they become sober after one cup of coffee?
why do they always smoke (and often secretly)?
why do people who have stopped smoking always have a drag of someone’s smoke when talking outside to someone who is smoking or stopped smoking?
why do they never say (good)bye on the phone?
why do they toss bear caps everywhere except in the bin?
why have they always got the sound on on their mobiles everywhere they go?
why do they never answer them in case of an emergency?
why do they never eat or never finish what they eat when they do eat?
why do they talk when they eat and let their food go stone cold?
how come no one has to wait for a taxis? They point and one is there?
why do they always find a parking spot?
why do detectives never do any paperwork?
how come all conversations are perfect? No grammatical errors?
how come everyone leaves the hospital after they wake up?
how does a dna result come back within a day?
how come every woman has perfect hair?
why do all houses look neat?
why is it when someone holds a speech everybody listens silently?
why do people leave the house without having breakfast?
why are there never any traffic jams when there’s a car chase?
how does the right tv channel come on straight away when someone wants to see the news?
why do woman after sex always wear an oversized buttoned man’s shirt?
how can people board planes after the gate has been shut?
why do bullied kids never tell their parents what goes on?
how come cars never start when they are about to be chased?
why do high school kids look like adults?
why do cops always have bad relationships with their wives and daughters?
what or why do I care?
Another moment in love
let’s meet
and never part
never miss
another kiss
and another moment
in love…
You lost your soul to a mobile phone
you lost your soul
to a mobile phone
but now the battery died
you feel even more alone
(Yikes! No likes!)
My Groucho moment
A day in the life of a Detroit detective
blood spatter
mixed with brain matter
on the ceiling
walls
and floor
a sinister entrance
through a busted door
looking for clues
and trajectories
plagued by
stench and fleas
examining
a 187
in suit and tie
wondering why
she had to die
Straight from the horse’s mouth
I need a stable home
said the dark horse,
one where I can stand up
for myself,
get grounded
and not be stalled…
Mildread
you devilish delight
always looking for a fight
all for law
and order
made sure
no one crossed your border
capped
and ready to rule
over the best
cuckoo’s finest
captured in your nest
~R.I.P. Louise Fletcher
In(secure)
how can one
secure a future
when one
is insecure
Poetquoet
I have a voice!
it’s my freedom
it’s my choice
I am my self
I have a voice!
Memories of a classroom: an enumeration of unforgettable odors
perspiration
pot
poo
pee
paper towels
perfume
peppermint
puke
pencils
poppers
pizza
pink erasers
crayons
chalk
and cheese
snot
from sneeze
jeez
cigarettes smoke
made me choke
coffee
tea
horny hormones
arts
and farts
soap
spilled milk
and ink
I think
glue
goo
dog shit
on my shoe
drains
fruit
stains
rubber
blubber
rank
radiators
musky books
bleach
bleechers
dirty looks
make up
teachers
airosol
alcohol
leather
mildew
stew
What about you?
My Groucho moment
I’m wasting my time
I’m wasting my time
wasting time
I simply lose track of it
it’s my daily crime
Poetquoet
Even tho we are still young
even tho
we are still young
I already love you
with all my heart
I may not always stay
with you
but I think
it’s a good start
Love greed
if you feel
the need
to feed
your empty heart
don’t make
another
poor soul bleed
9/11
9/11
some went to heaven
some stayed
we all prayed
24/7
Short fuse
all reason void
stress is your opioid
you have a short fuse
but I love you fiery muse
My deli
I’ve got truffles
I’ve got grapes
I’ve got what you need
I’ve got olives and flaxseed
I’ve got cheeses
I’ve got sweets
something hearty
and other treats
I’ve got a sausage
it’s nice and hot
yet pickled onions
I have not
My Groucho moment
Potatoes she peeled: a poem for my nanna
where to begin
maybe with the small cracks
in her skin
every afternoon
and again soon
she sat down
in a kitchen
basket on her lap
whilst you heard
the water
dripping from the tap
she peeled potatoes
part of her daily chores
that earthy fragrance
ingrained in her pores
taking out the pits
with a tiny knife
the homely joys
she thought
of her daily life
Angry towel
Poetquoet
Black joy
my plea
for my love
this coffee
black joy
freshly
brewed
I feel renewed
oh my, oh boy!
I guess
Controlled dominion
you value my opinion
within the confines
of your controlled dominion
When we kiss
when we kiss
our tongues get tied
exchanging drool
it is sheer bliss
when we kiss
Screens for teens
tablets
mobiles
games
tv
screens
for teens
depression
lurking
so it seems
Liars
liars
don’t like being called
liars
Your subtle stare
unaware
you look at me
with your subtle stare
I try very hard
to pretend
that I don’t really care…
Format C
we need to restore
to how it was before
format C
would be my plea
Poetquoet
Her freckles
her freckles
are like stars
on a pale canvas
copper asterisks
spread evenly
matching the colour
of her hair
imbedded in her skin
splendiferous
and fair
Looking at the sky
I lay
on my settee
looking at the sky
I ponder
and wonder
if all will be for nothing
as we ultimately die
My Groucho moment
Matter of fact
as a matter of fact
the fact of the matter is
a matter of fact
No one gets control of my tongue
no one
gets control
of my tongue
nor my pen
in which I will stay
and happily play
A perfect (girl)friend
she don’t give a toss
nothing’s at a loss
she just takes the piss
and does it all with shameless bliss
Hiding
hiding from your fears
don’t make them go away
they may come back as tears
and they might be here to stay
The innocent
the innocent
hurt
the innocent
lost
lets pray
for their lives
and keep fingers crossed
Underlying currents
the tide comes in
and waves of salt
wash away my sorrow
leaving underlying currents
to keep my soul moving
every tomorrow
I feel free
I feel free
to write
when all
is clear
after
all my stress
and troubles
disappear
I’ll remember you
I’ll remember,
I’ll remember you,
the good of you,
if you go away
but you force me
to see the bad
if you stay
another day
Poetquoet
Rheum
eye candy
gone dry
settled in the corner
of my awakening eye
my dreams hardened
into crusty bits
after I dreamed
of your voluptuous t(·)(·)ts
My Groucho moment
Love seed
you planted
a love seed in my heart
that sprouted
and grew
into a colorful spring flower
which makes me smile
and happy
every
waking
hour
I rest my case
Relationship 2.0
I despise
this constant compromise
it’s our downfall
and inevitable demise
Nothing but a jinx
me thinks
energy drinks
are nothing but a jinx
Ol’ Phil
ol’ Phil
fits the bill
he’s the one
that would kill
just for a thrill
and I think
that he will
in the still
of the night
Alienation
an alien nation
landed on earth
during the probation
they wanted to feast and drink
during their vacation
they drank all the moonshine
in Georgia and Kentucky
they never got caught
I guess one can say
they were lucky 🍀
Spot on!
a mosquito
nameth Gus
jabbed my spot
that was filled with pus
he said ewwww
I never knew
that instead of blood
it tastes of stew
Simple bearer of wit
I am but a simple bearer of wit
I shall feed you plenty
until you’ve had enough of it
Witty word: Philosofree
definition of philosofree
/fi-los-uh-free/
noun
Free of any kind or type of philosophy, principles, concepts, dogmas and doctrines:
After reading all books on philosophy Walter decided to become philosofree and burn all his books whilst thinking why a book is called a book.
verb
Freeing all philosophers of their ideology:
Ivan said: “Men, I shall philosofree thee and let you believe what I have to say, which is nothing”.
Origin of philosofree:
2021; poetpas ©; Modern English, based on silliness and wit.
Let’s not judge
let’s not judge
one
or the other
cause we
do not know
their pain
nor bother
It is that!
it is that
of what
I not yet know,
and it’s meaning,
it be true or false,
I fear most,
for knowing it
or by comparison,
may alter
or liberate
my process
of thinking
It is that!
I look up to you
I look up you
cause you’re my brother
stuck inside
our pregnant mother
I look up to you
Picket fence
white picket fence
wide picket fence
why picket fence
die picket fence,
no off fence
Sugar lumps
slowly they dissolve
descending into brown
spreading their sweetness
on their way down
the perfect balance
never wrong
like little white angels
peeing on your tongue
Witty word: Ohzone
Definition of ohzone
/oh-zohn/
noun
1 area that is distinguished for some purpose in which a certain amount or a degree of complacency or disregard exists or is established:
Due to his addiction to his IPhone Archibald found himself comfortably numb in his ohzone and shrugged when his mother said: “I’m leaving your dad and I’m going back to Zanzibar to move in with Darlene”
2 a place where shallow and ignorant people live:
Al and Peggy Bundy were happily living in their ohzone until uncle Ted came knocking on their door.
Origin of ohzone:
2021; poetpas ©; Modern English, based on silliness and wit.
Spelling bee 🐝
the bee
tried to spell
the word chincherinchee
but it was dyslectic
illiterate
and blind, you see…
Oops
Your face
your face
lights up
the room
as it’s burning
with love
warm
the sort
I cherish
the kind
I embrace
your face
I bully
I bully
bullies
bullying
best
Entrapped
entrapped
by your need
you feed
your greed
so I plead
for you
to set me free..
agreed?
Forgotten schoolbus
overgrown
by branches
moss
and algae
occupied
by insects
spiders
and debris
covered
in rust
and dust
overtaken
by decay
the once bright yellow
faded
all away
Your stain
I am your stain
in an empty train
I have been left
by you
goo
and rain
Occupational struggles
if gold mining don’t
pan out
you just might want to become a cook
Goodbye
I have to leave
you
now
said the foetus
to the womb
I have to
cut the cord
live my life
and find
my final tomb
Featuring: James Carter
Today I’m featuring a jazz musician who isn’t that well known amongst many jazz lovers but to me this saxophone beast is as good as any of the famous players.
He has a very rebellious and sometimes humorous way of playing and is never boring. An effusive, dynamically gifted jazz saxophonist I can listen to for hours and hours, for days on end…
James Carter was born on January 3 1969 in Detroit , Michigan, and learned to play under the tutelage of Donald Washington, becoming a member of his youth jazz ensemble Bird-Trane-Sco-NOW!! As a young man, Carter attended Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, becoming the youngest faculty member at the camp. He began playing at age 11 and studied early on with trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. A prodigy, he progressed quickly. He first toured Scandinavia with the International Jazz Band in 1985 at the age of 16. At age17 he joined Wynton Marsalis on tour.
On May 31, 1988, at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA), Carter was a last-minute addition for guest artist Lester Bowie, which turned into an invitation to play with his new quintet (forerunner of his New York Organ Ensemble) in New York City that following November at the now defunct Carlos 1 jazz club. This was pivotal in Carter’s career, putting him in musical contact with the world, and he moved to New York two years later. Carter issued no less than six recordings under his own name between 1993 and 2000, all of them with different focuses, from a set of standards, Conversin’ with the Elders in 1995, to an electric funk record, Layin’ in the Cut, to a simultaneously released set in tribute to Django Reinhardt, Chasin the Gypsy. Three years later, he honored the legendary Billie Holiday with Gardenias for Lady Day.
He has been prominent as a performer and recording artist on the jazz scene since the late 1980s, playing saxophones, flute, and clarinets. On his album Chasin’ the Gypsy (2000), he recorded with his cousin, the jazz violinist Regina Carter.
Carter has won DownBeat magazine’s Critics and Readers Choice award for baritone saxophone several years in a row. He has performed, toured and played on albums with Lester Bowie, Julius Hemphill, Frank Lowe & the Saxemble, Kathleen Battle, the World Saxophone Quartet, Cyrus Chestnut, Wynton Marsalis, Dee Dee Bridgewater and the Mingus Big Band.
Carter is an authority on vintage saxophones, and he owns an extensive collection of such instruments, including one formerly played by Don Byas.
“One of the most charismatic and powerful soloists in jazz,” per the New York Times, Carter harbors a command of his instruments that is astonishingly complete, though he only employs that technique in the service of canny ideas. Even when he appears on the verge of shattering his horn, overblowing rapid-fire lines to otherworldly effect, he’s evoking early jazz, jump blues, the avant-garde and other lessons residing inside his vast, scholarly knowledge of the music of the African-American experience.
Check him out (or not):
Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, interweb, poetpas
Free tips for men: Toilet 🚽
When you need to pee, sit down rather than stand up! This will prevent a possible deflecting urine stream spritzing the area surrounding you. Think of bath mats, tiles, radiators, shoes and of course the toilet itself.
It will save you a lot of cleaning and will prevent bad hygiene, bacteria, sticky surfaces and rusty radiators (urine contains saltpetre).
Extra tip: keep your pubes trimmed…you don’t want them scattered all round your WC as well? Or stuck to the urine for those who’ll remain standing?
So toilet seat down and be seated😊
Stay tuned for more…
Elon must
Elon must
show his influence
Elon must
show his fame
Elon must
show his power
without any shame
Frau Glockenspiel
every day
she peeks
through my window
on her daily walk
short stepping her way
to an embracing slow death
me not knowing
who she is
where she comes from
where she lives
every day
her daily fix
around 6
she walks by
I call her
Frau Glockenspiel
I don’t know why…
Laugh!
if you can’t leave with a laugh
try and stay with a smile…
Witty word: Lieability
definition of lieability
/lahy-a-bil-i-tee/
noun
1 the ability or skill to make false statements made with deliberate intent to deceive: His continuous lieability made him a believable, trustworthy and fraudulent friend.
2 the ability to be in a horizontal, recumbent, or prostrate position, as on a bed or the ground for long periods of time: Her liebility made it easy to mask her years of laziness and her self diagnosis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.
Origin of lieability:
2021; poetpas ©; Middle English, Old French, Old Norse, Gothic, Modern English, based on philosophical wit.
Featuring: Telly Savalas
Today I’m featuring this great actor and wise man, known as Kojak, also a philanthropist, a singer and a great poker player. Noted for his bald head and deep, resonant voice, this lollipop man warmed the hearts of many viewers for many years with his one liners and catchy phrases. ‘Who loves you baby’ 🍭
Aristotelis Savalas was born in Garden City, New York, on January 21, 1922, the second of five children born to ethnic Greek parents. Savalas and his brother, Gus, sold newspapers and polished shoes to help support the family. Savalas initially spoke only Greek when he entered grade school, but later learned English. He won a spelling bee there in 1934; due to an oversight, he did not receive his prize until 1991, when the school principal and Boston Herald awarded it to him.
Savalas graduated from Sewanhaka High School in Floral Park, New York in 1940.
A renowned swimmer, he worked as a beach lifeguard after graduation from high school. However, on one occasion, he was unsuccessful in saving a father from drowning; as he attempted resuscitation, the man’s two children stood nearby crying for their father to wake up. This affected Savalas so much that he spent the rest of his life constantly promoting water safety, and later made all six of his children take swimming lessons.
In 1941, Savalas was drafted into the United States Army. In 1943, he was discharged from the Army with the rank of corporal after being severely injured in a car accident. Savalas spent more than a year recuperating in hospital with a broken pelvis, sprained ankle and concussion. He then attended the Armed Forces Institute where he studied radio and television production.
He received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Columbia’s School of General Studies in 1946 and started working on a master’s degree while preparing for medical school.
Savalas did not consider acting as a career until asked if he could recommend an actor who could do a European accent. He did but as the friend in question could not go, Savalas himself went to cover for his friend and ended up being cast on “And Bring Home a Baby”, an episode of Armstrong Circle Theatre in January 1958. He appeared on two more episodes of the series in 1959 and 1960, one, acting alongside a young Sydney Pollack. He was also in a version of The Iceman Cometh.
Savalas quickly became in much demand as a guest star on TV shows.
Savalas made his film debut in Mad Dog Coll (1961), playing a cop. His work had impressed fellow actor Burt Lancaster, who arranged for Savalas to be cast in the John Frankenheimer directed The Young Savages (also 1961 and again playing a cop). Pollack worked on the film as an acting coach.
In one of his most acclaimed performances, Savalas reunited with Lancaster and Frankenheimer for Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), where he was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. The same year, he appeared as a private detective in Cape Fear, and The Interns, reprising his role from the latter film in The New Interns (1964).
Savalas also guest starred in a number of TV series during the decade including The New Breed, The Detectives, Ben Casey, The Twilight Zone (the episode “Living Doll”), The Fugitive (1963 TV series) and Arrest and Trial among others.
He was part of an all-star cast in The Dirty Dozen (1967).
Savalas’ first leading role in film was in the British crime comedy Crooks and Coronets (1969). The same year he appeared in the James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, playing Ernst Stavro Blofeld. He continued to appear in films during the 1970s including Kelly’s Heroes (1970) (with Clint Eastwood).He reunited with Christopher Lee in the 1976 thriller Killer Force, and also appeared in Peter Hyams’ Capricorn One (1978).
“I had worked my way up to star billing”, he later said, “when the bottom dropped out of the movie business. I could have stayed in Europe and made Italian movies but I discovered the big difference between an Italian and American movie is that in the American movie you get paid.”
Savalas first played Lt. Theodopolus “Theo” Kojak in the TV movie The Marcus–Nelson Murders (CBS, 1973), which was based on the real-life Career Girls Murder case.
Kojak was a bald New York City detective with a fondness for lollipops and whose tagline was “Who loves ya, baby?” (He also liked to say, “Everybody should have a little Greek in them.”) Although the lollipop gimmick was added in order to indulge his sweet tooth, Savalas also smoked heavily onscreen—cigarettes, cigarillos and cigars—throughout the first season’s episodes. The lollipops had apparently given him three cavities, and were part of an (unsuccessful) effort by Kojak (and Savalas himself) to curb his smoking. The critic Clive James explained the lead actor’s appeal as Kojak: “Telly Savalas can make bad slang sound like good slang and good slang sound like lyric poetry. It isn’t what he is, so much as the way he talks, that gets you tuning in.”
David Shipman later wrote: “Kojak was sympathetic to outcasts and ruthless with social predators. The show maintained a high quality to the end, mixing tension with some laughs and always anxious to tackle civic issues, one of its raisons d’etre in the first place. It was required viewing in Britain every Saturday evening for eight years. To almost everyone everywhere Kojak means Savalas and vice versa, but to Savalas himself the series was merely an interval, albeit a long one, in a distinguished career.”
Kojak aired on CBS for five seasons from October 24, 1973, until March 18, 1978, with 118 episodes produced. The role won Savalas an Emmy and two Golden Globes for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Co-stars on the show included Savalas’ younger brother George as Detective Stavros – a sensitive, wild-haired, quiet, comedic foil to Kojak’s street-wise humor in an otherwise dark dramatic series – Kevin Dobson as Kojak’s trusted young partner, Det. Bobby Crocker, who’s on-screen chemistry with Savalas was a success story of 1970s television, and Dan Frazer as Captain Frank McNeil.
Due to a decline in ratings, the series was canceled by CBS in 1978. Savalas and Frazer were the only actors to appear in all 118 episodes. Savalas was unhappy about the show’s demise but got the chance to reprise the Kojak persona in several television movies, starting in 1985. The first film, subtitled The Belarus File and broadcast in February 1985, reunited Savalas with several of his co-stars from the series: younger brother George, Dan Frazer, Mark Russell (Det. Saperstein) and Vince Conti (Det. Rizzo); this marked those actors’ final appearances in the Kojak franchise. A further six Kojak TV movies were produced, titled The Price of Justice (1987), Ariana, Fatal Flaw (both 1989), Flowers for Matty, It’s Always Something – with Kevin Dobson reprising his role of Bobby Crocker, now an Assistant District Attorney – and None So Blind (all 1990).
In 1992, he appeared in three episodes of the TV series The Commish (his son-in-law was one of the producers). This was Savalas’ final television role. He would appear in two further feature films before his death, Mind Twister (1993) and the posthumous release Backfire! (1995).
As a singer, Savalas had some chart success. His spoken word version of Bread’s “If” produced by Snuff Garrett reached No. 1 in both the UK and Ireland in March 1975, but just No.88 in Canada, and his version of Don Williams’s “Some Broken Hearts Never Mend” topped the charts in Switzerland in February 1981. He worked with composer and producer John Cacavas on many albums, including Telly (1974) which peaked at number 49 in Australia and Who Loves Ya, Baby (1976).
He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1983. In 1999, TV Guide ranked him number 18 on its 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time list.
Savalas was married three times. In 1948 after his father’s death from bladder cancer, Savalas married his college sweetheart, Katherine Nicolaides. Their daughter Christina, named after his mother, was born in 1950. In 1957 Katherine filed for divorce. She urged him to move back to his mother’s house during that same year. While Savalas was going broke, he founded the Garden City Theater Center in his native Garden City. While working there he met Marilyn Gardner, a theater teacher. They married in 1960. Marilyn gave birth to their daughter, Penelope, in 1961. A second daughter, Candace, was born in 1963. They divorced in 1974, after a long separation.
In January 1969, while working on the movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Savalas met actress Sally Adams, an actress 25 years his junior whose daughter from a previous relationship is Nicollette Sheridan. Savalas later moved in with Sally, who gave birth to their son Nicholas Savalas on February 24, 1973. Although Savalas and Sally Adams never legally married, she went by the name Sally Savalas. They stopped living together in December 1978; she filed a palimony lawsuit against him in 1980, demanding support not only for herself and their son, but also for Nicollette.
In 1977, during the last season of Kojak, Savalas met Julie Hovland, a travel agent from Minnesota. The couple were married from 1984 until his death and had two children: Christian, an entrepreneur, singer and songwriter, and Ariana, an actress and singer/songwriter. Savalas was close friends with actor John Aniston, and was godfather to his daughter Jennifer, a successful TV and film actress.
Savalas held a degree in psychology and was a world-class poker player who finished 21st at the main event in the 1992 World Series of Poker. He was also a motorcycle racer and lifeguard. His other hobbies and interests included golfing, swimming, reading romantic books, watching football, traveling, collecting luxury cars, and gambling. He loved horse racing and bought a racehorse with movie director and producer Howard W. Koch. Naming the horse Telly’s Pop, it won several races in 1975 including the Norfolk Stakes and Del Mar Futurity.
In his capacity as producer for Kojak, he gave many stars their first break, as Burt Lancaster had done for him. He was considered by those who knew him to be a generous, graceful, compassionate man. He was also a strong contributor to his Greek Orthodox roots through the Saint Sophia and Saint Nicholas cathedrals in Los Angeles and was the sponsor of bringing electricity in the 1970s to his ancestral home, Ierakas, Greece.
As a philanthropist and philhellene, Savalas supported many Hellenic causes and made friends in major cities around the world.
In the 1980s, Savalas began to lose close relatives. His brother George Savalas, who played Stavros in the original series, died in 1985 of leukemia at age 60. His mother, Christina, who had always been his best friend, supporter and devoted parent, died in 1988. On November 22, 1989, Savalas was diagnosed with transitional cell cancer of the bladder.
Savalas died on January 22, 1994, one day after his 72nd birthday, of complications of prostate cancer at the Sheraton-Universal Hotel in Universal City, California. He had lived at the Sheraton in Universal City for 20 years, becoming such a fixture at the hotel bar that it was renamed Telly’s. Savalas was interred at the George Washington section of Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. The funeral, held in the Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Church, was attended by his third wife, Julie, and his brother Gus. His first two wives, Katherine and Marilyn, also attended with their own children. The mourners included Angie Dickinson, Nicollette Sheridan, Jennifer Aniston (his goddaughter), Kevin Sorbo, Sally Adams, Frank Sinatra, Don Rickles, and several of Savalas’s Kojak co-stars – Kevin Dobson, Dan Frazer, and Vince Conti.
For the people who are old enough (lol), I still watch Kojak on video occasionally and I still enjoy his acting, the stories and the scenery of New York in the seventies. It takes you back to the free days of the Big Apple. I always found him to be a witty, funny, apt and strong individual.
Check him out (or not):
Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, interweb, poetpas
Bland
blend in
with the boring blended
your life
has already ended
you have everything
sorted and mended
all in control
it’s bloody splendid
Psalm 23:4-6 King Silly Version
4 Yay, though I walk through the valley of life, I will fear some evil: for thou art with me; but with my staff I shall hope to silence thee.
5 Though thou preparest a table before me in the presence of thy family: they anoint my mind with shallowness; my head runneth over.
6 Surely to God I hope they shan’t follow me the remaining days of my life: or I will runneth a mile to the house of spirits, and dwell within.
The coach and the roach
a holistic coach
had an odd approach
trying to solve a problem
with the use of a cockroach
it was for a penis
that wouldn’t erect
and needed a remedy
to cure the defect
the roach was placed
in the man’s underpants
with a few leaves of nettle
and a couple of ants
the gigolo said:
“Eureka! I now have an itch;
I will proceed to pander
and I shall be rich!”
Burden
it’s a burden
when you think
you’re always right
and a bigger burden still
when you realise
you are
I forgive you
I forgive you
for not forgiving me
letting go
will set me free
A mother’s ode to her neonate
I love you
yes I really do,
but you always reek
of wee and poo
All the little egos
all the little egos
feed
the other little egos’ egos
until they’re big…
and feed off
littler belittled egos
Dead end
if you hit
a dead end
it may just
hit you back
A rolling stone
a rolling stone
gathers no moss
you just keep rolling
who gives a toss
(based on an old proverb, first credited to Publilius Syrus)
Sing sing sing
birds that play
fly freely
are never caught
make silly noises
and sing
sing
sing
Netfix
you are
my daily viral drug
I use you
like a bloody mug
I shall never
let you go
but I’m also hooked
on HBO
Deepression
I stare
from within
the shadows
looking
for the light
but I fear
I can’t win
this everlasting fight
darkness
has surrounded me
and embroiled me
in sorrow
I shall have faith
yet I hope
I shan’t wake
tomorrow
~ photo Roberto de Mitri
Featuring: Brian Setzer
Today I’m featuring a very talented, rebellious and sweet musician who goes by the name Brian Setzer. Somewhat underrated, this cat with enormous flair and musical soul is a great entertainer and live performer. He put rockabilly back on the map, reinvented it, and gave it world wide fame with his band the Stray Cats.
Setzer was born April 1959 in Massapequa, New York. He started on the euphonium and played in jazz bands when he was in school. He found a way to hear jazz at the Village Vanguard, though as he got older he became more interested in rock, punk, and rockabilly. He was a member of the Bloodless Pharaohs and the Tomcats, which he began with his brother, Gary. The Tomcats became the Stray Cats when double bassist Lee Rocker and drummer Slim Jim Phantom joined and Gary left the band. In 1980, thinking they might have more success in England than in America, they sold their instruments to pay for airplane tickets and flew to London.
After performing in London for a few months, they met Dave Edmunds, a guitarist and record producer who shared their love of rockabilly and 1950s’ rock and roll. Edmunds produced their debut album, Stray Cats (1981), which yielded two hit singles, “Stray Cat Strut” and “Rock This Town”. The second album, Gonna Ball (1982), was less successful. The band returned to America and released Built for Speed (1982), produced again by Dave Edmunds, with songs collected from their first two albums. Helped by their music videos on MTV, the Stray Cats became popular in America. Their next album, Rant n’ Rave with the Stray Cats produced the hit “(She’s) Sexy + 17”.
The Stray Cats disbanded in 1984, though they occasionally reunited, recorded, and toured. After recording three albums with different producers, they returned to Dave Edmunds for Choo Choo Hot Fish (1992).
After the Stray Cats disbanded in 1984, Setzer began a solo career that included working as a sideman for other acts, such as the Honeydrippers led by Robert Plant. On his first solo album, The Knife Feels Like Justice (1986), he turned away from rockabilly and moved toward rhythm and blues (R&B) and the heartland rock of John Mellencamp. The album was produced by Don Gehman and featured Kenny Aronoff on drums. Both men had worked on albums by Mellencamp. His second studio album Live Nude Guitars followed in 1988. While this album retained some heartland rock elements, it found Setzer moving in more of a straight-ahead blues rock direction, comparable to George Thorogood’s style; Setzer served as co-producer along with Larson Paine, Chris Thomas and David A. Stewart. He went on tour with Thorogood later that year.
Setzer returned to his love of music from the 1950s, this time the jump blues of Louis Prima. Whereas he had resurrected rockabilly in the 1980s, he resuscitated swing in the 1990s. He assembled the Brian Setzer Orchestra, a seventeen piece big band that got the public’s attention with a cover version of Prima’s “Jump, Jive an’ Wail” from the album The Dirty Boogie (1998). The song won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, while “Sleep Walk” from the same album won the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
The album Wolfgang’s Big Night Out (2007) featured Setzer’s interpretation of classical pieces, such as Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5” and “Für Elise”. Wolfgang earned Setzer his eighth Grammy nomination, this time for Best Classical Crossover Album.
He executive produced the album Ready Steady Go! (2014) by Drake Bell and played guitar on two songs.
Setzer has sold 13 million records and received the Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award throughout his career as founder/leader of the Stray Cats, the 19-piece Brian Setzer Orchestra, and a solo artist.
Setzer has been married three times, most recently in 2005 to Julie Reiten, a former singer with the Dustbunnies, and lives in Minneapolis.
Brian Setzer has a very large guitar collection which spans many decades and brands. He favours vintage equipment and hollow body guitars, and currently endorses Gretsch guitars. At one time Setzer stated: “Nothing feels right after a Gretsch”.
In 2019 Setzer had to cancel his Christmas tour as a result of severe tinnitus (noise/ringing in ears). He has always liked playing loud.
On June 25, 2021, Setzer announced a new solo album, his first in 7 years, titled Gotta Have the Rumble. The rumble is about his love for motorcycles and hot rods, which have been a part of Brian’s life since he was 15 years old. He loves the adrenaline rush he gets by going fast.
According to Brian, the “rumble” also refers to two other things, one musical and the other medical. Brian likes to stand quite close to his vintage Fender Bassman amps to get his trademark sound, which causes his guitar to “rumble.” Unfortunately, the loud sound exposure has caused what Brian calls a rumble in his ears because, as aforementioned, he has developed a hearing loss with tinnitus. Fortunately, Brian’s symptoms have improved with a decrease in noise level exposure.
This awesome vocalist and guitarist has always pulled my heartstrings with his sweet rocking’ chords, and humbleness has turned this man into a fine individual.
Check him out (or not):
Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, interweb, poetpas©️
Our demise
a dark descend
there is only fear
yet forgiveness
my dear friend
I pray
and put to rest
the beginning
of our end
Self-reflection
mirror
mirror
on the door
haven’t I seen
your ignorance
before?
Little boxes 📦
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky
Little boxes on the hillside
Little boxes all the same
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same
And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same
And there’s doctors and lawyers
And business executives
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same
And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same
And the boys go into business
And marry and raise a family
In boxes made of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same
There’s a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they’re all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same
~Pete Seeger
From dope to god
a new addiction
after your affliction
will maybe get you higher
when you put
your faith in god
rather than desire
Witty word: Handycap
Definition of handycap
/han-dee kap/
Noun
1 a brimless head covering with a visor, to make people (more) handy:
Jonas bought a handycap as he had two left hands. After a week he now had 2 right hands. And a handycap.
2 state of affairs whereby there is a limit to being handy:
Red thought he could just fix about any old thing but there was a handycap as to what he could mend, as he was blind as a bat.
Origin of handycap:
2021; poetpas ©; Modern English, based on silliness and wit.
A kind face
there is always space
for a kind face
with your smile
you’ll leave a happy trace
This
is this
really what we want
Featuring: Harry Crews
Today I’m featuring a man, an American writer and philosopher, a very peculiar individual who always had a good story to tell. He often made use of violent, grotesque characters and set them in regions of the Deep South. I first spotted him in one of my favorite documentaries: Searching for the Wrong-eyed Jesus. Sometimes in life you come across people who alter your way of thinking or add freedom to it. This Bard of Bacon County is such a man.
Harry Crews was born June 7, 1935, during the Great Depression to two poor tenant farmers in Bacon County, Georgia. His father died while he was still a baby, and his mother soon remarried to his father’s brother. Crews was unaware that this man was not his biological father until years later.
As a child, he suffered two near-death experiences. When he was just five he contracted polio, causing his legs to fold up into the back of his thighs. He was originally told by doctors that he would not be able to walk again. After about a year of being immobile, except crawling with his hands, his legs straightened again and he was able to walk. Soon after this experience, he then fell into a vat of nearly boiling water, which was being used for soaking dead hogs before they were further prepared. His head did not go under the water, which saved his life, according to doctors. He suffered extreme burns on most of the rest of his body. He once again was unable to leave the bed when he was healing. Crews wrote in A Childhood: The Biography of a Place: “Nearly everybody I knew had something missing, a finger cut off, a toe split, an ear half-chewed away, an eye clouded with blindness from a glancing fence staple. And if they didn’t have something missing, they were carrying scars from barbed wire, or knives, or fishhooks.” These experiences later influenced the freakish characters he wrote about, although he did not like to use the term “freak” to describe them.
While Crews was still a child, his mother left his stepfather, and he and his brother went with her to live in the Springfield section of Jacksonville, Florida. Crews finished high school there as a below average student. After graduation, he joined the Marines during the Korean War. After his service, he attended the University of Florida on the G.I. Bill. Here, Crews became a student of Andrew Nelson Lytle, who had also taught Flannery O’Connor, and James Dickey. Crews and Lytle kept in contact for years afterwards, and Lytle provided criticism of Crews’s early work.
After an unplanned pregnancy, Crews married Sally Ellis, who gave birth to his first son, Patrick Scott. Sally soon wanted a divorce due to his infidelity and obsessiveness with writing. “I was obsessed to the point of desperation with becoming a writer,” he wrote, “and, further, I lived with the conviction that I had gotten a late start toward that difficult goal…Consequently, perhaps I was impatient, irritable, and inattentive toward Sally as a young woman and mother.” However, he soon convinced Sally to remarry, and they had a second son, Byron Jason.
Crews graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in English, and eventually received a graduate degree of education. Crews then began teaching English, which he continued to do for the rest of his career, along with his career as a writer. In 1963, he had his first story published: “The Unattached Smile”. In 1964, he published another short story, “A Long Wail”.
In 1964 his first son, Patrick, drowned in a neighbor’s pool. Crews tried to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, but this proved ineffectual. After the death of his son, Crews continued writing his first novel, The Gospel Singer, which appeared in 1968. Just after this publication, another came for his second novel, Naked in Garden Hills. Both were well received by critics at the time. In 1972, Sally asked for a second and final divorce. Crews did not marry again.
After Crews’s first two novels, he wrote prolifically, including novels, screenplays and essays, for journals including Esquire. He often set precise due times to finish whatever he was working on, and so had quick turnaround between writings. Once he published The Gospel Singer, he began to write eight novels, publishing one almost every year. Much of Crews’s work is now out of print.
His works were known to feature “freaks”, and “outcasts”, usually from rural areas. In Car, a man consumes an entire car by slowly eating piece by piece. In The Knockout Artist, a poor, Georgia-born boxer with a glass jaw knocks himself out at parties for money. A Feast of Snakes, one of his best known, and most provocative novels, has been banned in South Africa.
Crews felt strongly that authors should write about experiences that they have actually had. In his personal life, he often moved from obsession to obsession, and became knowledgeable on many subjects. Crews and Sally learned karate together, which then influenced Karate Is a Thing of the Spirit. In addition, The Hawk is Dying features an amateur hawk trainer who deals with condescension from college professors, and features a son-figure who drowns. Crews himself had a fascination with hawks for a period of time, and even trapped and trained them so they would sit on his arm. Body is a story about a competitive female body builder, her trainer, and her lower-class family from Waycross, Georgia. Crews himself trained his girlfriend, Maggie Powell, who would become a Southeast bodybuilding champion.
During his time writing for Esquire, he wrote a column called “Grits” for fourteen months in the 1970s that covered such topics as cockfighting and dog fighting. Filled with rough experiences he had outside of urban life, “grits” became a term he used to describe the tough southern characters featured in his writing.
Crews continued writing and publishing his entire life. As his reputation grew, he became a favorite of Madonna, Sean Penn, Kim Gordon, and Thurston Moore. Madonna and Penn discussed making film adaptations of his novels, but these never came to fruition. Crews’s final novel, An American Family, featured a blurb on the cover from Moore, saying, “God bless Harry Crews, America’s best writer. He’ll break your heart but he’ll always bring you love.”
Harry Crews’s work has become synonymous with the genre Grit Lit. Crews is considered a major influence, alongside Flannery O’Connor, Cormac McCarthy, and Barry Hannah, along with later writers in the genre including Larry Brown, Dorothy Allison, and Donald Ray Pollock. Grit Lit is usually set in rural areas and often in what has been called the “Rough South”. Larry Brown, one of the most celebrated writers in the genre, objected to the term “Grit Lit”, but he dedicated his novel, Fay, to Crews, calling him “my uncle in all ways but blood.” He and Crews remained friends until Brown’s death in 2004.
Grit Lit: A Rough South Reader, defines the genre as “as typically blue collar or working class, mostly small town, sometimes rural, occasionally but not always violent, usually but not necessarily Southern.” The subjects of the stories often have to deal with extreme circumstances for survival. The characters usually use their roughness, depravity, and violence as a means of living. Crews’s work has become synonymous with the “Rough South,” though he did not like the label “Southern writer”. Grit Lit itself can become an “acquired taste”, for those not from the South.
Harry Crews’s experiences as a poor boy from Bacon County, Georgia, have made a major impact on his own stories. Many other Grit Lit writers are from working-class backgrounds as well, and use their experiences as a tool for writing their stories with accuracy. Crews has said, “A writer’s job is to get naked, to hide nothing, to look away from nothing, to look at it. To not blink, to not be embarrassed by it or ashamed of it. Strip it down and let’s get to where the blood is, where the bone is.”
Crews died on March 28, 2012, from complications of neuropathy. His sole surviving son, Byron J. Crews, is professor of English and Dramatic Writing at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. and is the personal representative and acting executor of the Harry Crews Literary Estate.
I love this man and his way of thinking, raw honesty!
Check him out (or not):
A brilliant thing he says about the process writing:
Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, interweb, poetpas©️
Dear Bill
unable to cope
you hang yourself
with rope
you turn on
the gas
and let things
come to pass
or jump
in front of a train
as you can’t handle
the pain
you drive
off a cliff
but what if
you just chill
and take a pill
and make sure
you put me
in your will
or won’t
my dear Bill
I was kidding
cause I love you
in spite
of the money
you owe me
still…
We don’t always need a face
The contribution of a stranger
they built our homes
they paved our way
they put us up
and let us stay
they asked us why
they told us that
they baked us pie
that made us fat
they helped us out
they taught us things
they let us be
and gave us wings
Your irresistible curves
round
and bound
by muscle
veins
and nerves
I am drawn
to the sight
of your irresistible curves
and so are all
the droolers
secret admirers
and unintentional perves
PrenUp
after
everything
fails
we still have
it all,
all the bloody details
I fell asleep
I fell asleep
on an empty train
trying to forget
my daily pain
my daily pain
absorbed by sleep
I will be moved
but shall not weep
Package holidays
package holidays
come with rain
nowadays
Writers tears
His heart danced upon her movements like a cork upon a tide. He heard what her eyes said to him from beneath their cowl and knew that in some dim past, whether in life or revery, he had heard their tale before.
~James Joyce
When your lips touch mine
you will be good
you will be fine
you will be wet
when your lips
touch mine
we may end up in bed
Death
death is part of life
the end bit
for your husband
or your wife
your father
your mother
your sister
your brother
your friends
your fiends
and those
that do not bother
Life is life
Life is life
nanana nana
Life is life
nanana nana
Roses
my garden
full of roses
with all their
silly poses
I don’t think
too much
about it
it’s just my diagnosis
Vox populi
everybody
has a voice
or an opinion
but I don’t want
to hear them all
I have my own…
that is my opinion
What do I care
what do I care
what? do I care?
You are worth the trouble
you
are worth
the trouble
you are
Featuring: Ricky Gervais
Today I’m featuring a comedian who is funny, daft, sensitive and deadly honest. I love this man as he always searches for truths and can turn sadness into laughter. He is a realist and makes many of us aware of our human emotions, all in good spirit.
Ricky Dene Gervais (1961) is an English comedian, actor, director, and writer. He is best known for co-creating, co-writing, and acting in the British television mockumentary sitcom The Office (2001–2003). He has won seven BAFTA Awards, five British Comedy Awards, two Emmy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and the Rose d’Or twice (2006 and 2019), and has been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2007, he was placed at No. 11 on Channel 4’s 100 Greatest Stand-Ups, and at No. 3 in their 2010 list. In 2010, he was included in the Time 100 list of World’s Most Influential People.
Gervais initially worked in the music industry. He attempted a career as a pop star in the 1980s as the singer of the new-wave act Seona Dancing, and managed the then-unknown band Suede before turning to comedy. He appeared on The 11 O’Clock Show on Channel 4 between 1998 and 2000, garnering a reputation as an outspoken and sharp-witted social provocateur. In 2000, he was given a Channel 4 spoof talk show, Meet Ricky Gervais. He achieved greater mainstream fame the following year with his BBC television mock documentary series The Office, followed by Extras in 2005, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with Stephen Merchant, and in which he played the lead roles of David Brent (The Office) and Andy Millman (Extras). He starred in the 2016 comedy film David Brent: Life on the Road, which he also wrote and directed.
Gervais began his stand-up career in the late 1990s. He has performed five multinational stand-up comedy tours, and he wrote the Flanimals book series. Gervais, Merchant, and Karl Pilkington created the podcast The Ricky Gervais Show, which has spawned various spin-offs starring Pilkington and produced by Gervais and Merchant. Gervais has also starred in the Hollywood films Ghost Town, the Night at the Museum trilogy, For Your Consideration, and Muppets Most Wanted. He wrote, directed, and starred in The Invention of Lying and the Netflix-released Special Correspondents. He hosted the Golden Globe Awards in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, and again in 2020. Gervais also appeared on the game show Child Support. He is also the creator, executive producer, director, and writer of the Netflix comedy series After Life, where he plays the lead role of Tony Johnson.
Gervais attended Whitley Park Infants and Junior Schools and received his secondary education at Ashmead Comprehensive School. After a gap year which he spent working as a gardener at the University of Reading, he attended University College London (UCL) in 1980. He intended to study biology but changed to philosophy after two weeks, and was awarded an upper second-class honours degree in the subject from University of London in 1983. During his time there, he met Jane Fallon, with whom he has been in a relationship since 1982.
In 1983, during his final year as a student at University College London, Gervais and his best friend Bill Macrae formed the new wave pop duo Seona Dancing. They were signed by London Records, which released two of their singles—”More to Lose” and “Bitter Heart”. The songs failed to make the UK Singles Chart. Despite not being successful in the UK, Seona Dancing did manage to score a hit in the Philippines with “More to Lose”. Gervais also worked as the manager for Suede before they became successful in the 1990s.
In 2013, Gervais performed a live tour as David Brent along with his band Foregone Conclusion, Brent’s fictional band in The Office. He and the band performed songs written under the Brent character, including “Equality Street” and “Free Love Freeway”. Gervais also produced a series of YouTube videos, ‘Learn Guitar with David Brent’, featuring acoustic guitar versions of nine songs.
In 2016, as part of the Life on the Road film promotion, Gervais published the David Brent Songbook of 15 songs, which he also recorded for the album Life on the Road as David Brent and Foregone Conclusion.
After the first series of The Office, Gervais and Merchant worked at Xfm in November 2001 for a Saturday radio show, where they began working with Karl Pilkington, who produced the shows and later collaborated with them on their series of podcasts. In October 2017, Gervais began hosting the weekly radio show Ricky Gervais Is Deadly Sirius on Sirius XM, which ran until 2019.
Ricky also did some podcasting featuring Gervais, Merchant, and Karl Pilkington. Throughout January and February 2006 the podcast was consistently ranked the number 1 podcast in the world. It appeared in the 2007 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most-downloaded podcast, with an average 261,670 downloads per episode during its first month. Two more series, each with six podcasts, were released between February and September 2006.
In late 2006, three more free podcasts were released. Together called “The Podfather Trilogy”, they debuted individually at Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.These three were known by Gervais and Merchant as “The Fourth Season”. In October 2007 another free full-length podcast was released through iTunes, after being originally given out for free during a performance of Gervais’s Fame stand-up tour in London. On 25 November 2007 Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington released another free podcast of just over one hour.
In August 2008, Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington recorded their fifth series of audiobooks, totalling four chapters, which were released on 16 September 2008, and described as the ‘Guide To…’ series. As of May 2011, there are 12 ‘Guides’ to Medicine, Natural History, Arts, Philosophy, The English, Society, Law & Order, The Future, The Human Body, The Earth, The World Cup 2010, and Comic Relief. The conversations typically begin on topic and go out on tangents about other subjects.
In 2021, Gervais launched a paid-for audio series, Absolutely Mental, of his conversations with philosopher Sam Harris. Season 2 was also launched in 2021, followed by season 3 in March 2022.
Initially Gervais was most famous for the series The Office. The Office started when Stephen Merchant had to make his own short film while on a BBC production course. In August 1999 he made a docu-soap parody, set in an office, with help from Ash Atalla who was shown a 7-minute video called ‘The Seedy Boss’. Thus the character of David Brent was created. Merchant passed this tape on to the BBC’s Head of Entertainment Paul Jackson at the Edinburgh Fringe, who then passed it on to Head of Comedy Jon Plowman, who eventually commissioned a full-pilot script from Merchant and Gervais.
The first six-episode series of The Office aired in the UK in July and August 2001 to little fanfare or attention. Word-of-mouth, repeats, and DVDs helped spread the word, building up momentum and anticipation for the second series, also comprising six episodes. Following the success of The Office’s second series, Gervais was named the most powerful person in TV comedy by Radio Times.
In 2004, The Office won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy as well as Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy for Gervais, who said in a 2015 BBC interview that the award was the gateway to America for him.
The Office brand has since been remade for audiences in Sweden, France, Germany, Quebec, Brazil, Chile, The Czech Republic, Finland, India, Israel, Poland and the United States. Gervais and Merchant are producers of the American version, and they also co-wrote the episode “The Convict” for the show’s third season. Gervais has said that the episode “Training” is his favourite, where Brent plays his guitar and sings. In 2021, on the show’s 20th anniversary, he suggested the show would not have been produced in 2021 due to cancel culture: “I mean, now it would be cancelled. I’m looking forward to when they pick out one thing and try to cancel it. Someone said they might try to cancel it one day, and I say, ‘Good let them cancel it—I’ve been paid!’
Ricky also starred in a series called Extras. Extras had its debut on the BBC on 21 July 2005 and was directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The sitcom ran for twelve episodes and starred Gervais as Andy Millman, a background artist. Millman is more self-aware and intentionally humorous than Gervais’s The Office character David Brent. Guest stars on the first series of Extras include Ross Kemp, Les Dennis, Patrick Stewart, Vinnie Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet and Francesca Martinez. A second series began on 14 September 2006 in the UK and featured appearances by Daniel Radcliffe, Dame Diana Rigg, Orlando Bloom, Sir Ian McKellen, Chris Martin, Keith Chegwin, Robert Lindsay, Warwick Davis, Ronnie Corbett, Stephen Fry, Richard Briers, Patricia Potter, Sophia Myles, Moira Stuart, David Bowie, Robert De Niro and Jonathan Ross.
A Rolling Stone article remarks that in making Extras, Gervais was influenced by Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, particularly in the format of celebrities making fools of themselves or subverting their public personas. I might like to add that Gervais don’t shy away from a good old ‘roast’, something that some comedians do, like Don Rickles, when they take the piss out of another celebrity just for fun.
In 2007, Gervais won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Andy Millman in the second series of Extras. As Gervais was not present at the awards ceremony, the trophy was accepted on his behalf by Steve Carell, the actor who starred as regional manager Michael Scott—the counterpart to Gervais’s David Brent—on the American adaptation of The Office.
The Ricky Gervais Show is an animated TV show that debuted on US cable network HBO on 19 February 2010. In the UK, the first series began airing on 23 April 2010 on Channel 4. The show was developed using original podcast recordings from The Ricky Gervais Show starring Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington. After receiving an enthusiastic following in the US, HBO recommissioned the show for a second series, which aired in 2011, and a third series which started airing in April 2012.
Life’s Too Short began airing on BBC Two on 10 November 2011.Gervais and Stephen Merchant wrote this sitcom from an idea by Warwick Davis. It is described by Gervais as being about “the life of a showbiz dwarf” and as “a cross between Extras and The Office”. The show stars actor Davis playing a fictionalised version of himself, as well as Gervais and Merchant. Premium cable channel HBO, which co-produced the series with the BBC, had the US rights and began airing the series on 19 February 2012.
Another of creations was a show called An Idiot Abroad, a travel documentary where a reluctant Karl Pilkington travels around the world, with his reactions to people and places recorded. Occasionally, Gervais and Merchant call to surprise him with a new place to visit or task to do. Pilkington reports back mostly complaining about the situation. Gervais says there is no planning; a camera crew follows his friend around filming for many hours, which Gervais edits down to an hour each episode.
Two series and a Christmas special have aired; series one involves Pilkington visiting the Seven Wonders of the World. In the second show he chooses to complete tasks from a bucket list provided by Gervais and in the special Warwick Davis joins Pilkington on a journey following Marco Polo’s route from Italy to China.
In November 2011, Gervais filmed in London a 35-minute pilot episode for a potential comedy-drama series called Derek, which aired on Channel 4 on 12 April 2012.The pilot is solely written and directed by Gervais and features him in the title role of Derek Noakes, a 49-year-old retirement home worker, who “loves animals, Rolf Harris, Jesus, Deal or No Deal, Million Pound Drop, and Britain’s Got Talent.” The character first appeared in a 2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe sketch as an aspiring comedian who loves animals and still lives with his mother. Gervais’s co-host Karl Pilkington makes his acting debut as Derek’s friend and facilities-caretaker Dougie who also works in the retirement home. British comedian Kerry Godliman plays Derek’s best friend Hannah and David Earl plays Kev.
Gervais said that the series is about “kindness [being] more important than anything else”. He added “It’s about the forgotten—everyone’s forgotten. It’s all these arbitrary people who didn’t know each other, and they’re in there now because they’re in the last years of their life. And it’s about the people who help them, who themselves are losers and have their own problems. It’s about a bunch of people with nothing, but making the most of it, and they’re together.” He chose to set the sitcom in a retirement home after he watched Secret Millionaire—”It was always these people with huge problems who were helping other people. I thought about having Derek help old people because no one cares about old people in this country … I think it’s perfect for now.”
On 9 May 2018, it was announced that Netflix had given a production order for the first season of the comedy drama After Life. It was created and directed by Gervais, who also starred in it and executive-produced it with Duncan Hayes, with Charlie Hanson as producer; the series premiered on 8 March 2019.On 3 April 2019, Netflix renewed the series for a second season, which launched on 24 April 2020.In May 2020 it was announced that Gervais had signed a new deal with Netflix, including a third season of After Life. Before the announcement Gervais said, “For the first time ever, I would do a series three, because the world’s so rich. I love the characters, I love all the actors in it, I love my character, I love the town, I love the themes… I love the dog!”
Gervais began his stand-up career in the late 1990s. His first successful show was at the Cafe Royal as part of the 2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Titled Rubbernecker, it also featured Jimmy Carr, Robin Ince and Stephen Merchant.
Gervais toured the UK in 2003 with his stand-up show Animals. The Politics tour followed a year later. Both shows were recorded for release on DVD and television broadcast. The third part of the themed live trilogy, Fame, took place in 2007. It started in Glasgow in January and ended in Sheffield in April. Blackpool reported selling out of tickets within 45 minutes of them going on sale.
Ricky Gervais also does stand-up comedy, animation, he writes children’s books and is often a guest on talk shows and sometimes hosts the Golden Globe Awards, etc.
Gervais’s film career has included small roles as the voice of a pigeon, Bugsy, in 2005’s Valiant, as a studio executive in 2006’s For Your Consideration,as museum director Dr. McPhee in 2006’s Night at the Museum and its sequels Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian and Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, and as “Ferdy the Fence” in the 2007 film Stardust.
Gervais starred in Ghost Town (2008) as a dentist who sees spirits, and was in Lowell, Massachusetts during May 2008 filming his next project, The Invention of Lying (2009), in which he starred alongside Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe and Louis C.K.. The social comedy was co-written and co-directed by Gervais and Matt Robinson.
Gervais directed and starred in, Special Correspondents, which began filming in May 2015. The comedy stars Eric Bana as a journalist and Gervais as his assistant. They pretend to report news from a war torn country but in actuality they are safe in New York. The film was released on Netflix. Gervais directed and starred in the 2016 film David Brent: Life on the Road, a mockumentary following David Brent, a character first seen in The Office series, as he lives his dream of being a rockstar. On 5 November 2015 Gervais signed up to play Ika Chu, a villainous cat, in an animated film Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, originally known as Blazing Samurai. The movie is about a dog (Hank) played by Michael Cera, who wants to be a warrior and fights with Ika Chu for the town of Kakamucho.
Gervais has homes in Hampstead, London, and Marlow, Buckinghamshire. He also has an apartment in the Barbizon 63 building in New York City. He has been in a relationship with producer and author Jane Fallon since 1982, and says they chose not to marry because “there’s no point in us having an actual ceremony before the eyes of God because there is no God” or have children because they “didn’t fancy dedicating 16 years of [their] lives … and there are too many children, of course”.
He is a vegan, an atheist and a humanist, and states that he abandoned religion at the age of eight. In December 2010, he wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal defending his atheism. He is an honorary associate of the UK’s National Secular Society and a patron of Humanists UK, a British charity that promotes the humanist worldview and campaigns for a secular state and on human rights issues. On 3 September 2019, he received the 2019 Richard Dawkins Award, which recognises people who proclaim “the values of secularism and rationalism, upholding scientific truths wherever it may lead.” Gervais received the award during a Centre for Inquiry-sponsored ceremony at London’s Troxy Theatre. Dawkins praised Gervais as a “witty hero of atheism and reason.”
Gervais is a fan of the UFC and Reading F.C. He is a music fan and has stated that his hero is David Bowie, with his favourite song being “Letter to Hermione”. He has also stated that his first experience of a live music gig was watching Iggy Pop. In 2013, he wrote that Lou Reed was “one of the greatest artists of our time” following Reed’s death.
Gervais is a fervent supporter of gay rights and has praised the introduction of same-sex marriage in England and Wales as “a victory for all of us”, saying “anything that promotes equality, promotes progress … You can’t take equality ‘too far’.”
Gervais joined Twitter in December 2009 when he first hosted the 66th Golden Globes. After a two-year hiatus, he returned to the platform in September 2011.In 2012, Gervais won a Shorty Award for Lifetime Achievement for his popular presence on social media. As of April 2022 he was followed by 14.7 million fans whom he calls ‘Twonks’.
Gervais uses social media to promote his work to his fans. After ten years he brought back his character Brent on his YouTube channel in a web series Learn Guitar with David Brent. He uses many ways to promote his new series, for example for Derek, he posts contests or questions for his fans.
Gervais uses social media to raise awareness of animal welfare. He tweets links to petitions to rescue animals from captivity, he highlights the plight of animals being used for testing, and he encourages people to adopt dogs instead of buying them from breeders. He won the Genesis Award from the Humane Society in March 2015 for his contribution to raising awareness for animal welfare on social media. In 2014, he was named most influential London Twitter user.
Gervais has cited Laurel & Hardy, Groucho Marx, Peter Cook, and Christopher Guest as significant influences.
Gervais is a supporter of animal rights and has stated that he will leave his fortune to animal charities. Gervais named an Asian black bear, also known as a moonbear, Derek after the protagonist from his series Derek. In December 2013, Gervais bought a $1000 cake shaped like a moonbear to raise funds for Animal Asia. Gervais is active in the prevention of illegal wildlife trade; he supported the handing over of ivory trinkets to the Metropolitan police in London.
In 2015, Gervais donated a signed acoustic guitar to help raise funds for Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Ontario, Canada, with a special call-out to Pockets Warhol. The guitar which was signed by Gervais was purchased by Danny Young from the United Kingdom who has since had the guitar signed by several celebrities in order to raise further funds for the Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary. Celebrities who signed the guitar include: Brian May, Will Ferrell, Bryan Cranston, Dhani Harrison, Peter Frampton, Ricky Warwick, and Steve Cutts.
In 2017, Gervais was awarded the Lord Houghton Award for Service to Animal Welfare from Animal Defenders International Gervais was also awarded the Humane Society International Cecil Award in 2018 for his frequent social media efforts to end trophy hunting.
Check him out (or not):
Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube, interweb, poetpas
Penelope
I watch the glistening stars
waiting for thy presence
thy brown eyes
a pulse through the universe
bound
connected
to ne’r be smothered
infinitely
Penelope
be mine
Everybody
everybody
wants to make a difference
but hardly anybody does
everybody
wants to be good
yet most of us feel bad
everybody
wants some change
whilst many of us fear it
everybody
wants to live
even though we die
Can’t you see
I cannot see
said the blind man
can’t you see?
What’s with me…
what’s with me…
without you
It’s lack of knowledge
it’s lack
of knowledge…
I know
Two sides to every story
there’s two sides
to every story…
a beginning
and an end
Get on your knees!
get on your knees
and colour
the lands
do it with verve
and the patience
it demands…
Oh brother
Oh brother
you are not
my mother
sister
What is freedom of speech
what is freedom of speech
if everything
you say
is weighed
and debated,
questioned,
twisted
to matters
unrelated
what is it freedom of speech
The older you get
the older
you get
the more
end up dead
April had to stay
be that
as it May
in March
June said
that April
had to stay
Mother of fact
as a mother of fact
she kept
all her offspring
intact
she fed them
she bathed them
and kept them
in line
they all went
and crossed it
but we think
she’ll be fine
When but
when you think you had enough
but you get much less
when he talks way too much
but you always digress
when you think you’ve made it
but it was never broken
when a lot is discussed
but not much outspoken
when you’re blind to everything
but can hear all the rest
when you gave her a polygraph
but you failed the test
when you think you’ve found the one
but you run into the other
when you’ve found a way out
but you just won’t bother…
g👁👁gle
we collect your browsing data
and monitor your stay
we sell it on to companies
that will haunt you every day
I spot your hormones
I spot
your hormones
I see them
in your spots
Bannockburn
arches flying
young lads dying
a lot of them bled
in a pool of red
swords swinging
bagpipes singing
horses charging
soldiers barging
English lots
a fair few Scots
with their pride
they turned the tide
The damp of a dog turd (naughty version)
smoking hot
from ass to grass
a soft brown substance
came to pass
The damp of a dog turd (the messy version)
a spontaneous creation
of damp
spread
and left across the nation
The damp of a dog turd (the nice version)
early
on a sunny spring’s morn
something beautiful
and odorous was born
Distraught
distraught
I was
I fought
my thoughts
my memories
of disagrees
worries
of fees
and foes
I suppose
I took
my time
and drank
some wine
emptied bottles
emptying me
distraught
I fought
I won
and now
I’m free
What a killer
what a killer
said the hunter
to his prey
I shot myself
in the foot
and I just saved your day
Life
life
is not always
in everyone’s favour
if we could have
we may have picked
a different flavour
You are the one
you are
the one
the second
you realise
you are not
the one
A pothole
a pit
created by traffic
weather
wear
and tear
gathers rain
this unpredictable pool
of tyre pain
housing an abundance
of grit
and grime
collected over time
an asphalt mole
in the road
a pothole
It’s cool to be a fool
I sit back quietly
absorb
and woefully tolerate
I grieve
yet believe
it’s cool to be a fool
of late
Marital blitz
1 marriage
2 people
3 kids
4 pets
5 years
a lot of fights
a divorce
a shyster
plenty of money
and many many tears
Old ladder
overhead
watchful ornament
reached for the top
to some extent
old ladder
hanging bare
bears witness
a silent stare
Let it be heard
let it be heard
but not spoken
I want to sleep
and not be awoken
Oh spring
oh spring
with your colourful splendor
so vivid
a canvas full of
natural hues
so tender
an annual reprise
every time
you overwhelm me
and take me
by surprise
Baby bunny
new to life
fearless
yet frail
waggling
it’s tiny tail
freshly furred
brown ha(i)re(d)
and slightly scared
a baby bunny hops
on my grass
mixed with weeds
en masse
as birds sing
and bugs bug
the bunny
freezes
whilst an ugly orange cat
goes into stalking mode
I have to break up the party…
Eggs dancing
rhythmically
jiving
to increasing heat
my eggs dance around
in boiling water
without legs
nor cold feet
Inner voice
find
your inner voice
even if it’s
not your choice
iMagine
iMagine
naming your dog
Siri
and calling him
“Hey Siri”
and iMagine
having an IPhone
My dna
unwanted chains
impaired by strings
of twisted cells
and all it brings
good and evil
do their duty
mixed dark and light
entwined with beauty
my dna
can’t go away
inherited
is here to stay…
I was in awe
I was in awe
of what I saw
as she was perfect…
she had a flaw
Head over heels
I’d rather
you be smart
than look
like a tart
Burn your bridges
how do you burn
your bridges
if they are made
of concrete?
Roll the dice
roll the dice
is my advice
take a wee little gamble
afore thy demise
Something special
there is always
something special
for someone
in someone else
and then some…
Beyond reasonable doubt
beyond
reasonable doubt
lies
the truth
My mostly misbehavin
I’m too tough
too rude
too rough
too weird
yet clean shaven
but they can’t deal
with me…
my mostly misbehavin
Manchester scareport
you queue
you queue
that’s all you do
they haven’t got a bloody clue
you wait
you wait
you might be late
to get in line for a busy gate
by the time
you do get through
there is yet
another queue
you queue and wait
for miles and miles
you end up nowhere
but with piles
little staff
tight security
I’m going home
I need to pee
Empty road clouds
don’t let
an empty road
cloud
your judgement
Waiting in the wet
a woman
in the wet
weather
waiting
for a whistleblower
being watched
through a wagon window
by wondering
wandering eyes
why not…
photographer: George Natsioulis
Telephone 📞
often left
hanging
alone
wired
to a box
you used to listen to
many hellos
laughter
sadness
lies
and frequent goodbyes
whilst swallowing
coins
for money
used
and put down
you life saver
a sacRED shelter
in every other street
in town
~image by Simon Gradwell
Imprisoned by propriety
trapped
by decency
piety
and a bit of moral code
you are imprisoned
by propriety…
I want to get you
out on bail
but you’re not
in the mode
Global warming
I warm
to anyone…
anyone who is kind
locally
or globally
I don’t really mind
April Fewl
April Fewl
was a prankster
who enjoyed
pulling legs
thinking it was cool
but came up short
when she met
her amputated man
who left her clueless
what to do
when he said:
You should’ve worn
your spectacles
before I married you…
First sun
first sun
what fun
no more depression
after spring
has sprung
april is here
flowers in gear
roses coming out
all the children
bloody shout
first sun
such fun
the rays are here
and the noise begun
Mrs Khan
Mrs Khan
had a nasty man
who hit her hard
with a frying pan
he made her weep
and make her sleep
outside with the mice
in a garbage can
she ran away
to the USA
moved to a town
it was called Bomb Bay
there she met
her soulmate me
who made her smile
and feel happy
Manoir de mes rêves
all in place
my cozy space
filled with things
the sun
and the dust it brings
eventually settling
like me
to some degree
I plot on
so it seems
in my tiny haven
the house
of my dreams
Here lies
here lies
a liar
whom one
must admire
as he did it
for the greater good
when he told
the rapacious rotund
he could live on
without food
Wild Will
Will
hit a rock
he was insulted
by a cock
he smacked
him in the gob
for being such
a knob
Will went back
to his chair
and proceeded
to swear
all this fuss
and his cuss
cause his wife
has no hair
Mother
conceive me
carry me
hold me
feed me
need me
raise me
appraise me
stroke me
pet me
affect me
trust me
support me
believe me
perceive me
slap me
confuse me
reject me
eject me
neglect me
excuse me
leave me
be…
Don’t lose any sleep over it!
the clock
stole an hour
from our precious
sacred night
yet returned
it to our day
to bring us
longer
later
light
Wolf
nocturnally
p’rtaining to the night
the animal wast adrift
and howling out of sight
She didn’t know she was raised by a narcissist
she didn’t know
she was special
she didn’t know
she was smart
she didn’t know
she was pretty
she didn’t know
she was funny
she didn’t know
she was creative
she didn’t know
she was sensitive
she didn’t know
she was unhappy
she didn’t know
Bombs away
bombs away!
away
with the bombs!
All living things
all livings things
want to live
by law of nature
and what it offers
all living things
Sad Saul
left by his wife
he had no friends
he had no life
he was allways on his phone
so he wouldn’t feel alone
he found an ally
in his screen
and a bit of self-esteem
Danny the Dalmatian
you’ve spotted me
said Danny
to the overlooking tree
you look
like you are thirsty
so I will kindly wet on thee
I also left you
a fragrance
to freshen up thy bark
so you smell nice
alone
in this landscape oh so stark
Look
look,
you can look
and look
and look
and look,
but if you can’t look,
look no further…
you see?
Look!
Your hairdresser
she knows
all your secrets
your ailments
and pain
she knows
you are human
and need
to complain
she listens
to the hokum
that you
wish to convey
right up to
the moment
when you
have to pay
Als je de weg kwijt bent
als je de weg kwijt bent
kies dan een ander pad
No fly zone
a fly
couldn’t fly
in a zone
of his own
so he disguised himself
as a book
but his cover was blown
Russian roulette
keep pulling
the trigger
you might
kill yourself
and the rest
go away
go figure…
Keeping up appearances
“Fuck it”
said Hyacinth
to her husband Clive
lets use a Bucket
and go for a sex drive
Ritual of sin
adamantly
we Adam
and Eve
try to behave
and aim
to achieve
yet we bite
the bitter apple
and enjoy
the ritual sin
naturally imbedded
in the deep pores of our skin
Your myth
your myth
created
puzzled
the pieces
laid out
by you
the parts
that I am
left
projected
right
in your brain
affected
mixed up
defected
are expected
to sustain
A short story about a lazy bum
he was a bum
and couldn’t be arsed
with shit
this was the story…
that’s pretty much (w)it
I fell asleep
I fell asleep
on an empty train
trying to forget
my daily pain
my daily pain
absorbed by sleep
I will be moved
but shall not weep
~foto by swhnj_rthsr
A courtyard of stone
an old man
playing a violin
devotes
his melancholy notes
to the sun
a blue sky
and a few birds
passing by
whilst forgotten chansons
echo off the walls
of shut shops
beneath a plane tree
almost alone
he brings tears
and joy
to a courtyard of stone
Women
perfect
creations
of a creative
god
creating
precious
pure
emotional
curvy
beings
shining
light
perpetually
yet sometimes
a tad whiny
perhaps regretfully
Entrapped
entrapped
by your need
you feed
your greed
so I plead
you free yourself
in deed
agreed?
Reigns of sunshine
always here
always there
with sovereign strength
illuminating
at great length
dominating heat
we can’t beat
much longer
the reigns
of sunshine
are getting stronger
I will kill you with kindness
I will kill you
with kindness
to blow away
your blindness
so you can see
how much
you(re) mean
to me
I’ve grown accustomed to you
every second
every minute
every hour
every day
every week
every month
every year
every decade
every moment
every emotion
every notion
every strife
I’ve learned to cope with you
my dear friend
I’ve grown accustomed to you
life
The memories are ours
created
by adventures
brevity
and joy
the memories
are ours
forever
that is my ploy
USSuRper from the east
on your misery he shall feast
put im down
this usurper from the east
The lonesome neglected
out there
forgotten
and wasting away
the lonesome
neglected
some left
astray
HaPPy & Healthy
I want to feel happy
and healthy
but I need to feel healthy
to be happy
I am groovy
I am groovy
I have a story to tell
and I know my lines
Have you heard the news
have you heard the news?
it’s about history repeating itself,
repeatedly…
Too bad
you are too good
to be too good
which is too bad
Reading
reading
keeps me from writing
and it’s not
all that exciting
reading my writing
Comment clan
can I join
your comment clan?
I will be your biggest fan!
only nice things I shall write;
nothing critical
if that’s alright…
The silhouette of your soul
the silhouette
of your soul
shapes the contours
of your being
into a mystic shadow
of thyself
I feel a presence
I feel a presence
I sense the future
maybe the past
least but not last
It’s nothing personal
it’s not about me
it is about the words
it’s nothing personal
Oh Valentine
Oh Valentine
Oh Valentine,
give me love
plus 20 million
and I shall
proudly
call thee
mine
Spare change
spare change;
leave it be…
Thought catcher
secretly
you capture
my rapture
my brain
my thoughts
in refrain
you can sense
my glee
and the occasional pain
A post from Mortem
“I’ve been
to hell and back…
I’m dying to know
the results of my autopsy”
~Mortem
7 ginger sisters
7 ginger sisters
were talking and walking
talking
walking
until these sisters
came across a Red Cross post
and were informed
they couldn’t be treated for yapping…
only for their blisters
She in the distance
faded
by shadows
and mist
remote
beyond reach
I devote
myself
to her
perhaps in my dreams
she
in the distance
Belittle
belittle
me
be little
you
A nightmare
I had a dream
about a dream
about a dream
about a dream
the latter was
about waking up
The bottle was his friend
you have to understand
that the bottle was his friend
alas the feeling wasn’t mutual
it consumed him in the end
If you can’t get what you want
if you can’t get
what you want
have it delivered
Stride
regarding my eventful stride
in the garden of perception
I ponder
and wonder
how I ended up
down yonder
believing fate
would caress my inner
conspicuous alteration
of thoughtful contemplation
that opens
and shuts shutters
of my ever vivid imagination
Consumed and absorbed
I want to be consumed by nature
and absorbed by fate
I need to travel with the light
before it is too late
Daily answers of an indecisive and deliberately forgetful partner
yes
no
maybe
sure
yes
no
maybe not.
I’ll think about it
I’m not sure
I think I have forgot.
Basket case
I won’t let you go
I shall hold you
and squeeze you tight
I won’t let you go
without a fight