Memory

Memory is the not-quite-living museum of our lives, and dusty.
You’re not sentenced to remain what you already are.
You may change, grow and split the hardened
carapace of a self that no longer fits,
and like the seven-year locust,
climb high into a tree and
claim your rebirth.
But first comes
mere courage
and risk.

 

Sedoka week IV (Wednesday)

4 of 7

Holding close that thought
the curl of a smile takes hold
and turns into laughter loud
there in the face of
menacing adversity
I stand proud and tall and firm

Sedoka week III (Tuesday)

3 of 7

And for these moments
I am so very grateful
For they keep my sanity
intact and wholesome
in the knowledge that hope brings
that all this will see an end

Sedoka week II (Monday)

2 of 7

For life continues
still in these uncertain days
Springtime comes and sun still shines
and mornings still dawn
for days when bright moments can
now be seized, captured and held

A Shakespearean Solution Limerick

There is nothng funny about the pandemic and what it has done to turn the world and the lives of everyone in it upside down. It would be impossible to write a traditional “joke” limerick with a four line setup and a fifth line punchline about it. However, I hope that I can use a touch of humor to send a serious message by slightly altering one of my best limericks where I take possibly the most famous speech in the English language and give it a Texas twist. I had to take a few liberties with the meter to get the message right

The world was riding high in the saddle,
Now, it’s up a creek with no paddle.
Tis not just nobler in the mind
To sit home on your behind…
It will make this Sea of Troubles skedaddle!

New Words on the List

Food

Water

Shelter

-ing in place

Social-

Distancing

 

Heads down

Trying to navigate

this new reality

fragile as a teacup

pure survival for some.

Still, words fly fast

through what medium they can

reaching ears

exiting mouths

pencils held in hands

fingers on keyboards

expression

encouragement

words

 

Food

Water

Shelter

-ing in place

Social-

Distancing

poetry

Image by Pixabay

For the backstory on this poem visit byalannapass.com

Sedoka week I (Sunday)

1 of 7

Waxing lyrical
It is now with Sedoka
for more flexibility
With these crafted words
that in these next seven days
I will capture parts of life

Little yellow II

There are little yellow flowers
I don’t know what they are
but they always come around this time
and are quite spectacular
Vibrant in the sunshine
they raise their heads and sing
appearing at the end of March
just before the Spring

About sitting outside

I sat outside and sunned myself
at the end of March
it was warm out in the sunshine
underneath the larch
It was a little windy
but I didn’t mind a bit
‘Cos I was in my element
and enjoying all of it

Keeping happy

Sunshine’s out there bright and high
warm and always shining
So, resolute, I’m joining it and
stopping all the whining
As safely in my garden I can
keep at social distance
yet be outside enjoying life
and sunshine at this instance

-01.04.20_01:51-

Leaning over the bed,

I can feel you close

A Passover Limerick

Happy Holidays. To all my Christian friends – Happy Easter. And to all my Jewish friends – Happy Passover. Tonight the Jewish people celebrate their escape from slavery in Egypt. Like all Jewish holidays, Passover has holiday specific symbolic food. Matzo, unleavened bread, is the focal point of the Passover food and it takes great cooking skill to turn this edible cardboard into something palatable. But making it easier to go in does not make it easier to go out…..

First VIII

8 of 12 in the Jemverse series ’12 months III’

Three months have gone and
April is here and
the world is a different place
Enforced isolation
keeps us apart
as if we had fallen from grace

The language of the sea

The short lapping waves come in then recede
incessant and gentle and free
They speak to me softly in whispering tone
what it is to be part of the sea

And I understand fully as this language I speak
having learnt it when just a lad
Its rhythm speaks wisdom of treasure to keep
which over the years I have had

A walk by the water

There’s a lot to be said
at the end of the day
for getting out for a while to the beach
A short walk by water
is just what we oughta
do as it’s there in our reach

About a book from Venice II

This time last year I wrote about
a little book I’d bought
in Venice which I’d fully used
for poems as I ought
It was a lovely book so
when going back last year
I purchased two new volumes
to keep handy very near
For I am looking forward
to using them once more
and writing daily in them
which of course is what they’re for

Lifting II

I’m thinking of a song I heard
one that brought a grin
for that is what I need right now
with the state I’m in
I’m trying hard, don’t get me wrong
and I know I’m not alone
as there are many others out there
who like me must stay at home
But it’s hard remaining positive
so I need a helping hand
provided by a favourite song
sung by a favourite band

Welcome the Day

Reposting a poem from 2015 for #Throwback Friday

A moment to pause
in the early morning
when I rise


A chance to refresh
in the quiet hours
before I run

Simple II

I don’t ask for much in life
I’m quite a simple chap
Just music and some lavender
will content me, that’s a fact
So enforcing isolation
when we all must stay at home
doesn’t really bother me
and I’ll not gripe and moan

Tri-haiku XXVII (sunshine)

In these troubled days
with my movement restricted
by Covid-19

I am resolute
that the sunshine will remain
and bring fortitude

It is my saving
Ever precious and constant
A true friend indeed

-23.03.20_18:06-

Stream clattering down,
Metallic plinks

Lying in wait

do eyes grow till they fit our time
does time grow till it fits our eyes
hyenas circus in a raging dragon
a mother’s long feathered song

wait till you grow
or grow till you wait

Few trees

3 of 3 in the ‘Tree’ series from Jemverse

There are few trees up here but still
the view is quite breathtaking
so I don’t mind a bit because
it’s freedom in the making
On our doorsteps here but still
few people get this far
A mystery as up here the view
is quite spectacular

From Three Trees

2 of 3 in the ‘Tree’ series from Jemverse

From ‘Three Trees’ on the Beacon
with sunshine in the field
the view is always wonderful
out across the Weald
As you can see for miles
to the hill line way up north
across the scattered villages
as clouds pass back and forth
This place it is idyllic
high up on South Downs Way
made better by the sunshine
on this lovely mid-March day

Silences

What an odd boy, they used to say of me.
They’re still saying it.
But I’m a writer, my dear, and not right in the head.
That’s all it is. But I do know how to
take my time and listen,
sitting under the willow tree in the spring as the birds
bring me happy messages from God.
I will take my time with other important things, too,
so lay your curves of water here beside me.

If this pleases you,
You may pay me back with your
gift of second sight,
and tell me where my true nature hides,
where my pain
scuttles unhealed,
my illusions fester.

I will love you all the more for it.
These are gifts we give, freely
and they bind us in profound ways
because they reveal.

As a tree

1 of 3 in the ‘Tree’ series  from Jemverse

Though I am a poem
I am often as a tree
spreading wide my branches
to the winds and fancy free
Sometimes I am majestic
growing strong and very tall
and other times I’m minuscule
insignificantly small

Mother’s day 2020

My mother didn’t make it
to see my sixty years
when she passed away in May last year
amongst the smiles and tears
That saddened me (of course it did)
but it’s other times I miss
like the joy of giving flowers
on Mother’s Days like this
Yet the solace that I take away
from all the days I’ve cried
is the ever joyful knowledge
that she’s by my Father’s side

Sunshine shadow

Sunshine shadow
casts a glance
with nonchalance and whimsy
warming through the window
but outside still frail and flimsy

Sunshine shadow
gains in strength
now though as Springtime garners
new life from winter’s barren hands
for gardeners and farmers