Poetry Competition - February 2022

The Highway Code is changing,

As I hope you’re all aware,

Those cyclists can ride two abreast,

Without a flippin’ care.

When pedalling on their tod,

In the road centre they can trail,

And give two fingers to the driver,

Crawling behind them like a snail.

If lycrad pedallers are ranked so high,

It’s only right that they should pay,

A tax to use our crowded roads,

To recognise they hold such sway.

And you may find surprising,

The new door opening mystique,

Car drivers are to be advised,

“Use the ‘Dutch reach’ technique.”

This is not a move in the Kama Sutra,

It’s to get a better sight,

You grasp the driver’s door handle,

With your left hand not your right.

But undertaking a horse on its left,

Will be a banned manoeuvre,

At no more than ten miles per hour,

You must  be a right-side cruiser.

Walkers, cyclists and riders top the list,

Of those most favoured by this code,

And the poor old car driver,

Must pay for them to use the road. 

I’m thinking, in a year from now –

Wherever I shall be –

That things, no matter anyhow,

Won’t be the same with me.

For, as it was a year ago,

And almost to the day,

You were someone I didn’t know,

A thousand miles away.

So be it in a year ahead,

Provided I survive,

I may love someone else instead

And feel quite otherwise.

But one thing is without a doubt:

However I assail,

I’ll eat my heart and insides out

But still to no avail.

A change is as good as a rest, they say,

And a change of air is best

So, we stuffed the knapsacks 

With our old plastic macs

For a day on the coast, out west, my friend,

For a day on the coast, out west.

And then (as you do) after changing at Crewe

With our faces pressed to the glass

Put our troubles behind us

Knowing no-one would find us

With our worries now fading fast, my dear,

With our worries now fading fast.

Then we walked, hand in hand, down the prom to the sand

And we changed for a dip in the sea

And the tiny shared towel 

Made us giggle and howl

We fell quietly in love, you and me, my heart,

We fell quietly in love, you and me.

With the sun fading fast I decided (at last!)

Pressed the ring, that I’d brought, in your hand

And though strange it may seem

Like a faraway dream

Forever, we changed on that sand, my love,

Forever, we changed on that sand.

Now heady and charmed, we strolled arm in arm

Tossed a handful of change in the case

Of a genial tramp

Playing songs ’neath a lamp

Then I pressed my lips to your face, my sweet,

Then I pressed my lips to your face.

Though the trainline’s now closed and the shoreline has changed

And the bandstand’s no longer there

If you wish to be wed

There is much to be said

For the sand, and the salty sea air, my dear,

For the sand, and the salty sea air.

As noisy Millennium two swept by,

New York’s Twin Towers still scraped the sky,

That lad Zuckerberg was too young to drive,

His Facebook empire had yet to arrive.

Blair not Boris sat in Number 10, 

And Saddam was top dog back then,

No-one had mentioned those WMD’s,

And George W and Tony could do as they pleased.

Chefs were in their kitchens not forever on TV, 

While kale and quinoa we were yet to see,

Posh eateries served up food not viscous foam,

And you could smoke in restaurants not just at home.

Are our lives better in Millennium three, 

Do selfies improve the lot of you and me?

The umbilical link to smart phones is a blight,

Our 24/7 availability just isn’t right.

Can the cancer of trolling be finally stemmed,

This cowardly behaviour roundly condemned,

Is body shaming with us to stay,

Who will chart a less vicious way?

The internet has us all in thrall, 

But literacy has taken a fall,

Autocorrect and emoji’s are to blame,

As the nation’s spelling feels the strain.

The mangling of language is absurd,

With ‘friend’ now hijacked as a verb,

Friending a stranger on Facebook,

Shows true friendship is mistook.

It’s great that vinyl has won the day,

We thought that CD’s were here to stay,

The office is now a virtual space,

You can Zoom the world from your own place.

The ebook has not yet won the day,

As print books appear to be here to stay,

Their demise was greatly overstated,

As people bought the format they rated.

So it’s not entirely a gloomy scene,

It’s now much easier to be ‘green,’

Gay marriage has lost its social stigma,

And Boris still has his sexual charisma.

“To love and to cherish from this point on”

I meant it then, so what went wrong?

It breaks my heart to say goodbye

I never meant to be that guy

Who’d change his life, give up his home

Will I regret it once I’ve gone?

I’ll miss the girls, they’ve been my life

But I’m so lonely with my wife

It’s strange that I feel so alone

One of a pair, sharing a home

Long work days drift to empty nights

When you finally get home and say “Goodnight”

“The spare room’s better” you often state

“Your snoring’s keeping me awake”

A simple chat would have kept me happy

Just needed a change from bottles and nappies

I’d keep the house clean, cook your meals

Sort the kids out, that’s the deal

Yet what has there been here for me?

Just keeping house and making tea

I don’t want to dish the dirt

But that time I phoned you up at work

They said you’d been off sick that day

Where had you been? You wouldn’t say

That was the day the trust started dying

I wanted us fixed but was sick of trying

Who were you with when you weren’t with me?

Why was I trapped when I could be free?

When we made our vows, I meant them for life

But life is too lonely with an unfaithful wife

So now is the time that I say my farewells

I really don’t hate you and do wish you well

But life is for living and I want to live

I’ll find myself work; I have plenty to give

I’ll pick up my hobbies and go out with friends

And who knows where these changes will end

I feel very sad, and I hope you will too

but I am convinced it’s the best thing to do

So, farewell my dear, don’t break your heart

But never again say “‘til death us do part”

We had to change for games

At school in winter

We shivered reluctantly,

Not one of us a sprinter.

“All change” the teacher said.

I wished I’d stayed in bed.

“All change here for Richmond”

The bus driver said.

“It used to go to Kew “I said.

 “It changed some time ago.”

I didn’t know; I rarely go on a bus.

I didn’t make a fuss.

I can cope with change.

I remember the day I got married

Thinking of a new life ahead.

 “All change now” Mum said

“You’ll have to cook for two.

Do remember my special stew!”

I may change a thing or two

I said - to myself.

I remember the birth of our first born

It snowed that April morn.

 “All change now” Mum said

Night -time feeds, all day you’ll yawn.

I can cope with change I said.

Eleven months later

Another wee daughter.

Sleepless nights, no time to rest

I was taking a test 

Of resilience to change, I said.

When the girls started school

Perhaps I was a fool 

To attend that interview.

“Supply for a term” the deputy said 

 “Just bring a book or knitting! 

Not teaching, just child sitting.”

I can cope with change I said.

Now the glare of the sun is stronger. 

The downpours of rain last longer. 

Changes are world-wide.

Sometimes I want to hide

And dream of times when change

Didn’t happen so fast.

And hope some changes never last.

Who said “Stop the world I want to get off”?

Not me.

I can cope with changes.

I look in the mirror

And what do I see

Where is the girl

That used to be me?

I see hair that’s grey

Where once it was brown

There are lines on my face

And my lips are turned down

The waist that once was

Is no longer slim

It has thickened and coarsened

Without days at the gym

The friends that I had

Where have they gone

They’ve all moved away

And left me alone

The love of my youth

The passionate lover

We could pass on the street

And not know one another

But the one that I married

We’re still together

Through good times and bad

Fair and foul weather

We’ve had ups and downs

Since I was a bride

I’ve faced it all gladly

With him by my side

So what if my hair

Is no longer brown?

Who cares if my mouth

Sometimes turns down?

The love in his eyes

Tells me everything’s fine

Some things never change

With the passing of time 

They didn’t know that I was there, I hid behind the door

I have heard their quarrelling many times before

The shouting and the slamming door sometimes wake me up

And in the kitchen I will find a broken glass or cup

They often seem to argue, they think that I don’t know

And when we are together, try not to let it show

It’s quieter when Dad’s away, Mum gives me lots of treats

We always got on pretty well, before the toys and sweets

Why do they keep on falling out? I wish I understood

Before Dad started travelling, life was pretty good

We used to go on holiday, I loved it on the beach

Dad and I built sand castles, before the tide could reach

I was going to have a brother, Mum told me, in the Spring

It seemed to make her happy, sometimes she’d even sing

But one night when they quarrelled Mum fell and hit her head

So there would be no baby, I could have a bike instead.

One night I was setting up my train set with the track

When Mum said Dad had gone away and wasn’t coming back

I didn’t understand this. Was it something that I’d done?

We always seemed to get along, we always had some fun.

He comes and takes me out sometimes, a café or the zoo

I’m going to meet his girlfriend, he says her name is Sue.

But Mum and I we jog along, it’s better without him

And Mum has met this man called Dave, she met him at the gym.

When Dave comes round he helps me with my train set and the track

But best of all he brings along his son, whose name is Jack

Jack and I can play for hours, in my room upstairs

While Mum and Dave cook yummy things then doze in two armchairs

I sometimes think about my Dad, and miss him day to day

But no more shouting in the night and that’s a better way

Mum and Dave and Jack and me, we all get on so well

I hope that things will stay like this, but only time will tell.

It makes me dream away,

Each melody, each touch of the keys,

Leaves me breathless, gasping,

For nothing can match this music of the spheres

Guiding my overworked mind’s eye,

Across sands, sun-bleached and untrodden.

The palms sway to the sea breeze,

Like a harp strummed fully across its frame

Gulls whimper, holding flight, await to swoop,

Waves hold court with shore wrestling with the bounty

Seaweed, pebbles, shale,

The Sun shines down on simplistic offering,

A life so calm, inspiring my writing.

My cove of shipwrecks

Washed away on the Island’s tide and returned again

Days are blue, azure and pure

Nights clear with their starlight beacons,

Is there no end to this paradise, this longing?

This Twenty Eighth Parallel.

Rain pelts on the windowpane,

The shadows grow long as the day falls to night,

My music grows forever dim,

As I sit in my armchair, huddled under a blanket,

Fire burning and wood splintering, crying in pain,

Miserable. Alone. I want to leave. I am ready.