Progeny of Greatness

Tomorrow (March 8th) is International Women’s Day. Some may bemoan this day and ask ‘When is International Men’s Day?’

Why do we need to have special days that only celebrate women? Are men not important? The answer to the last question is of course yes, men are important. They are equally as important as women however, since the beginning of humanity, they have been regarded as the more important sex. Even today, in so many cultures, men enjoy more opportunity and choice than their female counterparts. In many places women remain without a voice and are subjugated and subordinate to men.

In my part of the world, women’s rights have progressed. We are generally thought of as equal and yet the gender pay gap exists. So there is work still to be done.

I have written this poem to celebrate women and remind all of us that we should seize every opportunity given to us, keep fighting to prove our worth and work to initiate change in countries in which women have an inferior standing to that of men.

Progeny of Greatness

We are the fight in Emmeline Pankhurst

The quest for justice of Rosa Parks

The caring touch of Florence Nightingale

Frida Kahlo’s artistic spark

We are Marie Curie’s genius,

Her devotion to a cause

Eleanor Roosevelt’s pursuit of suffrage

and fairness in the law

We are the desire of Benazir Bhutto

To grant all the right to vote

Defiant notions stirred by Germaine Greer

Aretha Franklin’s highest note

We are the warrior Queen Boudicca

Unwilling to acquiesce

We are the protector Jane Goodall

Conserving life in the wilderness

We are the pioneer Ada Lovelace

Who sussed out what computers could do

The intelligence of Katherine Johnson

Helping to put man on the moon

We are the endeavour of Miss Earhart

On her dangerously epic flight

We are the beauty of Nefertiti

And Queen Artemisia’s might

We are the daughters of amazing women

Who all blazed the trail before

In a relentless battle for equality

Nothing less and nothing more

We are the heart of Mother Teresa

The raw temerity of Joan of Arc

We are the abundant female spirit

We’re all here to make our mark

Out out

The doorbell sings

A starting gun

The event has begun

My best friend stands grinning, arms outstretched

Bearing gifts of fizzing wine and snacks

Offerings to the gods of Saturday night sallies.

The cork flies into orbit

We toast and prepare to head out

Where ‘most everyone has gone before’

Clothed in the finest excitement for

the possible shenanigans in store

A catalogue of skirts, tops, tiny dresses and disablingly high-heeled shoes

arrange themselves seductively for our

inspection

perusal

selection

“You wore that last time”

“It makes me look too fat”

“Too tarty”

“The straps piss me off”

I slip things on, pull them off,

twirl, dance, sit,

put them through their paces

until I stand

LUMINOUS

in the garb that has picked me

and is lighting me up like a disco light

I feel invincible

Ready for a club night

but not before a few hours in the pub, right?

We clink our glasses to mark this first success

Beats blazing from the speakers in my ordinary room

mixed with a splash of pure elation

pulse deep within my chest

The Expectation…

that this night will exceed all the rest.

With our artist palettes

We paint our new portraits

that looķ somewhat like ourselves

only shinier

and more defined

A thousand dìfferent promises gleaming in our eyes.

Our carriage arrives ten minutes later than it ought

and announces itself by the blare of its horn.

Then bullies its way through the streets it seems to own

as with rising impatience we are hastily brought

To the gates of all that is in store

We alight, take a deep breath, smile

and fling them open.

I miss your face

I miss your face

As we pass in the street wearing our regulation veils

What expression do you wear on your lips?

Do you have for me a smile?

I miss your face

Though we converse in muffled words

I am not party to the movement of your mouth

Too often phrases are misheard

I miss your face

The joy of anonimity has very quickly worn thin

I miss the curling of your mouth when you sneer

I miss the grimaces and grins

I miss your face

Hidden behind the layers of cloth that might keep us safe from harm

If I cannot see your beautiful face

How can I fall for your boyish charm?

Best laid plans

I had planned to post twice this week. I am a list maker, something I learnt from my mother. I find lists enabling and love seeing the items being ticked off one by one, evidencing my achievements (however small).

I find that lists provide me with a feeling of direction. In addition, a well-written list will counteract the unreliability of my short-term memory and so I use them frequently.

The downside of this habit is that the items left unchecked can sometimes leave me with a nagging feeling of inadequacy; of having failed myself in some small way. Therefore, I have learnt to rationalise. The list is just an aide memoire, the items on it are things I hope to achieve and, as long as I cover the essentials, I don’t beat myself up when life gets in the way of ticking off the rest.

My intention had been to produce a blog post and a poem and I mean a properly thought out poem, not just the throwaway, quickly scrawled efforts that I churn out late on a Friday after a couple of wines. Not one with typos I would have to hastily correct the following morning.

I have started the poem, I have some lines penned and a sense of what it will be, it isn’t quite there yet. It needs more thought, more crafting and I needed a week which was less fraught with work and a weekend when we weren’t redecorating the kitchen to achieve that.

So there are my excuses. I’m just about to put together my list for next week. No prizes for guessing what’s going to be at the top of it.

100 lbs lighter

Millions of eyes opened this morning

Less bleary than has been the norm

Having all slipped away to bed earlier

and not partied on until morn.

We stayed up to cross the threshold

To step away from yesteryear’s gloom

Tentatively beholding the entrance

to a brighter, more welcoming room

We walked up to the line and dared cross it

Leaving the pain and the torment behind

The burden of our most difficult days

When living became merely survive.

Have we found the key to our shackles?

Can we go back to how it was before?

This morning, awaking with hope in our hearts

Of the good times this year has in store.

Let’s pray it doesn’t buckle with the pressure

Under the weight of our wants and our dreams

That this feeling of being 100lb lighter

Is just the first of the new dawn’s sunbeams.

Climb aboard 21’s roller coaster

Strap in and get ready for the ride

As we travel each thrilling bump and each loop

With a smile as our panic subsides.

2020 – A year as good as any other.

2020 has been quite the year.  It started with a mild hangover, as most years do. Sometimes the hangovers have been raging, but not so with this one. I suffered the standard dull head and sluggishness that greet most New Years’.  I also bemoaned the fact that my husband was in a tidying frenzy and I didn’t really want to join in, however I felt guilty not to.  I also posted my usual annoyance at (and abhorrence of) the hunting community’s need to go out and rip innocent creatures apart on New Year’s Day. I shall never understand that one and am hoping that their blunders this year may finally mark the beginning of the end for their barbaric choice of pastime. That certainly would be a positive.

This year I had cause to feel proud when my daughter was selected for the England U16 Girls Ice Hockey team again and was later invited to trial for the GB U18 women’s team.  She passed her GCSEs and subsequently received an award from the school for her Overall Contribution in her 5 years there. My son completed his A levels and gained his place at University to study Criminology and Psychology.  Both he and my daughter have adapted well to the new learning environment and are working hard.  As a parent, I cannot ask for much more than that (well maybe for the odd bedroom tidy up).

2020 has seen us spend a lot more time together as a family.  Jay’s Online Quiz brought us together as a family on many Thursday nights; we have watched more films together; cooked better and more interesting meals and I think that we have talked more. 

In addition to more family time, our numbers also increased, just by one, but what a one she is.  After much nagging and moaning by my daughter, quite a bit of research and then a search that wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be, we brought home a puppy.  We paid a princely sum for what is essentially a mongrel, but she was the perfect mix of breeds to fit into our little home.  She is a whirling dervish with bags of character; a kleptomaniac streak that the Artful Dodger would be envious of and an appetite for absolutely anything (edible, inedible – it’s all the same to her!).

During 2020, I have made my mind up, changed it, agreed with people and their ideas, disagreed with them, found common ground (and at times lost it again) far more frequently than in other years.  It has been a year of information and disinformation, when my distrust of the powers-that-be has sometimes stood me in good stead and on others lead me to shaky ground. At the end of the day, I can only read up on things, listen, process and then find my own truth.

I always want to achieve something at the end of each 12-month period.  It became clear fairly early on that this wasn’t going to be a year for ticking multiple items off of my bucket list, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t enjoy a few personal successes.  I became a union rep. I learnt to crochet. I learnt to teach online. I read many books and wrote much more than usual. I participated in wellbeing and writing courses then,  off the back of that, I finally started my own blog.  There is still a lot of work to be done with it and more to learn about the platform that I am using, nevertheless I got it off the ground.

 I consequently entered 3 poems into a national poetry competition, they may turn out to not be up to scratch, however I have put them out there for scrutiny all the same.  A step forward. 

The highlights of the year have definitely been the time spent with family and pets, the dog walks with my parents, the laughs and the camaraderie in our staff workroom at school, the days out with friends, my Smiths teapot from Jo.  Scott and I had a couple of days away, we didn’t stray too far, but we got to unwind, eat out and enjoy each other’s company.   

Other occasions of note were my Birthday afternoon tea; the boozy afternoon in our local pub (the Messy) with Em and the dodgy gin/wine/fizzy crap we worked our way through in my back garden after.  Christmas was unexpectedly awesome too.  We all felt spoilt, stuffed and extremely fortunate. 

Of course there are activities that I feel I have missed out on and some issues that have caused worry. Generally, I have had it good and overall I have been one of the lucky ones. Therefore, if I am to look back at this year and question whether or not it has been a good one, then I would not hesitate in my response.  It may not have always been the kindest but the answer is still, undoubtably a YES.

Rodrigo the seagull

The rains, they have passed over

It’s now time to get out and about

To leave the safety of my perch

In the branches of the trees near the roundabout

I fly out to the island

Where the cars flow around us in streams

Once there, I get into my stance

to begin my daily routine

For I am Rodrigo

the flamenco dancing gull

Who moves with such intention,

such grace and such passion

With each golpe from my legs

that strikes the soil below

My tacon and my punta

I feel the rhythm and I just let go

each stamp building to a

worm-enducing, meal-producing,

frenzied crescendo

Which is the reason I have learnt

to be so skilled with my two feet

Without my gypsy passions

I’d be hungry with no food to eat

And so I schooled myself

and learned to move to a new beat

So I will always have a belly

Full of flamenco enticed meat.

Making plans for Christmas

This is a bit of a throwaway poem and it’s a bit twee because I literally just chucked it together before hauling my ass out of bed this morning. Anyway, here it is.

Making plans for Christmas

Christmas is creeping up on us

Soon its lights will shine

We’ll all be putting up our trees

and stocking up on food and wine.











This year it will be different





A little harder to prepare for





As the purse strings may be tighter





Than they ever have been before















With all the current uncertainty





It’s almost impossible to plan





how many will eat at our tables





Will we be allowed to invite nan?















We may have to keep it simple





As most shop doors remain shut





It might not be advisable to travel





We may have to all stay put















Which for those of us residing





In a house with other folk





may not seem such a hardship





but if you’re all alone it’ll be no joke















In this most difficult of years





We’ll have to be more mindful





Because whilst we happily celebrate





for some it’ll be an awful struggle















So donate to the foodbank





Send a gift to those in need





Check up on your neighbours





Practise charitable deeds















Don’t let anyone be lonely





Be grateful that you’re here





to celebrate, albeit differently





And hope 2021 is a better year.

	


	





	

		
2020 can do one.
	


	
	

		

Today I feel jaded





My eyes are tired, my sparkle faded





As so much bad news is being constantly paraded





On our TV screens for days and days and it





Wears you down and it starts to grate





We hope for better times but know it’s gonna be a long wait





As the nights are dark and the shadow of illness lurks





And there’s nothing more to life than home and fucking work





And it’s started to do my head in cos all I see is doom and gloom





And it’ll be months before the flowers all start to rebloom





And I need to see the  sunshine and I need to see it soon.










I am jealous of the tortoise who will sleep winter away





Instead of plodding through day after monotonous, dull day





Because we don’t know when we’re  gonna be allowed back out to play





And meet our friends in numbers that total more than six





Because seeing 10 or 12 will end up making people sick.





But I won’t be taking no rushed vaccine, I’m not that fucking thick





And it seems that everybody just wants to be a dick





to anybody with an opinion that differs from their own





because to make us all compliant, the seeds of panic were sewn





and how to protect ALL people at this time is still unknown





so certainty and happiness have left the nest and flown





away.  Now I muddle through this dark and dull November





Which will lead into a depressingly shit and low December





Unless something amazing happens and we find some Christmas cheer





Then we’ll give a two-fingered farewell to this truly dreadful year.