Lullaby

She sings me a lullaby

in words

no longer to be sung

Alone I’d lain

for a thousand hours

and slumber had not come.

I’d closed my eyes tight,

counted sheep,

eventually called out

Muuuuuuum!

Her tireless palm

So soft, so repetitive

strokes the side of my face and hair

A touch,

assuring, comforting

from which I’ll never wear

Perched on my bed

she sings this song

plants a kiss on my forehead

A lullaby

never to be sung again

Til I succumb to the land of zeds

My lovely mum and I

Our crew

August fades

still we meet

Mob-handed

at the corner

of a wide-eyed street

Adjacent to the park

it’s where we gather as a crew

Me and he, him, her and you

And a few others;

all the best of mates

Here for a giggle,

staying out too late

It’s Friday night and we’re in our spot

Joking

Playfighting

Huddled up to stop

The chill from entering

our teenage bones

We could all be in the warm

but it’s no fun at home

We’ve got a saisho bag

and a load of cans,

a bottle of vermouth

and a mix we nicked from nans

Parroting 3rd hand jokes

told us by a boy named Molly

Who’d stolen them already

from a guy on the telly

We laugh, have japes

We muck about

Having banter with each other

We squeal

We SHOUT

This is our place

This is where we all belong

A repeated evening ritual

Til some others came along

Cos now;

We’re all grown up

and how we tut at all the youths

Hanging around

Causing mischief

Just like our little crew

Slippage

I should probably have saved this for my big Birthday this year or New Year but it’s out on the page now so I will share it for all of you who may be wondering where the years have gone.

Slippage

it’s finished
all over
another one passed by

a single year older
no wiser am I

more comings and goings
but mostly it’s gone

now time for renewings
reviewing
what’s done

Just in case

Tonight’s full bodied moon
does not distract
from worries about this vessel
fear for the missing cat

We are losing time
this tetchiness fueled
by poor planning

Thank you highways agency
for nothing

The conversation turns
to contraception
with the beautiful girl in the back seat
whose flower is poised
to burst into bloom.

Lorries loom large
shadowing us
from the spotlight of that glorious moon

We discuss work on Monday
The weekend has only just begun
Payrises that we hope will soon come

How I’ve already let in three
and I shouldn’t let in any more.

We mention the expected time of our arrival
over and over
as the minutes slip

My shopping trip
and the shirt I fell in love with;
sufficiently out there
yet insufficiently sized

Someone else will stun
in it’s quirky folds
and I regret not trying it on

Just in case

Last day of the school outward bounds trip.

We march them, linked together, into the railway tunnel

abandoned and curving in a manner so efficient

as to block out light

to deny the day

No torches permitted

Just a stick to tap the way

We inch forward

Treading on our nerves

In a Welsh tunnel where Tottenham

are still not very good

Neither are Arsenal, Man U or Liverpool for that matter

The boys work their way through the whole Premier League

A cacophony of adolescent male voices

Employing bravado and thuggish chants to mask their fear 

The girls silently trudge

one foot in front of the other

In this dark that never ends

Fish-fingers and chips, a scoop of peas and a chocolate sponge pudding bathed in  sauce.  A cup of tea.  In the crowded surrounds of the dining hall. 

Our last supper before heading out into this obscurity.

We wish for the light

Our imaginations running wild

With a thousand spooky possibilities

Of what may be encircling us

Of eight-limbed friends hanging above us

In the eerie dark

Tomorrow, I’ll enjoy a lie in.  Ensconced in my duvet

In my own bed.  The dog will sleep next to me, as will the cat.

Safe, secure, comfortable.  Not here.

It’s surreal

The endless march goes on and on

Our discomfort is palpable

but on this, the final day, 

something is different

Today

No one moans

There is no crying

Not a hint of a panic attack

We are all at least a little afraid

But we handle it

Last week we conjugated verbs

In the poorly lit confines of a classroom

When they were just pupils

Some active

Some nervous

Some shy

Some fearful

Some super intelligent

Some less so

Some brave

All with varying degrees of confidence

Some uncomfortable in their own skin.

I was simply their teacher.

These are the shadows of who we are now.

In 5 short days

They have learnt to trust us,

more importantly, to trust themselves.

5 short days in Wales

That’s how far we’ve all come.

A different hour

So I struck up conversation with the chatbot because I thought the initial selection of verbs was a bit lame. Improvements abound…

You could skyrocket a pencil

Serenade your coffee mug

Salsa wildly with your pillow

Bolt your bicycle to a thug

You could glide around in sunglasses

Sizzle your smartphone til it’s charred

Devour extracts from old notebooks

Scribble songs on your guitar

You could splatterpaint with tennis balls

Hibernate in your rucksack

Improve silly poems with AI

Laugh, enjoy the craic

In this strange day of 25 hours

Don’t succumb to bleak boredom

Have a chat with robot strangers

or some other random action

One more hour

A nonsense poem, written with the assistance of an AI chatbot.

You could jump over coloured pencils

Sing into your coffee cup

Dance waltzes with your pillow

Ditch your bicycle and run

You could swim wearing just sunglasses

Cook your old smartphone

Read the best extracts from your notebook

Write songs on your guitar

You could paint faces on tennis balls

Sleep whilst cuddling your rucksack

Write silly poems with AI

just for the so-called craic

You could count up all the hours

and find today has twenty five

So take distinctive action

You’ll feel joyous and alive

Unsolicited

I wrote this for my daughter who was horrified and terribly embarrassed to open a message from a boy whilst sat at the boxing day dinner table and be greeted with a picture of his nob. They weren’t going out, she didn’t fancy him. Luckily nanny and her young cousins didn’t see.

Unsolicited

I might know you in person
Or perhaps we’ve never met
We have a bit of a laugh online
I enjoy talking every chance we get

I want to get better acquainted
Learn about your interests
But if you want to show me your manhood
We’re definitely not at that stage yet

So, send me roses, send me smiles
Send me jokes or funny chats
Send me pictures of your forehead
For god’s sake don’t send me pics of that.

You may be a real adonis
Or a truly gorgeous hunk
So woo me with your wit
And not unwanted photos of your junk

It’s not easy to snag a lady
It requires a certain prowess,
You may not know what steps to take
That are guaranteed to impress

When you can’t work out your next move
If you’ve got nothing to say
Don’t share a picture of your dick with me
And assume that that’s OK

IT’S JUST NOT!