252 (31.03.2015)

Ms Amber Rudd came to my house today
(They changed the boundaries so that she would win.)
She asked if I would vote for her "No way!
I think to vote for you would be a sin."
Crestfallen then she walks off down the road,
Conservative and lonely profitess,
She waddles like some stuck-up, jumped-up toad
Intent on dismantling the NHS,
And changing state schools to academies
And making sure there's no unions to fight
When finally they bring us to our knees
And try to tell us "Everything's alright..."
Well fuck you Crud, and fuck all those like you
Who screw the rest to serve the wealthy few.

251 (30.03.2015)

Two hundred and fifty sonnets all gone
Which never can be changed much anymore
That I first saw and others looked upon
Then went about their lives and did ignore.
Two fifty little things behind those eyes
Three thousand and five hundred little lines
A calendar that makes me realise
That what we do in life ourselves defines.
So I write these things down for years and years
And then my jellied eyes are dried and gone
And never more will words bring me to tears
And not another rhyme I'll look upon
But still the things I've written they will stay,
On sale at my website sonnetaday.

250 (29.03.2015)

Wonderful laziest, rainiest day

Most perfect Sunday for staying inside

Hope that the rain doesn't just blow away

I want to turn on the TV and hide.

Hearing the wind and the rain blow around

Watching the branches of trees as they bend

Feel like I'm deep in a cave underground

Nothing to fight for nothing to defend.

Put everything off until tomorrow

Nothing disturb me from nothing today

Hours to waste and minutes to borrow

No need for earnings, no debts to repay.

Perfect and raining with nothing to do

But think about love and living with you.

249 (28.03.2015)

The poetry of children's on my brain
Something sophisticated and yet calm
A place to take the kids and to explain
Why sometimes things conspire to do us harm.
Some simple words just laid out in a line
A chance to leave the reader with a smile
And when they're feeling bad to make them shine
And feel the warmth inside the world a while.
So let me write some words to fill a gap
And make some children laugh a bit and then
Let's each recite a verse and start to clap
And wonder at the way words work a pen.
So let imaginations tumble down,
And silly words pull laughter from each frown.

248 (27.03.2015)

Meanwhile back in Hastings... things seem the same
Although, of course, in two days all can change
A plane comes down, the co-pilot's to blame,
And logic somehow slips right out of range.
Hear those witches humming round a cauldron?
Hear all those trapped inside send up a prayer?
Hear the sounds of crying, screaming children
Howling for their parents who aren't there.
Sometimes I wish I cared a little less,
My heart it bleeds for things I sometimes hear,
The news is so disturbing I confess,
That often I turn off when sorrow's near.
Now safe and back in Hastings thanks to chance,
We see the same headlines we saw in France.

247 (26.03.2015)

I come out of my hotel room to this:

Glorious Paris, sunshine and fresh air

The joyful trundling business woman Miss

Smiles in a happy world without a care.

The busses and Les voiture cruising by

The Pantheon before me looking on

The tricoleur is waving at the sky

While busy students march to the Sorbonne.

The happy smiling, shuffling people win

The joggers' iPhone starting Mapmyrun

The city is awake the days begin

It's like the universe has just begun.

While I write Paris Morning, she's in bed

I'd better get some breakfast bought instead.

246 (25.03.2015)

The Paris day is filled with food and drink

The evening's filled with orange lights and laughs

The metro ride it gives us pause to think

Of all the different people and their paths.

I want to shine a light on all that's bright

I'd love to fill the world with bits of joy

My memories of this swift Parisian night

And of the times I spent here as a boy.

In perfect weather perfectly at peace

I walk now hand in hand with my dear wife

And slowly, slowly, slowly we release

The things that keep us trapped inside our life.

And then we sleep and our tired thoughts they roam,

To our four children sleeping back at home.

245 (25.03.2015)

Little girl, cute, the age of one of ours

About six or maybe seven, between

Two men. Cross the road beneath Paris towers

I wish now that these people I had not seen,

Or had ignored when one of them he said

"I'm a good dog, I'll be a good good friend..."

Across the road on either side they led

The girl. My wife and I sense they pretend...

Something seems wrong but what can we do?

I move ahead suspicious and alert

"Is she Ok? What's wrong with her you two?"

"Missing her mum who went to a concert..."

I let it go but something niggles still,

I'm fear somehow they meant to do her ill.

244 (24.03.2015)

Today's a day for going back to bed

Watch Bing Bunny with Iris for an hour

Listen to the rain, drift off in my head
Guess it's nothing but a short spring shower.
Try to pull myself together but fail,
I turn over and go to sleep again
It's sort of like my energy's in jail
But I don't want to worry or complain.
I'll sleep a little bit then take a break
I'll clean the house a while then have a rest
I understand that God will not forsake
Us and that on the earth all's for the best.
But positive is so, so hard to see,
When all the world is bathed in tragedy.

243 (23.03.2015)

Now all the children are asleep in bed
And quite peacefulness has filled our home
I close my eyes and look inside my head
And let my tired thoughts begin to roam.
The past is gone the future none can see
And yet I feel I know both fairly well
Something has tied my memories to me
And what I plan tomorrow I could tell.
So if I close my eyes and disappear
Into the places that I'd left behind
Then is it any wonder that I fear
The things that I am scared that I might find.
The children are in bed and are at peace,
The lie awake and wait for thoughts to cease.

242 (22.03.2015)

D'you see the Kenyan run along the road?
It's like his feet they hardly touched the ground
We just stood still and with our eyes followed
His flying frame that hardly made a sound.
He flashes past while we stand in our place
Then gradually, as the leaders come, we cheer
With stunning speed, with elegance and grace
They run past us and then they disappear
Soon followed by the others in the race
The ever happy crowds who've run for miles
With waves and panting but with steady pace
Who run along with pained but happy smiles.
While my knee and myself we clap and laugh
And long for when we'll run the Hastings half.

241 (21.03.2015)

Most pleasant sun revolving round my world
Most gorgeous children huddled in my arms
Most gracious gifts around my spirit curled
Oh wonder world of peace and no alarms.
When I sit back and I have time to think
I like to think of all the ways I'm blessed
There's no real reason for a heart to sink
When mind's can always change things for the best.
The glass half empty is a state of mind
Each problem can be turned upon its head
When we think positively then we find
That lack is opportunity instead.
And anyway, it's just a bit too rude,
To pass through life without some gratitude.

240 (20.03.2015)

When your eclipse has faded from my eyes
And when the clouds have covered all in grey
It is not hard for me to taste surprise
Or notice as I fall in disarray.
Between the shackles of a twisted heart
And by the darkness of a twisted moon
We loved as lovers from the very start
But let our passions burn away too soon.
It doesn't take a fool to comprehend
That space between an eyelid and a brain
Is only justified if in the end
It's sacrificed for someone else's gain.
So we give, give and give away some more
And love comes back still stronger than before.

239 (19.03.2015)

My fifth child, my fourth son, is six today

My brother also floats to fifty-two

It's funny how the world spins and we pay

For all the things we've done and wish to do.

Another day another dollar spent

Another chance that will not come again

You wake up and you wonder where it went

You think too much you drive yourself insane.

But don't despair of all the passing days

Just try to relish each one as it comes

You know that life is just a passing phase

For kings and princes, millionaires and bums.

Nothing but a sonnet on time and wealth

But one that I wrote proudly by myself.

238 (18.03.2015)

Lumped together with strangeness and decay

Yet never knowing quite what either means,

Hoping for a chance perhaps to say

You feel as fit as you were in your teens.

A little stiff around the edges now

But brighter in your head than you once were,

If only you could prove it though somehow

Then sit and wait to see what will occur.

It's easy to live all your life through rhyme

But might not really get you very far

Sometimes I think it's just a waste of time 

To try and work out when and where you are...

But so what, writing sonnets isn't crime

Just a sophisticated way of wasting time.

237 (17.03.2015)

To make you realise and make amends
I wrote this little crown to give to you
I know I was quite harsh, but we're still friends
I think that I will always love you too.
It's funny though how things they always change
And even when you think they'll stay the same
Then something always comes to rearrange
The things you plan to do and change the game.
So you can settle down with all your wealth
And I'll keep pulling ends to make them meet
I fear a little for my mental health
And that's why leaving is so bitter-sweet.
So many words to try and say what's true,
D'you believe that everybody loves you?

236 (16.03.2015)

Goodbye, we love you, so long, toodle-pip
It's been good fun but now it's time to go
If I could sail I'd buy myself a ship
And let my heart slip where the tides they flow.
I know that soon you'll be just memories
And though I'm busy now the time will come
That all the pictures in my head I freeze
Will no longer be tighter than a drum.
And as they fade they'll change the things inside
Me, that I feel about the way we are
And all the pressures gradually will glide
Away from us just like a falling star.
There's nothing like some distance between friends
To make you realise and make amends.

235 (15.03.2015)

My wife and I are leaving you today

And going somewhere that we've never been

The first step was deciding not to stay

And wanting to see things we'd never seen,

And wanting to be rid of all our chains

And longing for some sort of new release

And saying that we would not live in reins

And all that counts in life is inner peace.

So we set off for places we don't know

And somehow we have both become so brave

That all we did was just get up and go

And not let apprehensions us enslave.

Wheels in motion, world about to flip

Goodbye, we love you, so long, toodle-pip.

234 (14.03.2015)

A decompression chamber with the bends

A place where we could stand and never fall.

A chance to sorrowfully make amends,

And stand up once again upright and tall.

Sometimes you know I don't know why I cared,

Sometimes I wish I'd left ten years ago

And walked away from everything we shared

And walked away from everything I know.

But naturally that's not the way the past

Has bounced around its spinning little wheel

And all the things we thought were going to last

Have been replaced by things we cannot feel.

I'm leaving now, it's time to go away

My wife and I are leaving you today.

233 (13.03.2015)

But scared and tired and lonely you will be

Though I think I might come to hold your hand

And rest with you in comfort silently 

And walk with you across the sunken land.

And maybe time will soften all our sides

And our sharp edges will be rounded down,

Across the sky the sun it gently glides,

Let happiness replace that heavy frown.

I want to burst with joy at times you know 

I want to stand and laugh until I cry

I want to tie my life up in a bow

And throw it out across the evening sky.

What would it be if you and I were friends?

A decompression chamber with the bends.

232 (12.03.2015)

Or how you can stand living with yourself

Or why you've chosen such a sordid life

Or how you came to be left on the shelf

And stranded with no loving man or wife?

What things are there that you wish to ignore

What parts of life are better left unsaid

What do you wish that you had done before

What do you wish that you had done instead?

So what's it like up in that house at night

Do voices whisper to you in the dark?

Do demons lurk in shadows out of sight?

Do children cry and dogs begin to bark?

So rich, so rich, so rich for all to see,

But scared and tired and lonely you will be.

231 (11.03.2015)

D'you believe that everybody loves you?
Though you're not stupid, so probably not.
They may respect you, yes perhaps that's true...
Or is that just all the money you've got?
You're a rich man from a rich family
Marmalade wasn't it, your granddad sold?
Did you ever see the film Amelie?
Tiny things sometimes can leave a life cold.
Are you alone like an iceberg in there?
D'you think we'll all come to your dying bed?
All of that cash for delinquent childcare,
Might leave unnoticed, all alone instead.
No one but you cares about your sad wealth,
Or how you can stand living with yourself.

230 (10.03.2015)

From the North they came, the snow-borne riders

Through ice and storms and blizzards made in hell

Passed the wolves and the animal gliders,

Passed all the furies that tongues cannot tell.

Out to the edge of the most frozen sea

Down to the depths of each river and lake,

Passed all the injured all waiting to flee,

Out to the memory of what they will take.

Let them come now, let them cry in our arms

Down by the pillows where wounds haven't healed

Passed by the ladies all selling their charms,

Passed by the patience where love is revealed,
Out to the ice at the edge of a stream,
Let me roll over and lie back and dream.

229 (09.03.2015)

If I spot what you spot on Red Nose Day
If we hold hands and we try not to hide
We'll change the world if we're prepared to pay
Or we'll repeat this and swallow our pride.
Around the world all people are the same
We eat and breath and drink and go to bed
If we're in trouble someone is to blame
Perhaps it's us or someone else instead.
I'd like to travel round the world and see
That everyone is just the same as us
All I know is from countries on TV
Where people kill and then after discuss
The merits of a world that's not in peace
For those that wish the fighting not to cease.

228 (08.03.2015)

Me and my kids alone in the playpark

So happy I could almost start to cry

The sun is up, no shadows in the dark,

And no more lonely questions asking Why?

It all seems good, they're laughing and they play

The weather is as fine as it can be

The bells are ringing on this bright Sunday

The world is blest it's plain for all to see.

The ringers ringing out across the town

A gentle breeze is calling summer in

It feels like I will never again frown

And that the summer can at last begin

The world is fun and time is just for laughs, 

I play a bit and take some photographs. 

227 (07.03.2015)

The shallow edge of age has come to bear
And secrets of the young have gone to waste
With all the things you would perhaps compare
If you were waiting for a gentle taste.
A taste of things to come and aching bones
A taste of sleepless nights and restlessness
To know that nothing comes to he that moans
Yet saving comes from simply wasting less.
So tell him now that you just didn't know
That you had trapped him once again in rhymes
And left him with no choice in where to go
But where you had been twenty thousand times.
You dropped the cup and water's falling out,
But it's too late to warn them with a shout.

226 (06.03.2015)

I will not fall upon my father's sword

Impale myself upon temptations food

I will not eat simply because I'm bored

Or simply 'cause I'm in a lonely mood.

I will try hard to control both my hands

And watch out for what I shove in my face

Although it's hard to stick with all my plans

I'll still control addiction and disgrace.

Christmas? Well that was fun with lots of cake

And Easter's now about to come around

With chocolate eggs and calories to take 

And eat until some happiness is found.

So I try not to fall where father fell

But chew and chew and chew my way to hell.

225 (05.03.2015)

Talentless fellows do you understand?
Can you now see or are you still too blind?
Do you get how the hour that is at hand,
Is best for those who seek and search to find?
When you write words does something in you jar
When you just can't be bothered to revise
It's only words but words are all there are
Between ourselves and dark behind our eyes.
What's good enough for you and them at times,
What's good enough for her and him and she
What matters if your slightly clunky rhymes
Don't quite touch things inside the deepest me?
We each try all the best that we can do,
Sometimes you're good for me and me for you.

224 (04.03.2015)

One-forty syllables are still to come
I wait and see which words appear inside
And hold my pen between my fingered thumb
And wait for them across the page to glide.
It's now a bit like when I go to sleep
Or when I wake up, somehow what I do
It used to be a hill that was so steep
But now it's like a hole I'm falling through.
There's nothing I can do to stop today
Though perfection is quite improbable
Some good some bad I write them anyway
To not do it is past impossible.
So every day I delve into the mines
And dig out yet another fourteen lines.

223 (03.03.2015)

Vicious as dogs and as clever as owls
As fast as flames fanned furiously in fire
Soak up the blood with second hand towels
And then never say death was just a liar.
Now Isla says she will not sleep tonight
She said she had a dream that made her sad
I comfort her and say that it's alright
But outside ghosts and wind are blowing bad.
The storm it whispers tales of rabid dogs
Of howling monsters way out on the moors
Of children drowned and whimpering in bogs
Of keys in locks that open all the doors.
Well on some nights to dream is good and fun,
But not tonight, for nightmares have begun.

222 (02.03.2015)

I see age slipping into my neck's skin
And furrowing itself into my brow
These fifty years their toll starts to begin
And youth at long last stands and takes a bow.
My eyes have gone, the world is blurred and tame,
The food's unfocussed as I raise my fork,
Though conversations seem to be the same
I lose interest more quickly as I talk.
I feel I've little time to spare on waste
And yet I long to sit and do nothing
Just think about the past and get a taste
Of all the things that my life didn't bring.
I watch helpless, the turning of a page,
And slip past fifty years towards old age

221 (01.03.2015)

Let's make this day the best we've ever had
Let's fill our lives with things we want to do
Let's spread some joy and let ourselves be glad
Let's see the world as if it was brand new.
Now, see the sun creep up upon that hill.
Now, see the singing birds, see how they fly.
Now, think of all the dreams you can fulfil
Let's promise not to let time pass us by.
I hope today's as good as it can be
May all the world be vibrant and alive
I hope you get a sense of feeling free
And do the things you know on which you thrive.
And round and round your world without a care,
I pray your laughter fills the morning air.