52nd Winter

My fifty-second winter approaches

How many more I'll have I do not know,

The cold, on warm, gradually encroaches

And slow the world is covered up in snow.

My body changes every single day,

A little stiffness here and there at times

And potency so slowly ebbs away.

I can no longer run from all my crimes.

I sit and wish that time could just slow down

Or it could speed up and be quickly done

The winter slowly carves my furrowed frown

And slowly takes the memory of the sun.

I pass through chasms lost out in the deep,

And all I really want to do is sleep.

Fall Guys

We are the fall guys come and blow us up,
It's our fault that your countries are at war,
We drink from evil's overflowing cup
And swim in death like shoals of albacore.
We did not protest we just watched TV,
We did not raise our voices and unite,
With you the lost and lonely forced to flee
By our unfettered leader's fearsome bite.
We are the rich our children sleep in beds,
We eat smoked salmon when we have the urge,
And all our media does is fill our heads
With lies that are so difficult to purge.
Forgive us, we are foolish and we fall,
Or better still perhaps just kill us all.

Sleep

Oh please, please let me sleep
Or I will lose my mind
If soon I do not creep
Into those caverns blind.
Oh let me end today
And bid it leave me well
Please let me drift away
From times in which I dwell
I'd close my eyes and fall
I'd draw my final breath
If I knew none at all
Would grieve for me in death.
These eyes so heavy now,
Please, sleep take them somehow.

Titanic

She sailed upon the sea as if to say
That man is only human after all
But all of our ambitions sank away
When nature hit her with its icy wall.
Believed to be a ship beyond compare,
You don't need lifeboats if you'll never sink,
But nature showed us that she doesn't care
And that we're not as great as we might think.
So down she went into the icy deep
A slipping hunk of metal in the night
And all the rich and poor that were asleep,
Were woken in the darkness with their fright.
To see we're only humans and we're fools,
If we don't understand that nature rules.

601 (09.02.2016)

And rip them up from this to number one
And rip them up from number one to this
And rip them up till all the ripping's done
And I no longer hear the sonnets hiss.
It's about time that this time's over now
Just slip away and petter out be gone
And let me get my life back now somehow
And stop me leaning fourteen lines  upon.
So hurry, hurry up draw to a close,
And let these moments of my life be past
And I confess I took an over dose
Of one form but I cannot make it last,
It's been alright fun but thank you sonnet friend
I'd thought perhaps that maybe I would end.

600 (08.02.2014)

And with the starting purpose I've lost touch
So now I do not care how well I write
Nor do I really worry very much
Whether I am here and wrong or right.
My motives have been strange but now they're gone
Funny how some lines are so very short
While others they seem to go on and on
Abort! Abort! Abort! Abort! Abort!
At least there's only one more left to go
I long to see the back of all this waste
And go away and do something to show
That I am not an idiot disgrace.
At last to be away from this and done
And rip them up from this to number one.

599 (07.02.2014)

You might as well try and make people smile
But can that best be done in other ways?
At least it all worked for a little while
But then the sonnets went by in a haze
And I had little care and little mind
To make them all as good as they could be
It's not something that I thought I would find
When I wrote down in sonnet number three
That wealth will come to those who nobly serve
For it came not but I kept on and on
Reaping just what each verse did deserve
And some of them were golden and they shone.
But now it's all a little bit too much,
And with the starting purpose I've lost touch.

598 (06.02.2016)

But it's enough with six hundred and one,
And even as I wrote that down my doubt
Came creeping up again before the sun
And questioned why I wanted to get out.
Imagine, said the voices in me, this:
A book called 'Good & Bad' for all to see
One thousand sonnets there to reminisce
All crafted well, as well as well can be.
And what's the point of stopping in three days
There's no point in not seeing things right through
And even though they're not done for little praise
At least each day you create something new.
We're only on the earth a little while,
You might as well try and make people smile.

597 (05.02.2016)

That as I wrote the words I thought I snored!

Now there's a give away like none before

Poets who act like that should be ignored

Or given matching orders to the door.

But really, really, really I don't care

It's been a fun thing that I had to do 

There were some things l was compelled to share

And writings often caused a tear or two.

But now it's winding down at long, long last

But sonnets they will always be my friend

As each day drifted off into the past

From number one until the very end.

A thousand would have been a lot of fun

But it's enough with six hundred and one.

596 (04.02.2016)

Few of my sonnets did not have their flaws,
I hurried many, making bad mistakes
And looked on them as though my daily chores
Or like they were the root of all headaches.
Perhaps it was a sin to force them out
To write a sonnet when not in the mood
But when there were some things to write about
I did not really feel much like a pseud.
Funny though all those months that now have passed
And all the words I've written that are gone
And only very few of them will last
But nothing really lasts when sun is shone.
So I kept going even when so bored
That as I wrote the words I thought I snored.

595 (03.02.2016)

I'd thought that perhaps I would maybe end
This little sonnet sojourn with a crown,
But sadly there are only six to mend
So I don't really want to let them down.
Or maybe I could do it but one more?
And end this fun with six hundred and one,
That might make these few last ones less a chore
And make them feel more complete when they're done.
So that's decided then a crown it is,
And I'll end in a paltry seven days
No longer to claim I'm a sonnet whizz
But that I wrote some and got little praise.
Although at times I did get some applause,
Few of my sonnets did not have their flaws.

594 (02.02.2016)

To keep this up you'd have to be a fool,

There are so many ways to speak your mind

If ever art was useful as a tool

It should never be forced or twisted blind.

The discipline was fine, see the past tense?

I'm winding down to now try something new

It's no use sitting on a broken fence

As life and time go sailing out of view.

I'm sorry, I know some they have enjoyed,

Reading a new sonnet for every day

But now my skills will better be employed

By trying something more akin to play.

So, soon it will be the last one for now,

And I will drop my quill and take my bow.

593 (01.02.2016)

They strode off down the road and went away
And then we saw them coming back again,
They said that they did not have time to play,
And that the end was obvious and plain.
It was not love that made them slip inside
It was not time that dealt the final blow
There was a reason that they had a guide
And also reasons they refused to go.
We were a team and now we are apart,
It did not take too long for things to fade
We always knew the end would always start
When we began to know what we had made.
Nothing had come to them, nor those they knew,
But simple words were not enough for you.

592 (31.01.2016)

All I can feel's an aching in my neck,
There's things in me that press inside me skull
Although I am not quite a nervous wreck,
My mind has gone and now my body's dull.
I've wasted all the hours of a day
Just trying hard to keep myself alive,
I watch as all my choices fade away
And struggle on attempting to survive.
I do not wish to mumble or complain,
There's nothing wrong with living how we do,
Everyone knows the rule that after rain
We'll always see the sun come shining through.
And so I pass a day and it is gone,
With nothing much to really think upon.

591 (30.01.2016)

We rowed quite sweetly by the river bank,
We found a quiet little place to moor,
I questioned why you always were so frank,
You asked me what the hell I asked that for.
We've known each other for so long as well,
It seems as though I've never known you not,
In fact in memories it's hard to tell
Exactly where you are and what you've got
That I once used think belonged to me
But has been yours forever and a day
And now is yours as plain as plain can be,
My heart was never mine to give away.
We ate beside the waters fast and deep,
Then laid ourselves and had a little sleep.

590 (29.01.2016)

On with the game and away we all go,
Living our lives in one way like the rest,
As though there were no beauty here to show
And we were not here in some sort of test.
It's either true or else it's all a dream,
All these little miracles that we see
But maybe things are not quite how seem
And we are not the way we seem to be.
I want the universe to prove me wrong
Or prove me right and let me grow and change
Or let me hear the worlds that sing along
When I think I'm alone and out of range.
I'll not give in when things are looking grey,
But turn myself to light and lead the way.

589 (28.01.2016)

I like the sonnet, nice tight little square,

But now I think I've had about enough

It's been great fun and it's been good to share

But now I want to do some other stuff.

I'll get to six hundred though, if I can

But then I think I'll just call it a day

There's other things I'd like to start to plan

And things I'd like to say a different way.

Six hundred little demos nearly done

Just waiting to be polished and prepared

And held up in the bright light of the sun

And actually made worthwhile to be shared.

I'll go back now and make them really good,

Like every self respecting poet should.

588 (27.01.2016)

When age has chiselled lines into your face,
When time has done its rounds with you and flown
When it seem there is little left in place
And all your dreams you've suddenly outgrown.
Then I will come to you and hold your hand,
And I will bow my life for you and yours
And I will walk with you upon the land
Until at last we've returned to the shores.
I stretch my heart to hold you tight to me
I feel your hands in mine and touch your grace
And all at once you're everything I see,
And everything I see is in your face.
When age has come and taken youth away,
Then endless love will guide us through the day,

587 (26.01.2015)

Are artists always best when at their worst,
When times are hard is that not when time's best?
Happy and content or sad, low and cursed?
All filled with joy or drowned in moral test?
See all the happy songs we love to sing,
If stories are told far enough the end
Is darkest black and does not mean a thing,
And no strength of the will these facts can bend.
Some people they have faith but don't know why,
Or how they think the world looks when it's done
They have a strength that lifts them when they cry,
And feel a warmth beyond that of the sun.
So send me laughs and I will laugh with you,
And if you drown then feel me drowning too.

586 (25.01.2016)

The brain is always just a bit behind,
It's sensing information from my eyes
It takes a half a second then I find
The things I see and touch and realise.
My magic box inside my silly head
My little muscle filled with magic light,
The thing that keeps me living when I'm dead,
That shows me pictures in the darkest night.
Does anybody really understand
Does anybody really, really know
Exactly how things go from my hand
Exactly where it is that we all go?
They used to treat your burning skin with fat,
But now the cure's the opposite of that.

585 (24.01.2016)

Where would we be without bananas now?

Where we were once before they had arrived?

That sumptuous fruit will be so missed somehow,

When Panama disease alone's survived.

Those famous sport stars when they're on a break

Will miss your meaty, healthy yummy-yums

And all the sugars that you somehow make,

When they've got you inside their tummy-tums.

And me too, I'd be sad if you were gone,

I cut you up for breakfast every day,

I pour my cereals and put you on,

Your yellow makes my life a bit less grey.

How dull the world with be with out you near,

I hope scientists somehow keep you here. 

584 (23.01.2016)

Giant snow storms hit the Eastern Seaboard,
I've got a friend who lives way over there,
All the Americana my brain's stored,
Keeps coming at me through the empty air.
I flew to New York once and it was strange
The Colorado river down below,
With far away a distant mountain range,
And Vegas like a blazing neon show,
In New York it was freezing winter still,
And all the streets I'd heard of in your songs
10th Avenue and 4th Street like a pill
That made me think that's where my soul belongs.
Now Nick he walks his dogs out in the snow,
And I send him a quick FaceBook hello.

583 (22.01.2016)

She is so big she's sitting on two chairs

And when she walks it's hard to get around

She likes to eat but very rarely shares 

And always scoffs everything she's found.

It's not the eating that's the problem though,

It's just her thyroid gland that's out of sync

She's got doctor's certificates that show

That she is not a pig like some may think.

So, blameless, she keeps eating more and more

Of all the things she loves that taste the best

And all the scrumptious things we all adore

She shoves into her face like it's a test.

She longs for sweets to pass between her lips,

And always loves those tasty, cheesy chips.

582 (21.01.2016)

We are not boys with hearts of hardened stone,
And yet we hide the things we think and feel
And end up feeling sad and all alone,
As though all this emotion were unreal.
When I am hurt I put on a brave face,
I do not let my guard down and I lie,
I say "I'm OK." but I'm in a space
That tears me up and makes me want to cry.
If I could just express the way I hurt,
If I could just allow myself to show
The pain that's hidden just beneath my shirt,
And how I long to simply let it go.
Yet still I keep it in because I fear,
What you'd think of me if I shed a tear.

581 (20.01.2016)

I sit here with you, now alone, but yours
A part of all that we are part of. Bliss.
Alone, your doubled efforts halve my chores,
And I am bound to you, and we to this.
Before I came to you I was but lost
A person lonely. Solitary soul
That now can see the problems and the cost,
And understands together makes us whole.
I walk the streets, that we all walk, and know
The faces that I see they know it too,
That every thing we care about we show,
And that there is a thread that guides us through.
For I'm a part of all the greater me,
And we are one in our community.

580 (19.01.2016)

There was something that I had planned to write,
A thought I thought while in the car today,
But mem'ries of that thought have taken flight
And though I search all of it's slipped away.
It was a lovely thought and I was pleased,
"There's wisdom there that I'll articulate..."
I thought but now my mind has gone and sneezed,
And though I try I know that it's too late.
I cannot for the life of me recall,
A single bit of what it might have been
That I had so much wished to show you all
Or what it was that I might then have seen.
It's something that will ever be amiss,
And all that's left is fourteen lines of this.

579 (18.01.2016)

There is a statue of a man so high,
Upon the oriels it has been set
All for the joy of every passersby
Lest any of them ever once forget...
That Cecil Rhodes he came and conquered all,
In Africa he shone eugenic's light,
And all the glories of that world made fall
Because for him it was just white is right.
And so he went down there and stole away,
All that he could from each and every nation
With little time to kneel in thanks and pray,
For unscrupulous colonisation.
And so we live in evil's shadow now,
Hoping that we can make amends somehow.

578 (17.01.2016)

D'you see the clock that ticks upon the wall?
D'you see the way it tells us time has passed?
It is not really saying that at all,
What it is saying is "Our love will last."
The hours pass; the days turn into weeks;
The weeks turn into months; the years go by.
But still the only thing that really speaks
To me's the love that's shared by you and I.
It's easy to think things will fade away,
Those ticks seem to defeat us more and more,
But in the midst of all this time we stay
As constant as the waves upon the shore.
Though clocks send ticks out to the stars above,
We fear them not for we remain in love,

577 (16.01.2015)

Is it not true that every word he speaks
Seems to be fashioned of a noble truth?
He calls us all to ever higher peaks,
And understands that man is still a youth.
We are so young and have so much to learn,
Is it not right that all should bend and share
And that the living wage we all should earn,
Is simple for our great nation to bear?
If we have nothing but we strive to give
And empty out our pockets for the world
Then we will all be blessed and we will live,
Inside a place where good and right are curled.
So once more Corbyn teaches us to care,
And that the way to heaven is to share.

576 (15.01.2015)

"Toddler Pace." "Something you can't get again."
And it's true. Iris toddling on the road,
Me lolloping beside her in the rain,
These things that can't come back they overload
Me and my thoughts, with youth forever gone.
The age of cute or the terrible twos?
In the future a place where light is shone,
As I look back at her in her new shoes.
And see her fluffy shining hair of white,
And see the way she answers back so rude
And see the way she puts up such a fight
When I tell her she must eat all her food.
The things that when they're gone are gone for good,
My tiny daughter walking as she should.

575 (14.01.2015)

Oh little me who is so cruel and mean
And bigger me who's lovely and who's kind
They mix up and I'm something in between
That when I think to look is what I find.
And so I am three things although I'm one,
I am what you believe it is you see,
I am the tale I think that I have spun
And I am also what is really me.
So, mixed up in a mess of flesh and blood,
Are all the things that make a Mr Peek,
That when I finally go down in the flood,
Will then add up to zero, so to speak.
So I am many things but only one,
And all the things I am add up to none.

574 (13.01.2015)

Why do we do the things we have to do?
What is it that makes us begin again
When each day just brings promises anew,
Of burdens, struggles and of toils and pain.
The easy way out is the darker path,
To take the thing that you were given once
When you lay floating in your mother's bath,
Before you came and grew to be a dunce.
Why did we do the things that we have done?
That now we cannot change or rearrange,
And all the jokes that at the time were fun,
But now we see were cruel and something strange.
We all wake up and greet another day,
As though it weren't impossible to stay.

573 (12.01.2016)

A sharp knife of the bloody moon is out
The night is crisp and clear and freezing cold
A gentle wind outside gives quiet shout
And round our head the tired evening folds.
The day is dark the night is now begun,
The winter evenings start, about to freeze,
My hands are numb with memories of sun
The winter makes us all bow down and sneeze
The days are short and winter's truly here
The weather controls nothing and us all
It fill the outside world with cold and fear,
Yet inside we still hope that snows will fall.
Another year slips proudly into place,
And round and round the seasons steady race.

572 (11.01.2016)

Fly like an eagle while chained to the floor,
Or disappear way out inside your head,
Then spread your wings although you lock the door,
Or sit back and relax and flow instead.
The reasons for a heavy heart abound,
And feet all made of lead are all the rage,
And all the things you hope you'll say you've found
Somehow they get deleted from the page.
With such a cheery heart it's hard to think,
That anything could go wrong in the world,
Yet still there are a thousand ships that sink,
And deadly snakes that all around are curled.
Trust yourself and know that you do what's right,
Do not be scared by those scared of the night.

571 (10.01.2016)

Today is not the 10th this year at all,
I've missed a day, and now old David's gone,
I hear him in the distance with his call,
To arms against the way the sun has shone.
No songs, no interviews and no more jokes
No dancing on the stage in different suits
No talking to yourself and other blokes
About the different colour of your boots.
It's raining here on earth this very day
I walked up to the shop to buy some bread
I thought about you on my rainy way,
And noticed that I hadn't sonneted
So final and so finished and so done,
The work we do while we are in the sun.

570 (09.01.2016)

I watch YouTube it sometimes makes me smile,
And often it can make me think a bit,
It is so plain to see we're in denial,
The world is sinking fast into a pit.
And look at us all busy and alive,
And working everyday to make ends meet
We try so hard and manage to survive,
And then we buy ourselves a little treat.
So cleverly, so clever beyond words,
Allowed to think we're free and well and good
But if you venture solo from the herds,
You'll soon be shackled as you surely should.
Sometimes I bow my head and in dismay
I wonder if a change can some someday.

569 (08.12.2016)

They're eating poison and they cannot stop
We watch the hands that move towards a face
And try so hard but cannot make them drop
The things they're feeding leading to disgrace.
He's given up the ghost it's time to leave
The world is shattered, closed and melted down
There are so many things we can't believe
That every thought becomes a laughing clown.
So we eat poison while they stand and laugh,
And all around the world it is the same,
And all the good we try is cut in half,
As though the world were nothing but a game.
Another step into the future's made,
The human race all balanced on a blade.

568 (07.01.2016)

Tomorrow I will start my day again,
And all the things that I've done wrong today
Will disappear, just like the falling rain,
And I will be forgiven and OK.
So many hours wasting so much time,
Tomorrow I will plan and I'll succeed
I'll raise myself up out of earthly grime
And up to where there is no longer need.
I want to shop and eat and do nothing,
I want to spend on things I can't abide
I want a swarm of wasps to come and sting
Me. I want to come along for the ride.
I want I want I want, I do not care,
I desire so much that I cannot share.

567 (06.01.2016)

We drown in greed and in Madaya death
He stalks the streets and steals the people's food
And soldiers line the hills and hold their breath
But nothing brings the end to human's feud.
We swallow pride and just keep on our way,
We've made mistakes we're bound to get along
We will improve and will move on one day,
We will get better, nothing will go wrong.
We watch the human race and we repeat,
We keep repeating and repeat again,
And so it seems as if we're in defeat,
And nothing we will do can stop the pain.
I don't know what to say or how to cease
The errors of our ways and bring on peace.

566 (05.01.2016)

So now you are a criminal my dear,
The wonders of the world they never cease,
And all your naked skin results in fear,
The fear that only Facebook can release.
You're just a little story about love,
And isn't your skin really made of scales?
What if the world held common sense above,
The whims of prudish censorship and tales?
Now all your subtle, sexual undertones,
Have been banned from the famous book of Face
Like all we humans are not flesh and bones
But lifeless bodies waiting for disgrace.
While Mr Andersen turns in his grave,
Some idiots tell us only morals save.

565 (04.01.2016)

Today has been a day for tidying
And sorting through the things that we don't need
It seems i spend my whole time wandering,
From room to room while questioning my greed.
We have too much, the stuff we have fills up
The house as though we really needed it,
But actually the useless things pile up
Until the house gets filled up like a pit.
I am so tired of all this useless waste
When so many have nothing to their name
It leaves upon the tongue a bitter taste,
And leaves upon the soul a sense of shame.
Forgive me as I go about my day,
For all the things I have and throw away.

564 (03.01.2016)

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out again.
Allow the universe to swallow you,
Let time disintegrate the world of men
Then feel yourself once more be something new
That cannot be distrusted or abused
Or laid to rest beyond the will of all.
We're full of learning but we're still confused
We balance well but still we're bound to fall.
We search for peace for just a little while,
We struggle like we're walking up a hill,
Sometimes the things we touch produce a smile
Sometimes the things we touch they make us ill.
Up and down and in and out and in and
Walking along getting deeper in sand.

564 (02.01.2016)

Those bloody Golden Arches win again

Filet o'fish and chips and chocolate shake

Again I fall and once more feel the pain

Of all the fuss my fed up soul can make.

Well yummy yummy yum is all I say,

I'll make sure that I have a swim quite soon

If not tomorrow then another day

Fill up my mouth with chocolate's plastic spoon.

So down we go and down and down some more,

This little lack I have of self control,

That makes me wonder why and who it's for,

Even though I feel that I'm on a roll.

So maybe I will keep returning here,

Until my problems finally disappear.

563 (01.01.2016)

Don't have to be a butcher to eat meat,
Don't have to run around to get somewhere,
Don't have to want to dance to move your feet,
Don't have to be a nurse to show you care.
We all do things in our own little ways,
The way we do those things is who we are,
And if we try and try for days and days,
There's nothing that can stop us going far.
And far, of course, is just a state of mind,
And nothing in the world is right or wrong,
And as we search and search we know we'll find,
The place that we desire to belong.
We do not have to do what we are told
To find the place in us that's made of gold.