gaza sonnet

gaza sonnet

Gaza Sonnet 

A doctor`s house with two daughters in it came

Under artillery fire while he who worked at the hospital in Gaza

 Trying to save life after yet another Israeli attack, lost both

 His children, the military late apologized.

After the funeral, the good doctor did not seek help for his

Immense suffering but carried on working while

Grief unburdened was eating him up.

One day he went to the beach the sea was calm and turquoise

 He undressed and began swimming he had to get away

A strong swimmer he swam long before an Israeli gunboat

Blew him out of the water, red turned to pink and then

Back to calming azure as the warped thinking of the occupiers

Said go he should have sought psychological help

For sorrow so deep that no well-meaning words would assuage

the loneliness

the loneliness

The Lonely Fisherman 

He sat on a rowing boat in the fjord he wore a yellow
raincoat

and a southwestern cap matching his coat` colour. Fine rain
it

was like watching a movie an intellectual one and French.

I couldn’t stand by the window all day, so I sat down
reading

a book that was too long a mind-numbing love story.

I read several pages then gave up looked out of the window

 the boat was there,
and his cap was floating like a life raft for

a mouse I held my breath had he drowned, then the man got

up he had fallen in his boat perhaps slipped on a dead fish,

but other ways looked fine and with an oar caught his cap.

He began rowing to shore tied the boat to the small pier and

walking up the track to my cabin, he carried fish in a
plastic

bag I dived behind the sofa when he knocked on my door

I don`t like fish but would end up buying a couple to be
polite

and if he was of the talkative kind bore me with endless
tales.

Back on the boat, he untied the rope turned and gave me the
finger.

stages of man

stages of man

The Stages of Man

 Skinless and we had
raw emotion

 As adult, we got a
thicker skin

To protect us from sorrow

And disappointment

When we are old, we are back

To a child`s thin skin

We often cry and feel the pain of

Wars, hunger and pandemics

A child in its crib is lonely

He knows nothing of friendship

An old man is lonely too 

His friends are dead

So we are back to the beginning

That is also an ending

the black enigma,

the black enigma,

The Black Enigma

 In many big cities both in America and in Europa there is

an under- class of black people or shall we say people of

African background, but that will not be correct as many

black people come from Jamaica, Trinidad where their

forefathers have lived for generations.

The black youths seem unable to lift themselves out of this

mire although many black women have they are a shining

example it is possible to get an education move upward.

 Alas, it is not the case of the black male for whom idleness

 is a way of life and of petty crime to get money and a car

going to jail a prize they accept paying a ticket to respect

amongst their peers – losers- a possibility to become a gang

member and to be loyal to its violent creed.

To solve it white do- good people should stay away and let

black individuals who have been successful the state can

provide leadership

the money to schools and teachers must be provided by

the state if not, there will be revolts every year amongst

the haves and the haves not because we keep patronising

and finding excuses for the black male which is debasing

and racism at its worst 

this life of dreams

this life of dreams

This life of Dreams

I have been in bed today, yesterday after taking up waking

I was so enthusiastic that I overdid it took pictures
planned

The fell I was going to walk tomorrow had heard I could see

Wild boars there. I got overtired and sat on a stone under

A tree since it began raining. I looked like a scarecrow

A farmer picked me up and planted me in his field, and I
hung

There to someone heard my cry for help.

The farmer apologised the Portuguese are polite people

When not driving cars on narrow road then they become

Murderous bullies and shout expletives at people who try

To cross the road with the slowness of an aged person, and

To think the Portuguese young care about their old parents.

Blog

Blog

Terra Dal Fuego (sonnet)

Ushuaia the southernmost town in Argentine when I dreamt

of going there, we got around about on sturdy horses

herding sheep with Portuguese immigrants, islands protect

Terra Del Fuego from worst of the oceans meet, and it is

called the roaring forties. Now it is a modern town no horse

manure in the road the smell of wet wool has gone too

yachts moored in the harbour they sail the Magellan Strait

thus avoiding the duel where two giant oceans meet

Ushuaia was the end of the world no one came here except

weird people and no temperature difference between

the seasons, yet no it is bustling with would be sailors
with

rolling gait suited for a heaving deck, but they can wait
for

calmer weather; the amateur sailors wore a captain’s
cap 

and blue blazers with shiny buttons on

Tohuko

Tohuko

Tohoku 

When the tsunami struck in Japan five years

it hit and killed so many that nature had no time

to erase the dead completely

A man who lived in the stricken town of Tohoku

when out looking for his daughter or her toys

anything to remind him of her met the dead who

were shadows in the night and they spoke to her

his daughter was there to told her father not to

cry for her, she said of the bewilderedness of

being a shadow but wanting out as this half life

was relentless as the shadows too wanted to find

families and those who did realise to their horror

there was not a channel of communication.

So many of them walked back into the cold sea and

sought a total death no memories and no longer

a shadow be.  There
are fewer of the shadows now

soon there will be none, and the undead will find peace

and the ripples of Nirvana are forever soundless

western movies

Western Movies

At the Chinese supermarket, they were selling cowboy revolvers

with holster very cheap they looked, and I tried one, but it was too light,

I have never held a revolver but thought they must have some weight

in the American city slums, black gangsters shoot not pointing but with

the hand held flat, and they tend not to hit anything but a wall this

his because they have seen this in a Tarantino movie.

In my childhood, we watched Hopalong Cassidy he when opening

 a salon door chewed spearmint gum drugs was far from his mind.

There is an institutional bias against black people I think when police

the program is always showed someone black, and they get arrested for

the banalness of crimes, like having a bit of marijuana in their pockets.

But where poetry congregate the majorities are blacks this is not

because they want to be there but little has been done to get them out

of this mess, the slum and the gangs were they are,  welcomed and can

For a short time drive around in an expensive stolen car and feel like

winners and throw money about, and not saving the loot. And out of

crime private corrections centres make money

Clogs

Clogs

Clogs 

I always wore clogs with solid socks when a boy

bought a pair today, not made of wood and leather

but of some plastic stuff. I have tried them on

walked up and down in the living room into the yard

I do not think I will use them often.

They are a clumsy looking pair and had nothing to

offer but sore heels and the childhood is distant as ever

I put them in the outhouse a nice home for mice,

spiders and other mysterious things that lurk in there.

The clogs were made in Germany, and it surprises me

how the Germanic people can make products

then here in low paid Portugal.

I think the reason is that Portugal has too many

Overpaid bosses and never mind the Indians

Exodus

Exodus

Exodus

Under a big holm oak, I sat on a stone resting a little

the sun so early in the year was hot, years ago there were

flocks of sheep here they laid chewing ignoring me.

This year there is none not even pellet droppings

the landscape is being gentrified and no peeing up against a
tree

It is strange when people who are not of the land

the first thing they do is to try trimming it and making
smooths

tracks made of imported sand, plastic chair and a nice
cuppa.

The extended field of olive trees lends itself to a golf
course; they will

of course, leave a few trees with tall grass and call it the
rough

little can be done give the developer a chance and Portugal

ends up looking like Florida, and architects will draw the
same

dull estates and find some fancy names

for their vandalism.

But let them spend money before it comes crashing down

abandoned and nature can take it back, yes it has happened

before and with good reason when small farmers were so poor
they

sought work on the other side of the ocean

and their old homes has trees growing through them

nothing is new only the name changes like a rabbit would
care 

the big sleep

The Big Sleep

The beginning of suicide begins with sense of

Life tiredness,  there is a French word for it

 “deja vue” a sense that it have happened before

A nice word to use when impressing someone,

but life weariness is  when there is no

morning glory and watering flowers in

the garden is a duty and not an act of tenderness

Books are left unread we already know the ending

If it is a good writer

Love turns into routine like and old dog  that farts

And we have stopped noticing because the morning

Hurt your old eyes as it always does.

We like to enter into the realm of nothingness

Slate not written on  and the only way

To hasten the boredom is to help it along, but we

Continue to live as it is the only thing we know.  

forgotten tracks

A stroll on a forgotten track

Finally, after 12 years I walked the track where

my dog and I so often trod she was hunting rabbits

and got quite hot but we cooled off at a little man-made

dam which now has been fenced in, in the middle

of nowhere someone has stated their property rights.

The dog died I bought a motorbike and got lazy

 illness stopped me for a bit; I  felt  alone walking

There without my dog.

How great it was to walk and not be reminded of

my age and treated like an invalid, and now I feel

the good tiredness doing something to be proud of

Havana

Havana

Havana

In the fifties, Havana was a gigantic whorehouse For the
Americans,

and run by the Mafia and assorted businessmen, but down from

the mountain came to Fidel Castro and created a humane
society.

We didn’t like this Cuba should be a democracy that too
often means t

he right of the rich to subjugate the weak the helpless and
those in wheel chairs. 

So he was a communist then he who built a free health this
secular pope

did this and made the best schools in the hemisphere in the
face of harsh sanction

 from the USA.

The Obama with a horde of investors will be bringing glass
pearls and shiny promises.

Do not succumb to consumerism but retain their pride in
being the country that

won a fifty years old struggle against a bitter enemy

the windy city

the windy city

The Windy city  

Chicago a city by the Lake Erin

A blanket of white and the wind

Whistles between sky -scrapers

The great city is not what it used to be

Now it is like third world place

Where bullets whistle through the night

Citizens are no longer safe

Those who can move out leaving it to

The hateful and bloody pavements

I remember the 1968 riots and ever since

Chicago looks like an African city

Demanding and intolerant of other folks

Opinion and guns sit loosely in the holster

Of friend and foe  

rich man poor

Rich man poor

The man from

the gutter

who fought

his way to the top

has much hate

and contempt

for those who didn`t

succeed

because they were

too kind and

had consideration

for fellow man.

When the rich man

donate money

he is called

a great

humanitarian

and it is

envious to

disagree with that.

A bronze statue

in the park but

it will be

hollow inside 

WATER EVERYWHERE

Water Everywhere

A dam burst in Iraq and that`s how it began it rained for months

and no one had thought of building a Noah’s ark fill it with pigs

to feast on when Christmas came around but there would be

too many objections from practising Jews, vegans, not forgetting

Muslims and the two Semitic people`s family would squabble as

they have done for centuries and the vegan`s would eat seagrass.

When Himalaya was a reef sailors on ships had eaten each other

sardines, a metre and twenty long, danced in The Radio Music Hall

a shimmering synchronised display entertaining dolphins; and

 the Wall Street was a hangout for hammer head sharks as were

the way of the pre-flooding days. Finally, the water ebbed enough

for the only man left to go ashore on the reef and dry his feet,

burning his raft, smoke a cigarette and wondering, what happened

 to the blue whales.

Cracks in the Mirror Poetry & photography - Home

Cracks in the Mirror Poetry & photography - Home

The long Wait

He waited long

Generation after generation

The moment had to

Be right and the gene pool

In perfect balance

Then the waiting was over

The journey had ended

And he was at

The beginning

a mistake and a big bosom

a mistake and a big bosom

A Mistake and a big Bosom  

Youth is the time we do things that we regret

And before I continue why have never walked into

A murder scene like Hercules.

I have never met anyone I love as much as you

She said this beautiful woman who lived by the lake

Caught trout fried them and served me Fish and

Her bosom was generous  as her love.

 Oh, the mirror, the
mirror what she said was right

So the world was mine

And I danced in the candlelight lit by my vanity.

Her rowing boat was found in the fjord she had been

Out fishing

Suicide the verdict was, 
I knew better so did

her father but Hercules was not there to put things

right and point out the guilty one

diptera and writers

diptera and writers

 Diptera and Writers

 I was thinking of
flies Wikipedia was no help

I wanted to understand why they existed, I remembered

a yellow fly not a good colour for an insect,

when I was disrupted by the thought of a famous writer

in Norway who at 75 decided to commit suicide.

He bought sleeping pills plenty of expensive champagne

and invited friends to witness his death.

For each mouthful of the stuff, he swallowed a pill, friends

just drank; finally, he fell asleep among empty bottles and

 the smell of stale
cigarette smokes his mates had gone home.

It despair he jumped out of the window land on an awning

and lived ten more years. As for the yellow fly it took to
walking

 across the screen I
threw it out, but still don`t know what

flies are for other than annoying a writer.

long term solution

long term solution

Long Term Solution

 It has come to my attention that the moon is capable growing green

bananas, goats and sheep but not cattle as they emit too much gas

into the planet`s thin surface can live there.

 if we send refugees there as pioneers they are forbidden to smoke

tobacco although, to the great surprise to the first moon lander found

an empty packet of Camel which of course was planted there by young

Putin to blame USA. Also should the Settlers who make life difficult for

the Palestinians, should run out of land to a new Jerusalem can be built

in one of the moon`s craters.

 Europe has like Pontus Pilatus washed her delicate hands of the refuge

problem, let us construct spaceships that must be paid for by migrants,

 but beware they can one day switch off the light.

married to nobility

married to nobility

Married to Nobility

The word sits so easily on your tongue

like it had no more meaning than a Gallic shrug 

he came from the sea waded ashore you can say

the only survivor of innocence.

Barefoot in the broken glass of spoken untruth so much blood,

they had thought I was one of

them with claws bringing riches how much time

spent and only to find a gardener.

Lonely women everywhere middle aged craved sex,

something had to be done, the salvation come

one of my forefathers had been a baron had three children

I disliked them all and people said I was a baron too.

The baroness died leaving the dilapidated castle to me.

How they hate seeing me eat dinner at a café every day.

I have spoken to Hercules Poirot but he can do nothing

before someone is murdered

To Define US

To Define US

To define the US

It 's hard to define America big and complex and
many-faceted

we in Europe only hear the noise emitted from Washington and

the tedious politics emitted from their lair, and can be
dangerous.

The American workers are angry works has gone abroad,
leaving

them in the cold is like his elite do not want educated
people cause

they are demanding and ask questions….or did, for now,
American

capitalism has the upper hand “ The American Dream” where a
bus

the driver can make it big if he works hard we know this is bollocks

 The USA needs is a
new revolution where the people take the power

 Make America a
bastion of people's democracy. I can`t help loving

this big country of cowboys and frontiers, it  was my childhood,

I wanted to be a sheriff in Texas and that I needed a gun to
protect

 my family from a gang
of Mexican lettuce pickers.

no pictures taken

no pictures taken

No Pictures Taken

I see the pictures sent to me on my Facebook page of places

 I have not seen yet
in countries I have been to as a seaman

 who join the sea out
of poverty at home and offered

an education no importance and factory pipes spewing smoke

smelling of sardines and cod liver oil

I recall Costa Rica a small town in a bay the jungle
appeared

near and lush ready to hide the town should be human
activities

stop. And the cockerel crewed as I got up from Maria`s
trafficked

bed running down a winding road to the docks and on my ship
to

the routine work with sleep walkers who like me and only saw

the beauty of the land in glimpses of dreams a Paradise
lost.

Saddening, there were never any lazy days to walk around and

to take pictures we were not tourists.

Part Two:

 Alone in a beautiful
park and felt like the eternal wandering Jew

hoping to be accepted by the locals. There was never any
time to

know anyone; guiltily I found my way back to the bars, the
music,

the Marias willing vulvas` oily route; rum& coke sleep
in a woman’s

arms inhale her scent another Paradise lost before the cock
crewed. 

I look at the pictures of contentment, actors on a stage of
life playing

happy to play the tragic roles they need a bit more
experience.

water everywhere

water everywhere

Water Everywhere

A dam burst in Iraq and that`s how it began it rained for
months

and no one had thought of building a Noah’s ark fill it with
pigs

to feast on when Christmas came around but there would be

too many objections from practising Jews, vegans, not
forgetting

Muslims and the two Semitic people`s family would squabble as

they have done for centuries and the vegan`s would eat
seagrass.

When Himalaya was a reef sailors on ships had eaten each
other

sardines, a metre and twenty long, danced in The Radio Music
Hall

a shimmering synchronised display entertaining dolphins; and

 the Wall Street was a
hangout for hammer head sharks as were

the way of the pre-flooding days. Finally, the water ebbed
enough

for the only man left to go ashore on the reef and dry his
feet,

burning his raft, smoke a cigarette and wondering, what
happened

 to the blue wales.

the satan

the satan

The Satan

  I will sit here and
not move for an hour

 empty my brain of the
past I refuse to look back

 nothing there worth
remembering

except pristine fields of snow in the morning 

and put skis on the first boy in the whole world

crossing this area before the sheep were 

let out making the acre into a mess of yellow

dirty mass when looking for food, sharp narrow

hoofs trampling over my dream and I thought

of them as animals that had been rejected by

Lucifer and my grammar helper insist I had to

use the capital letter when addressing him this

fallen angel who is now winning the hearts and

the mind of the People of Europe who refuse to

help civilians who have lost everything, yet we

have lost more, say our human dignity.

We are like the people of Israel who are

sinking into the brutal oppression of the people

who are not of their blood and the future tell me

we will lose everything in heartless apathy.

uniformed

uniformed

Uniform

She was sitting on a cleat crying, beside her a suitcase and

a vanity bag of leather. She was waiting for her husband

but the storm at sea he was delayed, the wind was strong
even

here and her auburn hair attracted my libido

I took her to a nearby hotel trying to throw my weight

around with my uniform that three stripes on the arm, alas

they were made of silver which meant I was a catering
officer

and the staff at the hotel called me a steward.

It was only when I hinted having been a helicopter pilot

during the Vietnam War, they showed some respect; mind

isn`t that disaster a long time ago, I actually was there
trying

to save people who had worked for the enemy.

When the ship eventually docked, I went onboard told

the chief engineer where she was. I reflected on the fact
that

due to the delay I had had her before him.

He was married to a tart bedding a man with silver stripes

our guilt

our guilt

Our guilt

It was the longest street in the world each side

had shops selling salami and cheese, mind each

product changed the name as to attract customers,

only the street was empty there is only a certain

numbers of salami and cheese needed.

No cars on the road just a few starving dogs I took

off one of my jumpers, it been a cold morning,

and they fought amongst themselves until death.

In some shops, there were cheese parties for mice

I was not invited and continued walking this street

must end somewhere I didn`t know where not that

I cared I could walk the rest of the road tomorrow.

My sister had a hotel I took in there during dinner

she said I had not been generous to my mother this

upset me, so I had several whiskies for the pain she

had caused me, but I ate the food before leaving.

The truth was too upsetting if you do as your mother’

 wants you to will get
nowhere. In a flower shop, I saw

a big rat killing a kitten and there was nothing I could

 do than living with
the guilt of having been a bad son

outside of time

outside of time

Outside Time 

He had wanted to be outside time

punched a hole in time crawled through

 and was met with

a grey stillness a sewer of spent time.

And what had not happen

never would happen

a place where everything time had to offer was

rendered meaningless

the bones of memories had been picked clean

time had a meaning

he had to go back and find out what it was

to accept 

and live his time out

Nothing else made sense.

a bridge of glass

a bridge of glass

A bridge too far

This long foot- bridge made of glass over a deep canyon in

China, one can walk and look down at the same time but

be careful not to fall which is easy when not looking down.

When peering into the storm- grid at the shop that sells

 canned tomato sauce I often see rats using it as a walkway

the rodent looks up but feel safe less if I lose my car- keys

into it rats are notoriously bad drivers.

When the bridge falls down, all bridges do if not dismantled,

big shards of glass will hit the ground hard fly up in the air again

 pulverized and fall down as hailstones that will pierce all living

 thing  except rats in storm drains.

Muammar Gadhafi sought refuge in a storm drain when

French helicopters shot up his jeep. A rat too big to fit in a drain

was lynched by the mob that at the time was our allies.

I`m sailing

I`m sailing

I`m Sailing

I was sailing along the coast of Greenland the sea was

 as green as empty
Port Wine bottles when

a storm struck it was a fully automatic boat I batted down

 the hatches went
below fastened the seat belt and wait.

Before I knew it, I was in a tranquil bay in Portugal and
made

breakfast scrambled and bacon, but I was vaguely unhappy

everything has become so automatic that adventures of

 daring do had become
an everyday occurrence the vessel

had even found the best anchorage with

the best view.

I sold the boat to a doctor who had dreamt a seafaring life

away from hospitals and nagging wife, as a child he had

wanted to be a car mechanic but his parents wouldn`t hear

about it nor his fiancé; a malcontent man who was about to

discover the boredom on the high sea.

I bought a mule that cannot be trusted it doesn`t like
people

and every morning it is a struggle to get it to move forward

when I plough my little patch of land

the sparrow

the sparrow

The Sparrow.

The stage was enormous partly dark; floor board made

of the decks of stranded schooners

a sparrow came shuffling in, slightly bent too much time spent

at street corners singing for a few shilling had taken its toll.

 She was met with applause which lifted her spirit

she smiled and began singing love songs

the pain of love

the loss of love

 the longing for love.

Often she had loved wrongly, but she had no regrets.

Standing ovation.

Later there would be flowers, chocolate and wine.

It was her last performance. Although she didn`t

know at the time, although some of her fans suspected it.

she flew away, and Paris mourned.

Non, Je ne regretted rien.

who speaks for Palestine | Write Out Loud

who speaks for Palestine | Write Out Loud

Who speaks for Palestine?

I have a great admiration

For the Palestine people

Their intolerable suffering is

Almost biblical

A people who have been

Robbed of their land and

Are constantly humiliated

They are trying to protect

Goats and olive trees

Against marauders that

Appear oblivious of what

Tragedy they cause

Arrogantly the demand

A total crucifixion, but

The Palestinians are still

There and we who

Look at this inequity of

A nation that is losing

Her reason for being

A state, we say nothing   

a sea bird

a sea bird

 A The Sea Bird

During the occupation of Norway when many fled to

Sweden or England the new generation has forgotten that

in their hatred of refugees.

I remembered a seabird called Alke which was snared

It was a big bird and needed hours to cook and served with

boiled potatoes and brown gravy which I liked

but I was not keen on the bird it tasted of cod-liver oil

but had to eat some meat usually through tears and mother

hitting me over the head with a wooden spoon.

After the war and little work in factories, the alke was hunted to

near extinction, luckily it was saved in time.

The Norwegians see the world through a fog of self- inflicted fear  

feel inundated by a few migrants,

now that the oil price has fallen they would like to see the newcomers,

like the alke, become a rarity   

my Jewish friends

my Jewish friends

My Jewish friends

This blaming of the Jews is so tiring I have worked

with many Jews, upholsterer of furniture and little shops

selling whatever needed,

the daily struggle and had no time to destroy the world.

They used to come to my café, and I loved it

 to meet someone who
reads more than the local rag we often

disagreed long after closing time

but parted as friends I loved these people who read

and had political opinions of all colours.

My wife joined me she didn`t like the Jews

I think it was pathological some Jews had spat when

they walked passed her church; she had not seen it but knew

of People who had witnessed the sin

 Alone I was among
bacon butties and a conservative working

the class who believed what they read.

Well, I went away, but one thing is sure

the Jew are not about to take over the world

sustainable fishing

sustainable fishing

 Sustainable Fishing

Theirs`s were small fishing vessels with painted eyes on

the bow, the eyes of cunning

The men went out early to catch the biggest fish with

hooks and line and at what landlubbers called dawn

they were back with the seas harvest

Best price, their predawn caught of fresh fish.

Sometimes the catch was small yet enough to set food

on the table for the children and a few glasses of wine

for the fisherman and provider

Trawlers with big nets came this is business of today

and never mind tomorrow.

 A sustainable tradition had come to an end

 the new master didn’t think of the future today

the morrow can take care of itself.

Not many fishermen`s left in the bay they are mostly

old and their catch is enough for dinner of the day

keeping the ghost of hunger at bay 

nature musing

Nature Musing

Went for a walk in the sunlight it had been raining

for days and the grass between the olive trees was

absurdly emerald and the aroma of virginal nature

 intoxicating.

I have to remember to take a camera with me when

going out so much beauty around me

I want to record and remember it having spent weeks

in hospitals, the only beauty I saw were plain nurses

and a couple of female doctors with legs like

Marlene Dietrich but they are human and can change

manner, but they will never be virgins again.

Of course they, like me get older every year and do not

rejuvenate every spring even though, we tend to let

the mirror tells lies. Let that be for now I saw grey stone

horses afar a sight  a camera cannot catch.