TMS@60

At 60 it comes as no surprise
To find TMS is older than me
Tho' it's odd to find I've been listening
Since it was only twenty-three

‪You think it's been around forever‬
‪At least since before the war‬
‪So I'm suddenly asking the question‬
‪What did cricket fans listen to before?‬

‪Arlott, Johnners, CMJ & more‬
‪Fred's "Unbelievable!" over t'score‬
‪Aggers having a spat with Geoff‬
‪Could you ask for anything more?‬

‪#bbccricket‬

SCRATCH A LIBERAL

SCRATCH A LIBERAL

Scratch a liberal

Expose the fascist within

Fuel a sense of outrage

Hit them where it hurts

Watch hard-won values

Evaporate overnight

Scratch a liberal

Expose the fascist within

Scratch a bleeding heart

Switch on the inner rage

Now you’re all alike to them

They’ll want you rounded up

For what you might do

Guilt by association

Scratch a bleeding heart

Switch on the inner rage

Scratch a liberal

Ignite the flame

Find an enemy

Someone to blame

Point the finger

Incendiary device

Scratch a liberal

Ignite the flame

Pierce a bleeding heart

Find the fascist inside

Make innocents bleed

Aggravate their hurt

They’re all the same

Guilty or innocent

Pierce a bleeding heart

Find the fascist inside

Scratch a liberal

Expose the fascist within

Fuel a sense of outrage

Hit us where it hurts

Watch hard-won values

Evaporate overnight

Scratch a liberal

Expose the fascist within

Martin A W Holmes, May 2017

MISSED MOMENTS

MISSED MOMENTS

Let’s try not to dwell on those missed moments

The tiny songbird so beautifully placed

In the small but not leaf-cluttered tree

Right next to the path - but I’d put on the wrong lens

Or the goldfinch so close that it hurt

That flew away the split second I brought

My camera to bear on its beautiful frame

To photograph a bare branch and a leaf

Or the hare sitting not five feet away

It’s profile beyond the farm gate

As I faffed and I fiddled with a phone

Then bounced off as I stowed it away

Or the wagtail sitting perched on a rock

So close that I just couldn’t miss

If I hadn’t taken quite so long to see it

Giving it time to disappear behind a tree

Or that staggering heart-pumping moment

When from below the bridge at my right

A flash of metallic blue caught the daylight

To be instantly gone beyond that far-off shed

Or the dipper I’d been so seeking out

That was plain - large-as-life - over there

On the rocks where the water was flowing

If I hadn’t been looking the wrong way

Or the most intense sound of some pinging

So loud and so close that it pained

Which signalled another Kingfisher

Fluttering away before I had time to think

But let’s try not to dwell on missed moments

The pictures would have blurred anyway

So let’s try not to dwell on missed moments

Because they’re moments to remember after all

Martin A W Holmes, May 27 2017

ON MAY 22

ON MAY 22

A flower blooms, a void remains

The cold hard dawn tasting bitter

A mourning after a night before

Words struggling to form

Whilst a city bleeds

A flower bloomed -

Emptiness remains

Steel blooms, a void remains

Deeply cut into all our hearts

Future’s hope is savagely hacked down

Innocent’s beauty lost

Protectors swept away

Fire bloomed -

A void remained

Sonic booms, silence reigns

We gather in bewilderment

Magnificent, resolute, unbowed

Hanging on to what’s dear

Carpeting sacred ground

Flowers bloom

Yet voids remain

Martin A W Holmes, May 2017

EUROVISION 2017 SCORECARD

This year's Eurosong Scorecard (though I was in a bit of a hurry and didn't have time to check it as thoroughly as I'd have liked...)