Friday 11 August 2017

ON THE BRINK

I think he thinks this is his history-making "Kennedy Cuba" moment but doesn't realise that when the other guy is also as mad as a box of snakes, it's not likely to end well...

ON THE BRINK

You do find yourself constantly wondering
As you head off to your bed as night falls
Whether one of those two numpties
Playing their brinksmanship games

With the whole of the rest of humanity
Might have actually gone and done
Something unutterably irreversibly stupid
Before you wake up the next morning

MAWH, Aug 2017





THOUSAND

THOUSAND

‪I love a word like "Thousand"‬
‪It has weight, and bearing too‬
‪It feels strong, dependable, solid -‬
‪Sometimes a "k" just will not do‬

MAWH, 110817

NOUGHTS AND CROSSES



NOUGHTS AND CROSSES

There's a crisp coldness
To the early morning air
Perfect for playing
Noughts and crosses
With the universe

MAWH, 110817

Wednesday 9 August 2017

THE GREY SKIES OF DERBYSHIRE

THE GREY SKIES OF DERBYSHIRE

The grey skies of Derbyshire
Close in hiding the full moon again
Causing the white flashing Barn Owl
To stay home sulking starving
As endless rain smears down
Beneath the undulating moon dust

And I dreamed that I was
Working as a lifeboat volunteer
It would seem not a very good one
Struggling with my equipment
Having to be shown again how
To get my oxygen to work

And still the rain pummels
Beating the overnight drums
Under the dark black starless skies
As I fitfully dream of becoming
A lifeboating lifesaver
In land-locked Derbyshire

Martin A W Holmes, August 2017


ON THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED

ON THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED

On the day the world ended
President Trump promised
To bring fire and fury
Down upon North Korea
Whilst North Korea
Considered a strike on Guam
On the day the world ended
On the day the world ended

On the day the world ended
Kenyatta takes the lead
In the Kenya election
Whilst at a London stadium
Isaac Makwala was turned away
To control a Novovirus outbreak
On the day the world ended
On the day the world ended

On the day the world ended
The NHS is to fund a baby’s
US heart operation
More medical school places next year
But drivers avoid “Pay-by-Phone”
Parking bays when parking cars
On the day the world ended
On the day the world ended

On the day the world ended
Glen Campbell died at eighty-one
Darling wants us to stay vigilant
After the crash ten years on
Rihanna’s carnival costume goes viral
Taylor Swift was “certain” she was groped
On the day the world ended
On the day the world ended


MAWH, 090817

GLEN CAMPBELL RIP

GLEN CAMPBELL RIP

I'm remembering the night
We put "Rhinestone Cowboy"
On all the jukeboxes in Caerleon
At closing time
Then stood on the green
To hear the village singing

This was either
My greatest achievement
As an art student,
Or something I've misremembered
So often now that I start
To doubt it really happened

Yet I remember
That evening so clearly
That it would be
Such a disappointment
To find out now
That it never really happened

Although maybe it didn't
Happen in quite that way
It would take more organising than a group
Of drunken art students could manage
But in my mind I can hear each pub
Singing as we all staggered away

So if it never happened
Then it should have happened
And I wish it had happened
To hear a thousand Welsh voices
Singing "Cowboy" and hear it drifting
High into the dark November skies

Martin A W Holmes, August 9th 2017



‪...also, you know, he was in "True Grit"‬