We come from nothing
We return to nothing, so
Enjoy the journey
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n.b. It is the love we share en route that makes life worth living – nothing else matters.
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CLP 13/12/2019
Tag Archives: Life
21 Days in 17 Syllables
They are long and short
How time stretches and creases
Distorts memory
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n.b. When life gets complicated how do we keep a grip on what is important?
How do we keep strong? I have a pebble I found over 2 years ago. I keep it with me in my pocket. My touchstone. It works for me. What works for you?
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CLP 12/12/2019
“I would”
Slumped in an easy chair in a Premier Inn bar
Beer and wine settling on top of his dinner
Drooling over female television presenters
Hardly an athlete; he could be much thinner
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“If I wasn’t married
Given half a chance”
“I would” he proclaims
“Without second glance”*
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How has this male whale
With all of his blubber
Ever been wed?
Perhaps she’s not real, but just made of rubber?
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n.b. I despair.
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n.n.b. * He is from North, so speaks that way.
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CLP 11/12/2019
Underneath the Mistletoe
A fruit falls
Dull white ball
Rolls and settles
Into a crevice
Turns to seed
Slides out its roots
Within the branch
Beneath the bark
Drinks from inside
Sucks in the nutrients
Thrives
While the host
Curls up slowly
Unable to cast off
The fatal grip
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CLP 08/12/2019
Out!
Throw back your head
Release that choking
Wrung-tight
Gut-deep
Howl
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Let it rip the last leaves from poplars
Slap around the lake
Cut through the Arctic wind
Smack into the mountains
Crack countless shards from glaciers
Tear open the glowering sky
And let sunshine in
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CLP 08/12/2019
Pied Pauper
Let’s go
My little companions
I cannot sleep
Follow me
To the bakery
Doorway
Where we’ll be warm
Tonight
You can eat
Crumbs
Tomorrow
I will wake
To the smell
Of bread
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n.b. I may be between homes, but I have choices. As we move to winter there are far too many people of all ages living rough on the streets of our towns and cities; in the richest countries in the world. The “free” market ideologists perpetuate inequality so that there are “winners” and “losers.” The idea of the free market as a way to fairly distribute and sustain the world’s resources has never been more than a way for the rich to get richer – even Adam Smith recognised this.
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CLP 28/11/2019
Lyon (VI)
Sunday’s streets mostly silent
I hear the leathery leaf of a plane tree fall
Now Saturday’s night is done
This is how life used to be
A day of rest, officially
When even clocks seem to pause
But Metro lines, buses and trams
Still running efficiently
Over the viaduct a TGV rolls
A slow start
This is a time to breathe
A gentle stroll
City parks, the river promenades
Come into their own
The carousel yet to turn
Boulouger rises early
Flower stalls bloom
A street market unwraps
Churches’ heavy doors let in light
Let out dust and gloom
Street cleaner already vacuuming
While dog walkers stoop
Still having to pick up the mess
Their dogs don’t get Sundays
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n.b. Yes, the old clock wasn’t working. It was 08:00h when I took the photo.
CLP 25/11/2019
Lyon (V)
Out to the east
Where there is space
Derelict factories rust
A stadium has been built
Tram lines laid
Office blocks stand
Apartments planned
Colour blind posters
Promote hygienic living
At the concrete shopping arcade
Teenagers
Gather out of the pissing rain
Under the awning
Listening to music
In the company of old drunks
The unformed and the broken
The over-looked brought together
By the vagaries of weather
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CLP 25/11/2019
Cards or Dice (Lyon IV)
Cut, shuffle
Rattle, roll
Which is better?
I don’t know.
When asking for a sign
Throw the jacks
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n.b. Fate does not lay out our fortune, but the interpreter of fortunes does. We hear what we want to hear, believe what we choose and act out our lives accordingly.
King James VI of Scotland, James I of England, assessed the character of men by the way they played cards. This is quite an interesting way to assess someone’s character. Since I read this in Antonia Fraser’s book about the Gun Powder Plot, I have considered how I play cards and how that is reflected in the life I have lived. Is this what I have lived, or a romanticised perspective brought on by the idea of character played out at the table?
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I would describe my card playing as optimistic to the point of reckless. However, I would say that one can tell a person’s character better by the way they play cricket, or football as these involve not only intellectual and emotional character, but physicality too – the whole person.
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Are cards but a parlour game? The above picture is from Lyon’s exhibition of Resistance and Deportation. Even in the death camps of the Nazis the deportees found ways to pass the time before their execution in play. What would King James (a man who wrote about hunting and prosecuting witches) have said about the resourcefulness and resilience of the incarcerated in these appalling circumstances
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Would different characteristics between players emerged? Probably. Yet to even subscribe to play at such a place shows the enormous depth of human spirit.
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The Romans who built Lugdunum, (now Lyon), thought that how the jacks fell most accurately foretold the path of future events – not that they could do much about the projected outcomes.
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CLP 24/11/2019
Points of Departure
Side by side
They moved off together
On the green signal
Paced perfectly
From beneath the shadow
Into the low morning sun
Simultaneously
Tempo steadily climbing
Synchronised
Flicks of stanchion shadows passed faster
In tandem
The lines gradually diverged
Curved
Stretched them apart
She waved
He turned to his phone
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CLP 23/11/2019
Journey of Words 