Journey of Words

Tag: Memory

  • on time

    the young men I watchedas a kidplay footballwin trophiesare old men nowill, dying, deadmaybe it is sadbut I am gladI saw them playat their peakproviding memoriesof which I can speakthey light firesin my eyes stillDavies, Hiron, BallI still see them all ~ n.b. There are many, many more. Thank you lads. CLP 09/06/2024 →

  • On time

    It’s been many yearsSticker stuck to this lamppostWe’re coming back soon ~ n.b. Someone, in January 2019, slapped the Pompey sticker here on Mariners Lane, Norwich. Not long now before we meet again. Can’t wait. CLP 20/05/2024 →

  • Forgetting

    Memory provoked by a road side signMemory of a turn, a lane, a garden, homeMemory of a child, a run, jump, hugMemory blurred by tears and the rainMemory’s desiccation of grievous lossMemory over-written with new places, new peopleMemory stirred by faces in London crowdsMemory jarred by first notes of our songMemory confused by the joy →

  • On The Beach

    Plenty of fresh airTo blow away the cobwebsSign says, “VACANCIES” ~ n.b. NaPoWriMo 2024 Day 7 prompt :Postcard. I dug this card out of the archives. CLP 07/04/2024 →

  • on time

    Gentlemen, we meet againI know the chill of that long wallWhere your names are cut in stoneBeside the Haileybury chapelNinety years from your leavingI repaired the cricket squaresWhere you had playedRolled the pitches where you ranFrom wicket to wicket in your whitesResponding to the call of “Yes”As you had been coachedYou set off promptlyWith all →

  • Night Clouds

    after a while close to zerofeels warm, if shelteredfrom the north-easterlythat dragged the sheetof last night’s altostratusbetween us and the starsstretched the cloudsinto grotesque shapesghosts of memorieswringing out the final frissonbefore sleep took us ~ CLP 11/01/2024 →

  • on peace

    All I rememberIn no particular orderBiafraVietnamSharpvillePragueBelfastVietnamBirminghamMLkRobert KennedyArgentinaPLOEcuadorKampucheaGuatamalaBoliviaLennonSri LankaAlgeriaTiananmenJonestownIRAETARAFUDFThe BelgranoHungerfordColumbineIsisal-QaedaSudanRwandaBosniaDunblaneLibyaSyriaChechnyaTwin TowersPalestineGaza9/117/7AtochaNiceBataclanBrusselsUkraineI could go onIt’s never stoppedand all the time the History Channelreplays The HolocaustHiroshimaNagaskiD-Dayand elsewhere, to lighten the loadM.A.S.H.~n.b. All the while the rich get richer, the bombs keep falling, bullets fly and shares in weaponry increase in value.Meanwhile, someone carves a trite message on a →

  • on land

    for what is it worth?vines, wheat, water, grazing, homesfor what it is worth ~ n.b. Ashes to ashes. Recycled carbon. One life. →

  • on time

    I remember, fifty years agoBus ride home from schoolFull heat of glowering sunFace flat against cool windowAsleep between stopsKaleidoscopic dreams confusingConversations of passengersWith people bouncing around my headWhite collar grey with sweatSo hot, stumbling to the stepsDown to the platformWatching the stop approachingStepping off as the bus pausedFinding my feet for the first time ~ →

  • on Ukraine

    remove the labelslook into the soldiers’ eyesthe kids from next door ~ n.b. The Ukrainian counter-offensive has begun to make some progress. Their armed forces, supplemented by volunteer recruits from all backgrounds, fighting to bring peace to their own homes. Pictures from a small exhibition at the Norwich city library. “On the roads to war” →