Silver twines intricate wires thin and delicate stretching from misty past to infinite future Each one a story a thread of life Twisting they come together Winding, entwining Further down the road The twines form a rope Stronger Older Wiser Thicker Stiffer
Kerching! Kerchang! Pow! Our economy picks up! Soul still desolate.
Three hundred and sixty-five poems in all shapes and sizes, sprung from dreams and emotion. Published day after day for a year. There are haiku, sonnets, katauta, lanturnes and many other forms – including free form. The moods are as varied as the forms and often reflect my mood on the day. There is sadness and grief, joy and love.
If nothing else – these can provide a small moment in everyone’s stressful lives to stop and contemplate the world in a different way.
A dagger can be subtle Not just a sharp stabbing tool Can slowly cut away supports Until they fray with time And then it only takes A single little pluck And all comes crashing down The betrayers hand unknown
This is the half-light The magic time Deep blue light Fresh born stars Tales weaving In expectant air Firelight dimming Shadows creep Tales weaving Dreams conceived Past is close The dead draw near To hear Tales weaving With living breath
With his faithful tartan cap, its bobble flicking black dust into the air. Holding in that tousled and already greying hair. With half hundred weight of coal to deliver down the street. With his smiling green lorry, tiny windows at his feet. Walking up the narrow path, a smile upon his face. Care worn lines deep with dust, crisscrossed like living lace. Bringing warmth to many homes and our own.
Now the coal has gone but the lines remain beneath silver hair. Hands hard and black with oil and years of toil and loyal care. Has no wealth and all wealth one could want within his soft brick walls. Always ready to respond to our lost and stranded calls. Tall as a tree and as strong against every withering storm. A mere spanner in his hands his wonders to perform. Humble, with every reason to be mighty proud. With pride these words should be read to all aloud.
In an unremarkable flat Next to a noisy tapas bar Is where, perhaps, Hawkins might die Folded in his chair It will not be remembered Unlike his remarkable mind Such are the vagaries of life and death Both ridiculous and sublime
English: Alcyon, in Pleiades Star Cluster (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Another spirit lost Awash in the swell and foam Anguished over lost love Anger dealt him the blow Arising from the sea Alighting on the air A bright bird arises
What’s behind the story What is the reason for that news Who gets the benefit, the prize The envelope with the bread The law successfully passed The company tracked greased Somebody’s life made easier At the cost of somebody else
The lights on the corners of the boxes of steel
Are giving me a pain in the head
Like the fools who drive slowly in the outside lane
They are driving but their brains are dead
They have a purpose those lights you see
And I expect them to flash
Maybe that is my big mistake
Forgetting people are so rash
As a race We should step up To eliminate the gap Between the haves and the have-nots Between the singers with their bling and the slaves on the line Between the bankers with their blank cheques and the children in poverty For most of history most men women and children Lived in misery, died hungry. We are a disgrace As a race
Coloured bricks
Red, blue, yellow, white
and many more.
Many shapes
Many sizes
No limits
Many surprises.
Build a fire engine, A house, a school, A lake, a park, a city, a town. A space station and spaceships and an alien host. A castle, a bridge a knight and a ghost!
All this and more build it all And never ever build up your wall.
You people don’t understand.
It’s tradition.
It’s sport.
It’s in our genes.
Blood.
Jobs are created
By the sport we choose.
By the blood we shed.
Surely that’s enough.
Of course
The same can’t be said
For you
And your cock fights.
Shining argent in sunlight or silver sheen in the rain
Letter, rings, lions.
Phoenix or tiny names
Even flying angels and leaping fluid cats.
Bright, alluring but for many
The last thing they will see.
Motes of dust
So we have been described
Floating in the vastness of time and space
Small, inconsequential.
Dust motes made of dust from ancient dead stars.
Yet.
So far.
Amongst all we see,
the starfields of diamond dust,
the ancient piercing light,
the glowing, magical, wispy nebulae,
the rainbow rings of Saturn,
the storms of Jupiter,
the blinding light of supernova,
the singular dark of black hole,
world after world
galaxy after galaxy.
Nowhere have we found
yet
Anything that compares
to the complexity, the wonder, the intricacy,
the magic
of
the thoughts of you and I
Flesh and bones and genes.
Is that me?
Shirt and tie and jeans
Is that me?
The places I have been.
Is that me?
The words of praise, the blame that cuts
Is that me?
The songs I loved, the books I have read,
The colours I paint, what I like in my bread.
Are these me?
The friends I love and miss,
That is me
The taste of beer and chat,
That is me
The love for my wife and sons,
That is me.
The song bursting in my lungs,
That is me
The stories in my head
That is me
The place where I grew up,
where I was wed,
where one son was named, the other laid to rest
A white wedge
Spotted in the corner
Of a run-down shop
Off the track
Joyful memories swell
And from the past
I hear the clattering
Of a metal bowl
Filling with a quarter pound
Of sherbet lemons
“This book should be a movie. Somewhere in Hollywood right now there are actors waiting for their agents to deliver this story in script format to them. The makings of all action-packed adventure films is here. I can see the film in my mind’s eye. But this one is different. It’s not fast-paced for the thrill of it alone. It needs to be to get the message across. Mankind could be on the threshold of just such a future. Time is racing. This one could be us. Maybe a few years down the line yet, maybe already almost there in some similar format. Change a few details. Replace one group for another. Look behind the motives in politics and corporations. Stretch the reality just a little. Ask ourselves questions looking through the light of a different lens. It feels like us, it acts like us, it may very well come…”
“Great concept to write a poem a day for a year and provides an insight into coping with difficult family circumstances – a recommended read for anyone who has struggled in such situations. Some poems were obviously more personal than others (my favourites were those when the writer cherishes the ‘small moments’ in life such as going to a fireworks display with his wife and son) but he also branches out into more political territory. Look out for the funny poems scattered throughout the book too, one in particular made me laugh out loud! A good read and Scott Bailey shows talent as a poet. Recommended.”
Made of crystal
So clear
It can hardly be seen
The breadth of seven men
The height of the clouds
The top unseen
Inside
Sparking and crackling
Impossible
Bright and pure
It is filled with
Starfire
For miles around
The land knows no dark
Ever
The question might be asked
Why it was built
Were there anyone around
To ask it
Sparrow, sparrow in my way. Briefly tell your tale today. Tell me if my love is dead. Do I waste the tears I shed?
Briefly now I’ll tell my tale. Pray your courage does not fail. You do not waste the tears you shed. Alas I say, your love is dead.
A sharp, cold sword did spill her blood. She tried to stem an angry flood. But peace that day she could not win. So fearful war will begin.
Thank you bird for being true. Nothing’s left for me to do. To take up arms and pursue strife. Slay the spoilers of my life.
I bid you sir, think awhile. Turn from this dark path so vile. Listen to my humble song. Step not where your lover’s gone.
Just a simple bird am I But far above this land I fly. And see its beauty spread below. See ahead, where you might go.
Lay down your sword with forgiving heart. Do not tear your land apart. Still your rage and vengeance cease. Follow rather a path of peace.
Humble bird I hear your song. But my love is dead and gone. So I raise my sword today. And will make those killers pay.
The enemies that broke my heart. And now have torn the land apart. Upon their heads is all this blood. For I must release the flood.
Then sir, I shall shed a tear. For the future I do not fear. Yet for now I swiftly go. To make way for the crow.
Three hundred and sixty-five poems in all shapes and sizes, sprung from dreams and emotion. Published day after day for a year. There are haiku, sonnets, katauta, lanturnes and many other forms – including free form. The moods are as varied as the forms and often reflect my mood on the day. There is sadness and grief, joy and love.
If nothing else – these can provide a small moment in everyone’s stressful lives to stop and contemplate the world in a different way.
“Great concept to write a poem a day for a year and provides an insight into copying with difficult family circumstances – a recommended read for anyone who has struggled in such situations. Some poems were obviously more personal than others (my favourites were those when the writer cherishes the ‘small moments’ in life such as going to a fireworks display with his wife and son) but he also branches out into more political territory. Look out for the funny poems scattered through-out the book too, one in particular made me laugh out loud! A good read and Scott Bailey shows talent as a poet. Recommended.”
Another blue birthday
Like his eyes
Two years as if yesterday
The memories of watching
Blue fading to darkness
Unlike his eyes
My memories will never fade
Tarns tributaries tumble down
heather cloaked hills
red-brown tufts twitching in the wind
Cold water, cold air, eagle riding the high winds
Wolves range over moors
Sheep shiver, shepherds huddle
Fire crackles, broth steams
Tarns tributaries tumble down
heather cloaked hills
I am the hunter
The bringer down of prey
The destroyer
The shadow
The bringer of fear.
I am the master of war
The hoarder of riches
The steel lord
The holder of lightning
I am strength and glory
What’s behind the story
What is the reason for that news
Who gets the benefit, the prize
The envelope with the bread
The law successfully passed
The company tracked greased
Somebody’s life made easier
At the cost of somebody else