Energy
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Starlight is silent
Waves crash and roar on the shore
Then there is matter
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Creative Writing
Poem a day challenge #63 (Cold Cold News)
Sometimes the news leaves you despairing of humanity.
Cold Cold News
By Scott Bailey © 2013
The news chills today
The child killers found guilty
Will justice suffice?
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Poem a day challenge #62 (The Conduit)
So this is the one I am thinking of entering into a competition the theme being “The Book”
The Conduit
By Scott Bailey © 2013
A conduit, a bridge or a gateway.
It goes under many old names.
Open it with wonder and reverence,
For the spell will then be underway.
The weakest of hands can undo it
The portal of magical ways
Connecting one mind to another
With a delicate ethereal wave.
Some portals are heavy and dusty
Some dance with electrical sparks
But they all do the same, all show the way
For strange dreams from heart to heart.
There were even once living gateways
Who opened the way with a look
Always there’s one right beside us
The conduit, the gateway, the book.
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Poem a day challenge #61 (The New)
The New
By Scott Bailey © 2013
The new can’t replace the should have been
The should have been haunts us forever
Though the new will be a healer
And receive all our love just the same.
It’s pointless being angry at fate
But that doesn’t stop the burn
The frisson on top of everyday stress
For the should have been we always yearn.
The new will have it’s own should have been.
So maybe we will understand.
And make a happier will be.
At least that is the plan.
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Poem a day challenge #60 (Winter)
Winter
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Nothing, nothing, blank.
Beneath winter’s hard black ice.
Water flows freely.
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Poem a day challenge #59 (Trees)
Trees
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Two trees
Old as memory
Some leaves fallen
A root cut off.
Two trees
Explored
Examined
Noted down.
Two tree drawn together
Forever entwined.
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Poem a day challenge #58 (Class of Blood)
Class of Blood
By Scott Bailey © 2013
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.
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Poem a day challenge #57 (The Man in the Tree)
The Man in the Tree
By Scott Bailey © 2013
The man in the tree
The plank
The turned leg
The joint
The dust and the shavings.
The tree in the man
The setting down of deep roots
The reaching for the skies
The drinking deep of the earth
The steadfastness and the wielding.
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Poem a day challenge #56 (The World in a Book)
The World in a Book
By Scott Bailey © 2013
The world in a book
For my son
To show him the places
Across the seas
That he dreams of.
The colours,
The creatures,
The cultures and the clashes.
The world in a book in his hands
As one day
The world will be in his hands.
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Poem a day challenge #55 (Green Fingers)
Green Fingers
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Green fingers
Rip open the rusty shell
Slow tendrils with irresistible grasp.
Dealt with by a blade or a chemical wash
They will be back.
In time victory will be theirs.
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Poem a day challenge #54 (Purple Star)
Purple Star
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Deep bright purple star.
Piercing from the depths of roiling blue gas clouds
And a million billion stars
Outshining Venus and Mars
Swathes like silver paths
Some gathered in spiral wheels
And between them in the sparse dark spaces
Ships blink and travel on by.
A memory from the deepest well of childhood.
A memory that could not have been.
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Poem a day challenge #53 (Silver)
Silver
By Scott Bailey © 2013
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.
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Poem a Day Challenge #24 (Lantern)
Lantern
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Old light from the past
Is still illumination
Wisdom echoes far
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Poem a Day Challenge #23 (Rested Wheel)
Rested Wheel
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Why aren’t we railing?
Why aren’t we mad?
Why do we sit in silence?
In apathy so sad.
Is the sickle blunted?
The hammer dropped and cracked?
Has the guillotine lost its edge?
Has liberty backtracked?
The peasants have moved on
From field to factory to desk.
Is it beautiful progress
Or captivity grotesque
So day after day
after day after day.
We struggle and toil
No time to play.
We hand over our freedom
We hand over our cash.
While the fat cats sleep
on their growing stash.
Where is the spirit of liberty?
The hero in the square?
The lone horse trodden woman.
Defanged are those who care.
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Poem a Day Challenge #22 (Sighs Matter)
Sighs Matter
by Scott Bailey © 2013
Silk sliding
Fingertips brushing
Lightly
Warm breath
Close
Tingling
Lips shining
Eyes widening
Hush
Moist close
Pulsing closer
Moving
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Poem a Day Challenge #21 (Taxing)
Taxing
By Scott Bailey © 2013
They didn’t know.
Or didn’t care.
That corporate giants
Weren’t paying their share.
If they didn’t know.
Incompetence screams.
If they didn’t care
Corruption streams.
Next month. Something else.
To make us all forget.
How many times do we take this?
Is their more give in us yet?
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Poem a Day Challenge #20 (Exist)
Today’s poem of the day is another old one I have reworked. I chose this as I had read one on a blog I follow that evoked memories of this to me. (That one is here http://reowr.wordpress.com/2013/06/18/when-galaxies-cry/ ) There also seem to be a few more with similar theme and imagery on today. The other reason is that I wanted to post something a bit more upbeat and positive than I had been putting up lately.
Exist
By Scott Bailey © 1999
If I
Cease to exist
Will my
heart and soul dissolve in the air?
If I
Breathe my last breath
Will my
Golden thoughts shine anywhere?
If I
unbind from this earth
And
Sail the sun
right out to the stars.
Will I
Find my way back?
Or
Roam forever that celestial park?
Cease to exist
Will my
heart and soul dissolve in the air?
If I
Breathe my last breath
Will my
Golden thoughts shine anywhere?
If I
unbind from this earth
And
Sail the sun
right out to the stars.
Will I
Find my way back?
Or
Roam forever that celestial park?
If I
Cease to exist
Will my
Precious dreams chase after my soul?
If I
breathe my last breath
Will my
Endless hopes continue to roll?
If I
Fly up from the earth
And
Spiral up to the bright dancing stars
Will I
Find my way back
Or
Make my home where galaxies are?
Hard to exist
Back to back to the hammer of flesh.
Gasping for breath
Tried escape from this strangling mesh.
Tied hard to the earth
Brought to ground by invisible hands.
If I
Find my way back
Will I
Find my house fallen in sands?
Shout to exist
Drink the sun and swallow the air!
Savour the breath
Turn the corner and take up the dare!
Stand firm on the earth
And
Walk the roads under the stars.
We’ll find our way back
While our dreams fly where galaxies are.
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Poem a Day Challenge #19 (On the Verge)
On the Verge
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Broken down.
Watching everyone speed by.
Rushing.
Hearing the gusts of wind.
Smelling the broken grass.
Feeling the breeze on my cheeks.
Because I that’s all I can do while I wait.
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Poem a Day Challenge #18 (The Coalman)
This is an old one I brushed off and reworked. This one’s for my dad.
The Coalman
By Scott Bailey © 1999
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.
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Poem a Day Challenge #17 (Revision)
Revision
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Swirling in the mists of history
Mystic figures whirl
Dark silhouettes of dangerous men
Stride along with pride.A flash of a sword, the chord of a song
the clash of a shield, the beat of a drum.
The roar of a fire in a welcome hearth.
The hearty sound of the comrades’ laugh.
The scent of a feast, the warmth of the soup.
The strength of the beams over the hall
The smoke rising up into the straw
All of this and still there’s more.
A cold wind blows, the mist rolls back,
To show the cold hard facts.
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Poem a Day Challenge #16 (Summer)
Summer
by Scott Bailey ©2013
Bended blade of grass
Bows in the summer twilight
A warm journey home.
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Poem a Day Challenge #15 (Hope)
Hope
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Tired and worn out so
Going to sleep to dream of
Summer coming soon.
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Poem a Day Challenge #14 (Carman)
Carman
By Scott Bailey © 2013
I make cars
I always have
As did my father.Prestige cars.
The most famous in the world
Made with pride.
Made with precision.
Made to last.
To shine and glide!
Every working day.
All the working hours.
My trusty hands create.
I may be steeped in habit
Tradition and old ways
But I trust in my own fate.
I support my family.
I support the plant.
And I support the land.
I pay my way my dues
while on my shoulders weighs
the burden that I support.
After all these years of toil
All my many dues.
Imagine my surprise, my boss.
I have given more than you!
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Poem a Day Challenge #13 (The Gulf)
The Gulf
By Scott Bailey © 2013
The gulf between us grows and grows.
I wonder were we ever close?
Is it a myth we tell ourselves?
To give us false kudos.
One looks on one with envy
the other with disdain
But neither can leave the contract
for nothing is to gain?
Still the gulf grows wider
bridges tumble down
Yet the ties are tighter
Deeper runs the frown
Round and round this story goes
Will it ever end
The futile fixing of a problem
That will never end
So we have to ask ourselves
For richer? For poorer?
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Poem a Day Challenge #12 (Mistress)
Mistress
By Scott Bailey © 2013
She is taken for granted by most
Loved by some, hated by others.
She gives some what they want
others are denied.
Some can’t believe their luck
Others demand too much.
She keeps alive the memory of those long gone.
Brings music from the past
Brings together worlds apart
Or breaks them down
Passes on words of love and hate
Over time and space.
The famous thank her
for everything she brings them
Other view her with jealousy
as she gives what they cannot.
She’ll save or kill her lovers
But she is here to stay.
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Poem a Day Challenge #11 (Normal)
Normal
By Scott Bailey © 2013
The news is not normal
We must remember that.
At home with my family, safe on the sofa.
Working nine to five to bring home the bread
Struggling with bill but food on the table
Enjoying friendships and family
Days out, nights in, peace, leisure, entertainment
Warmth, safety, security and food.
Let us remember that this is our normal
that many do not enjoy.
For them the every day, the normal is
hunger, poverty, murder and rape.
The news is not normal
but we are the exception.
What can we do in the face of desolation?
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Poem a Day Challenge #10 (Red)
Red
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Screaming red white and blue,
Soaring in the clouds.
Thundering over the shore.
Red Arrows Roar!
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Poem a Day Challenge #9 (Change)
Change
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Shouting into the hole that is the whole
Nothing back.
Raging against the system that is all
Nothing changed.
Staring at the box with the box.
Nothing gained.
Justifying every move you make
Not explained.
Time to change.
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Poem a Day Challenge #8 (Is it Me?)
Is it Me?
By Scott Bailey © 2103
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
That is me
My dreams that are out of reach
That is me.
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Poem a Day Challenge #7 (Same)
OK have a headache now. Can’t think so I am posting this one that has been in development over the last few days. Needs more work I know. And it frivolous. Who can spot the song its a play on?
Same
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Remember this forever
For it will set you free
Listen to you mother on
How it is to be,
If you want success my child
Stay upon the path
Don’t stray into the wild.
Be the same! Be the same.
All the world – loves the same.
Stand up tall, play it straight
And you’ll never end up late.
With mortarboard and diploma
You’ll rate with the great minds
If you become a doctor you’ll win great respect
Be a great composer and get more of it yet
Don’t become a poet that they will all forget
Be the same, be the same, be the same.
Be the same, be the same,
All the world – loves the same.
Tell it straight, tell it true,
No one will mess with you.
Bend the rules (when you can)
Make more profit for the man
A college education is a must I am sure
To give the frame of reference that you must endure
If you feel lost a job is the cure!
Be the same! Be the same! Be the same
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Carry on..
Another attempt at collaborative fiction.
This one is just a scene – that anyone can carry on. I was thinking that anyone who contributes can then vote on the best next part and that goes forward – and then we all write the next bit and so on. (If that makes sense?)
Well it’s worth a try.
This was the thunder roll time. The heartbeat of the hunted time. The dawning of infinity.
Sweat beaded on her neckline. Her hands shook and she felt sick. It was the time of truths, of bare reality. The weight of life bore down on her, dragging her inwards yet compelling her forwards.
Time brooked no delay.
She opened……..
Poem a Day Challenge #6 (Trench)
Another attempt at haiku.
Trench
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Dancing with my wife,
last week the telegraph came:
Coughs ring round the trench.
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Poem a Day Challenge #5 (Footsteps)
OK – so this one is on the same theme as yesterday. In fact this was the one I started with in my head yesterday – but it morphed into number 4. I wanted to develop it and see if it is better or not then the result I came up with yesterday. And maybe just to look at the same concept in two ways.
Footsteps
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Footsteps on the dusky beach
Holes left by those gone by
Empty.
The tide turns, creeps back in
holes become pools
shining in the sunset
Peering in beyond my reflections
the shining water
teems with life
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Poem a Day Challenge #4 (Soundbox)
Soundbox
By Scott Bailey © 2013
There are empty spaces
left as people move on,
of the spaces of places long gone,
of times gone by
There is a link between present and past
an energy, a potential,
strung between the memories gone
and the living yet to roll on
The link hums with the tension
and the empty spaces echo back the thrum
deep rich reverberation
layered on the past, the present, the future
Such is the music of life.
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Poem a Day Challenge #3 (Outside `The Daffodil and Pen’)
Outside `The Daffodil and Pen’
By Scott Bailey © 1999
I wandered lonely as a brick
That sinks and dives in stream and lake,
When all at once I was so sick,
And an awful mess I did make.
Beside the lake, beneath the trees.
Splattering my stomach in the breeze.
It must have been the bread I had
Or maybe that old Milky Way.
This puddle of sick smelt so bad
Along the margin of the bay.
Ten pints I had drunk, at a guess.
Tossing my head, I felt a mess.
The waves in my head danced, and they
Dashed my weak legs from under me.
A poet could not be so gay
As the one who stood over me.
He gazed and gazed and then in glee
Threw up and fell down next to me.
Next morn when on my couch I lay
In vacant and in pensive mood.
I swore I’d give up drink that day.
And swore some more, it was quite rude.
But soon, once more, the cider spills.
I’ll sleep again with daffodils.
Scott Andrew Bailey - Author 