By Scott Bailey © 2017
Spit and polish
Iron and wash
Put out the bins
Face awash
Head off to work
Stuck in a jam
Ground to a halt
In the program
Morally sound
Ethically cool
Questioning news
Nobody’s fool
But
Still
The Dragon
Stirs

Spit and polish
Iron and wash
Put out the bins
Face awash
Head off to work
Stuck in a jam
Ground to a halt
In the program
Morally sound
Ethically cool
Questioning news
Nobody’s fool
But
Still
The Dragon
Stirs

He was natty
Never tatty
Always wore a smile
Never tattered
Never shattered
Going the extra mile
So concise
And precise
Clearly had a plan
In control
On a roll
Simply, the Man
When he stopped
Bubble popped
And that was that
He took aim
Such a shame
Ended with a splat

Just like school
The non-uniform times
Are when our true colours show
So what does that say
About school
About life

The warm sun colours
The world like dancing daisies
Spread between the graves

Hard the mud did cake
Matted fur, red blood flowing
On snow-covered wolf

Stereotypical headlines
Reactions just the same
Ample opportunity
To apportion blame
Night time is for thinking
Sorting truth from lies
But in the sunshine morn
Dreams just fly
So it goes

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
The screech of an owl
Clouds like scratches on the moon
Mouse darts warily
For “Ronovan Writes #Weekly #Haiku #Poetry Prompt #Challenge 369 SCRATCH and Screech.”

Red
Silk sliding
Tantalising thighs
Undulating
Velvet
Whispering wiles
X
Yearning
Zipped zones

Tyranny answers
As the replacement chosen
For austerity
In response to the daily prompt Replacement
#DailyPrompt

Automatic lives
With automatic answers
Easier to rule

The filter of social media
Keeps us warm or angry
Reaffirms
The wall goes up
Again

Simple white paper
Flowing blue lines
Birthing complexity
Beyond the bounds
Of reality

Blank white paper sheet
Tempting me to slash with ink
Cutting with dark words

Crossing out
Deleting
Inserting
Adding on
Dropping
Expanding
Changing
Evolving
Inserting
Crossing out
Life
And death

Droplet spins midair
Shimmering graceful free fall
Dashed against grey stone


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.
Tower of stone
Where hearts are joined
Names are blessed
Flesh is laid to rest
Still
The tower is stone
And cannot
Learn to love
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Span of stone
Taking some to work
Others home
As it has
For centuries
Others watch
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
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
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Hot red and burnt orange
The peppers in the pot
Ready to be plucked
And in the dinner popped
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Whatever happened to gauges
Haven’t seen one for ages
It gives a feeling of age
Does a good gauge
Engineering solid and good
Surrounded by brass or set in wood
The odd jet of steam venting
What were they all preventing

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
On wing
Defying the earth
Submitting to the wind
And trust
Soaring joy
Freedom high
Oh for wings
For real

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Bluebell path
Goes to the heart
A potent sign
Of where I am
Where I have been
My roots are theirs
We share soil
And shall again
Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Splosh
And a little erosion
Helped on
By little hands
Joy is free

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Living to please
Rather than to be
More on show
Than on the prowl
But in the beating
Heart and genes
Waits the hunter

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Staring down the barrel
Of everyday life
Wondering how long the fuse will last
Tensing to dodge
The final bang
Never can

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
With my lens
Capture the beach
Only to find
A watcher
Staring back
What does it see
The watcher from the sea

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Shining steel
A grill like a grin
Of the shark that killed you

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Defying the cold
In blue and gold
Vanity knows no bounds

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Mysteries of the deep
Simple and unique
Floating by in waves
Who knows what it saves
Deep in its memories
Deeper mysteries

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Back and forth
Criss-crossing
Thick and thin
Loose and taut
A complexity of lines
Just
To go forward

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Food and heat and warmth
Constant needs that connect us
To ancestors old

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Like broken teeth
Unmaintained
No longer useful
Yet
Somehow
Pleasing to the eye
Leading us
To who knows where

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Rock in the flow
Water jumps high
Rock is steadfast
Water jumps for joy
Time passes
Rock is worn to sand
Water flows serene

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Climbing
Slowly to the sky
Many years
Many lives
Reaching for the canopy
We rise
Will we be spared
The axe

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Into the hole
Drawn in by the urge
To know
Waiting
Are fangs

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
I am the hunter
Dance with me beneath the moon
Shafts of silver light

When the white wolf walks
Hunting in silver moonlight
The red deer shivers

Brass
Steam
Steel
Coal
Old
Times
Warm
Smells
Thudding
Down the rails

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Dissecting darkness
Silver shining score
Weaving across the night
Hanging, trembling, shimmering
Waiting for
A hapless fly
To wrap up and serve
As an artist’s
Main course

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Heart beneath blue skies
Bluer than the deep blue sea
Rage into the stars

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Stacked high and waiting
All ready to be consumed
And give out their warmth

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
A pewter dragon in the dust
Some curling chains turned to rust
Some old bones stacked in line
A bone comb with a broken tine
Ritual gifts or just waste
Theorise with too much haste
Maybe let the question go
Maybe let the mystery grow

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Beacons of hope in darkness
Shining from afar
Reaching out to guide us
But one is fitful and passing
The other faithfully burns
And as always
Nature surpasses invention
The beacon of life shines on

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
Hurrying, cramming in, rush rush rush
Preparing for tomorrow is all
By the time it’s done
Tomorrow is already gone
And so the cycle goes
On and on

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
The world we live in
The very structures of our lives
Built upon gold
But gold is so soft
So who the hell
Made that decision

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams
To glimpse a snippet
Of the incomprehensible
Just take a look
At the white cliffs
Reaching up from the sea
The result
Of trillions and trillions of tiny deaths
Life
Has been here so long
It has built
Landscapes

Originally published in A Spring of Dreams