Silver Spun Sand Poems

Selection of Poems

Comments

Hi Tina,

I'm sure I commented on your poem about the lady with arthritis ... and the bird in the cage... and now it's gone? Hope all is ok?

Thanks, $

 

Cherry

Black Willow

To know I will never see your face again ...
1 likes
Cherry

Buried Treasure

...'Stones', or rather 'Neolithic tools' as his granddad had described them.
Cherry

Came the Sandman

Evening crept – liquid chocolate... dark and soft like the fur of a kitten...

The Last Cigarette

I hid my cigarette in the fold of my coat...
Cherry

"Hi Ho Silver Lining"

“...and away you go now baby; I see your sun is shining..."

"Hi, Mum...it's me"

“You remember," I say. She doesn’t answer, but I just carry on, anyway.

"I Am ..." I Said (I.P.)

(Edit) "Oppression can only survive through silence." Carmen de Monteflores
Cherry

"I Loves You Porgy"

“Someday I know he’s coming to call me. He’s going to hold me, so it’s going to be like dying, Porgy... but when he comes, I know I’ll have to go.” Ira Gershwin
Cherry

"In These Shoes?"

(I.P.) So! You've wound down yer winda. So there is life on Mars!
Cherry

"Long Time No Speak..."

Off he goes again – like a well-worn LP.
Cherry

"Made in Egypt"

(Inspired by a report on yesterday's 'News at Ten') No self-respecting five-star hotel, would be complete without Egyptian cotton sheets...
Cherry

"Pretty Bubbles in the Air"

I would cup my hands; capture them. Only, I can’t...
Cherry

"Prince of Desire" (I.P.)

(edit) “The lights go out and I die. Tomorrow I will be reborn. Tomorrow I will dance again.” (Rudolf Nureyev – March, 1938 - January, 1993)

'A Map of the World' (I.P.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo8WU_RRx-A Melt to the tunes of Pat Metheny; pour myself another cup of coffee...
Cherry

'After the Gold Rush'

Sleep won’t come and so I write... listen to Neil Young – golden oldies from the past, the nineteen seventies and such.
Cherry

'All Human Life is There' (I.P.)

Scratchwood; yours truly – chilling out, after a ‘hard day at the office’.
Cherry

'At the Going Down of the Sun '(I.P.)

“As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, moving in marches upon the heavenly plain, as the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, to the end,they remain"
Cherry

'Back to Black'

It's the little things mean most.
Cherry

'Bright, Shiny Things'

(Edit) A mere moment in time; gone in a trice...
Cherry

'Can't Let Maggie Go'

Yellow hair, spiky fringe – sententious to a fault.

'Dish of the Day'

Toad in the Hole. Now there's a thought.
Cherry

'Finders, Keepers'

The hill – mine, plus a hundred acres of sky.
Cherry

'Goodbye' She Wrote

“The moving finger writes and having writ moves on..." Omar Khayyam
Cherry

'Happy New Year'...

It trips off our tongue. We say it to our friends...the postman the milkman...
Cherry

'Hi, Son'

It was just a matter of time, now.
Cherry

'It was a Dark and Stormy Night...'

A scarlet shawl, from shoulders soft, slipped, silent, to the ground...

'It's Over...'

Still can’t get his text out of my head...

'Kiss an Angel'

(Edit) She’d said to watch his hands, and his mouth...
Cherry

'Lead Us Not...' (I.P.)

I’ve lost my way...somewhere between, ‘Our Father’ and ‘Lead us not..."
Cherry

'Little Sparrow'

Mummy said not to talk to strangers...
Cherry

'Narnia'...

Our summer-house, at the end of the garden.
Cherry

'Percussion, Salt and Honey'

Satin sheets bind tangled feet, yet, no reluctant prisoner – this.

'Pie in the Sky' (I.P.)

(Edit 12/03/2012) There’s some might say we had it made... having gone from rags to riches;
Cherry

'Proud Mary' Blues

(Edit 19/03/2011) Soon, Katrina will come...
Cherry

'Purple Haze'

Inspired by the life and lyrics of the late, great, Jimi Hendrix
Cherry

'Songs of Love and Hate'

(Edit) With more than a nod to Leonard Cohen
Cherry

'Spit 'n Polish' (I.P.)

Each evening, Cherry, as she was called, cleaned her old man’s shoes...

'Study in Blue'

It sizzles in Soho tonight...
Cherry

( IP) The Last Pharaoh

As if possessed – tears at her bodice; rips apart her rose-silk gown...
Cherry

(I.P.) "Sorry for the Wait, Sir..."

So what did you say the problem was? Your washing machine won’t rinse? My ‘washing machine’ stormed out yesterday; took my cash and credit cards with her, no less.

(I.P.) A Winter Reverie

(Edit 31/01/2011) April seems aeons away; Blooms of daffodils a-blaze. Chilly winds make one long for Drowsy dog-days...
Cherry

(I.P.) Portrait of My Father

Even a simple shopping list he could transform into a sonnet... until one night when fate intervened.

... Presumed Dead

We used to have so much to say. Not enough hours in the day to discuss … whatever.

A Beautiful Find

Is it because ...?
Cherry

A Beautiful Find

A walk to the bottom of my garden...
Cherry

A Coming to Terms

(Re-edit 2/12/2012) There are lessons to be learned from fallen leaves...
Cherry

A Day in the Life

An amicable divorce...he'd wanted.
Cherry

A Distant Thunder

You can’t fight evil like that with Kalashnikovs...
Cherry

A Distant Thunder

The chink of money changing hands...

A Familiar Affair

Never have much luck with men – not for the want of trying.

A Fear of Falling

On my back in the orchard...
Cherry

A Fine Romance

Thinks she's going half crazy ...
Cherry

A Gambian Experience

Dimpled toes court the dust ... pencils hover in mid air ...
Cherry

A Gentleman's Agreement (I.P.)

'Tell you what...I'll do you a deal..."
Cherry

A Girl Called Mattie (I.P.)

Those castles in the sand belong to yesterday...
Cherry

A Kind of Loving

Wonders where it went... the passion that was theirs.
Cherry

A Life More Ordinary

He's still a kid deep inside, acting out his Walter Mitty world.
Cherry

A Life More Than Ordinary

A mundane kind of life...
Cherry

A Man and His Dog

Just a card would have been nice, but I’ve still got last year’s in the drawer somewhere.
Cherry

A Man for All Seasons

The shiver of corkscrew curls, and the ripple of sinews...

A Midsummer's Daydream

Seeing as it's International Fairies Day today...
Cherry

A Moment in Time

I was ten - you were twelve...
Cherry

A Moment in Time

There are all kinds of time
Cherry

A Nice Day for It

I remember my dad staring out the window... not knowing what to do.
Cherry

A Night in Camargue

The moon called the tune...
Cherry

A Pelican in the Wilderness

Inspired by last week's I.P. Hunted as a freak she roamed the land...
Cherry

A Place Called Mattie

Beguiling – right from the start...
Cherry

A Robin on a Sprig of Holly

(edit) Just a card would have been nice.
Cherry

A Small Ceasing to Be

I don’t kid myself the world will stop because you’re not here;
Cherry

A Soldier's Prayer (I.P.)

“For Death came flying through the air..."
Cherry

A to Z

A poem born of this week's Inspiration Point.
Cherry

A Town Like Beverley

This – the leaving behind...
Cherry

A Very Fine Affair

A whisper of a dress caressed her thighs...

A Wing and a Prayer

Though far away, my dearest love, I must see thee, one last time...

A Winter Without Snow

A shamal blows in from the desert...
Cherry

Ab Initio

(Edit) ‘Neath a starry maple’s shade I was young, once...
Cherry

ABC for Zoologists

Seems we're all bitten by the bug;-)

About a Boy

Down the back of the settee I found a scrap of paper;
Cherry

Affordable Housing?

Rows of terracotta roofs and miles of decking...
Cherry

After Making Love...

I defy dawn to break this reverie...
Cherry

After the Ball

Life's no fairy-tale and I'm no Cinderella.

After the Rain (I.P.)

He and I, soporifically sated, choose our separate ways...
Cherry

After You've Gone

(Edit 30/4/2012) After you’ve gone... who shall I have to cook for..
Cherry

Air Kisses

... the concave curve of my hips - perfect bow of my lips ...
Cherry

Alicia at Number Three (I.P.)

Trees vie to give her shade... so soft and light her tread.
Cherry

Alien Shores

Like a scene from a foreign movie.
Cherry

All Done With Mirrors

I.P. 21/ll/08 Colin’s late again, for the third time this week.
Cherry

All that glitters ...

... the cross she always wore – twenty two carat; the one I bought her for her twenty-first.

All the King's Horses

What a circus – what a show!
Cherry

All the Young Dudes (I.P.)

Heed my warning or proceed at they peril!

Amaranthine

A branch, tapping on the window wakes me. I watch her sleeping...
Cherry

Amoureuse

If...
Cherry

An Englishman Abroad

Over-rated things; words.
Cherry

An Incident on the Line

IP 'No one saw him fall...'
Cherry

And Silver Spun Sand (I.P.)

You didn’t stand on tiptoes... you just reached out your hand...

And This One's for You

(Edit 25/03/2011) When I am old, and even greyer than now... finally, ‘thrown off this mortal coil’
Cherry

Angelina

‘Beat a path of retreat up them spiral staircases, past the tree of smoke past the angel with four faces begging God for mercy and weepin’ in holy places’ Bob Dylan
Cherry

Animal Quakas (I.P.)

An attempt at the I.P. A poem (of sorts) the letters E,R,N,P,Y prohibited. Difficult, or what?
Cherry

Anniversary

You stumble in... through the kitchen door –
Cherry

Another Day...

Closer to what he will become...
Cherry

Another Man's Treasure

A square peg in this dump-it-get-a-new-one age.

April Rising

How she hated April; tore its pages from her diary.
Cherry

Ars Poetica

I intoxicate as rain drunk from a loch...
Cherry

Aubade

“Children on the street, still playing their games, smiles on their faces have never changed – I hope it’s all the same, I didn’t leave in vain...” (Stephen Gately 17/3/76 - 10/10/09)
Cherry

Away With The Fairies

On the shingle they rock and they roll in rhythm to the surf’s rise and fall.

Baby Suits Blue

How to describe what it's like to swim with jewelfish...

Back Pages

‘Good and bad, I define these terms Quite clear, no doubt, somehow Ah but I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now.’ Bob Dylan

Baguettes at Dawn (I.P.)

(Re-edit) Sleep won’t come, so stroll down the cafe on the front...

Barefoot through the Bluebells

I ran my fingers through her hair ... waxed lyrical about her eyes.

Barely Blue

(I.P.) (Re-edit) I'm writing you now, just to see if you're better.
Cherry

Barnaby Jones

And so sleep tight...
Cherry

Beaujolais Days

She always said she’d be the first to go, but he’d gone and proved her wrong.
Cherry

Beautiful Dreamer

If you but looked inside my heart therein would lie such treasure...
Cherry

Bed Six is Betty Brown

Been here three weeks or more, this one. It’s OK; she can’t hear you...
Cherry

Bees in Amber

“I wish I could remember that first day, first moment of your meeting me.” Christina Rossetti
Cherry

Before Life on Mars

Before you and me were us...
Cherry

Before the Radiotheraphy

Everything's trivial now, except this.
Cherry

Before You Walk Away...

(Edit) Look back at the house we scrimped and saved for...
Cherry

Before You Went

I wanted to tell you this was tearing me apart...

Behind Closed Doors...

She winces...glimpses a face in the window.
Cherry

Being Thirteen

They pretend to know it all, but they don’t.
Cherry

Berceuse

Sometimes, life creeps up and taps us on the shoulder.
Cherry

Between the Lines

(Edit 24/09/09 with a thanks to Nathan) ...that duck-shaped damp patch on the wall by our bed has come back ...
Cherry

Beyond Words

'A poem of the air' such is snow...
Cherry

Black Became Her

She'd never been attracted to him sexually.
Cherry

Black Irises

How they shimmered in the evening stillness;
Cherry

Black Lace and Burgundy

Catlike, her fingers stalk the keys; Für Elise from memory. Con espressione, indeed ...
Cherry

Black Orchid

A surprising kind of plant...one might almost say ‘pervy’.
Cherry

Black Rain

If the dead can die again, they did ... (Written with the help of source material from eye-witness accounts)
Cherry

Blackberry Wine

(Edit) The berries yield to our touch...
Cherry

Blow Up

Another for the portfolio...

Blue

Believe it or not, a true story. Driving through the countryside we spot a quaint old pub, both of us could eat a horse, so agree to stop for lunch.
Cherry

Blue Became Her

Perhaps, because it was the colour of her eyes...
Cherry

Blue on Blue

On Sundays we’d go fishing, Dad and I.
Cherry

Blue Zebras

There's nothing to equal a child's imagination.
Cherry

Boxers in Yellow

Seen – from my window two hares – boxing on Easter Day.
Cherry

Boy with Violin

(Edit 14/4/2012) He – my bow; such a fine length – perfectly honed.
Cherry

Boy-Blue

Current I.P. His sweetheart, she rose early, one bright and sunny morn,
Cherry

Brave New World

Night fades to morning; I hear screams – outside in my back-yard.

Breaking the Ice

The thaw, slowly setting in...
Cherry

Breaking the Ice

The thaw slowly setting in...
Cherry

Breaking the Mould

He watches her sleeping. 'Peas in a pod', they’d been...
Cherry

Buy One Get One Free

The lather’s to die for – bubbles galore! Cost an arm and leg but sure as hell I’m worth it; Dolce Vita by Christian Dior.

By Silver Stream

We watched the ripples grow.
Cherry

California Sands...

A far cry from LA ...
Cherry

Call that Poetry

A lot of what these poets write, it makes no sense at all...

Camomile Lawn

A gem of a morning, a sunrise to die for...
Cherry

Carmine Kisses

The door groans open. “Anybody there?” he calls...
Cherry

Chardonnay and Me

Beside a pond, stiller than a dream, we set our picnic basket down, she and I.
Cherry

Chef de Cuisine

His white apron, languishes on the back of the kitchen door...
Cherry

Chessie

She didn't have a home for ten months, until I took her in.
Cherry

Chiaroscuro

Depict your contours in soft charcoal.
Cherry

Chicken Tikka for One (I.P.)

Standing at the sink, washing-up from dinner...
Cherry

Child of Mine

Just one short week since you arrived...

Child of Our Time

(edit) I was not there when war began...
Gold cherry

Cider with Gramps

I don’t recall that last time I ever saw you...
Cherry

Clanger! (I.P.)

Clanger was chuffed as a dog with two tails...
Cherry

Clean, Young Englishman (I.P.)

Plus-four breeches, green, baize coat...
Cherry

Cloud (I.P.)

I’ll meet you at the bend in the river.
Cherry

Cold Comfort

Funny...how we've changed over the years.
Cherry

Cold Comfort

Time to move on now, Mrs. Jones; to cross the i’s and dot the t’s...
Cherry

Collage

Crazily it shone... that moment –
Cherry

Come Away With Me

ABC Mag IP. Let's just sleep on it. Pretend it's all been a dream.
Cherry

Come Springtime

The same unforgiving wind...
Poem of the week

Come Summer

All winter long I played the role of feckless youth;
Cherry

Come the Spring

(Edit) What price...progress?
Cherry

Comes the Sandman

He spoke softly to you; coaxed eyelids fall shut.
Cherry

Coming to Terms

And how I would show you the snowdrops...
Cherry

Cote d'Azur

You stripped off on the beach...
Cherry

Crazy Little Thing Called Love

His last tour of duty; scuffs the sand with his boots.

Crazy Maybe

(Edit 10/02/2011) A winter’s afternoon, yet a May Tree by my window bursts into bloom!

Dad, it's me (I.P.)

(Edit 19.04.2010) "All the world's a stage, and one man, in his time, plays many parts..."
Cherry

Daffodil Dawn

So many rooms we've slept in... The one in Pont Saint Pierre with a bath, bidet, but no loo;

Dancing in the Dark

No step I couldn’t master when caught up in his arms. No other partner with whom I danced so well.
Cherry

Daphne's Dafferdills

A wry look at this week's IP. "Who needs poems ...?"
Cherry

Days Like These...

Peeling potatoes at the kitchen sink I watch him walk back down the path –
Cherry

Days like These...

‘The Chaos Theory’ personified – you and your room...
Cherry

Days of Lies and If Onlys

We got scolded when we climbed the lemon tree...
Cherry

Dead...Again

Today, I have 'died a million deaths'...
Cherry

Dear Daughter...

Don't go looking for an answer...
Cherry

Dear Diary ...

Dank, dark and drizzly this November afternoon;

Dear Mr. Oboe Man...

(edit) ...like I'm the only one in the world unable to sleep...
Cherry

Dear Whomsoever ...

When you read this note, you'll have found my box...underneath the floorboards.
Cherry

Fridays on the Towpath

We banked on being millionaires by fourteen;
Cherry

Little Dancer

An enchanting slip of a thing...

Nine White Tulips

A midnight sky drizzles its wind like curaçao, through the lime trees...
Cherry

No Happy Returns...

...no cards, no party...
Cherry

Sliding Doors (I.P.)

8.30 a.m. on the Bedpan Line...

Somewhere in Ypres

Curled against you in this god-forsaken ditch. (Battle of St Julien 24 April – 5 May, 1915)

Summer Nights

Time moves at a snail's pace.
Cherry

Summer Pudding

"No...this isn’t a poem, it’s just a three-day old loaf..."

To Glimpse a Butterfly

I nicknamed her ‘Papillon’, from that very first day I saw her...
Cherry

Wild Geese

Three months, they gave you...
Poem of the week

Zac's Garden

A red house on the hill
Cherry

A Kind of Grieving

Pour myself into gardening this morning...

The Stars and Back

Once more tonight I drown...

Dragonfly

Once upon a sunrise...
Cherry

Dressed to Kill

‘Made in Bangladesh’, wherever that is, the label read.
Cherry

For Silver

The time of the year when the sun sets further away...

Four ASBOs and a Wedding (I.P.)

A blushing bride emerges up at 23A... takes the front porch steps, two at a time...
Cherry

It Usually Rains at Funerals

A tragedy, of course, the next door neighbour – only twenty-five...

Lady April

Satin shapes sway inside her dress...
Cherry

Little Bird

(Edit) A fledgling fallen from the nest.

Love Soup

Tonight he’ll win her heart with his haute cuisine

Maddy by Moonlight

Her body, a geology of mountains and grottoes...
Cherry

Morning Song

We wake...me for the umpteenth time
Cherry

Not for Resuscitation

Only know me, not as the one wires me up to some machine...

Sara Orange Tip Was Here

http://greennature.com/article2313.html 'Please, make me beautiful,' she said.
Cherry

Song of the Windflowers

After you’d gone, grieving was good they’d have me believe

That Treasured Time

On the shores of Loch Maree
Cherry

The Games People Play

Blasted my eardrums, you two when you were kids.
Cherry

The Green Faerie

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder...perhaps.
Cherry

The Man with the Earring

There was someone, some time, somewhere.

The Poetess

In memory of Cecil Frances Alexander, 1818 – 1895 who wrote such hymns as All Things Bright and Beautiful, Once in Royal David’s City, and There is a Green Hill Far Away....

The Times of Our Lives

There were three of us that day... two boys, and me.
Cherry

Room Five is Mrs. Jenkins

... or could be any one of us.
Cherry

Verity Jones

Her T-shirt soaking wet, I gave her mine.
Cherry

Uncle Sam

My sister said to tell on him ...
Cherry

Murder in the City

An air of death in the City this morning.
Cherry

The day I grow up ...

...I'll watch the whole of Marathon Man.

First Frost

(Re-edited 21/04/2009) You are just a pawn in this crazy thing we call life.
Cherry

How High is the Moon

(edited, 22/09/08 with a thank you to jennifer, sunshine and Mori;-) Like schoolgirls we giggle, mad she calls me.
Cherry

To Whom It May Concern

The gift of life doesn't come fancy packaged ...
Cherry

What Kind of a Name is Penelope?

She stirred up the leaves with her white, spiky Nikes.
Cherry

Lady in Red

A family gathering – Mother’s ninety-fifth. The spirit stronger than the flesh ...
Cherry

The Woman in White

They paid their last respects – laid tulips on the freshly-dug grave of the vicar’s late wife.
Cherry

The Leaving

Caught up in a whirlwind of buying duvets and curtains, mugs, plates and bowls, electric kettles and toasters.

My name's Marilyn. What's yours?

Looking for a good time, handsome? Barrel of laughs – that’s me. We could while a way an hour or two – three if you like.
Cherry

His Father's Son

Alexander’s never known you and yet he swears he loves you. Vows to follow in your footsteps
Cherry

Poppies and Polka-dots

Yesterday was her birthday. She looked pretty in her party dress – the satin one with polka-dots. Red always was her colour.

The Wolves of Wakepeke

Just a late attempt at the inspiration point:-) “Can you hear the white wolves crying?” said Maranga to Kalista. “I can only hear the river,” said the young boy to his sister.

This One's for Me

Look out, Amy Whitehouse or whoever, here I come. (edit)
Cherry

Some Other Spring

Best thing about this dump is the chestnut tree and the garden. House not up to much. Only what you’d expect of Army Barracks.

What Makes Me Happy ...

At the end of a hard day, an easy-chair and a cold beer – a letter from a long-forgotten friend.

Word Perfect

The path of true love ... and all that.
Cherry

Moonchild

Our pilgrimage, this - our last ditch attempt as if, by some miracle, this would make you well again.
Cherry

Evening in Paris

I used to ask her where she went most every night. “To see a man about a dog,” was always her reply
Cherry

I remember ...

The way the wine dribbled down the bottle and you wiped it with your hand – licked your fingers as it drizzled down your chin
Cherry

In Another Life

“There is a better place,” she says. Tells me it’s my call. Up to me to decide where that will be.
Cherry

Glory Days

In those hungry years when we were young we had nothing.
Cherry

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

Incidentally, so sorry I’ve wrecked your Christmas. A lot more attractive things you could be doing on Christmas Eve.
Cherry

The Gift

Almost the hardest thing I’ve ever done, was surviving last Christmas.
Cherry

The Square on the Hypotenuse

He stares, blindly, through the window. “Good morning, Mr. Reeves,” say the children ...
Cherry

Sweet Charity

She’s only here to shelter from the rain. So am I, if the truth be known.
Poem of the week

Holcombe - the last time

‘Must be in my second childhood,’ the old man mused, as he watched her chase the waves ...
Cherry

Just This ...

(edited) Went for a walk in the snow today ...
Cherry

The Man Next Door

Strange thing - that sixth sense of ours.
Cherry

I Could Have Written A Book About ...

IP. Some things about me ... as seen through the eyes of another.
Cherry

The Others

All that breathes – moves – quakes, quickly darts for cover.
Cherry

Girl Watching Goldfish

Her world, so different from theirs and yet in some ways, much the same …
Cherry

She Was ...

At the end of the day, we are the things we love ... I guess. (Edit, with thanks to Jennifer)
Cherry

Ever So Slightly Mad

'Abba had nothing on my dancing queen ...'
Cherry

Esher Girls

He makes great coffee, so ... can I complain?
Cherry

Southwold Revisited (The Sound of the Sea)

A walk on the pier in the pouring rain, not her best idea.

The Stuff of Dreams

What had rekindled this passion – long-since smouldering, to suddenly spring alive?
Cherry

Things My Daughter Taught Me

Taught me ... I wouldn't be remembered for how clean my floor was. (edit)
Cherry

Going For a Song ...

This week's IP (30 words)
Cherry

The Beat Goes On ...

Scrawled-on stairwells resound to a sweet discordant euphony of climactic ecstasies.

Some Enchanted Evening

... a posh cocktail affair.
Cherry

Thicker than Water

Never told you this, but often, as a kid, I hated you.

Smoke and Mirrors

"Monsters aren't real." Mummy says.
Cherry

Letting Go

Let the violets go you once pinned in my hair ...
Cherry

The Crow and I

I am no vegetable ...
Cherry

Today I wrote a poem

Times change, sometimes for the better.
Cherry

Paradise Found

A bed and a table, a lamp and a chair; not much of a room ... except heaven is there.
Cherry

For Whom the Cicada Sings

“I ask you. What finer way to die than as a hero?"
Cherry

Phoning Home

He was in the garden – digging, according to her, and I could picture him...
Cherry

Me, and Her with the Piercings

(edit) ...we didn’t want the night to end... to slip through our fingers like a dream –
Cherry

Driving Great Aunt Maisie

We'd already done 'I Spy' to death...
Cherry

Sweet Emmaline

Life...ain't no bowl of cherries.
Cherry

Tomorrow's Children

In an infinite universe, anything is possible.
Cherry

How It Is

He was posted to Basra.
Cherry

The Beautician's Day Off

A flimsy curtain screen all that’s between them and their dignity...

Roundabouts and Roses

At the far-end of the bypass, opposite the garage you’ll find it...
Cherry

The Trouble with Grace

We couldn’t help ourselves, even though we knew where it would end.

No Poem

There is nothing I can write
Cherry

Picture at an Exhibition

A T-shirt that said, 'Save Our Seals'.

Requiem For a Friend

(edit 06/01/2010) We were both typists and jive-crazy.
Cherry

His Father's Eyes

He stirs; grabs at life with all ten fingers...
Cherry

Requital

Life is a gift...they told me
Poem of the week

Lines in the Sand

For my sixth birthday I wanted a doll; instead they gave me a rifle...

Justifiable Suicide

Odd - the things that come to mind sometimes.
Cherry

Paper, Scissors, Rock

Current IP. They snatched the scissors away...Nothing sharp permitted here, not in this place.
Cherry

Hotel Paradiso

(edit) They dine on langoustine – say how good it’s been to mingle with the natives.
Cherry

The Passing of Aunt Maud

(Current I.P.) The biggest bonus of being old, one doesn’t lose sleep over niceties.
Cherry

Tonight Josephine...

Current I.P. In retrospect, posing nude, not that much of a deal.
Cherry

Gnome Truths

Current I.P. Cast your mind back, if you can, to nineteen-fifty-five...
Cherry

The Fallen

(edit) "A barbed-wire fence, no deterrent...
Cherry

Monday Afternoon...

(An edit and retitle) She whispers she hear hears something outside. So do I...
Cherry

Saved by the Bell

Current I.P. "Keys that enchanted, perplexed, excited...
Cherry

Shades of Blue

I christened him ‘Blue’, the man with the Tesco carrier-bags.
Cherry

One Enchanted Evening...

Deprived of their TV – instead they chat of galaxies, giant-reds, black holes...
Cherry

Lear in a Nutshell

Current I.P. ;-)

Picture This

(edit) A rainy afternoon...flicking through an album
Cherry

Hey Joe...

So, label me a whore, Joe... feed the gossip, fuel the lies!
Cherry

Last Orders

Current I.P. I’ m waiting for the owner of this god-forsaken dive to call time...
Cherry

Read All About It

Current I.P. (Edit, with thanks to Ewan) My dream; to see my name in print.
Cherry

How's Frank?

'Frank died...Don't you remember?'
Cherry

Santa's Lament

The commotion awoke the whole family – the kerfuffle and hullabaloo...

Winter Solstice...

(edit 22/12/09) December 21st...as seen from my window this morning
Cherry

Madame Butterfly

"Like the tattoo," I say...

She Always Did That...

(edit) She had such nice hands...

In Retrospect

One snowflake, so fragile, but by sticking together, they can bring a country to its knees.
Cherry

Killing Me Softly

Much too old for Ring-a-Roses; not old enough to go proposing.
Cherry

Happy Divorce Day!

Who am I to shake the tree?
Cherry

Hear No Evil (I.P.)

The workmen couldn't get on her nerves no more.
Cherry

The Fortune-Teller

Your body speaks to me...
Cherry

Her Legacy (I. P.)

"Spend it like there'll be no tomorrow..."

Losing One's Marbles

Memories – elusive things. Where do they hide when they escape us? (Edited;-)
Cherry

Waltzing Matilda

(edited, with thanks to kheldar;-) ...bunches of forget-me-nots festoon the old, oak rafters.

Name's Roxanne (I.P.)

Window shopping, are we, handsome?
Cherry

For the Love of Her

Thus, our pilgrimage; friends and family...
Cherry

The Silence of the Summit (I.P.)

Avalanche risk was high; only, I’ve always courted danger...
Gold cherry

Myth of Narcissus

...I grow impatient for spring.

Every Little Thing (I.P.)

"Twins, separated at birth," we joked...
Cherry

Girl with Cello

She, who came in from the wind and drifting snow.
Cherry

The Moon and Back

Edit (22/3/2010) Thought I’d experiment. Take a stab at the moon; hoped you wouldn’t mind.

Only the Flowers Grow Wild

(Edit) 'Everyone bombs us now,' he says.
Cherry

Unrequited

The night you left...
Cherry

Sweet Nothings

Can't recall the things we spoke about...
Cherry

Freeze Frame (I.P.)

Good as dead – long before I hit the water.
Cherry

The Tender Buds of April

A flower, in all its splendour, finally opens...
Cherry

Sweet Caroline

Don’t make me wait with bated breath to feel that thrill of flesh on flesh...
Cherry

Fear of Falling

The fallen; easily forgotten.

Golden Delicious

(Edit 29.04.2010) A tree that grew outside their kitchen window...
Cherry

Goodbye to April

(Edit 1.05.2010) She rocks to sleep as the chair sings its own, sweet elegy to the passing of time.
Cherry

Vissi d'Arte

(Edit 7.05.2010) Bankside - Tate Modern...
Cherry

Saving Gracie (I.P.)

A saint, they called him, and to some, he was...
Cherry

Once More with Feeling

...fumble for our cosy, towelling robes...
Cherry

Homemade (I.P.)

"Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything, That’s how the light gets in." (Leonard Cohen)
Cherry

Reclining Nude

A model, draped over a green baize settee;
Cherry

One Man's Junk (I.P.)

...another's treasure.

Milk or Lemon?

A pleasant reunion; thanks to ‘Friends Reunited’. We chat of this and that; she serves afternoon tea..
Cherry

Going Down to the Sea Again

...the boarding of a train on our yearly pilgrimage to Broadstairs.
Cherry

Holly Blue

(Edit) Your dignity defiled...

Summer Evenings like These...

...the chatter of martins, sitting, gossiping on the wire.
Cherry

Rose

"Who needed men?" she'd asked a friend.
Cherry

Since You Arrived...

'Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings...' or so it was written.
Cherry

The River that Drowned (I.P.)

(Edit 15/6/2010) ...inspired by China's "Three Gorges Dam Project" http://www.flickr.com/photos/wicks/3488452739/
Cherry

Frankie Goes to Summer Camp (I.P.)

“On far-off fields, by elm and oak, I see the lights. The Camp-fires of the Past are burning.” Henry Van Dyke ‘Indian Summer’

Girl with Blue Eyes

(Edit 4.07.2010) She never missed a trick...
Cherry

Postcard from Mumbai

Those few precious lines are part of the ether now...

Solveig's Song

(Edit 6.8.2010) Through an open window wafts a melody by Grieg.
Cherry

Zoe's Garden

Her hands shake more of late...bending down a painful process...

Wish You Were Here? (I.P.)

(Edit) A honeymoon story in 60 words...and they're all true!
Cherry

Maryam's Story

Her makeshift shelter swept away...
Cherry

Impasse

You know you need help, but who to turn to?
Cherry

Who'll Pay the Piper?

“Piper Alpha...one hundred and sixty-four missing...”
Cherry

Sepia Days

A fleeting smile of recognition...
Cherry

Watching Emily Play...(I.P.)

as she danced amongst the bluebells...
Cherry

Have to Laugh - Don't You?

(Edit) “Don’t worry,” the medics advised... it’s not life-shortening.”
Cherry

Woman

On tacky, lino floor, huddled in a corner...

Penelope Fairchild

She prays to a god of the copper, or silver kind...
Cherry

Paper Dreams

(Edit) Put the paper napkins in a drawer, now summer is done.
Cherry

The Cherry Tree (I.P.)

“How you shiver, Cherry Blossom! Let me warm you with my kisses..."
Cherry

Fish With Everything! (I.P.)

Shack up with a Sunfish, have yourself some fun, fish...
Cherry

I Bring You Roses...

You stare at your knife and fork...
Cherry

Past Imperfect

(Edit 8/12/2010) "I miss him in the weeping of the rain; I want him at the shrinking of the tide." (Edna St Vincent Millay)
Cherry

Sweet and Low

His body – comforting as I climb in, between the sheets...

I Crave to Save and yet...(I.P.)

Of some things, a hot-blooded girl like me can never get enough.
Cherry

Winter's Garden

A midnight walk last evening...
Cherry

Too Cold for Snow

Too young, as I was then, to know the true meaning of love...
Cherry

Fergal's Wake

Now you're gone, what am I left with?
Cherry

Girl, Painting...

(Re-edit 28/12/2010) Close my eyes – I can almost see her ...
Cherry

Willow

...
Cherry

Oyster Bay

There’s a place I once knew called Oyster Bay – I went there one day in my mind...
Cherry

If...

If you were sent to Neptune, I’d hire a rocket-ship...

Saskia's Song

(Edit 8/1/2011) Sepia memories...
Cherry

Wild Child

Thirty-one, seemed over the hill...in those days.
Cherry

Lights...Camera...Action (I.P.)

(Edit 10/1/2011) Couldn’t eat a thing; my hands atremble – throat, dry as the Sahara.
Cherry

No Name Joe

He’d call me ‘his Lily Rose’...
Cherry

Had it With You!

And, I’ve had your babies, vacuumed your floors...
Cherry

For Better For Worse

Cusses to herself, does Judy. Silently she weeps, but not for him.
Cherry

Postcard Home

how it came undone... that knitted swimsuit I wore
Cherry

Woman of Small Histories

(edit 28/01/2011) She was a hoarder of poems of diaries, letters and cards from husbands, lovers and friends...

School's Out Down Gas House Lane

Kids swarm like flies to the sweet shop round the corner. “Two at a time,” or so the notice says.
Cherry

Samantha

“You see I’ve forgotten if they’re green or they’re blue, anyway...the thing is what I really mean – yours are the sweetest eyes I’ve ever seen...” Bernie Taupin
Cherry

Just Supposing...

You’ve passed on – gone to heaven; you could be anything you wanted.
Cherry

Seven for the Seven Stars in the Sky (IP)

For once, the guns were quiet. He lay on his back, counting the planets and constellations.

One is One, and All Alone (IP)

(Edit 8/02/2011) Fog comes down, thick and fast, up here, in the churchyard on the moor.
Cherry

You Know That Feeling...

You’re exhausted; you’d give anything for sleep.
Cherry

That Beautiful Game

Ended up outside Craven Cottage; no Lillywhites that night.
Cherry

Until Tomorrow...

(Edit 18/02/2011) Is it such a crime to be old? I have lost the power of speech, but not my mind.
Cherry

Truth and Lies

It was all so easy then.
Cherry

Lake of Sighs

(edit and repost) Thunder brewed in threatening skies; a violent squall – their boat capsized, and boy and girl were lost from sight...
Cherry

Wild Blows the Willow

Spring comes and it goes...
Cherry

Sunny

Don’t play me no blues no more
Cherry

His Sweet Muse

Through a crack in the door he sees her...
Cherry

Old What's His Name...

‘I Am the New Jesus’ written on his T-shirt
Cherry

Grandpa's Funeral...

Funny, how no one ever told me – not outright, Gramps was dead.
Cherry

The Tiger and the Fly

As the canvas sings its own sweet elegy to a masterpiece...
Cherry

Sundays at Six...

You have left me...already, yet still, I kiss you goodbye.

Ring Around the Moon

"The end of the world is nigh and all of us is doomed..."
Cherry

Just Another Sunday...

Nothing more I could want – right now, but right this moment.
Cherry

Silly...I Know

I dreamt of him, again last night.
Cherry

Girl with the Gypsy Earring

She deseeds juicy, plum tomatoes...
Cherry

Just Another Poem (I.P.)

I am but a string of words
Cherry

Her Rucksack

For Ashley
Cherry

On Hollyhock Hill...

As a woman, I have learned all there is to know about waiting...
Cherry

Once Upon a Time

There was a time your goldfish were mine, too...

Monday's Child (I.P.)

Occasions such as these, I wish to god, I’d been born on a Tuesday...
Cherry

The Long and the Short of it

He’s had a full life, and a good one...
Cherry

Present Imperfect

"How many light years to heaven?"
Cherry

The Line of Beauty

Separation does not wait its hour.
Cherry

In Reverie...

Now I am content; paint-brush on its rest.
Cherry

Resurrection of a Kind (I.P.)

Do not look for me amongst the cold and mossy stones...
Cherry

The Widow Next Door

This week, I'm reading her Jane Eyre.
Cherry

Rising Five

...young enough to play 'Oranges and Lemons'...
Cherry

Something in the Air

A kind of longing in the air today.
Gold cherry

Poetry in Motion (I.P.)

bronze, be her body, un a reet dazzlin sheen...
Cherry

You Know How It Is...

You hear a fragment of a tune...
Cherry

I'd Die for a Cherry... (I.P.)

Give anything to taste a luscious, ripe morello...
Cherry

With Her Without Her

Manic sounds of frenzied packing...
Cherry

General Knowledge (I.P.)

“Thou knowest all; I sit and wait with blinded eyes and hands that fail..."
Cherry

On Making Fruit Salad

It’s moments like these, I ache to realise my wildest fantasies...

Those Were the Days...

There were squeaky wooden-gates between backyards and alleyways...
Cherry

The Kiss (I.P.)

Not the way she closed her eyes sipping her wine...
Cherry

Edith

Sad songs she sings... sad, like she was.
Cherry

Jessie's Garden

The swing-seat’s still there; I can hear you now – chiding me for rocking it...
Cherry

Let's Start Again?

No – this isn’t a poem...
Cherry

Gymnopédie (I.P.)

Like going back in time, when I heard that tune today.
Cherry

Minutiae

Little things mean a lot.
Cherry

Making Love

Their bedroom door ajar, I catch my breath...

Pretty Flamingo

‘Crimson dress that clings so tight...'
Cherry

Summer Solstice

The lush of the meadow murmurs morning prayers...
Cherry

Killing Time

(Edit 24/6/2011) After he...left, they told me – ‘Keep occupied...start writing...
Cherry

Grace

The essence of you, still lingers in this room...
Cherry

Summer ...the First Time

Breathless, one summer, at the top of a hill...
Cherry

Somewhere in Madison County...

How many trysts, made and broken here...
Cherry

Homespun

Like a quilt of many colours...
Cherry

Say It Isn't So

...or at the very best, help me to forget...
Cherry

Now She is Six...

She's an expert in cat-speak...

Going for Silver

Her lips met mine...not an ordinary kiss
Cherry

Telling it Like it is...(I.P.)

Spring never ever came that year - the year he left...
Cherry

No Fairytale (I.P.)

A mix, she was - somewhere between an angel and a nymph...
Cherry

Peace in Our Time

I remember a clanky, Mobo scooter...
Cherry

Lady in a Chinese Restaurant

People-watching; my favourite occupation.

Tired of Counting Sheep...

Five a.m. Looking out my window;
Cherry

Impossibly Yellow

Dedicated to the memory of Andrea Parker MA (02.08.1968 - 31.12.2007) ‘Celebrate my life – don’t mourn the life that I had not’
Cherry

Three and the Quarters...

My son rides high upon my shoulders... hacking our way through jungle.
Cherry

The Lavender Chair

She outbid me at an auction that morning.
Cherry

No Bouquet for Rose

Just a line to say I miss you...
Cherry

The Green Wheelbarrow (IP)

Why not Carlos Williams’ red one?
Cherry

Oranges and Lemons...

Tottenham born and bred, the terrible events of the past few days have been difficult for me to try to come to terms with.

Poppy

Almost as if you had never been away – there you are.

Once Upon Perseids...

One of those evenings you can hear the stars sing.
Cherry

The Art of Art

'Vissi d'Arte'
Cherry

Only Fools...And Roses

He lays six, crimson roses, growing wild, at the side of the road...
Cherry

Just Killing Time

'To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens.' (Ecclesiastes 3)
Cherry

In Another Life...(IP)

I'd dare to do things differently...
Cherry

In Shady Cloisters (IP)

Resigned to history, its Art Deco, stained glass windows.
Cherry

Small Wonder

The cord – cut, but the bond firmly tied.
Cherry

Rose By Any Other Name

All she has - theirs, when she's gone.
Cherry

Strange Places (IP)

Her mother seeks her out – but not in her bed, for she seldom sleeps there...
Cherry

Object of Desire

One kilo sells for a least thirteen hundred pounds.
Cherry

Midnight Sun

'Heaven's where you are'...I guess.
Cherry

The Days of Maggie Spencer

Pouring bleach down the toilet, her mind goes back to how she’d got there...

The Unbelievable (I.P.)

I am that voice in your head...
Gold cherry

The Colour Blue

A decade on...
Cherry

On Believing the Unbelievable...(IP)

Yesterday – too much to take in...a bad dream... if not for this.
Cherry

Freedom Is

A seven letter word, begins with 'F'...
Cherry

Room Eight's the Geordie

At just fifteen - sent down the pit to earn his keep.

Just Jade

(Edit) I'd ask him who Jade was, but he'd never reply.
Cherry

Mea Culpa

Do you know what? Undressing you’s more like undoing a sack of potatoes!
Cherry

Year of the Rabbit

Reluctant partners in this, yet to come to terms with, death thing.
Cherry

Hey - Joe

You got me purring, now, Joe. Vibrato always gets me going...
Cherry

Girls Like Me

I don’t know what it was; the age-gap thing, perhaps...