Poetry - August 2025

Baking Boiling Bothered

Now when it is nice weather on holiday
With a nice breeze and a good temperature
That at least makes it an enjoyable time for all
But when in the office
And full of that warm air outside
It doesn't make for much enjoyment at all
The sunshine beats down on you
As the temperature rises even further
With no escape from the incessant heat
The air conditioning has packed in
It's started leaking all over the place
Which means an alternative office or home in defeat
The nights just draw in the warm air
And you struggle to find any time to sleep
Even a fan doesn't do at all good
So you just have to try all sorts
In an effort to keep reasonably cool
Even resorting to ice packs in a hood
But there's one thing above all else
Which does make you feel worried
And that's the continued warming every year
You really want to be so angry
At climate change deniers
And not realising this realism should be one to fear.

(Certainly I've noted the Summer temperatures creep up and up, and it does worry me massively.)

Halcyon

I walk down the main street in this once childhood memory
That now seems a distant one from what I saw it as
My holiday escape for a week at a time in a year
That was a special place in my heart for many reasons
I look at the street now, and it's changed little
The arcades are still in the same place they were
The funfair is close to the domineering sea wall
That's been built stronger to keep the waves out
The holiday camp we used to have a caravan at
It's still there, and still looks remarkably similar
As I step on the bridge over the railway and look out
As a train passes underneath almost blowing me off
I'd do that as a dare when I was younger too
All memories that I had back then and even now
As I walk along the front that's now a long cycle path
There's a part of me that'll always be here in this escape.

(Years of holidaying in North Wales, partiuclarly one little village between Rhyl and Abergele.)

Where The Hell Is Fleetwood?

Although some teams have started their season
There's the Premier League yet to come
And with a few days before that one starts
There is one song which you will then hum
It's by the comedian Jim Daly
Who is a Crystal Palace fan too
He sings a song to a Billy Joel classic
About all the teams in the English top leagues - all 92
Starting off with A and working to the end
Stating Bristol City and Rovers won't like each other
We get to Crawley and are asked what's the point
Who is Alexandra at Crewe you sing together
As the alphabet then comes to a Lancashire town
We're asked where the hell is Fleetwood
Then it gets over towards Northampton Town
Notts County and Nottingham Forest feature
Just do not call the Forest Notts
And as for Wolverhampton they're nearly there
With Mick McCarthy's stare featuring lots
It's always entertaining to see what comes up
For the different clubs each year
And it's one that many football fans
Do really consider to be a song they hold dear.

(These days having the Jim Daly 92 English Football League Clubs In One Song play means that the start of the Premier League season is almost upon us, and somethign to enjoy.)

The Expensive Gig In The Sky

I want to go to see a band at a gig live
And it seems to be at a reasonably sized venue
I await to see when the tickets go on sale
And hope that it'll be affordable too
Then I see the website for the tickets
And I hang my head in despair
The price is one hundred pounds to start
And that's in the gods, way up there
Never mind the extortionate booking fee
Which brings the cost up twenty per cent
It makes me just think I don't need the hassle
And so despite my thoughts, I repent
The gig won't have me there sadly
Because I just will not pay that price
As the great expensive gig in the sky
Just means that I need to think twice.

(Gig prices these days are pricing so many real fans out of going - and that is a real shame.)

Purring Cat Haiku

Brian loves a stroke
Especially by Mummy
All cosy and warm.

(Brian the cat loves a good fussing.)