Poetry - February 2024
Solitude in Little Venice
I stand on the bridge overlooking the canal
And seeing the junction seeing so still and calm
In the height of the Summer there's a hive of actvity
But not today: it's just serene instead
There's a sense of solitude here and silence
As there's no loud music or any form of noise
It's a calm relaxed feeling that I can see here
As the locals walk along the canal towpath
You could head along the Regents Canal to Camden
Or follow the Paddington Arm towards Harlesden
But there's definitely for me a feeling
That places like this feel nicer for being unspoilt
A wonderful sense of calm envelopes me here
As all I can hear are the birds in the trees
With the odd person walking around
And that for me just feels so wonderful.
(So many places are lovelier out of their peak seasons - Cornwall for one - and Little Venice just seemed so wonderfully calm and peaceful walking through it as I did earlier this month)
The Icebox
I was on my way to Wapping
To attend something at Tobacco Dock
But I remembered from last time
That I ended up watching the clock
Not because of the content being interesting
And not because I felt old
But the cold chill blows through the place
And makes everyone feel rather cold
There was a cloakroom for people
I ignored that and kept my coat on
This proved to be a wise decision
As I saw plenty of people retrieve them later on
The main venue all looks very nice
With its' central pillars like Camden Roundhouse
But dear me, please put some heating in
So that you all don't feel as cold as a field mouse.
(As an events venue itself in the Summer, with it being partly outside to the elements, Tobacco Dock is decent. But in the Winter, dear me, it gets a bit on the cold side. So glad I kept my coat on!)
I Wish I Had Answers
There's so much wrong in the world at present
And I wish I had the answers to solve everything
But the truth is that I don't know how I'd sort it
Because it all seems so pointless and failing
The war around Gaza just will never seem to end
With both sides claiming "they did this, they did that"
But what about all the people being killed
Did they really consent to any war and elongated spat?
I wish I had answers to sort out the cost of living
Where inflation rises and things are unaffordable
There's so many whose lives are changing
All because the Government drove the economy to the wall
There's also the fact that rents rise so much
Meaning getting somewhere to live gets even harder
Where the rich get richer and we all suffer
Because the gap between those grows even wider
I wish I had answers for everything like that
But I don't, and that really does frustrate me
All I want is a world where we're all at peace
Where everyone is fairly treated all equally.
(I do despair at times - this is one of those moments.)
One In The Morning
It's one in the morning and you can't sleep
Too many thoughts going through the head
You want to be able to put them all aside
But you can't seem to shake off the senses
There's a sense of doubt in your mind
Should I have asked the person I saw at the bar
Or would have that been too predictable
But would I have never known until I asked
Was someone looking at me oddly on the tube
As I took the last part of the journey home
Did they want to follow me had I not got off
At a busy stop where it was easy to hide
You can see down to the road from your room
There's still plenty of people heading home
After having seemingly a great night out
But you're here thinking everything in your head
There's a sense you can't shake it off
And try to put some music on to relax instead
You know you need to be up early tomorrow
Which sort of makes it worse really
The clock moves onwards past one
So you make yourself a cup of warm cocoa
And sit there distracted by the night life
As another daunting day ends sleepless.
(I think we've all had these sorts of moments, right?)
Sofa Cat Haiku
Brian gets comfy
Spreading across the sofa
Claiming it for him.
(Brian the cat has now decided most evenings to sprawl his body across the sofa, mostly so he can claim it for himself and have his Mummy (The Love In My Heart) have to sit on the chair instead..)