Monthly Archives: May 2016

WORDS – Guest Post by Author G. Eric Francis

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Good day and salutations!

That is a fancy word, isn’t it?

“Salutations!”

It makes you sound like you have money or something.  I know a lot of big words.  Sadly it doesn’t match the size of my bank account.

Words can be so many things, can’t they?  They can inspire as well as tear you down.   “You look beautiful today” or “Good lord, did you bathe in your toilet” are examples of the extremes that language can make you feel.

Hell, the wrong word has started wars…or at least fights at the playground.

As I head on the downslope to my 50’s, I continue to use the written word to express how I am feeling at any particular moment.  Being the father of two young men of special needs, words sometimes escape me, which if you knew me is a rare thing indeed.

Take my 10-year-old Noah, who has a…

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The Decision

“I haven’t done this kind of thing before. I mean girls from my background do sometimes. I know they do, but it’s not kind of a normal thing to do is it? I know other girls do it but, really I’m not sure …”, she said, conscious of repeating herself.
The girl leant forward on the hotel barstool, her stillettos clicking against it as she did so.
“There is a first time for everything”, he said trying not to be overt in his admiration of those slim bare legs. “Why not give it a go, I’ve never had anyone regret it afterwards?”

“Oh I don’t know. What will my friends think of me? As I just told you, girls don’t usually do this kind of thing. Well girls like me that is”. She said staring nervously at the money on the bar.
“Go on, you know you want to”, the man replied giving what he hoped was an encouraging smile.
“Well … as you say my friends don’t need to know and I’m an open minded kind of girl, always up for trying new things. No one is watching are they?” she said glancing around the practically empty bar.
“No, no, no one is looking at us. Now is as good a time as any if you want to go through with it”, he said, glancing at her tiny, perfectly manicured fingers as they played nervously with the cash on the bar.
“OK, I’ve made a decision”, she said picking up the money and, glancing around for one final time handing it to her companion. “I like what I’ve seen so, yes I’ll buy your book. Will you sign it for me?”, she asked smiling shyly …

Woman

What is a woman that she holds such power
Over men?
She is a delicate flower
Who when
Scorned
Reveals thorns
That prick
The hapless man to the quick.
Woman is a pussycat with soft furr
Giving off a throaty purr.
But those who dare
To stir
Her
Wrath she will, with polished claws tear
Apart.

Beware for the heart
In love given
May with stillettos be ridden
Over.
“You drove her
To it by your behaviour”.
“I am your saviour”
She will say.
And, as sure as night follows day
You will be begging the girl to stay
For her claws are now sheaved
And who would believe
That one with a face so fair
Could rend and tear?

“Lost in the Labyrinth of my Mind” is available to borrow from Liverpool Library

I was pleased to receive a letter in yesterday’s post advising me that my collection of poetry, “Lost in the Labyrinth of My Mind” (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/190559769X), has been added to the stock of Liverpool Library (https://liverpool.gov.uk/libraries/find-a-library/central-library/). As someone born and bred in that great city, I am delighted the people of Liverpool will be able to borrow “Lost in the Labyrinth of My Mind”.

Kevin

The Best Class Ever

An inspiring teacher is a wonder to behold as exemplified by this post. I also had a wonderful teacher, well several, one of whom, Mr Delacruz I remember with great affection to this day.

JC's avatarAn Unexpected Muse…

PK-free-0-boy-1262989_1920                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.                        …

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In Search of the Ultimate

The search for the ultimate thrill
May chill
Or kill
The fickle heart.
Better to leave dark
Yearnings to art
Where they can do no harm,
Than down the primrose way start.

The charm
Of a thing
May oft times bring
A fleeting pleasure,
But come the set of sun
When our fun is done
The sting
We feel, then repent at leisure.

“Knock, knock! Never at quiet. What are you? But this place is too cold for hell. I’ll devil-porter it no further. I had thought to have let in some of all professions that go the primrose way to the everlasting bonfire”.
Macbeth. Act 2, Scene 3.

Death is Dead

funeral orations are no longer spoken.
Death’s scythe is broken.
His tread echoes not
And the graveyard plot
No longer inspires dread,
For death is dead!

The ageless sit.
Some wit
Cracks a joke, but there is no laughter
As after
Countless repetitions, humour palls.

Lothario calls
On his latest conquest.
Going through the motions, he longs for rest,
For all passion has long since gone,
And women’s faces have merged and become as one.
Yet he must cary on and on …

The celebrity’s aplomb
Is frayed.
No longer is attention payed
To her.
People can only stare
Or listen to the same old song
For so long.

Death is no more.
Even the bore
Tires of his own voice
But he has no choice
Other than to bore on
For the reaper has gone
And tedium eternal is in store
For the noble and the whore …

Welcome

Welcome to a world of plastic
Where values elastic
Forever stretch
And men letch
After robot girls
Who are Ever ready for action.

Welcome to a world where satisfaction
Is guaranteed
And men are from bordom freed
By pills
Producing thrills
Of the most delightful kind.

Welcome to a world where the troubled mind
Is no more
For technology has in store
A virtual Paradise, In which dreams that shatter
No longer matter
For the programme can be infinitely changed.
Welcome to a world deranged!

Life is but a dream

I spent the earlier portion of this evening with my old friend Jeff. As ever, our conversation ranged far and wide. One topic on which we dwelt at length revolved around what constitutes reality and how, at any given point we can be certain that what we are experiencing is real. When one dies, my friend remarked, the world ceases to exist. While I don’t wish to get into whether my dear friend is, in fact right, I had in the back of my mind during the entirety of our conversation a poem by A. E. Housman and, on returning home I felt compelled to look it up. The lines run thus:

“Good creatures, do you love your lives
And have you ears for sense?
Here is a knife like other knives,
That cost me eighteen pence.

I need but stick it in my heart
And down will come the sky,
And earth’s foundations will depart
And all you folk will die”.

Kevin