When a naughty young lady called Lou
Was caught stealing a single shoe
A store detective named Ted
Scratched his head
And said, “why did you not steal 2?”
When A Naughty Young Lady Called Lou
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Crows at Dusk
Dusk is falling.
I hear
In the autumn of my year
Crows calling
And the chatter of the magpie
As I
Ponder on days of yore.
The caw
Of this dark bird
Was no
Doubt heard
Long ago
By those who walked this self-same track.
The evening is chill
But I will
Not turn back
For melancholy is a precious part
Of the human heart,
And those who forever laugh
Do not comprehend
That every path
Must reach its end.
—
I hear children playing in a garden close to the park.
‘Tis a happy sound after the cawing of the crows.
Who knows
Perhaps matters
Are not so stark
For not all dreams shatter
And something of what is precious may survive.
“Attack” by Siegfried Sassoon, as read by Dame Helen Mirren
A powerful reading by Dame Hellen Mirren of Siegfried Sassoon’s poem “Attack”,
We authors/poets are often exhorted to “show not tell”. Sassoon’s poem does a lot of “telling” and does it extremely effectively. Indeed I am of the firm conviction that many of those who exhort we writers to “show not tell” can not hold a candle to Sassoon.
Kevin
The Rose
The rose, not yet opened, carries within
The seeds of it’s own destruction. For you see
The bee
Must sin
In the flower’s crimson heart
And the poet will call that art?
When A Talented Young Authoress Called Sue
When a talented young authoress called Sue
Got stuck in a public loo
She wrote a novel about a skyscraper
On the cheapest toilet paper
And published it at 2!
We Ourselves Lose
We ourselves lose
To flirts
In skirts
And high-heeled shoes.
Scent carried on a summer’s breeze.
Girls who tease
And perchance
Please.
‘Tis the dance
That will never end
My friend
Or so we pretend.
They Say that When Policemen Look Young
They say
That when policemen look young, you are getting old.
I was told
By a lady yesterday,
In a conversational way
That she was born
In the year
I came to old London town
To work.
A jerk
Of recognition within.
Hopes abandoned
There will be no sin …
“Open A New Dorr – A collection of Poems” by Robbie Cheadle and Kim Blades
Open a new door – A collection of poems
The Blurb
Open a New Door is a poetic peep into the lives of the poets, Kim Blades and Robbie Cheadle, both of whom live in South Africa.
The book is divided into four categories: God bless Africa, God bless my family and friends, God bless me and God bless corporates and work. Each part is sub-divided into the good, the bad and the ugly of the two poets’ experiences, presented in rhyming verse, free-style, haiku and tanka, in each of these categories and include colourful depictions of their thoughts and emotions.
The purpose of this book of poetry is encapsulated in the following tanka and haiku poems:
What drives me to write?
To share my innermost thoughts
The answer is clear
It’s my personal attempt
To make some sense of this world.
Inspiration blossoms
Like the unfurling petals
Of the Desert Rose
Two poetic peeps into life in Southern Africa
The boys under the bridge by Robbie Cheadle
In the prayer position;
He crouches on the ground;
His dire need obvious;
Without his uttering a sound.
At this traffic light he begs;
Whether it’s shine or rain;
Hair prematurly greying;
Eyes darkened with pain.
Where does he come from?
This homeless youth;
What hapless encounter
caused the loss of a tooth?
He is one of a number;
That spend their lives this way;
Sheltering under the bridge;
At the end of each day.
Wrapped up in blankets;
Among the litter and the dirt;
With life-threatening illness;
Each day they must flirt.
No hope and no prospects;
It rents at your heart;
Will their poverty and ignorance;
Always keep them apart?
***
This poem was inspired by a group of young African boys, aged between 15 and about 18 years old, who beg at the traffic light outside a major shopping centre I frequent. It is a tragedy to watch them, crouching on the ground and begging for a crust of bread, week after week. Gradually their spirits and health deteriorate from the hard life.
When the sun comes up in Africa by Kim Blades
Against a rinsed blue sky
the sun comes up entirely gold
with no pink or purple streaks of dye
a new dawn is painted on a canvas bold.
The horizon’s a gleaming molten shield,
the sun a powerful ascending fist
it’s fire spilling over savanna and field
warming the earth and evaporating mist.
Light is spread, and darkness devoured
hot thermals rise high and owls go roost
Vlei-rats are safer, and fish-eagles empowered
leopards copy owls and wild-dogs run loose.
An event of raw, evocative power
An unblemished sky cradling a golden cup,
The pure, primal dawning hour –
when Africa’s sun comes up.
***
I am an early riser and, for me sunrise is a powerful inspirational tool and one of my most productive writing times. Dawn in the African bush is full of raw, evocative power and beauty.
Purchase Open a New Door at:
https://www.amazon.com/Open-new-door-collection-poems-ebook/dp/B07K4RRC4W/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1541313256&sr=1-11&keywords=robbie+cheadle
About the authors
Kim Blades
Kim Blades’ poetry is a written depiction of her life in Durban, South Africa. In 1966, at the age of three, Kim emigrated from England with her parents, material grandmother, older sister and nine-year old German Shepherd. She enjoyed a fantastic childhood on the Bluff, a relatively underdeveloped coastal suburb of Durban. Her house was only a ten-minute walk from pristine beaches as well as natural bush, where Kim spend a lot of time searching for snakes, chameleons and other wildlife; Gerald Durrell style.
Kim spend long weekends camping in the mountains of the Drakensburg, which was much more rustic then than it is today. It was a favourite place for her family to visit during the winter months when snow covered the highest peaks.
Kim wanted to become a game ranger after leaving school, but this was not open to women as a career until more than a decade after Kim matriculated from school in 1980, by which time Kim was teaching English and History at a high school.
Kim got married at 32 years of age and had two sons, both of whom are working now. Kim’s wonderful childhood in a country [South Africa] that she loves and her two children, have been and always will be, her greatest inspiration.
Robbie Cheadle
Robbie, short for Roberta, is an author with five published children’s picture books in the Sir Chocolate books series for children aged 2 to 9 years old (co-authored with her son, Michael Cheadle), one published middle grade book in the Silly Willy series, one published preteen/young adult fictionalised biography about her mother’s life as a young girl growing up in an English town in Suffolk during World War II called While the Bombs Fell (co-authored with her mother, Elsie Hancy Eaton) and one book of poetry, Open a new door, co-authored with Kim Blades.
All of Robbie’s children’s book are written under Robbie Cheadle and are published by TSL Publications.
Robbie has recently branched into adult horror and supernatural writing and, in order to clearly differential her children’s books from her adult writing, these will be published under Roberta Eaton Cheadle.
Robbie has two short stories in the horror/supernatural genre included in Dark Visions, a collection of 34 short stories by 27 different authors and edited by award winning author, Dan Alatorre. These short stories are published under Robbie Cheadle.
Books by Robbie Cheadle
Follow Robbie Cheadle
Blogs: https://robbiesinspiration.wordpress.com/; https://robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com/; and https://bakeandwrite.co.za/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bakeandwrite; https://twitter.com/RobertaEaton17
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SirChocolateBooks/; https://www.facebook.com/robertawrites/
“The Writer’s Pen and Other Poems” is now available in paperback
On 3 September, I published the Kindle edition of my collection of poems, “The Writer’s Pen and Other Poems, which is available here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07GD1LBMV/ (for the UK) and here https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GD1LBMV/ (for amazon.com customers).
I am pleased to announce that “The Writer’s Pen” is now also available in paperback and can be found here https://www.amazon.com/dp/1730814883/ (for amazon.com customers) and here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1730814883/ (for the UK).
One reviewer of “The Writer’s Pen” writes as follows:
“This latest collection by Kevin Morris consists of 44 pithy reflections on life, death, and passing time. Some of the subjects and themes are the same as in Morris’s earlier collection, My Old Clock I Wind – nature, the seasons, clocks, sex, and mortality. A group of longer poems explores what might be called current affairs.
The tone of these works is darker and more serious than the earlier collection. I recognized no humorous poems, although a wry humor is present in some of them, such as “Libidinous,” in which the poet wonders about the activities of nymphs in a budding wood. “Summer” contains the delightful lines “Now ’tis the fashion / For short frocks / And tiny socks.”
I especially appreciated a sequence of several poems in which the poet strolls through a churchyard under light and shade, contemplating mortality in an almost cheerful way. In “To and Fro,” he says “Why should I care? / For I will not be there / To know.”
Several poems explore the poet’s ambivalence about politics and political correctness. “Legacy (a poem on the late Enoch Powell)” is one such. Morris expresses mixed feelings about Powell, while acknowledging that “An intelligent man / Frequently can / Do more harm / Than a stupid one.” “When a Monster Dies” and “The Monster’s Son” are particularly intriguing, pointing out in a few brief lines that every person is multi-dimensional and complex.
Two poems – “Rhodes” and “I Shower” – contain the phrase “feet of clay.” In the first, it’s used as a caution against facile judgmentalism, and in the second as a reminder that “the beast in man” is ever-present and not easily expunged.
The Writer’s Pen and Other Poems is one poet’s way of dealing with life’s complications and contradictions. The poems display a resigned acceptance that doesn’t quite cross the line into pessimism. I’m guessing Morris appreciates conversations with friends, in pubs or over dinner and drinks. Reading this collection of short, accessible verses is like sitting down with a thoughtful friend to talk about life, death, and the ways of the world. The poems are brief, but Morris’s skilful use of words makes them worth reading more than once, and contemplating their meanings in moments of quiet”. (Please see, https://audreydriscoll.com/2018/08/15/book-review-the-writers-pen-by-k-morris/). To read more reviews please visit the book’s page on Goodreads which can be found here, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41209405-the-writer-s-pen-and-other-poems.
“The Writer’s Pen and Other Poems” will soon be available, as an audio download from audible.co.uk and audible.com.
Early Morning Monday Humour
There was a wealthy Socialist called Jane
Who lived down an exclusive lane.
At her grand parties aplenty
She wept over the poor’s cupboards empty
Whilst sipping her expensive champagne.
—
There was a young lady called Brass
Who’s manners where extremely crass.
The parish priest named Moore
Could hear Brass snore
As he said the evening mass …
K Morris - Poet 