My sincere thanks to Lucy for hosting me on her excellent website. For my guest post, in which I discuss how Spa Wood (and nature more generally) influences my writing, please visit here, https://wp.me/pawefW-1T5.
I have just uploaded four posts to Instagram of my book ‘Light and Shade; serious (and not so serious) poems’. The photographs show me holding the print and Braille editions of my book, whilst others show me stroking my dog, Trigger.
Book Description:
Life is full of light and shade. For to be human is to experience joy, beauty, love, pain and laughter. This collection reflects all facets of human experience. hence the title ‘Light and Shade; serious (and not so serious poems)’.
You can purchase ‘Light and Shade; serious (and not so serious) poems’ here for the UK or here for the US.
When a naughty young lady of Bangkok
Lost a brand new shoe and sock.
An elderly lady named Ann
Said, to her husband Dan,
“That is not my shoe and sock!”.
When a young lady wearing no pyjamas
Said, “Sir, have you seen the bananas?”.
I said, “I must stress
That I like your undress.
But you really should wear some pyjamas!”.
There was a young lady of Leicester
Who worked as a stock market investor.
She grew rich on shares
In both apples and pears,
So I married her, posthaste, in Leicester!
Summers grow dry.
But sceptics deny,
And welcome grapes in England’s
Once green and pleasant land.
The watering can and hosepipe
Refresh the earth
Day and night.
There is a dearth.
For, I find
Within the sceptic’s mind
A different kind,
Of drout.
When miss Emily wrote Wuthering Heights
They said, “that rhymes with tights.
A young lady named Hocking
Removed a fine, silk stocking,
As I sang, “oh sweet delights!”.
A beautiful young lady climbing the stairs
Said, “I suffer from very bad nightmares”! .
I said, “my dear miss Elane,
That must cause you great pain.
Shall we dine on apples and pears?”
—
When a beautiful young lady climbing the stairs
Said, “I’m afflicted by the most horrible nightmares!”.
I said, “my dear miss elane,
That must cause you great pain.
And your bedroom is up these here stairs?”
I am offering my readers the chance to win a signed paperback of my recently released poetry collection, “Light and Shade: Serious (and Not so Serious) Poems“. In order to be in with a chance of winning a signed copy of “Light and Shade”, please answer the following, what is the title of the poem from which the below lines come:
“So little cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.”
The rules:
1. Only one signed copy of “Light and Shade” is available.
2. The first person to email me with the correct answer wins a free, signed copy of my book.
3. Please do not answer the question in the comments at the foot of this post. Please send your responses to, kmorrispoet (at) gmail dot com. The address is rendered in this manner to defeat spammers.
4. Please put “Competition to Win a Signed Paperback of Light and Shade” in the subject line of your email.
5. The competition will close at 12 pm on Saturday 11 July. Any entries received after this will not be considered.
You can find the paperback edition of “Light and Shade” here, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08B37VVKV/. My book is also available as a Kindle download and can be found here, https://www.amazon.com/Light-Shade-serious-not-poems-ebook/dp/B08B4X3GVX/.
On Saturday 4 July, (the first day on which pubs in England reopened), the so-called “Super Saturday”, I went to my favourite local pub with friends. For anyone who isn’t aware, the pubs (along with restaurants and many other venues) closed in March, due to an order from the government, the instructions being designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
On entering the pub, my friend and I had our temperatures taken by a young woman. Then, our temperatures being normal, we sanitised our hands with sanitiser. Following this “new normal”, my friend and I where conducted to a table, from where we ordered our drinks.
Anyone familiar with the British pub may well have visions of people standing or sitting around the bar, chatting, reading newspapers or swearing at the television when their favourite team misses a chance to score a goal! Sadly, under “the new normal”, this has been replaced by the rule that customers may not congregate at the bar, and must be served at a table which, following their departure will be sanitised by pub staff.
Whilst it was good to catch up with friends (another friend and his wife joined us later), I missed the mingling which is part and parcel of the traditional English pub. There was no more going up to the bar and exchanging banter with regulars, nor could one (officially at least) invite someone who was not part of the original party to join your table.
The young woman serving us (the same lady who had taken our temperatures) was wearing a mask. Whilst I can, of course understand her reasons for doing so (to protect against the possibility of contracting or passing on the virus), I couldn’t help thinking how she would cope on a baking hot summer’s day!
If you read the reports of “Super Saturday” you will, no doubt come across stories of “drunks not socially distancing”. All I can say is that neither my friends or I witnessed any such behaviour. Indeed the pub was rather quiet, perhaps owing to the fear of contracting the virus which does (I know through conversations with people) pray on the minds of some.
Whilst I was delighted to enjoy a few pints in the company of friends, I felt a sense of sadness at the sanitised atmosphere. We have, I fear lost something, I hope not permanently. We have lost the natural vibrancy of the traditional British watering hole. We have lost the stopping to chat to old acquaintences at the bar as we order our drinks. We have lost the ability (at least officially) to invite strangers to join us for a drink at our table. All this may be necessary, but it is still a loss and there is no getting away from that fact.
Kevin
