Omphalos
- Details
- Written August 2012
Twinned arteries careering outwards
Pumped at a hundred and forty a minute,
Returning rich with placental nutrition
Through the tangled cord snaking round the womb
Elusive as a jellied eel wobbling
Under cover of darkness, yet longing for the light of day.
Joined to the past with the double twist of nucleic acid
That curls up with Goldilocks and the three bears -
Past, present and future, till it stops
With the moment of birth, clamped and tied,
Dried and done, leaving me gazing
Into the past with indulgent self-centredness
Of introspective history via Jerusalem and Delphi.
Until the next generation arrives to find us
Stealing their porridge, breaking their chairs
And tossing around on their beds,
So that something grumbles and crumbles within
And we learn to change our focus,
Covenanting with posterity to look beyond ourselves
To find Silicon Valley and the Expanded Universe.
August 2012
Omphalos – the centre of the world?
Phoot: Stinkie Pinkie
Pumped at a hundred and forty a minute,
Returning rich with placental nutrition
Through the tangled cord snaking round the womb
Elusive as a jellied eel wobbling
Under cover of darkness, yet longing for the light of day.
Joined to the past with the double twist of nucleic acid
That curls up with Goldilocks and the three bears -
Past, present and future, till it stops
With the moment of birth, clamped and tied,
Dried and done, leaving me gazing
Into the past with indulgent self-centredness
Of introspective history via Jerusalem and Delphi.
Until the next generation arrives to find us
Stealing their porridge, breaking their chairs
And tossing around on their beds,
So that something grumbles and crumbles within
And we learn to change our focus,
Covenanting with posterity to look beyond ourselves
To find Silicon Valley and the Expanded Universe.
August 2012
Omphalos – the centre of the world?
Phoot: Stinkie Pinkie
Olympic Race
- Details
- Written August 2012
Canada, Colombia, Kazakhstan
Pinning their colours to the railings
In two fifty kilometres competing
Against the USA, Team GB and the rest
As the peloton swarms in search of nectar
Headed for Box Hill and the Zigzag,
Trainers dancing on pedals
To the left and to the right
Up and down, round hair-pin bends
Leaving us behind with a penny-farthing
And a roundabout cockerel crowing
To show off his gold medal
While the rest sprint ahead to The Mall.
July 2012
The London 2012 Olympic Cycle Races pass through Dorking.
2012 Cycle Race Sculpture by Heather Burrell - Denbies Roundabout
Watch a video clip of Olympic Road Race, Dorking
And read about the Dorking cockerel with its Olympic medal
The Peloton on Box Hill, Olympic Road Race, 2012 - Ann Jackman
Just a Minute
- Details
- Written June 2012
Without repetition, hesitation or deviation,
For 60 seconds on the subject: Just a Minute, starting now.
We’ve just heard Chopin’s Waltz which was planned
To be as precise in timing as this show,
But only a few manage to finish it in time.
Buzz - Deviation. The waltz uses three-four time – we don’t.
This show has a distinctly irregular rhythm
Well, that’s a little debatable,
But I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt
So a point for a correct challenge
And you continue the subject: Just a Minute
Without repetition, hesitation or deviation,
For 50 seconds, starting now.
Just a minute is what you say
When someone knocks on the bathroom door
And you’ve been there for ages, relaxing at the end of a day
Soaking in the tub after a tug-of-war
With the rest of the nation who think you can
Defeat an enemy, finish a bath
And sign the peace treaty all in
Just one Minute and ... a half.
Buzz - Hesitation.
Yes, I’m afraid that’s what happens when
You’re exhausted, managing to regain your rhythm,
But get stuck for a rhyme.
You get a point for a correct challenge
And continue the subject: Just a Minute
Without repetition, hesitation or deviation,
For 26 seconds, starting now.
Just a Minute is what you say
When you want your steak done rare
Juicy, crunchy, dripping blood on the way
So you stake your claim ......Buzz: Repetition. Steak again.
Well it sounds the same
But has a different meaning.
You get a point for an incorrect challenge
And continue the subject: Just a Minute
Without repetition, hesitation or deviation,
For 12 seconds, starting now.
Just a Minute is a radio word game
That’s been going for 45 years, no less,
With Nicholas Parsons rising to fame
As he’s chaired the panel without distress.
Buzz - Deviation. Without distress?
That’s impossible, sitting here between the four of us,
A cross between cricket umpire and rugby referee.
Well I’m going to give you a point for kindness
But it’s an incorrect challenge
Because Just a Minute is the highlight of my week.
I love it.
So carry on with the subject Just a Minute
Without repetition, hesitation or deviation,
For two seconds, starting now.
The midwife says Just a Minute before .....
Fweet!
That’s the end of the final round with .....
In joint second place all three of the contestants,
Other than Paul Merton who is today’s winner.
I suspect it takes more than just sixty seconds
To discover the poet within,
So in future I’ll suggest we just stick to our usual banter
When we play: Just a Minute.
June 2012
On watching a TV series in celebration of ‘Just a Minute’.
One Way Journey
- Details
- Written July 2012
Surviving
Camels
Keffiyehs
Revolts
And
Uprisings
Until
A
Motorcycle
Minus
Crash-helmet
Claims
Life
Prematurely.
Price Comparison
Costly
Channel
Crossings
Can’t
Compare
With
The
Price
Paid
Selflessly
By
Others
On
D-Day
Mudeford Recycling
CrabsKeep
Coming
At
Christchurch
Only
To
Be
Nabbed
And
Returned
For
Future
Generations.
Evening Prayer
Visitors
Vacate
The
Nave
Leaving
The
Priest
Presenting
Prayers
For
The
Departed
Hopefully
Heavenward.
Four word sonnets written while on holiday in Dorset
July 2012
- Lawrence of Arabia died following a motor-cycle accident just outside Clouds Hill, his ‘bolt-hole’ not far from Bovington Camp
- The D-Day invasion was launched from Weymouth
- We watched father and daughter catching crabs, a re-enactment of our own fun 30 years before
- Prayer for those who had visited that day was a major emphasis at Evening Prayer at Christchurch Priory Church.
The Language
- Details
- Written February 2012
As the ageing mind plays tricks with speech
Steatopygia behind; shrivelled paps ahead
As glosso-labials give way to palatals
And melodious communication begins
With a tsi-tsi-tsi and a tserr-tserr-tserr.
They would cherish the ums and ahs, the hums
Uniquely our own and resonating phonetically
With themes picked up from bird-song.
Glosso-dentals cackle as though an egg were laid
With the woodpecker hard at work
With a kitchick-kitchick-kitchick.
And after fifty bars' rest there are twenty of percussion;
Tongues click like drum sticks on the roof of the mouth,
Castanets and toe-taps keep time with horses on the trot,
Hands clap forzando, gathering speed
As enlivened bodies dance barefoot on the rock floor,
Tzeship-tzeship-tzeship.
The twang of the bow, then the smack of the arrow,
Ostrich shells cup water and the echo of life
With caves and cattle, hunters and killers,
Honeybees swarm as they join the frenzy
Till everyone drops exhausted,
Tchoo-schwee, tchoo-schwee, tchoo-schwee.
Heads face the dying embers of the night fire
While charcoal tips scratch graffiti on the rock wall
Leaving not a word – just a simple painting
Which we explain in a language all of our own.
Goo-ek, goo-ek, goo-ek,
Good-night, see-ya, ta-dah.
February 2012
Image: San Tribesman – Ian Beatty, Amherst, MA, USA