Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label poetry. Show all posts

Friday, 6 June 2025

Balloon Fate

From At Random Comics

THE INFLATABLE BOY


Long ago in an inflatable land

Where the inflatable King and Queen rule

An inflatable boy in the village of Elftown

Went to inflatable school.

 

At 9am on the inflatable dot,

Inflatable lessons begin;

Nobody knew this inflatable boy

Had got an inflatable pin.

 

He kept it concealed in his satchel;

No one there knew of their fate

Till the boy ran amok in the staffroom

And teachers began to deflate.

 

He then stuck his pin in the building;

It was sharp and met little resistance;

Just a hiss at the start, then a deafening fart

As the school flew off into the distance.

 

Inflatable boys with inflatable pins

Know inflatable parents get stroppy;

The inflatable boy turned the pin on himself

And in no time at all he was floppy.

 

He was saved by a man with a bicycle pump

And a puncture repair kit to boot;

And when he came round the next morning,

By his bed was a man in a suit.

 

O dread; the headmaster, half covered in plasters,

Alive but not up to full pressure;

Not enough p.s.i. but pure wrath in his eye,

Filled not with air but displeasure.

 

"Now then, young man," the headmaster began

In the inflatable hospital in Elftown;

"You've let your teachers down,

You've let your school down,

And now you've let yourself down."


Les Barker

Tuesday, 12 November 2024

Tried and Tested

From Speedbump

The Day My Dog Spontaneously Combusted

 

there he was –

chasing sticks,

doing tricks,

and all that stuff

 

next minute, woof

Brian Bilston

Monday, 30 September 2024

Not For Parents - Or Maybe For All Parents

From JimBenton

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.

They may not mean to, but they do.

They fill you with the faults they had

And add some extra, just for you.

 

But they were fucked up in their turn

By fools in old-style hats and coats,

Who half the time were soppy-stern

And half at one another's throats.

 

Man hands on misery to man.

It deepens like a coastal shelf.

Get out as early as you can,

And don't have any kids yourself.

 

This Be The Verse by Philip Larkin

Friday, 3 May 2024

Inspiration


THE JOY OF FROGS

Frogs need kisses like anyone else

Not all of them want to become handsome princes

some prefer a more pond-based lifestyle

What if you turn into a handsome prince and the princess really prefers frogs?

What if you're not that handsome a prince?

Maybe you're more handsome a frog?

Let's face it, chances are if you can get kissed fairly regularly by a princess and remain a frog you've got it made

If she gives you tongues then go for it

Henry Normal

Saturday, 11 November 2023

Lest We Forget


Sixteen years old when I went to the war,

To fight for a land fit for heroes,

God on my side, and a gun in my hand,

Chasing my days dawn to zero,

And I marched and I fought and I bled and I died,

And I never did get any older,

But I knew at the time that a year in the line,

Was a long enough life for a soldier.

 

We all volunteered, and we wrote dawn our names,

And we added two years to our ages,

Eager for life and ahead of the game,

Ready for history's pages,

And we brawled and we fought and we whored 'til we stood,

Ten thousand shoulder to shoulder,

A thirst for the Hun, we were food far the gun,

And that's what you are when you're soldiers.

 

I heard my friend cry, and he sank to his knees,

Coughing blood as he screamed for his mother,

And I fell by his side, and that's how we died,

Clinging like kids to each other,

And I lay in the mud and the guts and the blood,

And I wept as his body grew colder,

And I called for my mother and she never came,

Though it wasn't my fault and I wasn't to blame,

The day not half over and ten thousand slain,

And now there's nobody remembers our names,

And that's how it is for a soldier.

Friday, 24 September 2021

Pet Cemetery


From Yaffle by Jeffrey Caulfield and Brian Ponshock

This Be The Curse

 

They muck you up, these stuck-up cats.

You may not think so but it's true.

They come and sit upon your lap

When there are other things to do.

 

You wait upon them, hand and foot,

And in return get fleas and lice,

Their hairs collect upon your suit,

They bring you chewed-up heads of mice.

 

Cats hand on misery to man.

It gathers in the litter tray.

So get up quickly while you can

Before the cat climbs back to stay.

Monday, 19 July 2021

If (Eton College version)

If you can keep your job when all around you
Lies ravaged from what it is you've done;
If intellect and common sense confound you
And if integrity you have but none;
If you can lie and not be tired by lying,
And pretend you act for the public good,
But then leave the people to their dying
And say you did, sadly, all you could:

If you can dream - of nothing more than power;
If you can think - but only of yourself;
If you believe this country's finest hour
Is when the chosen few can gain more wealth;
If you can flout the law with bluff and bluster
And not care whether you are believed,
Or deny with scorn every single blunder
And not care how many you may deceive:

If you can stir up hatred, fear and violence
To create division to suit your ends;
And answer cries for help with silence,
And then laugh about it with your friends:
If you can stretch this country to its limit
Or until it is you've had your fun,
Yours is this land and everything that's in it,
And - as you wished - you'll be PM, Johnson.

Brian Bilston

Saturday, 12 June 2021

Fixtures

I'd love nothing more than to go outside

and commune with Mother Nature.

But what can I do? It's out of my hands:

Czech Republic are playing Croatia.

 

Yes, I know that the work is piling up.

Bring it on! Couldn't be happier!

Just ten minutes more (plus time added on)

of Poland versus Slovakia.

 

Sorry that I'll miss Gran's party today.

I do hope you'll save me some cake.

It's just the Swiss are taking on Turkey

and there's an awful lot at stake.

 

Sometimes I hear life as it goes on outside

and I couldn't feel any lonelier.

But then I remember, it's the big game today:

Ukraine - North Macedonia.

 

Brian Bilston

Monday, 22 March 2021

Photobomb


My wife said

nothing rhymes with orange

but before despair could befall her

I corrected Angela

or Ange

as I call her


Thursday, 9 July 2020

I'm Normally A Social Girl

I'm normally a social girl
I love to meet my mates
But lately with the virus here
We can't go out the gates.

You see, we are the 'oldies' now
We need to stay inside
If they haven't seen us for a while
They'll think we've upped and died.

They'll never know the things we did
Before we got this old
There wasn't any Facebook
So not everything was told.

We may seem sweet old ladies
Who would never be uncouth
But we grew up in the 60s –
If you only knew the truth!

There was sex and drugs and rock 'n roll
The pill and miniskirts
We smoked, we drank, we partied
And were quite outrageous flirts.

Then we settled down, got married
And turned into someone's mum,
Somebody's wife, then nana,
Who on earth did we become?

We didn't mind the change of pace
Because our lives were full
But to bury us before we're dead
Is like red rag to a bull!

So here you find me stuck inside
For 4 weeks, maybe more
I finally found myself again
Then I had to close the door!

It didn't really bother me
I'd while away the hour
I'd bake for all the family
But I've got no bloody flour!

Now Netflix is just wonderful
I like a gutsy thriller
I'm swooning over Idris
Or some random sexy killer.

At least I've got a stash of booze
For when I'm being idle
There's wine and whiskey, even gin
If I'm feeling suicidal!

So let's all drink to lockdown
To recovery and health
And hope this bloody virus
Doesn't decimate our wealth.

We'll all get through the crisis
And be back to join our mates
Just hoping I'm not far too wide
To fit through the flaming gates!

Jan Beaumont

Friday, 1 May 2020

At Last, We Have A Cure For All

At last, we have a cure for all!
Ailments large and ailments small,
Good health is not beyond my reach,
If I inject myself with bleach.

Radiant, I'll prance along,
Every trace of limescale gone,
With disinfectant as my friend,
Like him, I'm clean around the bend.

Pam Ayres April 25th


There is hope for Kim-Jong Un as Trump sends medical aid...


Thursday, 30 April 2020

When Just The Tide Went Out

Last night as I lay sleeping, when dreams came fast to me
I dreamt I saw Jerusalem beside a tideless sea
And one dream I'll remember as the stars began to fall
Was Banksy painting Alun Wyn on my neighbour's garage wall
And dreams like that sustain me 'til these darkest times have passed
And chase away the shadows no caring night should cast
But times like this can shine a light as hardship often can
To see the best in people and the good there is in man
And I remember Swansea with nobody about
The shops were closed like Sunday and just the tide went out

And I remember Mumbles with the harbour in its keep
And the fishing boats at anchor that trawl the waters deep
And I heard the seabirds calling as the gulls all wheeled about
But all the town was sleeping now and just the tide went out

And when these days are over and memories remain
When children painted rainbows and the sun shone through the rain
And the doctors and the nurses who stretchered all the pain
And I hope the carers never see a time like this again
And I prayed last week for Boris, who knocked on Heaven's door
And I thought of voting Tory, which I've never done before
And though the sun is shining I've no immediate plans
So I'll write a book on 'Staying In' and 'Ways To Wash Your Hands'

And now more days of lockdown, 3 weeks of staying in
I'm running out of vodka and I've started on the gin
And my neighbours are complaining, I've heard them scream and shout
With the sound the bins are making when I take the empties out

And when all this is over, and our fragile world survives
And I hope that God is caring now for the ones who gave their lives
And I pray we'll find an answer, for my faith is cast in doubt
And God draws back the heavens and all the stars come out

And I'll remember mornings with nobody about
When the shops were closed like Sunday, and just the tide went out

Max Boyce

Thursday, 23 April 2020

Robert Smith's Lockdown Diary

I don't know if Monday's blue.
It could be Tuesday. Wednesday, too.
Or Friday, I don't have a clue.
But Thursday's when I clap.

Monday, I don't want to blame.
Tuesday, Wednesday not defame.
Nor Friday - every day's the same.
But Thursday's when I clap.

The weekend's scrapped.
No Saturday, Sunday. It's left a gap.
Thursdays, I never cease to clap.

I don't know if Monday's black.
A weekly schedule's what I lack.
My sense of time's not coming back.
But Thursday's when I clap.

Chronologies I disavow.
Tuesday's Wednesday, I don't know how.
Friday's just like Monday now.
But Thursday's when I clap.

Monday, 24 April 2017

Limiku

There once was a man
from Limerick. My mistake.

This is a haiku.

Tuesday, 3 May 2016

The Sexual Life Of The Camel

The sexual life of the camel
Is stranger than anyone thinks
He lies in the shade of the pyramid
And tries to make love to the sphinx

But the sphinx is only a statue
Beset by the sands of the Nile
Which accounts for the humps on the camel
And the sphinx's inscrutable smile


Columbo - Grand Deceptions

Monday, 24 November 2014

All Your Favourite Poems

Much have I travelled in the realms of gold
My love is like a red red rose
My heart leaps up when I behold
The dong with a luminous nose

They also serve who only stand and wait
So was it when my life began
I am the master of my fate
I am Popeye the sailor man

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That drops upon the place beneath
My head is bloody but unbowed
I wish I’d looked after my teeth

My name is Ozymandias; king of kings
So in mine earthly house I am
I know why the caged bird sings
I do not like green eggs and ham


1. On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer - John Keats
2. A Red, Red Rose - Robert Burns
3. My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold – William Wordsworth
4. The Dong With A Luminous Nose – Edward Lear

5. On His Blindness – John Milton
6. My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold – William Wordsworth
7. Invictus - William Ernest Henley
8. I'm Popeye the Sailor Man – Sammy Lerner

9. Daffodils - William Wordsworth
10. The Merchant of Venice - William Shakespeare
11. Invictus - William Ernest Henley
12. Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth – Pam Eyres

13. Ozymandias - Percy Bysshe Shelley
14. St. Agnes' Eve - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
15. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
16. Green Eggs and Ham - Dr. Seuss


From John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme


Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Driving

Letter to the editor in the Sydney Herald  Sun...


A Poem by Pam Ayres

I have a little Satnav, It sits there in my car
A Satnav is a driver's friend, it tells you where you are.
I have a little Satnav, I've had it all my life
It's better than the normal ones, my Satnav is my Wife.
It gives me full instructions, especially how to drive
"It's sixty k's an hour", it says, "You're doing sixty five".
It tells me when to stop and start, and when to use the brake
And tells me that it's never ever, safe to overtake.
It tells me when a light is red, and when it goes to green
It seems to know instinctively, just when to intervene.
It lists the vehicles just in front, and all those to the rear
And taking this into account, it specifies my gear.
I'm sure no other driver, has so helpful a device
For when we leave and lock the car, it still gives its advice.
It fills me up with counselling, each journey's pretty fraught
So why don't I exchange it, and get a quieter sort?
Ah well, you see, it cleans the house, makes sure I'm properly fed
It washes all my shirts and things, and keeps me warm in bed!
Despite all these advantages, and my tendency to scoff,
I only wish that now and then, I could turn the bugger off.