tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7110295429257729302024-03-17T20:03:03.123-07:00Pete's ScribblingsYou can pluck the world from its tree. Twist it and squeeze to see if there is any juice left:
Short Stories,
Poems,
Scripts and Sketches.
Anything that feels right...enjoy!
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Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.comBlogger441125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-18843386946674879452024-03-15T02:04:00.000-07:002024-03-17T08:27:22.634-07:00When Tides Recede<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">When Tides Recede<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">You remember thinking it could never leave,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">a rallying Spring and when Summer breathed<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">fistfuls of swelling tide, flooding two chests,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">broke dams to overflow your swooning head,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">two battling pounding rib-caged fighters<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">unbridled dun clouds and days dawned brighter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">So gracefully you surfed lithe on skies,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">rode unleashed breakers, topped gravity,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">no autumn could usher in winter weeds,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">denied darkening days might make you grieve,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">yet here you survey dry expansive sands,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">as receding tides uncovered desert land.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg86cvK7H07xEQun6a5BTzHTZWvqp4tzz5Wu_eWIOAiO1_v-ugkBjoWvxWVYQevzWH_30SB3afLTpexvO_TWI_KdVucrhXgPWSi2zM0JY-fx8FIJsbkiXjQrSdhfV_EMYvBo8Fs7RGm2PcOZC7dDoEUytt1ubWu7W30_0pjv_yu-5k5FnzBgW4YBovmSG29" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1441" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg86cvK7H07xEQun6a5BTzHTZWvqp4tzz5Wu_eWIOAiO1_v-ugkBjoWvxWVYQevzWH_30SB3afLTpexvO_TWI_KdVucrhXgPWSi2zM0JY-fx8FIJsbkiXjQrSdhfV_EMYvBo8Fs7RGm2PcOZC7dDoEUytt1ubWu7W30_0pjv_yu-5k5FnzBgW4YBovmSG29" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-2508994330590470442024-03-13T01:13:00.000-07:002024-03-13T01:25:13.146-07:00A Toffee Penny, Once Spent. <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">A Toffee Penny, Once Spent.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I don’t really mind your toffee penny.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I know people say it’s too plain<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">to come in that gaudy yellow wrap,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">you know, cross that it’s a bit vanilla<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and you’d expect a fistful of change,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">but it’s creamy enough <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">to roll it round your tongue like nipples.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I think it’s those montélimar<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">you’d find at the bottom of my tin,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">stuck there like emotional cripples,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">having bled chocolate from slit foil.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Chewing them is thankless toil<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">once you scraped them off the metal,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">clagged unwanted on fingernails.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">She’s looking at them, freshly filed<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">to crimson points, all high heeled,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">iced latte clutched and lung-punctured,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">phone in the other claw,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">in skins that one time glistered more,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">hanging aimless at the office door:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">‘you smell like my ex-boyfriend,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">my lover, my significant other’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">You'd shrug and wonder where he went,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">a toffee penny that she spent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8A1kHWT4Ute2KzJZiRL5cmtLPBVrgaG9spnzChR6qQe8j4SLduAdBw3tHlahqHjgFWdywOirzzk_6aXXBPFSkyTxHCSDXGMhTL9oSyM4PV4Q41PiEl8nnbkpZDbLY84bsaaP4Bjw_4AyTKBvvykpBoqB0jbjE51W82sYTttKnAmtyoJO8xVsmDiYJ2-kd" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="780" data-original-width="1536" height="163" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj8A1kHWT4Ute2KzJZiRL5cmtLPBVrgaG9spnzChR6qQe8j4SLduAdBw3tHlahqHjgFWdywOirzzk_6aXXBPFSkyTxHCSDXGMhTL9oSyM4PV4Q41PiEl8nnbkpZDbLY84bsaaP4Bjw_4AyTKBvvykpBoqB0jbjE51W82sYTttKnAmtyoJO8xVsmDiYJ2-kd" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-42350694994455059442024-03-12T22:49:00.000-07:002024-03-12T23:02:42.447-07:00 The Last Great LP<p> <b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">The Last Great LP</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">You should be thankful for his last great LP,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">before accepting age, mediocrity,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">or both. She comes, she comes to lay her glove,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">to remind you of something you once loved. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Did you know, as it was torn from his breast,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">it would be a capstone for all the rest,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">looked back upon as quickening years increase<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">as some mausoleum’s centrepiece?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">For sure, it is both a millstone and monument<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">to times when themes were confident,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">belted out, strong in melody, deep in rhythm,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">each track carefully sequenced and given<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">equal weight. You listen, contemplate<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">lyrics that speak of destiny, challenge fate,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">each exquisite movement built on the last:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">but all things must pass.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">From here he sets out for diminished returns,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">his lover’s heart that once burned,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">once ached and could not put music aside,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">penned each subsequent record and sighed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">it is not as it was. Once tearing your clothes <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">you cried of moons, of love that flows<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">like music from his past mastered manuscripts,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">be thankful his last great LP exists,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">to cut an almost beating heart like steely knife.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Would you even make her wife,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">go join those travelling herds in search of life,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">or did you divide yourself in half,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">become a cheapskate, cardboard epitaph?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhm-1NpPySUoM6Sr8-IpEGuQemBEvVbN0lVWORyj7ae96q5iHZ_S7o8omaHXuzyTP_2nPtP0OXYJsgVXu6flO08cxDgs64wBV0JksGiwpPTzQngT9dymjwzC6eFFouif1BGBR22JPARwp7I0SDRiPiwjnIq18qFiME6kaZUJICXNlVIkxdXk9cgCf88WQAQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="692" data-original-width="468" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhm-1NpPySUoM6Sr8-IpEGuQemBEvVbN0lVWORyj7ae96q5iHZ_S7o8omaHXuzyTP_2nPtP0OXYJsgVXu6flO08cxDgs64wBV0JksGiwpPTzQngT9dymjwzC6eFFouif1BGBR22JPARwp7I0SDRiPiwjnIq18qFiME6kaZUJICXNlVIkxdXk9cgCf88WQAQ=w262-h388" width="262" /></a></div><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-19775373318293151882024-03-12T01:06:00.000-07:002024-03-12T01:06:31.176-07:00Grandad Patches’ Bedtime Fables: The Two Earwigs<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Grandad Patches’ Bedtime Fables: The Two
Earwigs<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Not so long ago, but long enough, I once heard about a
scrawny young Earwig who lived with a magnificent long-haired leopard. An
ancient and wonderful beast, proud, fierce and possessing an ironic glint o’
the eye, which made him look rather like a pirate. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Although he didn’t have an eyepatch.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Our long-haired leopard, who, hereafter we will refer to
as simply ‘leopard’ – for convenience - had eschewed the usual leopardly
practice of eating meat, in favour of meat substitutes such as fungus burgers
or tofu toffee tarts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It therefore follows, my dears, that leopard, whom henceforth we shall refer to as Timothy – for that was his name – was okay with
living alongside an Earwig. Having passed on meat, he was in no way partial to
a lite insect-flavored snack of an evening, d’you see?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now the Earwig he shared his cave with also had a name. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">She was called Dolly Bintire and, as fate would have it,
had just returned from visiting a very deep lake near Pencader. But that wasn’t
really on her mind because, to be honest, she did not have too much of an
attention span. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Earwigs don’t, on the whole. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">She cast aside vague fluttering memories of a stork that
did and tottered, high heeled into the cave they shared, her phone in one hand
and a Starbucks iced latte in the other.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Alright, Leopard? It’s me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Timothy looked up from a jotter and scowled. He had been
busy making entries, doing his accounts – he ran a fairly successful milliners
in town and the tax returns were due. A beastly job that required all his
prowess as an accountant.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You’re back, then. How was the lake?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But Dolly was looking at her mobile phone, on one of
those messaging apps. As she scrolled through countless alerts, her phone made those
sharp, electronic shrill signaling noises. And each time it did so, Timothy
started, until eventually he snatched the phone off her.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Put that wretched thing on silent. I’m trying to work.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Give me my phone back.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Timothy ignored her, switched it to silent himself and
tossed it into a shoebox that sat on a very high shelf indeed - far too high
for earwigs to ever reach, although you could see that Dolly was thinking about
it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You can have it back when I’ve finished my work and not
before.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“That’s completely unfair,” pouted Dolly, swishing her
coffee over ice and sucking it loudly through the plastic straw. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“No, it isn’t,” snapped Timothy. “I have tax returns due
and, if I get them wrong, we will be out of pocket and, since I pay all the
bills around here, that will most inconvenient.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“How?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“No more iced latte delivered to the cave for a start.
You’ll have to learn how to use the kettle.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now Dolly was partial to that delivery driver turning up
with her coffee of a morning, so for an instant she paused and thought about
it. It didn’t last long though, and her brain returned to the phone. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I could phone him. What is his name?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Who?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“That one who delivers the coffee on the motor scooter. Send
him a message.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Shut up. I need to finish.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“But…the delivery driver…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Don’t you ever stop to think about the cost?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Sure. It’s about two pounds fifty. You can afford that.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Timothy threw his pen down upon the jotter, where, of
course, it bounced, rolled sideways and fell underneath his table. “No, Earwig.
The cost to the environment. I’ve lost my flipping pencil, now.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Oh, that,” replied Dolly, snorting in disdain, still
focused on the phone so tantalizingly out of reach. “Tell you what. I’ll look
it up on the internet. No, better, if you pass me the phone, I can help you
with your accounts. It has a calculator, you know?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Timothy sighed. He wasn’t falling for that one again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Later, just before bedtime, Timothy was relaxing with a
cocoa and a book in his hand, squinting a little, because his eyesight wasn’t
what it was, you know. He sighed and lay his book on the small table, feeling a
little sorry he’d been grumpy with Earwig. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In fact, he’d felt so guilty earlier he had let her have
a go through the rejected hats box – the ones that he hadn’t sold because they
hadn’t quite cut the mustard. It happens, even if you have an occasionally talented team.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dolly was strutting up and down in a rather nasty, brown,
oversized leopard skin pill box hat and taking photographs of herself, using
the (now returned) phone’s camera. These she was posting all over social media,
gleefully counting the ‘likes’ she got. She even put a few on ‘Sheep-Tok’. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Timothy smiled indulgently. “Why are you doing this,
Earwig?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’m trying to go viral.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Virus? Why?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“No, no. If these go viral, I will never have to work
again.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“You don’t work anyway.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Shut up. You wouldn’t understand.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rolling his eyes, Timothy picked up the book, agreeing in
his head that, yes, he certainly wouldn’t understand. These young zoomers were all at it,
even at his work, where he’d started to ask them to give him their phones
before any meetings. It was the only way to be sure they were concentrating.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Suddenly, Dolly threw down her hat in disgust. A message
had flashed onto the screen of her phone, illuminating her eyes in green.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“That’s disgusting,” She shouted, at Timothy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What is?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Tuppy McGoorock has just messaged me to say you put his
phone in a shoe box.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Oh, yes? What makes you think I’d do that?” replied
Timothy, his whiskers bristling. Tuppy, you see, was a notorious gossiping dung
beetle who was always up to his ears in it, with few, if any, hat making
qualifications. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Indeed, it was he who’d designed the filthy brown pill
box hat that Earwig was posting all over the internet, no doubt ruining any
prospect of sales. Possibly it was this that had triggered the message. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I have to confess that Timothy was more than a little
browned off by Tuppy’s contributions to the business and he had considered
giving him the sack. In the event, he had contented himself with a stiff
telling off. And put his phone into a shoebox.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“He disrupts the meetings by always being on the phone. I
have to repeat everything twice.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“That’s no reason to put his phone in a shoe box. For one
thing, his phone is in a shoe box. For another thing there might be shoes in
there. For yet another thing, what if somebody wanted to put shoes into the box
and there was a phone in there taking up the room for shoes. They wouldn’t be
able to.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Sorry, Earwig.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well, don’t do it again, Leopard. Or else I’ll leave
you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Where would you go?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Tuppy says I can live with him.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Is that what you want?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Not really, he smells a bit.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I have to tell you that just for a moment, Timothy looked
as though he was weighing several possibilities over and over in his mind. But,
you know, he was at heart, a kindly old leopard who couldn’t really change his
spots as often as he might have wished. In fact, the whole shoe box thing made
him feel rather a heel.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“OK,” he replied, eventually, “I’ll think about the shoe box
situation…if he stops his constant piddling about on social media and taking
photographs of himself.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Hell, yeah. Everybody does that,” snapped Dolly,
emphasizing the ‘yeah’ and ‘that’ in a rather petulant way. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A few days after this, several extraordinary things
happened in quick succession.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dolly, determined to better herself, was off on one of
her trips. This time to Llanelli, to see the world’s biggest ever slag heap.
She’d strutted out in her high heels, mobile phone in one hand, iced latte in
the other, waving a cheery goodbye and had boarded a bus full of wood lice.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Timothy waved absent mindedly in reply, his face buried
in the newspaper prior to another day’s work. His eyes widened. He could
scarcely believe what he was reading.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Tossing the paper down, he ran after the departing bus,
but it was too late. “Earwig, wait!” he shouted after the thick, viscous smoggy
exhaust.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Turning around, he almost bumped into the furry figure of
Mr Lupus himself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The two eyed each other suspiciously, each prowling
close, but not too close – for both were very big beasts indeed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Timothy,” purred Mr Lupus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Lupus,” replied Timothy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mr Lupus was clutching his morning edition of ‘The
Valleys’, the same one that Timothy had thrown to the floor in amazement. “You
have read this, I take it?” queried Mr Lupus, stabbing at a column on its front
page.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Poor Tuppy McGoorock. Electrocuted by his own mobile
phone.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yes. The ambulance spirited him away, late last night.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What is his condition?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I don’t know, Timothy, I don’t know. Didn’t you put his
phone…in a shoe box?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Timothy spluttered. “But…surely, you can’t think my
putting a phone in a shoe box had anything to do with this, Lupus?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Mr Lupus laced his fat fingers together and grinned in
his vulpine way, his tongue flickering over his whiskers. “Ah. Who can say?
I’ve heard they spy on you.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Who spies on you? What do you mean?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Was it yesterday? Yes, I casually remarked to my nephew,
Choppi, how good it would be to have a meat feast topping on my pizza and
within two minutes, four messages from ‘Crunchy Bugs’ advertising that very
thing…at a reasonable price, too.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Really?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Yes. And just think, now you have a vacancy at your
work. Mobile telephones. Amazing. They listen to your every word. You might say
they – are - earwigs.” And with that, Mr Lupus snorted as though he’d been very
witty and strolled away. Then, as if something had suddenly occurred to him, he
turned back. “My nephew, Choppi. Very into hat making. Loves a nice chapeau.
Call me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“But I don’t have a phone,” replied Timothy, scratching
his head. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But several times at work that day, Timothy Leopard
wished he did have a phone so he could call Earwig. For some reason he felt a
little worried by Mr Lupus’ words. The way he had said ‘earwig’ had seemed
somewhat sinister to him. But he shivered and shook it off.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Timothy had wanted to raise some money for Tuppy Mc
Goorock, annoying though he was, so he called an extraordinary meeting of his
remaining employees. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t get very
far though, because the majority of them were too busy on their phones and
couldn’t hear him on account of the white plastic pegs they insisted on putting
in their ears.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“They’re called pods,” Dolly had snapped at him, that
time he’d asked. So, as usual, he’d shrugged and put it down to his lack of
youth. Timothy sat at home, waiting for the ‘Eco Tours’ bus to return from
Llanelli Slag Heaps, determined to talk with Dolly, once and for all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now, my dears, he didn’t have long to wait. In fact you
could see the plumes of exhaust smoke from several valleys away, getting ever
more thicker, as the bus chugged its way back, coughing and spluttering, the
way these tour buses often do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Upon arrival, it opened the doors and spat Dolly Bintire onto
the pavement where Timothy was waiting impatiently.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Earwig,” he cried, “I simply must talk to you. It’s
urgent.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But Dolly was in no mood to listen. In fact, she flounced
back to the cave, iced latte in one hand, phone in the other, all high heels, bouncing
pillbox hat and checking messagey. Timothy followed in her wake, not easy,
considering there disparate sizes, but he did his best.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Once in the cave, Dolly hopped onto a table and twirled
around to face her feline friend. She was in a frightful temper, I don’t mind
telling you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“What’s wrong, dear? Was the slag heap not big enough?
You didn’t meet that snail again, did you?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Worse than that,” snapped Dolly. “My phone has a fault.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Well, that’s what I was trying to tell you my dear. It’s
about your phone. It’s an earwig.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“No, you stupid spotted dick,” snapped Dolly, in an
extremely rude way. She glared at Timothy, waving her phone. “THIS is an
earwig, THIS is a phone and THIS…” (and she pointed at her phone’s screen) “Is
Mr Lupus.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Timothy reached for his monocle and scrunched into his
better eye, in order that he might determine what was actually on Dolly’s screen.
He gasped at what he saw. “That’s disgraceful.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Disgraceful? That’s a fabulous piece of work, that is.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Did this go virus?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Of course, it’s all over The Valleys.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Show me again.” And Timothy gazed in horror at what
unfolded before his eye. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I’ll try to describe it for you. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In front of him was Tuppy Mc Goorock. He was, believe it
or not, jiggling along to some dreadful hip hop music, dancing in a rather lewd
way, accompanied by the sound effects of very high-pitched giggling and ‘boing,
boing, boing’ noises. In his hand, he held a gigantic bone which he was waving
suggestively. After 15 seconds or so a caption appeared which read: ‘Old Lupus uses
his bone for a phone, bone for a phone, bone for a phone’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And then the sequence repeated itself.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">What made it worse was that he had clearly filmed this in
Timothy’s meeting room at work. So, after taking it all in, Timothy looked at
Dolly, his paw clapped over his mouth in horror or anger - or both. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Earwig? Did you send this to all of your friends?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dolly looked back at him sarcastically. “Well, of course
I did. It was very amusing and not in the slightest bit offensive.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“But the phone. It’s an earwig.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If Dolly knew what he meant, she clearly didn’t care very
much. “There is such a thing as free speech, you know,” she snapped, and she
shoved her pill box hat on her head, picked up her latte, snatched the phone
from Timothy and tottered towards the cave’s entrance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“Where are you going?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“I’m off to the phone shop. I’m furious. My phone isn’t
working properly. Some of my apps are blocked. I’m going to give them an
earful, believe me. Laters.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And Earwig stumbled off purposefully in the direction of
the Lupafone store.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And that, my dears, was the last that Timothy Leopard
ever saw of Earwig. He asked after her once or twice, as you do, but all he
heard was that she’d gone on a walking tour of Inner-City Concrete Cancer, or
something like that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">At first, he missed her a little, but it was certainly quieter
in the cave, you know? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And as for Choppi, he turned out rather well. He does, to
be fair, have a phone which he occasionally uses, but he is most attentive at
meetings, taking everything in carefully and making a lot of notes. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And he has designed one or two pill-box hats which are number one best sellers amongst the rest of Timothy’s team.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEioR-vkmCjqd45tYdKzFQ8YKzBQAZUWsfgv4PgQpgBLiNt5gMV0de1ZBDLQVzAOfRbslVR3I2CmeqcKBinBvb8ZirN-HRBWbsLGsi6WaTkEyVprwJYW2L3VlyKgGCP6-aWuerA-Xx0idKzUW9NYEWebh1K20SwSumkgzOkO8HnjrARVOHtSM66amXRMj6ub" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1200" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEioR-vkmCjqd45tYdKzFQ8YKzBQAZUWsfgv4PgQpgBLiNt5gMV0de1ZBDLQVzAOfRbslVR3I2CmeqcKBinBvb8ZirN-HRBWbsLGsi6WaTkEyVprwJYW2L3VlyKgGCP6-aWuerA-Xx0idKzUW9NYEWebh1K20SwSumkgzOkO8HnjrARVOHtSM66amXRMj6ub=w318-h318" width="318" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-57638711385347856852024-03-09T23:11:00.000-08:002024-03-11T00:13:04.308-07:00That’s All for Everyone<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">That’s All for Everyone<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">A past lives in song and that’s all for everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Once upon two lifetimes ago, so you were low,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I was even lower still, the only place left to go<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">was to live in your dreams; you lived in mine,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">we treasured within each other something kind.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">That’s all for everyone, warm cliff top breezes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">bent green reeds, gathered in our heaps of seed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">yellow shock dandelion clocks in cherry flowers<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">divide and grow and divide again, hour on hour<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">grey gathered clouds unknitted, overpowered.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">That’s all for everyone, for soon in toxic drops<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">black paint skated upon base oil across the top,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">it hung at first, suspended in its viscous womb,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">born sullen it spread in stone to seal the tomb.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Your weeping rain asked just what went wrong,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">forgetting past songs - but that’s all for everyone.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWHlhYhVpAG1VQJSJ5eF3RBL3VdQxVPIySYcrdtsLFzYewf1NgHKZmlnBPKY5zPfUxJQ_2d25Q4jB2c6t3ABZkxmZhQeALXNJQicD5issYBB8h-l1a5yubnxBG4LMJbNtbx9ujfiU64Az7AZxuZ6ngR0xnnarRb-tzsSSRExF86fwqLsp0Pbl0SzTWwmW5" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWHlhYhVpAG1VQJSJ5eF3RBL3VdQxVPIySYcrdtsLFzYewf1NgHKZmlnBPKY5zPfUxJQ_2d25Q4jB2c6t3ABZkxmZhQeALXNJQicD5issYBB8h-l1a5yubnxBG4LMJbNtbx9ujfiU64Az7AZxuZ6ngR0xnnarRb-tzsSSRExF86fwqLsp0Pbl0SzTWwmW5=w298-h298" width="298" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-40942032327794040352024-03-09T00:06:00.000-08:002024-03-09T00:07:52.094-08:00I Know I’m Not Wrong<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I Know I’m
Not Wrong<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Psyche wished
wild,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">mid hollow
throng,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">imagination,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I know I’m
not wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Cupid’s taught
bowed<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">arrows young<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">actuating,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I know I’m
not wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Eyes shone
stories,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">sometime
lifelong,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">contemplating,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I know I’m
not wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Neck pure snow-white,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">lustrous
young,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">advocating,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I know I’m
not wrong<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Chest hard
heaving,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">spinning
song,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">captivating,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I know I’m
not wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Arms soft
supple,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">hands silk
strong,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">anticipating,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I know I’m
not wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Thighs deep
downy<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">pillow thonged,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">detonating,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I know I’m
not wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">All this
thrown over,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">All this is
gone,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">decomposing,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I know I’m
not wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Don’t cut
me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I won’t
bleed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Don’t plant
me,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I won’t
believe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Not that
funny, is it?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-nF6x71MdivfbhQD4WMWPUGxA-ZG1tqXOnTL_1IOOm7VA-Z8rKpVgLQt3FQkjBpW0Y0X4s5-rbxXyv3085nd_31eyZMGdkDUbTPjxFWns5zdWD2VP85U_KIT0zP83tSU_am-QhuYiqQeWdWt-PnuCSiAC8e_oO0VArfbi1MWYf0HKjnF_I_FTkY2SbqqP" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="750" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh-nF6x71MdivfbhQD4WMWPUGxA-ZG1tqXOnTL_1IOOm7VA-Z8rKpVgLQt3FQkjBpW0Y0X4s5-rbxXyv3085nd_31eyZMGdkDUbTPjxFWns5zdWD2VP85U_KIT0zP83tSU_am-QhuYiqQeWdWt-PnuCSiAC8e_oO0VArfbi1MWYf0HKjnF_I_FTkY2SbqqP=w422-h228" width="422" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-51943684061735224002024-03-08T01:05:00.000-08:002024-03-11T00:15:29.849-07:00Not That Funny Is It?<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Not That Funny Is It?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">Trochees pound a rhythm,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 17.12px;">downstrokes strike and beat,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">one more message from me,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">puts you on the street.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Mocked up minor movements,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">cardboard cut and paste,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">sisters sinister<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">slop buckets full of waste.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Ain’t you glad you did it,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">madness loves the mad,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">if you loved you hid it,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">catch me feeling sad.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Think I’m laughing at you,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">don’t know what you think,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">living something other,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">all you do is drink.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Think I ever miss you,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">mourn a missing link,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">want to hear from you,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">skimming stones that sink.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Think I’m fishing for you,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">casting out a line,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">watch a float that’s jerking,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">reel you up in time.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Think I’m sorry for you,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">all you did was scoff,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">can I see it clearly,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">from your empty trough.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Don’t cut me.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I won’t bleed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Don’t plant me,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I won’t believe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I know I’m not wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhitf-KafkY6KGdJ0Q_fiNycuz4lNnzxiQ4lhYiwzMge5sQjpqu_FZEVvL1fj_yT602Wa42xIieG-FgaxwAFebIl66YEROhNosymJwXgT0Eu_CasIzQLXky6axTrtymQKEwyc3dRXjbSpUuziyu5obMQHg342Ft_oG0WpeyRr23lgEz_80HeJdac6y_mCc6" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="313" data-original-width="318" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhitf-KafkY6KGdJ0Q_fiNycuz4lNnzxiQ4lhYiwzMge5sQjpqu_FZEVvL1fj_yT602Wa42xIieG-FgaxwAFebIl66YEROhNosymJwXgT0Eu_CasIzQLXky6axTrtymQKEwyc3dRXjbSpUuziyu5obMQHg342Ft_oG0WpeyRr23lgEz_80HeJdac6y_mCc6=w306-h301" width="306" /></a></div><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-45236515490210117822024-03-02T00:04:00.000-08:002024-03-08T00:16:38.213-08:00Wendy<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Wendy<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">I’d have to
explain what a typewriter was<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">to your trees full
of monkey<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">before
expecting them to bash out any Shakespeare;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">even then,
I think it would be hard pressed<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">to see any reading
other than superficial and trite,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">like, say, ‘please
don’t break the spell tonight’.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">And once when I
was feeling fond:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">‘Thou knowest
well, when I did shake my wand,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">I could bring
thee back <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">where thou wast
want to belong<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">and squeeze a
little heartease juice into thine eye.’</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Overseas, now scanning
news from home, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">it’s just so
Cornwall, somehow does not even appall,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">how well I know the sound made when Angels fall<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">and tumbling - but
then, recall, as you must,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">how you placed my designated titles in trust,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">and said ‘from
me to you, oh Angel, go roar<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">and be warned
to never ghost our door.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">So, doing as
asked and watching from too far,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">I’ll hand this
to you: you don’t do things by halves<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">drunk driving
while banned in stolen cars,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">but I think
it’s not the slap on the wrist that’s burning,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">perhaps
something you lost and you’re yearning<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">to be complete;
she’s sunk her teeth into your rump,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">a futile struggling
bear too soon chained to a stump,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">dancing to a
showgirl’s hand-wound tinpot squeeze box,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">card
punched, pitched stones and chucked rocks,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">or maybe you
slid into her, it’s harder to know or care<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">as one more
year overleaps another leap year.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">You didn't
have to throw it over like a rag bag full of cats<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">weighed down
with breeze blocks, fighting over what scraps<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">of air
remained, shocked, having them dangling on the edges<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">for those
several cruel months full of pledges,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">photographs,
memes, messages, before your final Rickroll<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">trolling, for a laugh,
sent out strolling all casual like.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">You might think
it’s easy for me thumbing bass,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">slave to rising
rhythms, dreaming nightly of a slight return,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">to everything
right of left, everything churned,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">the boy that
stood on the deck that burned:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Between D minor
and major, there only is one note missed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">one pluck, one
shift, one finger to this from this,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">every week
seeking new ways to rhyme,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">new lives to
kiss, saving new souls, finding time,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">old heart pumping blood to old brain that’s flying,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">never give up,
never give in, keep on trying.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">So, if you
listen hard, you might not hear me calling;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">for one sound I
do know is the sound of Angels falling.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi58N02pEdk9u02_rqbgJFozQNk_ZjnXBmfCtULFe0gpefY-EcitceT4zOJAie3sO3pxa6Njd_tzmdQCjNKJpDqOVHIlBB6fSw84JsmBWECpFo6JJuo-InFfWW52XW-bOmeCXho3omxGBYbqaohLdDtcVQnKQaJQuMaYeqIsteDznldJoXUaB2dBncWbsqJ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="735" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi58N02pEdk9u02_rqbgJFozQNk_ZjnXBmfCtULFe0gpefY-EcitceT4zOJAie3sO3pxa6Njd_tzmdQCjNKJpDqOVHIlBB6fSw84JsmBWECpFo6JJuo-InFfWW52XW-bOmeCXho3omxGBYbqaohLdDtcVQnKQaJQuMaYeqIsteDznldJoXUaB2dBncWbsqJ" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-31143667865386454972024-02-23T01:37:00.000-08:002024-02-24T08:47:46.731-08:00What Makes You Think You’re the One?<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">What Makes You Think You’re the One?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">So - when you hit me, you hit hard,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I’m bleeding and I’m battle scarred,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">looking long at what you left in me,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Dodged your bullet, now I’m free.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Floods that swamped willow's leaves,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">your drops that fell, that fell on me,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">that once sent shivers down my back,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I searched for what my life did lack.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I searched your pain, I searched for cracks,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I saw your face, I saw your tracks,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">that came like tanks, to blossom fire,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">my broken back, to mount you higher.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">You rode my hope, you crushed, you grind,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">you thought to blood me of my rhymes,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">you did not think I’d ever find,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">this life so warm, this love divine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">You made your choice, you made it wrong,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">your juices dripping on these songs,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">distraught you grieve for what has passed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">you’ll grieve until you breathe your last.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">You supposed I only would find sorrow,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">for where I led, you did not follow,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">but yesterday’s airs must strain tomorrow’s,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">search out your soul in lost Time’s hollow.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhFFeJ777KILR5HHoFZKfR6nFD6rDyajMaNc-I_CKW_IcVz4Z-082Ogvw39HYWQ2IbHuz2-azzvAMEww-XnRhl2Z8qcaosilsnap3vS206PBunB9XhJy6fCov3s-wRfRaDeSjuC7g2jPQXFLE0JBDThnPtKjms0pYPTDuA8zLq9woiVFt5wwNk-sDIBcpsQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="225" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhFFeJ777KILR5HHoFZKfR6nFD6rDyajMaNc-I_CKW_IcVz4Z-082Ogvw39HYWQ2IbHuz2-azzvAMEww-XnRhl2Z8qcaosilsnap3vS206PBunB9XhJy6fCov3s-wRfRaDeSjuC7g2jPQXFLE0JBDThnPtKjms0pYPTDuA8zLq9woiVFt5wwNk-sDIBcpsQ=w292-h292" width="292" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-48491875466609189702024-02-22T23:27:00.000-08:002024-02-22T23:27:44.809-08:00The Last Toothbrush<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Last Toothbrush<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Not really The Last Starfighter, you’re thinking,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">you know, there’s that one with John Boy Walton:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘Good night, John Boy’. ‘Good night, Mary Lou,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">just one last thing I gotta do<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and finish this video game.’ Wait, wait, wait,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">did they have those back then, or was it Stargate?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Starcrash, maybe, with Caroline Munro,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">milky cleavage, teeth and places yet to go,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">she’s winking at James Bond from her chopper,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Roger that, Houston, hit the missiles and stop her,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">he’s starting out, I’m finishing,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">some kind of gatekeeper, threshold guardian even,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">mentor maybe, got the bristled up Colgate<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">ready for action, teeth still sticking to dental plates<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">just about, ungummed here and there, thinning hair,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">rod and staff me comfort still somewhere<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and the breath whistling mind the gap, mind the gap.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">worn out nylon’s painful picking at cavities,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">stabbing into crimson flesh with nervous brutality.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It’s all Mousetrap. Strictly come shuffling, knees bend<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">knees ache, rah, rah, rah, I’ve got the map<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">so use me as a guide vocal, use me as a friend,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">been this way before, I know the score,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I watched the slick hand of Maradona deified, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">‘But nothing we could do,’ we replied,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">singing as they brought the boys back home,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">because love had the world in motion.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Now I’ve got a notion, there’s suntan lotion,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">in that bag of yours, so play on John Boy, play on,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">or, here’s fun – let’s you and me to Boots with rushes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and I’ll show you where I filmed The Last Toothbrush.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQZ_71Uz7hcoJ8b8ZpFW_f_GqFCVvQvcn5_kWJ3dUxP70xl3OwqdfRHCcS9B56TQ_gUlFRweRsFW3Q1nzTRRTvNGcoWGWc2vlmckxjFl-dVqc3zKLQNg8sYqmlkLTevHw-FFQcRzMZvhG8DyFSXFiq646hBKazpAToytf_Zg7H6hl-8HE4a5wolbvxnFis" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="543" data-original-width="543" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhQZ_71Uz7hcoJ8b8ZpFW_f_GqFCVvQvcn5_kWJ3dUxP70xl3OwqdfRHCcS9B56TQ_gUlFRweRsFW3Q1nzTRRTvNGcoWGWc2vlmckxjFl-dVqc3zKLQNg8sYqmlkLTevHw-FFQcRzMZvhG8DyFSXFiq646hBKazpAToytf_Zg7H6hl-8HE4a5wolbvxnFis" width="240" /></a></div><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-87015709839004562442024-02-16T01:06:00.000-08:002024-02-16T01:06:54.736-08:00Kind of Unkind Fat Controller<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Kind of Unkind Fat Controller<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">One of those days when bass blames violin,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">he’s eyeballing keys; she’s shaming drums,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">snarls ‘hit A Minor now’ in wolf tones and sting,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">then in through the door - it comes, it comes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and you’re looking the other at a belly rolling<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">converted but here’s a hijab’s slipped, strayed<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">hair from folds - she’s licking her lips, strolling<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">from out her blazing burning fires. They play<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">songs of if she did anything expedient today<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">lament lost principles canned and conveyed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">an abaya hides recent pounds piled on hips,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">hocking up a hyena’s laugh in shades of sick,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">gauze thrown barbecues to displace critics,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">here’s rands for any inventive songs from it<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">in skimpy piles of seed. First get a lump sugar,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">sugar, send out your surveys, capturing souls<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">from the shanty towns where they mistook her<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">for something sporting tactics in mouse clicks,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">hey, Minnie? Fuck your Thursday coffee gratis<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">a price too great to pay, yet here we practice<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">on one of those days filled by tricky shifted<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">signatures hoofed in six eight. I know, I know<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">it comes only from graft, from fingers twisted,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">from time spent learning quick rhythms flow,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">for improper dancing in unsuitable clothes,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">beneath a kind of unkind fat controller’s nose.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBBAJXhPNYoVodAi7NO76HDn8NSNEhOgd6hQfR_UKZZf5EMeSSv-dXYEJ2liBP8jTWPVnbeoKvBF65pnJRW33GDt5HkCKqAfEOltidExtgZFZvxycVIifXyfZDUYV9Ln8fta5-YrIPDd-Vv_fuqceS-ysIruoEnJcNHskQhF_hNqOgFcE0QhLUk2ibie6U" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="413" data-original-width="620" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgBBAJXhPNYoVodAi7NO76HDn8NSNEhOgd6hQfR_UKZZf5EMeSSv-dXYEJ2liBP8jTWPVnbeoKvBF65pnJRW33GDt5HkCKqAfEOltidExtgZFZvxycVIifXyfZDUYV9Ln8fta5-YrIPDd-Vv_fuqceS-ysIruoEnJcNHskQhF_hNqOgFcE0QhLUk2ibie6U" width="320" /></a></div><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-34251937292556342292024-02-12T23:24:00.000-08:002024-02-13T18:20:49.493-08:00Anywhere But Here<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Anywhere But Here<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Shambling formless down the aisle<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">herded by our shepherdesses,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">some gurning flappermouth<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">with a penchant for sport<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">or so he claims, this dreadnought<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">blinks as he cops tight tennis dresses<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">sported by Naomi or Caroline,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">couldn’t check order of play, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">didn’t bother, no time,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">snatches a snapshot nonetheless,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">deposits it in the bank for laters,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">backhand whistles down the line<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">exchanging ground shot for shots, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">cross court, lobs, half volleys,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and he cares not a jot, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">down under living a living thick clot,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">loudly declaims he was off his trolley<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">some night, last night, the night before, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">hell, Tuesday last he had a blast, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">since you didn’t ask,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">but he’ll tell you anyway, talk’s cheap,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">dropping the free programme by his feet,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">scours the crowd to meet and greet<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">anyone that’s sadly here, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">anyone he badly knows,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">his looks and looks that boldly go<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">as stampedes towards the exit grow,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">pray ground beneath his feet swallows,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and doesn’t bother with the spitting, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">until he’s left alone<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">to check the phone for cricket scores,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">a wallabies and springboks bore,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">to drive living shit out of any in earshot,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">up and under, dropping the ball,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">rabbits a good ruck and maul,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">an all black in bucket hat</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">from underneath the scum he crawls,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Azarenka’s angry glare,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">a scream of incandescent rage </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">lobbed in his direction,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">caught him looking at his own reflection<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">because he really cannot fathom why,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">his something mate from Dubai won’t fly,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">give coming to watch the tennis a try,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">but that bloke's not coming nowhere near,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">while he’s anywhere but here.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbtIgE-4xGwtl5kdMWjdp42-_Kcxp-ZZFykX2t4999gYLhOEDiG4C5suO2iP9UTJxEkEQM2IemOL3FiMJ2N_lBIUYY6wQqVAs_kopAfu8pAVaGSVfgAnspZBtV0T3y-Iw1lrmDeqK9lVHqgA-dBuvTF9aFWAtSoVVgqVP2sIw6vVUip7gqoB1zVigBi-74" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgbtIgE-4xGwtl5kdMWjdp42-_Kcxp-ZZFykX2t4999gYLhOEDiG4C5suO2iP9UTJxEkEQM2IemOL3FiMJ2N_lBIUYY6wQqVAs_kopAfu8pAVaGSVfgAnspZBtV0T3y-Iw1lrmDeqK9lVHqgA-dBuvTF9aFWAtSoVVgqVP2sIw6vVUip7gqoB1zVigBi-74=w300-h400" width="300" /></a></div><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /><br /></span><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-41986447989470782822024-02-10T00:03:00.000-08:002024-02-12T23:38:35.539-08:00Arthur Birling<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Arthur Birling<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">If you ask about Arthurs, I could name you a few,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">if that’s what you’re telling me will tickle you:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">how about a pissed playboy millionaire, cut off<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">when his train fell in the bath, some say shocked<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">John Gielgud was trying to electrocute the twat.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Or that King, married Queenie Watts up some flat,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Arthur Sixpence? ‘Yes, my dear, ‘ave some of that.’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Here’s to Arthur Fowler who nicked the Xmas cash<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">from some driveling moribund show, made a dash<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">for notoriety, but ended off far worse than dead,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">noddy donkey, rubbing his knees, sick in the head.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">But there’s no Arthur more famous than Sir Birling,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">who boxed plenty round caskets of pound sterling,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">‘take those to the bank, Shalamar,’ he’d often shout,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">so it’s told, being right fond of banging disco tunes,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">‘’I Love the Nightlife, Disco Round’ of an afternoon,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">burning up the floor rather than some girl’s intestine<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">with bleach, although, as for that, it’s well believed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">she imbibed it herself, while all those John Smiths<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">were pulling potatoes and the potatoes pulling back.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">And as for Sir Birling, he’s happy passing her the sack,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">it comes in dead handy for storage, since you asked,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">while thousands of teachers boring the tits off kids,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">when Supertramp said it better in, ‘Give a Little Bit’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">because a ghoul muttered she ‘kept a diary of sorts,’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">so, ‘hey kids, here’s fun, why don’t you write one?’<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and there’s Stimpson, at the back, stifling a yawn,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">the insolent shite. Nearly 80 years ago she passed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">without the decent manners to breathe her last,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and as good a reason as any to clap Arthur in chains<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">in some time-looped purgatory, and the self-same<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">self-righteous speech about fire and shock and awe.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Meanwhile gulfs from here, Arthur Brain's stirring,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">a thick set, tinpot turd, fifty years past all unlearning,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">stoked steam engines boil in his incense burning</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">and stroking his furnace, washing minds for ore:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">thinks fuck your communities while he spoils for war.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3Zq77hC2DN-r0q5tmruuYpizjPxSd-rdfhGEZiOiwokS0MW99Ze6kfqPZT75bZRQBACXw_E89zoO3Tuv4iQykrqq-wEeZ9q37aSzac_0wptniuXme-rUZWKbp6MNb4UWq9iI44hJpoKBd6EXC1sixg8Q-VT4sKWIfukwjxbOuHShp6rwzc1bR-9INm6tA" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="205" data-original-width="246" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg3Zq77hC2DN-r0q5tmruuYpizjPxSd-rdfhGEZiOiwokS0MW99Ze6kfqPZT75bZRQBACXw_E89zoO3Tuv4iQykrqq-wEeZ9q37aSzac_0wptniuXme-rUZWKbp6MNb4UWq9iI44hJpoKBd6EXC1sixg8Q-VT4sKWIfukwjxbOuHShp6rwzc1bR-9INm6tA" width="288" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-54962257816139539352024-02-09T01:08:00.000-08:002024-02-17T06:18:04.434-08:00Hang You Up Above the Fireplace<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Hang You Up Above the Fireplace<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Lift those grey veils and look, you fool,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">hot lathe will sculpt and grind with tools<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and don’t suppose you’ll end this race,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">you won’t - that much is certain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Keep friends close for the enemies flirt<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">who’d slap that look from off your face.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">You be some Duke of controlling words,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">try commands, think looks that murder,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">knee-jerk whispers of uprising murmur,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">choosing never to stoop or never serve,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">but don’t think you can by smiling hide,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">he’ll dash those roses from your eyes,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and he will put your curtain by,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">part ashes where your hot snakes writhe,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">shred your shrewish gaze of sullen silk,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">you’re waylaid across the table,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">find time to lesson you if he's able,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">expose spots of joy for sludge and silt,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">with craft your masked distemper trace,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and hang you up above the fireplace.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJ_2DtMGuUhJo1DdupbTMGOyV8NH7dQg63Kj64XYxuh8v9N5UPDqK4EH1bzEco2rDjC5YvlXauSYVyK4juRyW6rVsdUI8-FeazWpXxw-2KJLxrdyRrVD1NjIvRlK5iUWD41HvlR1HwjtDh2MaWDQYhIqVKaGLbOV2jLp8N3EWpqNfxcXXlIeG4J6MOh0lw" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3648" data-original-width="2736" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhJ_2DtMGuUhJo1DdupbTMGOyV8NH7dQg63Kj64XYxuh8v9N5UPDqK4EH1bzEco2rDjC5YvlXauSYVyK4juRyW6rVsdUI8-FeazWpXxw-2KJLxrdyRrVD1NjIvRlK5iUWD41HvlR1HwjtDh2MaWDQYhIqVKaGLbOV2jLp8N3EWpqNfxcXXlIeG4J6MOh0lw" width="180" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-26721189694312600022024-02-03T01:43:00.000-08:002024-02-04T18:17:17.467-08:00She is Little, But Fierce<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">She is
Little, But Fierce<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">She is
little, but fierce, you praise her well,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">because she
smiles upon those little lies you tell,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and everything, in the end, is balanced.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">You were small when you learnt to deceive<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">to avoid panel beatings you often received,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">meted out in
kind correction; on reflection<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">it mostly failed,
but was always worth a go,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">because his
punch to the ear, nose or throat<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and that way
your head seemed to float<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">in bright
sick pea greened lightning flash,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">boomed as
loud as grand piano lids crash,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">swimming the
sea, swimming for shore<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and how did
you find yourself on the floor?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Ah, you felt betrayed in leaked liquid,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">don't give him any
satisfaction; better a smirk,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">dust
yourself down with a wink and flirt<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">to that
unseen cosmic audience, take a bow,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">you’re
older, but there’s a little left of that now,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">take solace
in her knitted turtleneck brow,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">you can only
get away with what she’ll allow.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Oh, it
starts here, same as it ever did<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">in words
that beat repeating.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Those little
deceits you laugh off as jokes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">coiling down
yarns and little enough rope<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">for hanging
around her, sporting four poster eyes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and licked
lips, unpursing all your sweet little lies,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">in words
well learned because you’ve earned it<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">by giving
his ancient noose the slip.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Pitched it down,
slung it over your shoulder, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">tore chains from
necks and cast-off boulders,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">to come dashing
away with smoothing iron words,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">murmured lovers' best cliches that love ever heard.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">She is
little, but fierce; praise her well,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">because she
smiles upon those little lies you tell,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and lessons
learned by wooden spoons<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">on slack
skinned tom-toms beating tunes,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">once played
with a grimace of well-honed talent<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">because
everything, in the end, is balanced.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4G6Pc9OE9ZbTQhwGgwtnxCUKyU4cKYQ_hktUHdaT4Pd91YzVyxj7LRGrlqjc4jY39KeLnR9IVRn6cbhCSqxJLp0PbiSpB5Iw5rkM15p2Hr5spVg3n_TIrU_o_ZK-Hv6pHRe2AwHEZkslqpGOoRBjKUva5_WdTllI_l8HO-QnGqLyR2BhqaUk3HRA8_xCC" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="580" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh4G6Pc9OE9ZbTQhwGgwtnxCUKyU4cKYQ_hktUHdaT4Pd91YzVyxj7LRGrlqjc4jY39KeLnR9IVRn6cbhCSqxJLp0PbiSpB5Iw5rkM15p2Hr5spVg3n_TIrU_o_ZK-Hv6pHRe2AwHEZkslqpGOoRBjKUva5_WdTllI_l8HO-QnGqLyR2BhqaUk3HRA8_xCC=w394-h262" width="394" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-30001374717428880492024-01-26T22:55:00.000-08:002024-03-07T22:43:55.438-08:00Blocks and Balls and Fag Packets<p> <b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Blocks
and Balls and Fag Packets</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I was fired
from the castle project,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">though, in
truth, I’d sagged off a bit,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">having last
summer been instructed to fit<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">an engine to
a piece of card,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">all superglued; crusted fingers getting hard.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">He peered from
beneath his undercut perm,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">parted
bangs, showing fangs<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">in disagreement
with my modus operandi,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">‘I want
blocks,’ he insisted,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and I
recalled the time I’d resisted<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">a dreadful
father’s hard wisdom<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">that I chucked away my collection of fag packets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">We kicked
football. ‘You’re rusty,’ I said<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">as he hoofed
the ball straight at my head,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and
something bounced up and down the hard core,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">missing
about as many as he scored,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">until I’m shot, panting on the floor<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and seventy
pounds plus for blocks or more.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">‘We can use
cardboard, sustainable, environment,”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I’d parroted
and he almost scoffed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">because he’s
older now and reaches the shoulder<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I used to
carry him on,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">when his
legs were too weak to walk upon,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">or he would
stumble in my wake.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">“Save this,
Grandad,’ he snapped,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">the ball
underneath his right foot and trapped, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">stepover,
Cruyff turn, nutmeg and watched me flap<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">like some
overweight stuffed Great Tit,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">drove the
ball so close I felt the spray of winter rain,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">some years fly pass and some remain.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Then,
with a steely glare, I was sacked,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">over wasteful
blocks that I refused to back;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">he gave
his hair a mocking flick,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and called me
out on it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">‘You feel
sad, now” he guesses, correct:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">I'm thinking of all those fag
packets I didn't collect.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFi3k4rvUijWbUvEzpEATczWlkMIdCENzSR_Jz-CjGxYJaTa7GAYiopo8eNw-TEhvZy_A5oZyykBa5WNeJTw-y9p9TKKMUlOy5r_XVRlWxYI7HJ1tIPFw_Tdx_NDSgpxsc0cuO83Qi3raAFPVgtH6Mu8v9Av563vMclI456ay-xxibM-L2mXyO4lWhrSiX" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjFi3k4rvUijWbUvEzpEATczWlkMIdCENzSR_Jz-CjGxYJaTa7GAYiopo8eNw-TEhvZy_A5oZyykBa5WNeJTw-y9p9TKKMUlOy5r_XVRlWxYI7HJ1tIPFw_Tdx_NDSgpxsc0cuO83Qi3raAFPVgtH6Mu8v9Av563vMclI456ay-xxibM-L2mXyO4lWhrSiX" width="301" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-37848362747304289382024-01-26T00:57:00.000-08:002024-02-12T23:45:45.621-08:00Buttered Curls<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Buttered Curls<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Milk curls of frigid butter saucered,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">dished and melting in sun drench.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">She’s frisking past in swishing skirt<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">that brushes your chair, fusses your hair<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">putting the mango, cubing the melon,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">weighing with cucumber cool hands,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">her measured portions to tantalize<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and there’s just a sparkle in her eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Oh, it stirs you and you are aware<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">of what is shouldn’t and seldom there.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Later will come in night’s silent sighs,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">her salad tossed, her noiseless cries,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">bring before your mind image sharp,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">hot sauce to sip, keen scissors part,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">in buttered curls, in oils, in dressing,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">perforating thin tissued paper skin,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">be first into her light heart entering.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxsH0jeMEPUFXmhrkOC7d-vPK7Vddswf4BFzspScNeC3wTLT2AixquJRYU7LJiRVAPWd-OG3jLKdlgKivDW_60QJeGlgBC6Z_H3p2wyW2bUM3xg6gmkOeFQDZt9GD_64w5CgQN5sO9iZShEho4d8bMCfwEfHQe_IdlwxBJDLabFKenGJB7dtDThBY42ec4/s1000/1000_F_195390076_ebWB3cpK2JTtHxNTdnItlbS3K12EniZI.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="764" data-original-width="1000" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxsH0jeMEPUFXmhrkOC7d-vPK7Vddswf4BFzspScNeC3wTLT2AixquJRYU7LJiRVAPWd-OG3jLKdlgKivDW_60QJeGlgBC6Z_H3p2wyW2bUM3xg6gmkOeFQDZt9GD_64w5CgQN5sO9iZShEho4d8bMCfwEfHQe_IdlwxBJDLabFKenGJB7dtDThBY42ec4/s320/1000_F_195390076_ebWB3cpK2JTtHxNTdnItlbS3K12EniZI.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-61211502592660025832024-01-25T23:43:00.000-08:002024-01-25T23:49:22.138-08:00It Isn’t Of Course<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It Isn’t Of Course<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It’s best to think of life as a thickish blue line<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">on a map<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">that stretches from here to Leeds;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">a stop at Leicester Forest East,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Newport Pagnell or Trowell:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">It isn’t of course,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">only a fool would think that because<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">‘what about this skin on your toes </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">that’s flaking,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">buttery fungus beneath the nails<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">minding its own business?’ she wails,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">a voice like Portuguese tomato soup,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">a face from never ending time loop, <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">all spit and French polish.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Then there’s that food </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">you ate yesterday,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">inching its way, </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">inching its way,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">‘and you probably forgot’, she says,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">whilst sweeping the floor, panning for debris,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">chucking pennies in wishing wells to visit Georgia,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">somewhere like that </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and many do </span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">think to feel </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;">all that gritty snow between freezing toes</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">somehow it will all click into place<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">like a plucked snapdragon squeezed </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">will kiss and tease,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and when you look back</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">on this and that,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">it’s not where you are </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">or where you’ve been,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">just what you’ve left behind that’s seen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9tw7u9s4MfcphRU-uC1lxUIw_g2lsCaKC56s79cl5FypkAClZQC3UqJBpcMBcjVdvcoerrt7gpbR3d3d_yg7MkL1MhxXmXNk-nOeHEonxEdYqZR0kGT2PSPMFs9N7bKeAFTRjh9SgHr8LCeQcoyntqru7USHbjTP4iI5Hdep-yIe7Qa4POQHo2FIo93xg/s2251/wail.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2251" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9tw7u9s4MfcphRU-uC1lxUIw_g2lsCaKC56s79cl5FypkAClZQC3UqJBpcMBcjVdvcoerrt7gpbR3d3d_yg7MkL1MhxXmXNk-nOeHEonxEdYqZR0kGT2PSPMFs9N7bKeAFTRjh9SgHr8LCeQcoyntqru7USHbjTP4iI5Hdep-yIe7Qa4POQHo2FIo93xg/s320/wail.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-45900452807167926492024-01-20T00:30:00.000-08:002024-01-22T18:27:32.787-08:00And You Thought There Weren’t<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">And You
Thought There Weren’t<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">The children
were the first to leave,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">seats swallowed
by hawked up rabies<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">and you thought
there weren’t<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk156639595"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">men
like these, <o:p></o:p></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Above the
crowd, hands conduct,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">about game play he gives not a fuck,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">and you thought
there weren’t<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">men like these,
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Corners, goals, talent passed by unseen,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">he’s fouled his
pants, ripped his spleen,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">mouths that
spew in white, red, green,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">and you thought
there weren’t<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">men like these,
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Women bore him so they force an exit,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">ducking shot off broadsides and strayed bullets,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">and you thought
there weren’t<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">men like these,
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Thinning
crowds witness his thinning hair,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">now flicking witless fingers at fresh air,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">worn drums
beating, klaxons blare,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">and you thought
there weren’t<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">men like these,
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Tripled chinned and full bellies five,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">unfathom how he
stayed alive<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">this long, how his doctrines
are allowed to thrive,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">a heart attack
that was revived<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">by worker wasps that stock the hive,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a name="_Hlk156641880"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">and
you thought there weren’t<o:p></o:p></span></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">men like these, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Fervent fist-falling fat faces pound,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">blasphemes our
holy sporting grounds,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">a charge of
static, a tedium of change,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">aspects of
blood unborn of blame,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">from here besieged
his world will burn,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">in
conflagrations his nations churn.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">Beat thunder,
bring on his end of days,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">see ancient dogma
in his eyes ablaze,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">submit to the
will of men who pray,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">beget rotting fell
fruit fall from apple trees,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">and you thought
there weren’t<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">men like these,
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif">anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipzOsVr-IEiw7QoqzJf9deEWLKP4CFcSA0O2dg6QSYnMt4GCnhEXzExcdwrDp2c3EQhVHytL7Md96DW9O6FfzdQnAisW8BxNvwcOKqCY360w1JHZceOLC1YkdHLhZVblF27Yl9ysneug3Pm5t_oHN1XS4K4p48AfhPy8vVOukD2-CHwkc_IBw_cbB_nRUl/s1311/nintchdbpict000243900332.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1138" data-original-width="1311" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipzOsVr-IEiw7QoqzJf9deEWLKP4CFcSA0O2dg6QSYnMt4GCnhEXzExcdwrDp2c3EQhVHytL7Md96DW9O6FfzdQnAisW8BxNvwcOKqCY360w1JHZceOLC1YkdHLhZVblF27Yl9ysneug3Pm5t_oHN1XS4K4p48AfhPy8vVOukD2-CHwkc_IBw_cbB_nRUl/s320/nintchdbpict000243900332.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"><br /></span><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-78141613915433087982024-01-19T00:24:00.000-08:002024-01-19T00:24:20.062-08:00O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Oh, I cannot swear that I do not love you<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">as the sun lies sick in bed, the moon is like<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">that cowlick, pressed against your forehead rests<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">a crescent, a question mark, an end stop.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">No, more a waymark between throat and breasts<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">that sun must swell from crescents to discs,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">round you gently as her passing phases call<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">moonshine until you’re breathless in silhouette,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">in my darkness slumber and hapless to forget.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Oh, I cannot lie here and say you are not Juliet,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">as the sun sends her diadem, in corona flames,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">casts mirrors that shimmer with what you will attain,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">scatter halos to crown moon’s darkling dove<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">and her shadows eclipsing such swollen love.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">As your fruit must fill to fall on meadows strewn,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">so shall the sun give way, with sickness swoon<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">under my light loving of this inconstant moon.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPtkssAjDZ9et4o2Oc8lN1E2q8KKAskBvHzJKiaMz5wc2EtGGiqw0WWcQ3iDa0xhdRhvVyP6KACgsM_O1naBR7l9xu8Aae8SXg0vJqpGipHM17NU3FAXw7gKB4Qky7jl0uM24odWV3B7J5vdfrClhkJ_knCZIGJzRp0JibczD_I2IflPshNilZtlD-zak/s1920/What%20is%20a%20cowlick.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="864" data-original-width="1920" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAPtkssAjDZ9et4o2Oc8lN1E2q8KKAskBvHzJKiaMz5wc2EtGGiqw0WWcQ3iDa0xhdRhvVyP6KACgsM_O1naBR7l9xu8Aae8SXg0vJqpGipHM17NU3FAXw7gKB4Qky7jl0uM24odWV3B7J5vdfrClhkJ_knCZIGJzRp0JibczD_I2IflPshNilZtlD-zak/s320/What%20is%20a%20cowlick.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-73916606193162124762024-01-12T01:57:00.000-08:002024-01-12T21:31:39.469-08:00Sun and Light<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Sun and Light<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">My Sun brought light, she grows in curves<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">but dappled. Developing in dark rooms,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">pushing at wafer-skinned, light sensitive years,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">just wants for a few more scanty seconds.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">My Sun brought smiles, fetches and feeds<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">me fruit full. Light, her close freckled grains<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">of shy touch and soft suggestions breed,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">she’s growing, she’s filling, she beckons.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">My Sun brought shivering in shadow’s<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">light hands. Beneath her table, touching<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">unquivering bright that piercing arrow,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">suffering shots with pitched light weapons.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizazm3A3n-qpTugBGKOcu76qlbVobZrQw_bAqjhq8YNwxe6DMb2ojtP926_tEIM9MZNo5djI8gZHqWVSw-oYWYU7zgmADnRZQ82bx9vYPL9hTH-YvihshEJdZm0XfoXBGgchzgnS52KRgyTojqpEwjVFfT61m_R80IMVXxku_FEPaHg3GEIoZNbXTksQkJ" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="148" data-original-width="220" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizazm3A3n-qpTugBGKOcu76qlbVobZrQw_bAqjhq8YNwxe6DMb2ojtP926_tEIM9MZNo5djI8gZHqWVSw-oYWYU7zgmADnRZQ82bx9vYPL9hTH-YvihshEJdZm0XfoXBGgchzgnS52KRgyTojqpEwjVFfT61m_R80IMVXxku_FEPaHg3GEIoZNbXTksQkJ" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-65410899939139558372024-01-12T00:00:00.000-08:002024-01-12T21:34:47.381-08:00Heal<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Heal<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Darkest those thoughts before the drop,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">from ten through four squared photos crop,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">recycle in raindrop rounds in puddles found<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">clouds, oiling the wheels, oiling the water,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">oils lust for the mother and more for the daughter,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">caught deep and trapped and open cast,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">bring both before me chained in recent past<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">for your pleasure and for mine at last</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">then jolt and shock, drop antishock watch shook;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">reach out for cruel time, wind down spiral lines,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">groan deep for we have not yet cratered sleep:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">the seconds, the minutes, the hours that creep,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">grip hard the edge of black basins who pull<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">with grave intent at her sticky wool,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">for she tongued and grooved and from good stock,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">part her deepening cleavage, her opening frock,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">invite you to reach in and begs you to touch,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">run yesterday’s hands over her hot satin lands,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">slipped in with scented liquid drips and slips,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">fall headlong, keel over, greases weakening grips<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and examines, heals, thinks, feels, cries,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">hypnotized your closing eyes over closing eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOu_2ihnUsCDuOszD3tCYJ6jV1rnvAF3OQb5qU28DaCcvejhGc2T8ratT6MgHFeVpj3kOQHhE1bDk8ixZ-QbeluPyNH0h-aOUZJmCPHsTwPlyZgx-iTTo5ComjoFV6Ce_XAnlfaf37hW4csBsuXalWZTxl5P2d3ZepvmU5hRIyefvFRvAQEslfQq1ilXEB" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="853" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhOu_2ihnUsCDuOszD3tCYJ6jV1rnvAF3OQb5qU28DaCcvejhGc2T8ratT6MgHFeVpj3kOQHhE1bDk8ixZ-QbeluPyNH0h-aOUZJmCPHsTwPlyZgx-iTTo5ComjoFV6Ce_XAnlfaf37hW4csBsuXalWZTxl5P2d3ZepvmU5hRIyefvFRvAQEslfQq1ilXEB" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-57684994509644075472023-12-31T13:39:00.000-08:002024-01-12T21:37:22.287-08:00Of Winter Afternoons in 2023<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Of Winter Afternoons in 2023<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">They clap-boarded high
street pubs decades ago<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">to make way for fucking
Littlewoods, BHS, Wilko<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">but they’re dead, no more
and time will blow<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">through each sodden gutter,
each held out hand,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">is praying that those
oppressors soon will land<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">because it doesn’t get
much worse than this.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Your weathered Brexiteers
are permagreyed<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and beaten up; trip on
thinning sleeping bags,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">unpocketing vinegary hands
is a bloody drag<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">but tonight thank God it's them. Hearts heaving,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">grieving, running our road
between this and that,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">you’re bunkered in for the
New Year’s; you’re sat<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">with lover's dross, make
unmerry and raw regret,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">drifting thoughts to me,
for you can never forget<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">what of the chances?
Here is no landing for love,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">wring out wrought hearts and
suck on your gloves.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE8dX4FPBdy2UA4IclWImZjBDLT0jkQrJ_P3rPpOcdx7yDq8CcXDhRjHigpd2b21qOxQWrxEHHQCLWIZCKyavWSLzgmrWjiA7UqJe7g_0PSvj3K6emL37ggkeRgWlyVWWoRlA5Kj0WqcyemjYydvsz5p-y5D9mBbMbsNY15OTNmiRtYSLmKUmk1r1psZ5a/s550/derelict_high_streets.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="550" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE8dX4FPBdy2UA4IclWImZjBDLT0jkQrJ_P3rPpOcdx7yDq8CcXDhRjHigpd2b21qOxQWrxEHHQCLWIZCKyavWSLzgmrWjiA7UqJe7g_0PSvj3K6emL37ggkeRgWlyVWWoRlA5Kj0WqcyemjYydvsz5p-y5D9mBbMbsNY15OTNmiRtYSLmKUmk1r1psZ5a/s320/derelict_high_streets.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-17306850675834542023-12-31T12:25:00.000-08:002024-01-01T01:21:58.554-08:00It Changes Nothing<p> </p><p><b><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It Changes Nothing</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">She’ll have off ripe avocado
smashed on toast,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">calls them out in the
queue, some slothful boast<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">about having to perch two
poached eggs on top;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">break yolks. Rolls adjectives
around her tongue<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and fanciful still she fancies
they fancy her young,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">solid set, thick scarf
mad dash for window seats,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">opens rubber jaws, thicker
lips, drools and eats.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Halfway across town and here’s
Dobson grappling<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">sheets, towels, sacking while
wild wind howling<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">around his ankles, unbuttons
cuffs and growling,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">whipping his denims into
threads, fills his head<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">with oncoming storms, with
apocalyptic dread,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">he’s offering her a lottery
for laundry, so she said,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">shuffling her grey
coveralls in opposable directions,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">rolls her eyes, staring grim at that darker reflection<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">and as his eyes offend her, she'll close her curtains.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjudG5ZYAGvhUSdpSCqezjVxUa15tN7qlGmeaJjgZJ_g4ZAHaxmzwW4yise7yiuAbTg8_FoEeGAyP6lGUARhxBXKHgkDZje8JoeWjwO6x5sWupbxkVoQQ3c0cRhWgKOnmUWXHffCGh8cbfjAS_Z7kIhz_90s88DuuQ3gojl6DUXh4zDVYC1zIv0uhevq9J-/s612/istockphoto-1320266863-612x612.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="612" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjudG5ZYAGvhUSdpSCqezjVxUa15tN7qlGmeaJjgZJ_g4ZAHaxmzwW4yise7yiuAbTg8_FoEeGAyP6lGUARhxBXKHgkDZje8JoeWjwO6x5sWupbxkVoQQ3c0cRhWgKOnmUWXHffCGh8cbfjAS_Z7kIhz_90s88DuuQ3gojl6DUXh4zDVYC1zIv0uhevq9J-/s320/istockphoto-1320266863-612x612.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span><p></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-711029542925772930.post-34622728761823333072023-12-30T09:23:00.000-08:002023-12-30T09:43:03.584-08:00Cat's Cradle<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Cat’s Cradle<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></b></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The office was not
much more than a box; its door permanently open. Unless it wasn’t.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The architect who
had designed and scattered these boxes throughout had thought to himself – or
herself – well, you know, we have to put that these days, pronouns and so
forth…</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">…although, do you
remember that Filipina? ‘Ewww, man having hankus with other…’and the room
smiled politely, looking at their Jesus sandaled feet as she was dragged back
behind the bar by an irate manager.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Manager. There’s
another minefield…</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">…had thought to
itself, let’s make them glass fronted, in a spirit of openness and transparency.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Well, what’s a
chap to do? Plaster the glass with posters? Try to find a nook or cranny where
the inner workings are concealed, like Winston’s recess?</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Maybe just leave
the door permanently open. Or not. And on this occasion, voices birthed from
inside to out, briefly audible before they were suffocated by block transfer
air conditioning.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">For a
sixty-year-old woman, Sandra had a brisk pace, she kept herself fit, well aware
that teaching was a marathon not a race – twenty minutes a day, perhaps a
little more on weekends; mango for breakfast. Dates.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Always dates, <st1:place w:st="on">Arabia</st1:place> was fecund with dates – they grow on trees there,
you know, super food.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">On a certain day,
nets would appear around generous clustered bunches, ready to catch the falling.
But she knew to keep it to six a day. Any elderly Arabian would always advise
no more than six – there are properties, they contain certain supplements that
are apt to keep a person awake.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Therefore, without
being too much smug, Sandra walked with a bounce and hips and did not miss the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region></st1:place> too
much.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Well, who does?</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Some people do,
some people miss those green fields on the other side of the fence, the
clustered shoeboxes clutching at a long departed past, where some people have
too short a season, it seems.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Now abreast of the
voices, Sandra peered into the box and was unsurprised to see her boss, George,
slounging in his plastic leather swivel chair, hands clasped behind the back of
his head, all lace fingers and knotty brow, listening to Khalid, who had a
notebook, an animated voice, a mocking tone and was stroking his fingers on the
strings of George’s old, cornered bass guitar as he spoke.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Morning, boys.
What’s going on here?” she asked, in an open tone, although she wasn’t too
interested.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Secret Santa.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“I don’t hold with
Secret bloody Santa,” Khalid asserted, disdainfully.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Well, you’re
Muslim,” Sandra pointed out. “Which - fair enough. But for some of those
teachers from the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
well, it’s a highlight for them.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Of course,”
grinned George, “But what to get?” He waved a crumpled piece of red, festive
looking card at her. “I’ve got Sinead. I haven’t a clue what Sinead would think
is a good present. Two years ago, I got Ciaran a train set, for a laugh…except
he didn’t see the funny side, he got all puffed up and red necked. All
blowfish. I thought his acne would spew pus like a volcano. So last year, I
played it safe and got Aidan a potato peeler from Lulu.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Young ones
are the worst,” Khalid agreed. “For them life is just get pissed, order takeout
and go to the gym.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Bit ageist,”
replied Sandra, shaking her head.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Well, can I help
it if it’s true?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">George’s forehead
was one of those that had a cleft between the two thickened, greying brows,
and, while he would never own up, she knew he plucked those hairs that dared
grow there. He waved at the grubby desk behind his chair, “Coffee?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“No thanks, had
one. I’ll want to pee all lesson. Teaching in five minutes.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Khalid nodded,
still stroking the strings. “At least you do fucking teach, Sandra,” he grunted
in a grumbling undertone, his eyes glancing at her – slightly more youthful –
tapping his notebook. “More complaints, bloody endless.” And his voice had a
northern burr to it, northern <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region>
that is, not <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Qatar</st1:country-region></st1:place>.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“She was in here
crying the other day,” George added, with a thoughtful swivel.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Who?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oh, one of those
young ones. Sunita. Complained she had to mark some exams. Said it was giving
her stress and bringing on her anxiety. I had to point out that marking exams
comes with the job. I didn’t point out, however, that she was bringing on my
irritable bowel syndrome. She complained I lacked empathy when I ran to the
toilet.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Sandra nodded in
sympathy. And then was moved aside.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Behind her, tall,
her long locks covering deep brown pools like willow trees, Ms Ananya peered
into the office, her gaze not quite as friendly as George would hope. “Mr
George,” she snapped displaying all the charm of the Master-At-Arms and his
swagger stick and the cold parade ground on a January day in <st1:place w:st="on">Devon</st1:place>.
“Why did you miss my training?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Khalid scoffed
silently, rolling his eyes in such a way that Ms Ananya could not see.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“There was
training?” George responded, not too convincingly, but using his deepest and
most English accent, well aware that such a register still had cachet –
although, it could never be openly admitted, here or anywhere else.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“I sent an email.
All invigilators to have training before the next examinations.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">George pursed lips
sent out an SOS to Sandra and Khalid: “I…er…must have missed that one, Ms
Ananya, I say, I do like your hair today, it’s very, very nice, very nice
indeed.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">She paused, just
slightly, but then, not to be diverted, continued. “It’s not the first time you’ve
missed my training. We have a new important directive that you must be aware
of.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Ah, um, what is
that?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“We have a
selection of students who are serial lates. To exams. We will make them wait
outside.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Good, that sounds
an excellent plan. Tell me, did the Head of Arabic go to this training, Ms
Ananya?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Ms Ananya scowled.
“Mr Hassan is excused invigilation. He never turns up.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">George stood up,
pushed past Khalid and Sandra and grinned. “Well, what if I never turned up?
Would you excuse me?” And he looked deep into the Indian woman’s stunning eyes.
A blistering, soul shuddering look - that travelled between them both, from
inside to outside, before it earthed itself safely.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">She bit her lip
and blushed. “Please never do that, Mr George. I think too much of you for you
to do that.” And she frowned, walking away, leaving George shaking.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Laters,” Khalid called
after her, watching her retreating figure.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Sandra flicked his
ear from behind. “Snap out of it.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">George’s frame
relaxed, as it does, you know, when unresolved tension passed. “That rogue, Mr
Hassan, I can’t tell you what he asked me to bring back from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">England</st1:city></st1:place></st1:country-region>
next term. After Christmas.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“You can’t just
say that,” replied Khalid, emphasizing <i>that</i>.
“Tell. Tell what it is.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Some spray.
For…you know… a certain spray. I didn’t even know you could...well I’ve never
heard of it, anyway, filthy old man.” George gestured vaguely at his crotch.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Outside the
office, the bell for last lesson sounded. Children had already begun walking
the corridors, turfed out from within the classrooms, idling towards their next
one, chattering, up and down the open bleaches.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Khalid bristled.
He had spotted a teacher coming up stairs from below. Although it was only two
or three years older than the Year 11 students, he could tell it was definitely
a teacher by the strut, high heeled, a Starbucks iced latte in one hand and
phone in the other, gamely tapping the latter with a scarlet nailed thumb. “The
shite they’re sending us from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">England</st1:city></st1:place></st1:country-region> these days,” he
grumbled, but, as he was looking at the guitar, it was difficult to be sure
what he was referring to.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yes,” agreed
Sandra, “that really is a shitty bass.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“It’s ok, it’s a
Yamaha, just a bit old, is all. You can still play a few good tunes on her.”
replied George. And he picked it up. Riffed a string or two with his right
fingers, tonguing his lips as he usually did.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“It’s not right.”
Khalid scowled, his dark face creased, “I’ve said it before.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“You just don’t
agree with music, is all,” George smiled, tolerantly. Because if life had
taught him anything over here, it was to be tolerant.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“No, not that. The
fact this young one is about to give out 25 worksheets, sit behind a desk and
message the other young ones on the phone for an hour.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Sandra shook her
head. “Probably it was Covid. Why they turned out this way. Maybe we need to be
more understanding. You know. They grew up in times when getting out of bed was
a major decision. Life or death.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">George nodded.
“Yes, Sandra, it could be that.” Tolerant.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“No, no,” growled
Khalid, “I just wish you’d be more, you know, strict with them. Put some stick
about, George. You’re the boss. It gives the school a bad fucking name, the way
these bastards behave.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Now, Khalid, what
good would that do? They’d just stay in bed more than they do already and throw
more sickies. Bless them, I say. Some we catch, some will fall. It’s always
been that way.” And George beamed in a Head of English sort of way. You know
that smile. You’ve seen it before.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Carrying a large
cardboard box, Sandra’s heels clipped on the hard floor as she zigzagged pupil
flack and bombing, on her way to class.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Now, in this part
of the world, most children had not lost their joy in a good lesson. The girls,
a Year 8 class, clustered around Sandra, and the door, looking cheerful,
talking animatedly, asking a barrage of questions like dam busters.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Because, as you
will remember, a good English lesson is the best lesson of the day.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">This one would be
particularly splendid, too. Sandra was about to teach Philosophy with her
cardboard box. No actually, that’s a thing these days – for children. Well, you
know, lessons move on.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">She got fed up
explaining to friends who did not work in schools what a cover lesson was.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Covering a sick
colleague, teaching a subject that was unfamiliar, managing a class on the
hoof. These could be difficult. Typically when young teachers were persistently
absent, she reasoned, it was because the children in front of them had been
allowed too much laxity and become naughty.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Hence stress, absence
and the spiral got worse as behaviours were repeated. Some could be saved, some
would fall.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Where’s Miss
O’Donnell? Why is she absent again?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Given that three
or four young ones were absent that morning, Sandra thought she probably
knew, but kept mum. Instead, she arranged a circle of chairs and asked them to
sit.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“I am your cover
teacher,” she announced grandly.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Immediately, Jana
put her hand up. “Are you our cover teacher?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Several girls
groaned.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yes, Jana…now,
stop.” Because Sandra could see the hand was about to shoot up again. “Remember
what you’ve been told? Give yourself some thinking time? High quality
questions?” Sandra started passing out those small mini-boards that are
commonly seen in classes these days, little white plastic slates – very Roman -
designed to get students to slow down and think. “In fact,” she continued,
“It’s a very good idea to scribble questions on these before asking them.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Jana’s whole body
was quivering indecisively, fighting the urge to ask something along the lines
of why such a thing was a good idea. Before she could, however, Sandra had put
her large, innocuous cardboard box inside the circle, bracing herself for Jana
to ask if it was a cardboard box, or why it was a box, or how a box had arrived
there.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Now then, girls,
What’s in the box?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">It was an old
idea, Sandra still occasionally trotted out when she was winging it.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Is it a Christmas
present, Miss?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“If we guess
what’s inside, can we get to keep it?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Christmas is
haram.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“You can’t get to
keep it, nobody gets to keep it, do they, Miss?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Do we have to
guess what’s inside the box, Miss?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">That last one from
Jana, of course, but Sandra grimaced through gritted teeth and watched as the
arguments unfolded for about ten minutes or so before calling for order from
team leaders.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“I think it’s a
bird.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“If it was a bird,
we’d hear it squawking.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“No, it could be
sleeping.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Miss would never
be as cruel as to put a living creature in a box. It would be dark in there.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“It’s a bird that
likes the dark.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“It’s an animal
that likes the dark.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“It hasn’t got out
of bed.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“It hasn’t been
born yet. It’s an egg.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Miss, would you
be so cruel to put a living thing in the box?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“It’s a snake.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“It’s a snake
egg.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Do snakes come
from eggs?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“There are snakes
in boxes in the desert. They like dark places and they wait in there, ready to
attack anybody that dares disturb them. Waiting.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Maybe, there’s a
bird in there near to the snake egg and if it moves it will be attacked. We
should open the box to let it come free.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Sandra waved for
quiet. “You’re a bloodthirsty lot, girls. But, I suppose, that’s the point
isn’t it? What if something was in there waiting to…erm…come free, but we don’t
know what it is? Do we open the box or do we leave it undisturbed where we
found it? What do we do? What rough beast, its hour come round at last?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Miss, do rough
beasts leave snakes in boxes in the desert?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Shut up, Jana.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">As the girls
busied themselves responding to the idea, Sandra watched them, thinking about
George and Khalid and things in dark wombs waiting to be born.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Once, the
staffroom had been upstairs.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Maybe ten years
ago, when the school first opened, was establishing itself, was waiting for
students and, of course, the teachers to educate their budding souls, there had
been plenty of space, plenty of empty classrooms. But like converting a hard
shoulder to smart running on a cheapskate English motorway, the more capacity,
the more it fills, less room, more congestion.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">You get the
picture.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Once meetings had
been held in the staffroom. It was an industrious place, there were
workstations, a kitchen, an efficiency. Now meetings were held in the library.
What once had been was now a classroom and the staffroom had been moved
downstairs, away from the business end of the school, a little box at the
bottom of the stairs with pigeonholes at the back.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">George’s
pigeonhole was stuffed full of old papers, because he never went there.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">It wasn’t
deserted, though. And only this morning, the school nurse had come from her
well-furnished clinic to drop off some non prescription cures for coughs,
colds.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Quick. Take
Beechams.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Was Covid just a
myth? How did it happen so long ago? What poison?</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Bracing himself,
outside the door, George tried not to knock. It was difficult, feeling like he
was about to disturb something that should be left untouched, like lifting a
damp rockery stone – or giving due warning to whatever was on the underside.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Closed doors, not
something he felt should exist in a school, yet here he was with a fistful of
exam papers.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">And no windows,
either, just the ever present air conditioning blowing the toxins inside round
and round.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Reluctantly he
pulled the handle and the wood in the frame grudgingly gave in; he poked his
nose around the corner. “Is Jimmy here? Are, yes, there you are.” He strode the
two or three steps that it took to cross the floor and thrust the papers under
his nose. “There you go, all marked.” And, without waiting for thanks, abruptly
turned and scuttered out.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">His presence had
caused a flurry of silence. That ominous sort, like the rapid hanging up of a
phone followed by a tone, back when that had been a thing.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Maybe ten seconds
after the door clicked shut, a buzz of conversation restarted.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“What a bastard,”
declared a garrulous, female Irish voice. Its owner possessed blonde tousled
hair and she pulled out her hastily hidden iced coffee and McDonald’s
beefburger which she tore into, white toothed, ripping lumps of bread and
greasy meat apart with relish.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Some spilled onto
the desk and her trousers as she continued with full-mouthed opinions. “It’s
all right for him, with his office. In any case, he only does that marking to
show you up, Jimmy.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yeah, I know,
Siobhan,” replied Jimmy, looking up from his phone, thumbing it dexterously
with his left hand, because his tight held a pen which was wanting paper to
score. “Still, that’s fifteen less to do.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yes but he’s a
complete tosser, Jimmy. I have to work with it – always telling you what to do,
giving advice, ‘teaching in his day’. Fucking annoying.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“They’re all as
bad as each other. Know nothing. Do nothing. Them and their blackboards, chalk
and sugar paper.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">They were all
packed tight in that box and Jimmy’s breath mingled with the cheap odour of
Siobhan’s processed meat. Forced to. Breathing in each other’s words. He
coughed loudly, the light catching the shower of spittle and looked
suspiciously at some of the powders previously left by the nurse for the use
of. “Think these will help?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Ah, we’ve all got
it in here. I think we’re passing it to each other like parcels,” someone else
replied.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Parcels?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yeah, you know.
Pass the parcel. Like at parties.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oh yeah, funny,”
chortled Jimmy, although he didn’t really think so. And he glanced at the
trolley with all the Secret Santa boxes on it, for later that day.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“You travelling?”
called another voice, this time from the other side of the room.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Once more, Jimmy
looked up from the phone. “Heading back to <st1:place w:st="on">Liverpool</st1:place>,
can’t wait, I’ll be free of this shit hole.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Two or three
weeks at lest.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“If I come back.
I’ve a mind to stay there.” Jimmy paused for thought. “They didn’t tell us
about this, did they? Lied to us, the bastards.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“You signed a two
year contract.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“What can they do?
I just won’t get on the plane.” Jimmy paused. “I mean, think on it. I could be
on the Kop New Year with me mates. I’ve saved a bit from the four months I’ve
been here. I mean, I’m not saying I will. It could be, though.” He frowned,
wondering where his last idiom had come from. It could be, though. Yes. That
was very <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>. Ah well, finish, hallas.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“You need to get
those papers marked, Jimmy,” Siobhan pointed out, “if you miss the
deadline…well…if you miss the deadline…”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Well, what?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Siobhan wasn’t
exactly sure what, having never faced much in the way of repercussions in her
short life, yet. What would happen? She tried to conceptualize the enormity of
missing a deadline, but had no frame of reference. Then, something dawned.
“You’ll miss Secret Santa. You’ll not get your present.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Bollocks to
Secret Santa.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Unable to think of
a retort, and not sure if she wanted to, Siobhan finished the last of her
fries, drank the dregs of the latte and examined at her phone. Her pudgy young
face froze in disbelief; the colour literally draining out of it. The phone was
frozen in her hand.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Next to her,
Patrick sensed something was wrong, placed a red pen down and shoved her left
shoulder. “What’s the problem?” And he too, looked at the phone in his left
hand. No, nothing on his. He shrugged.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Siobhan was still
frozen.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“What’s the big
issue?” said Patrick again.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">His voice seemed
to act upon her like a laxative, and the left thumb began gliding across the
screen frantically. Occasionally she would pause, wait. Then the thumb sprang
into further action. It was rather impressive to an onlooker – but to those
within, commonplace – they’d been doing it since they could remember.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Whatever was being
typed was having little result, however, judging from the various shades
Siobhan’s face was turning.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Until, at last,
she shook her head and finally answered Patrick’s plaintive calls.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“It’s Abdul
Shehabi’s parents. They want to see me. In the foyer.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“That’s not good.
That’s never good.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“But he was only
moved to my class by Mr George two weeks ago. I only told him that he would
find top set too difficult, that’s all. Honest.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“That Abdul’s a
hooligan.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“It’s not your
fault. It’s those bastards again. They never think anything through. That’s the
trouble. They never ask us. Just do what they want, when they want.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Well there’s no
way I’m going to meet them, anyway.” Siobhan bit her lip, fighting the urge to
cry. And the staffroom had never felt so warm and comforting. So closed and
safe. Like a blanket from a mother.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“What if they
don’t go away?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Shut up. They’ll
go away. They’ll get bored waiting,” Siobhan muttered, not even convincing
herself. Why now? Why on this day? It was Secret Santa, they had to know that,
didn’t they?</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The others, within
that small room could genuinely feel it, fight or flight; the swirling,
bitterly cold air from without was waiting to get in, waiting for those within
to come without.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Siobhan suddenly
knew what had to be done.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“I’ll call Sandra.
She’ll know what to do.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Now as all this
was going on, upstairs, down the bleaches 500 steps and to the right on the
boys’ side, Head of Secondary, Ms Anita, was having one of those.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">You know -
interviews. If you look in your management handbook, they’re often called
‘difficult conversations’, can fall into several categories and none of them
are very much fun anymore.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Managing difficult
conversations – first, establish the parameters and set the venue – and if you
haven’t had to read one of these books or attended one of these courses, you’ve
had a lucky life, full of joy and freedom, with any sort of pyramid absent from
your thoughts except on those times when you flick through a guidebook and
dream of visiting the Nile.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Anita sighed
inside herself, setting a calm smile upon the white canvas of her attractive
face, brushing back the blonde locks that would tumble across her eyes in
disobedience and settled her trim frame more comfortably into the high backed
chair.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Pushing across a
box of tissues, she forbade her eyes to look at the winking laptop; a dozen
important tasks screaming for attention, “like a cat’s cradle.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The figure in
front of her stopped sniffling. “What?” She had a northern English accent – or
was it Welsh? Yes, maybe Welsh – which figures, because Sunita was from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cardiff</st1:place></st1:city>.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Huh?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“You said something
about cars.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Anita frowned, “I
thought that was in my head. It must have escaped, somehow. Like cats.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Cars?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yes, they escape,
don’t they? At least the one I had, when I lived in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Prague</st1:place></st1:city> as a student. It would escape,
wouldn’t it?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Would it?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Of course. Over
the top of the gin factory and into the mews, where it would spit at the legs
of innocent people out for their Sunday shopping. And there was that time it
thieved my neighbour’s steak. Left on the window sill to thaw. Mid January.
It’s cold in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Prague</st1:place></st1:city>
on a mid January morning.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Sunita looked
puzzled. “What kind of car? A Fiat?” Perhaps she was putting herself into that
car, spitting at the public, stealing steaks. Perhaps she couldn’t see it,
though, the way she blinked underneath her hijab, reaching for another tissue,
filling up again.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Because the
difficult conversation was not sticking to the set parameters she’d previously
written down, Anita probably wished she had that book to hand. “Not car,
Sunita. Cat. I’ve heard that crying too much causes your ears to block and your
nose to run. In any case…” she paused, raising her hand to prevent something
that looked like it might be an outraged outburst along the lines of ‘are you
calling me deaf’…”I was thinking of a cat’s cradle.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Cat’s cradle?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Looking at my
computer, a small black box, with everything inside, ready to burst outside. My
Grandfather, God rest his soul, used to show me this thing with string.
Somehow, when he flicked it, everything inside would be on the outside.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Sunita sniffled,
not really understanding, because all she had was inside and she hadn’t really
giving much thought to the outside, or what it was that happened there. Safer
to be in, within what could be controlled. The outside was something she kept
away from the inside. Not that she said this or thought it, really, she just
felt it. If the outside came in, it was via her phone, where it could be
blocked.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Wouldn’t that be
a thing? If what was inside was outside? If everything flipped?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“I really don’t
see what this has to do with my resigning.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Ah yes, that.”
Anita replied, reluctantly, and examined the typed note in front of her – which
looked as though it had been drafted on a phone. She squinted at it. “Well,
look. You’d be breaking your contract, you know? You’ve only been with us three
months. Is that really long enough to know that you’re unhappy?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“That George
wanted me to mark the students’ exams. Lots of exams. Just the thought of it
brings on my anxiety. My mental health is more important than marking exams,
isn’t it?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Well, marking
exams is generally part of a teacher’s job, Sunita. I’m sure they must have
mentioned it at teacher training college.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Well, maybe they
did. I might have missed that lecture. I missed a lot of lectures. There was
Covid, you know?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Covid?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yes. I did my
teacher training online – mostly in my bedroom. I also had special permissions
to keep my camera off during the Zoom lectures I attended. Privacy.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yes. We used to
have that problem with the students, I remember.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“I just feel
homesick. I want to go back to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cardiff</st1:place></st1:city>.
To my mum and dad.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Once again, Anita
sighed. Some days, you’re just not going to win, are you?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">In fact it was
Khalid, not Sandra, who turned up.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The foyer, located
at the front of the school, was a grand affair, a huge semi circle beneath the
library with several desks, behind which were people to meet and greet,
depending on whatever visitors would present. Behind them was a glass fronted
aviary containing parrots and love birds – for reasons best known to the
architect.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Something to do
with sustainable vertical gardening was mentioned in the plans.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The Principal’s
offices were situated to the left and other administrative offices to the right
and behind the aviary? A swimming pool and large sports hall.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Rather than let
irate parents into the inner workings, several sofas and chairs were arranged
into horseshoes and within one such, a man and a woman sat patiently.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">The woman was
dressed in comfortable, shapeless clothing and wore her hijab tightly – a colourful
one with a floral pattern. The man was a few years older, face mostly obscured
by a grey beard, wore a traditional thawb and sat, silent, tapping his watch
occasionally. He was, in fact, desperate for a smoke and was looking at the
exit doors.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Wait,” snapped
his wife, before he could move. And the man sighed, shook his fob watch again
and showed yellow teeth.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Khalid witnessed
all this from the corridor to the side of them, because he was of course, anonymous
to them at this point. Therefore, the initiative was his, familiar as he was
with that indispensible teacher’s handbook ‘Getting the Buggers’ Parents to
Behave’. </span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Instinctively,
Khalid thrust his arm out. “Stop.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">In doing so, he
caught hold of Siobhan, still stuffed up, all red eyes and puffy cheeks and
shaking.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Where do you want
to be?” Khalid nodded his head curtly in the direction of the parents.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">She did not
answer. Looked at him, maybe for the first time. Solid, bearded, a little
overweight, a glint of humour or malice in his eyes, solid, comforting, forty
something, not much younger than her dad. They sent him with his space cadet
glow, like a surrogate band – she might have thought, if – well, you know. If.
If any of them had, if any of them did.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">That bloody mobile
phone, clutched in a sweaty paw. It somehow felt useless. So, she slipped it
into her pocket. “Is that them?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oh, I should
think so. Now look, shall I speak to them? You want me?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Siobhan was
shuddering, like that moment just before the actor goes on stage or the speaker
has to stand up and take those three or four steps. Oh yes, she wanted that.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Khalid grinned. He
leant into her ear, not wanting to betray his presence just yet. “Bit of a fuss
isn’t it? Getting worked up over a couple of parents?” He paused. Scratched his
beard. “I remember, back when I was in the Royal Navy, Chief Petty Officer
Frost, a sadistic twat, racist, hated Muslims, particularly Pakistanis. Thought
we weren’t English enough, something like that. I was in the <st1:place w:st="on">Black
Mountains</st1:place>, resource and initiative training, had a headache – a real
banger. I asked him for an aspirin. He had one. Gave it to me and told me that
if I didn’t give it back at the end of the yomp, he’d thrash the living
daylights out of me.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“What did you do?”
Siobhan asked, interested, despite herself.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“It doesn’t
matter, does it?” Khalid looked at the parents and inside his head was counting
very slowly to twenty.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">He’d got to about
thirteen when Siobhan crossed the floor with a smile fixed upon her face. He
saw some movements of greeting and then she sat down.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">He watched for
about five minutes, just in case. But, even as he did so, the meeting abruptly
finished. There were more handshakes, some smiles and the parents headed for
the exit.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Siobhan almost
flew back to Khalid and her face betrayed something like joy. Clutching a small
package in the hand usually reserved for her phone, she punched Khalid on his
right arm.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Well?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“I was literally
shaking,” she confessed. “That was my first. My first, ever.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Khalid laughed. “I
was here. If you needed me.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Siobhan shook her
head in disbelief. “They told me I was a good teacher. Just wanted to give me a
gift. No, more. They wondered if I could go after school to tutor their other
son, Mohammed. I feel like something flipped. Crazy.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“You’re not.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Not what?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“A good teacher.
But you could be. You will be.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“I’m better than
you. They said. Better than Mr Khalid.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Khalid roared with
laughter. “Have it your own way, Ms Siobhan. But don’t forget, I have the top
results for English in the school. That’s why George rates me.”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Yes, well things
are about to change around here, my friend.” And Siobhan’s voice was full of bass
notes and conviction.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Later that
afternoon, there was Secret Santa.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Here was Anita
dressed in red, passing out packages with her two deputies. Here was George in
the corner, nearest to the door, which he held open, occasionally taking in the
air from outside as he hovered on the fringes. Here was Sandra, opening a box,
taking what was within, looking about in mocked up outrage. These occasions are
like that.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Mostly, teachers
were already thinking about flights and jetting away to homelands for the
winter break.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">In the corner of
the staffroom, a sulky sullen few, still messaging on phones, inconvenienced by
the need to open the gaudy coloured bags – for these, mainly a mug from the
nearby Starbucks if a girl, a tie for the boys.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Oh look, a potato
peeler,” exclaimed one, in surprise.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Not just any
potato peeler. Turn this handle and your actual vegetable becomes a spiral to
deep fry,” replied George, as if he knew of such things.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Khalid of course,
did not participate, instead enjoying a karak with Mr Hassan.</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">Siobhan herself
had an arm around Sunita, feeling almost motherly. “Looking forward to going
home?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“Of course. I’ll
not miss this place, will I? What about you?”</span></p>
<p class="NoSpacing"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt;">“No, I’m not ready
to go back into my box yet.” And looking around the staffroom, she shivered.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It seemed such a
small place.</span> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmcQhnXBt63r5TKGVEUprBxC8UhRPr4xsqJZU7l3x-V4X69vfg48KuySRGUMMkXkpsKS54_DrVAUOvHF0xEF_7Z37XRcuplb5BLO_p5RTImHLyimqNmIE7LwQ-hKrnZr0WGEU9KRZb8hnx5YM8c6zGWaZheCMCl_GQM-u4pJL3tU-3ao8sRglXRBv9AgwB/s1500/mysterybox-1500x1500-2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmcQhnXBt63r5TKGVEUprBxC8UhRPr4xsqJZU7l3x-V4X69vfg48KuySRGUMMkXkpsKS54_DrVAUOvHF0xEF_7Z37XRcuplb5BLO_p5RTImHLyimqNmIE7LwQ-hKrnZr0WGEU9KRZb8hnx5YM8c6zGWaZheCMCl_GQM-u4pJL3tU-3ao8sRglXRBv9AgwB/s320/mysterybox-1500x1500-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Pete's Scribblingshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08858158813638857328noreply@blogger.com0