What makes a teacher great?
I had so many teachers
Went to so many schools
I had so many teachers
I don’t recall most names.
It’s not what they stuff
Inside your head
That makes a teacher great
Inspiring you to want to learn
Is how to educate.
They get the word from Latin
‘Educe’ to bring out
The best find a glimmer
Of talent in you
Their job to bring it out.
The best of teachers
Believe in you
Help you believe in yourself.
It’s not what they stuff into your head
But what they help pull out.
Have you ever had surgery? What for?
I’ve only once had surgery
And that was long ago
I had to have my appendix out
When I was only three.
The scar back then
Was fairly small
But then it grew
With me.
It stretched from
Just below my hip
Diagonally
To my groin.
By adulthood
It’d grown a lot
Several inches long.
But here’s a thing
You made me think
To take a look again
And strangely
I can’t find the thing
Or find it there at all.
It’s seems in time
All scars can go
That time can really heal
Or perhaps I’ve simply
Lost the thing
Under belly hair?
What are your daily habits?
Chief of my morning habits
The early morning run
Fresh morning air
On face and limbs
Bird song on the air.
Out along the river
Cross fields
Or local roads
Like to watch the world wake up
Start upon its way.
Shower and grab some breakfast
Cereal plenty of milk
Couple of cups of coffee
Watching the garden grow.
Tidy up the kitchen
Clear the things away
Now I’m up and ready to go
What’s the agenda today.
Are there things you try to practice daily to live a more sustainable lifestyle?
Nothing we know is sustainable
The only thing certain is change.
We can all do our bit for the planet
And don’t get me wrong we all should.
I do what I can on our veg patch
Waste less put stuff in right bins
But they’re still having wars
Firing missiles
And what can I do about them.?
So much has changed in my lifetime
Things we just never foresaw
Things that you now take for granted
Were just science fiction back then.
The changes come ever faster
With AI and nano and such
We can’t cling to life as we know it
But nothing‘s forever things change.
The forces of history are legion
No one can know how they‘ll change
Who knows what might be discovered
Or which current certainties fail?
So yes do your bit for the planet
And try to rest easy at night
Let’s hope we‘re winners not losers
And somehow it all will come right.
But we’ll have adapt to the future
Whether it brings bad or good.
What’s the most delicious thing you’ve ever eaten?
I like so many different things
Variety‘s key for me
But fresh fish straight from the sea
Is very hard to beat.
Here’s some different instances
Of how I‘ve had it served
Different places, different tastes
But every one a treat.
First we‘ll go to Kerala
Across from a Kovalam beach
Point at the fish
The bit that you like
And choose how you want it spiced.
A meaty fish, wonderfully spiced
And so very good to eat.
A wonderful biryani
That we really loved
Kerala does it for me.
Now let’s head off to Ghana
A palm lined beach near Cape Coast
Where if you should order a lobster
They’ll swim off into the sea.
The lobsters de- shelled
On a nice bed of rice
In a basket they bring to the beach.
A wee bit of chilli
And let me say really
There’s few things much better
To eat.
Now we’re back home
And fishing off Dorset
For Mackerel straight out the sea.
Draping our lines
Off the side of the boat
Three lady companions and me.
They all caught plenty
I never caught any
But that’s how it is with me!
Now straight off the boat
My wife went to work
And gutted those fish
From the sea.
I went to buy wine
That would wash our meal down
And add to our meal by the sea.
It was cooked really simply
Just barbecued really
Fresh fish straight on the grill
But I have to say really
The fish we caught lately
Made really a wonderful meal.
If you were forced to wear one outfit over and over again, what would it be?
It would cut down on washing
But let’s think this one through
Same old outfit over again
How would you make it do?
It has to take me running
Be sweaty and sodden right through
And good for whatever the weather
The sun or the wind or the rain.
I now need a shower
Can put it back on
And get on with what else to do.
So now I’m at the allotment
Down and dirty with plants
Clothes are all soiled
I’m covered in dirt
What are we going to do next?
Now I’m back home
Spreading the dirt
Leaving a trail through the house.
But gracious! Where can I sit?
Then off to the shops
Disowned by my wife
Dishevelled I’m such a disgrace!
But that’s not the end
We’re off to see friends
And what are they going to think??
We can’t go out in the evening
There’s places that won’t let me in.
Here‘s to a quick change of clothing
It covers many a sin.
How important is spirituality in your life?
God works in mysterious ways
He now sends WordPress prompts!
A pilgrim wandered from the path
I’m forced to stop and think.
I can’t preach or pontificate
Or claim that I am good
But must reflect on what I’ve lost
On things once understood.
My God speaks with a silent voice
He comes to me in quiet
Take me back to your Kingdom Lord
The one that lies within.
How do you practice self-care?
It’s ’use it or you’ll lose it‘
When you get to seventy two
Staying fit and active
Is what I try to do.
There’s little doubt I’m slower
But no way I’ll give in
It’s hard work plus rest
That gives results
So that’s what I’ll still do.
Exercise breaks down tissue
It builds back while you rest
Our bodies adapt to what we ask
So you have to keep pushing – do!
If you think all that’s left
Is to sit on the couch
And count down the days
Till you die.
You body adapts
And as you might guess
It’s life on the sofa for you.
How do you waste the most time every day?
That’s below the belt
Don’t really want to say!
Had a row got proper told off
For using my phone all day!
Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?
A slice of German sausage
The rind against my tongue
Or a bite of juicy melon
Mediterranean sun.
Tastes and smells that
Take me back
To where we lived when young.
The queue in a German butcher
Unfamiliar smells
A babble of foreign voices
A language we didn’t know.
They’d thinly slice a sausage
To give to us as kids
And to taste it now
Feel the rind on my tongue
Is to go back right away.
But melon takes me to Cyprus
Years we spent in the sun
The juicy blood run melons
We’d eat most every day.
Then I found them boring
Would have preferred a pud
But the taste of a melon
Takes me right back
To the years we spent in the sun.
Andrew Green's Poems 