What principles define how you live?
I try to go gently in the world
And not to give offence.
To not be inconsiderate
See others points of view.
I’m conscious that I’ve made mistakes
And others will as well
So I try hard to be tolerant
But know I often fail.
I hope I am not boastful
And avoid the sin of pride
I hope that’s am thoughtful
And try to do what‘s right.
I won’t be quick to anger
Or easily take offence
Settle quarrels quickly
Lest you feed a grudge.
What have you been putting off doing? Why?
I have a list of things ‘to do’
That never get ticked off.
Top of the list the wretched book
That I will never write.
You must have heard
about my book.
It‘ll be the Next Big Thing.
I haven’t quite begun it yet
and likely never will.
You can’t say it’s a failure
If you don’t begin.
The way to keep the dream alive
Is think perhaps you will.
My mother always said
That she would write one day.
That’s a tale I told in verse
Because she never did.
But as to writing fiction
That is still the dream
But I haven’t yet got round to it
And probably never will!
When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?
When did I feel grown up?
I’ll need to have a think.
It comes with independence
And living on your own.
You could say as a student
I started to grow up.
I lived away but shamed to say
Would still take washing home.
I’d come home to play football
So often back weekends
But kind of living on my own
And learning from mistakes.
But when I finished college
At the age of twenty one
I volunteered, two years abroad
A proper break from home.
Two years in Nigeria
A long, long way from home.
This was in the seventies
So only letters home.
Back then you couldn’t FaceTime
E Mail hadn’t come
Phone calls cost a fortune
So much that I made none.
So that’s real independence
And you are on your own
Two of us shared a government house
In Kano, far from home.
The house came with a steward
Which kind of blew our minds.
We weren’t used to servants
But to sack him too unkind.
Ali was the greatest
He’d cook and help us shop
But we were his employers
And so I guess grown ups.
It was such a different culture
Colourful extreme
It felt at first like a film set
That none of it was real.
We learnt to live a different life
We learnt how to adapt.
Kano was a special place
It helped me to grow up.
We rode around on motor bikes
The first I’d ever owned
To own a driving license
Is a fairly adult thing.
Our jobs were quite responsible
For kids right out of college
Filling in for Nigerians
All off to take degrees.
I got more from Africa
Then it ever did from me.
A brilliant place for growing up
The best time of our lives.
If you had a million dollars (£764,840) to give away, who would you give it to?
Seven sixty four thousand
Eight hundred and forty pounds
A decent sum of money
I’d have to spread around.
I’ve inherited nothing
I’ve just had what I earned
I want to change the pattern
Have something to pass on.
So a handy million dollars
You don’t say where it’s from?
I’d pass on to family
Split between my sons.
First a decent sum for each
To help with household bills.
Just to help them out a bit
And on an even keel.
One son has three daughters
The other has a son
I’d use the rest for trust funds
To give them all good starts.
Higher Education
Is what I’d want for them
But not weighed down
By student debt
I want them to get on.
It won’t go to a cats’ home
It won’t go to the dogs.
Caring for my family
Is what I will do first.
What’s something you would attempt if you were guaranteed not to fail.
There’s no sense of achievement
If you can not fail
Like those superhero films
Where heroes always win.
You need a chance of failure
To get joy from success
There’s little point in playing games
If you know you’ll always win.
But then again – the Lottery!
A prize you don’t deserve
I’ll definitely buy a ticket
If I know I can not lose!
It wouldn’t be a challenge
But I could live with that.
To use the money wisely;
Challenge enough in that.
There’s surely satisfaction
In helping others out
Some sense of achievement
In knowing who needs what.
So yes ok the lottery
I’ll get that ticket now
Shame for all the other folk
Because the winner’s me!
What was the hardest personal goal you’ve set for yourself?
The hardest goal I set myself
I never did achieve
A marathon in sub 3 hours
Was at one time my aim.
I took it very seriously
Would follow six month plans
Build my weekly mileage up
To sixty miles a week.
I’d study all the training plans
For stamina and speed
Watching what I had to eat
And getting proper sleep.
I had a few attempts at it
And mostly did OK
But 3.15 the best for me
And sadly that won’t do.
I gave up running marathons
When I couldn’t beat four hours
I have gentler running aims
Now I’m seventy two.
I still like to push myself
But have more modest aims
I still aim for 8 minute miles
But now for just 5k.
Who are your favourite artists?
Art to me means painting
Pre Raphaelites my call
The posters in the 70s
We’d have upon our wall.
The brilliant vibrant colours
Bold romantic themes
Dreamy looking heroines
Broody armoured Knights.
The paintings bring back memories
Of distant student days
Of musty flats and long haired blokes
And girls in flowery clothes.
Impressive in their detail
The characters so strong
Rejecting muted colours
The dull restraint of old.
Love, beauty, tragedy
Their story always strong
Romantic and emotional
They had us in their pull.
These were the paintings
I loved in my youth.
I still love to study them
They have me in their thrall.
But sadly they no longer fit
In to our modern rooms
They wouldn’t look right in our house
Our cooler ‘Scandi’ style.
But as for favourite artists
I will always say
Three cheers for the Brotherhood
And those who followed on.
What is your favourite hobby or pastime?
Running is my hobby
I think I’ve said before!
Repetitive these daily prompts
They’re making me a bore!
What is left that I can say
Bout what I love to do.
I’m less quick than I used to be
But still can so I do.
It gets me out in the fresh air
It gives me thinking time.
Helps me know I’m still alive
Still fit at seventy two.
Others of a similar age
Recount their aches and pains.
I’m much happier up and out
I’ll run while I still can.
I try to be competitive
With others of my age
First one over 70
Is usually my aim.
I get out several days a week
Run 5 or else 10k
Not my former mileage
But I run along ok.
Once a week I’m with a club
For intervals and such
Saturdays is ParkRun
Enjoy those runs a lot.
I’ve given up on marathons
They’d take me far too long.
I’m happy doing shorter runs
10k’s plenty now.
When I am not running
I think of it a lot
My wife got me a t shirt
That shows you what she thinks.
What would you do if you lost all your possessions?
I think possessions own us
And not the other way.
We‘re desperate to protect what’s ours
And, if we can, get more.
They say if you’d be perfect
You should give it all away.
The secret of eternal life
Is to sell it for the poor.
It’s not a sermon preached much
We all know the score.
Possessions mean too much to us.
We can not let them go.
We‘re happy to say ‘freedom’
Means nothing left to lose
But these are empty words because
It’s never what we choose.
Sadly it can happen
And it all gets ripped away
But hand on your heart
Can you truly say
It wouldn’t get to you.
I think that you’d be consumed still
By all the things you’d lost
Could you simply walk away
Or would they still own you?
I think there’d be a period
You’d simply be in shock.
Robbed of our possessions
What is left of us?
We‘re ruled by our possessions
They tell us who we are
Or sometimes when we cling to things
Remind us who we were.
The truth is that the less you have
The less there is to lose.
Imagine being super rich
Perhaps they live in fear.
Where to park their luxury car
Safely berth their yacht
Stash away their jewellery
Protect what they have got?
Once I had a fantasy
Of never owning much
What goes in a rucksack
And that would be enough.
It’s sadly not realistic
We all know that it’s not.
There’s always reasons we want more
We never have enough.
I find indeed I still cling on
To stuff I do not need.
For what I have is who I am
And I can’t let it go.
What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?
At eighteen I knew everything
My mind was quite made up.
I’d worked things out, I understood
And my ideas were right.
I had little sympathy
For people not like me
I had everything worked out
Why could they not see?
I was law abiding
Did very little wrong
But sadly so judgemental
With little love in me.
I learned I had to loosen up
And live my life a little
We get things wrong
We make mistakes
And should forgive each other.
Now I am much older
There’s plenty I’ve screwed up.
I’ve travelled round the world a bit
My eyes are opened up.
There are so many stories
So many different lives.
I can‘t know what they’re dealing with
Or understand each life.
I’ve learned to be more tolerant
To know that just like me
We‘re all flawed individuals
But each in different ways.
Andrew Green's Poems 