What books do you want to read?
I like a book related to
places I have been.
Better still related to
places where I am.
Isabelle Allende is
who I’m reading now.
Her book Long Petal of the Sea
A novel of Chile.
I’d like to read some more of hers
A history I don’t know
Of South American exiles
And the Spanish Civil War.
I like it even better
As it’s partly set at sea
And features places
We’ve just cruised
South American seas.
Write about a favourite family tradition.
We lived in many houses
We had so many homes
But one thing never, ever changed.
Dad always had his chair.
It’d be a different one of course
The seats came with the house
But there’d be a seat our Dad sat in
He’d have a special chair.
You might perch on it now and then
But soon as Dad came in
We’d quickly leave the special chair
Our father would sit in.
First beside the radio
Later front TV
He’d choose the entertainment
What we all could see.
A three piece suite was standard
A second chair, settee
But just one chair was special
The one that Dad sat in.
He’d seldom venture from it
If he was in the house
To us it was the seat of power
A kind of family throne.
What do you enjoy doing most in your leisure time?
I thought we’d all just answered this.
Do you need the same again!
I’ll have to answer differently
It can’t just be the same.
So I’ll try to answer differently.
I hope you’ll like this more.
It maybe won’t be truthful
But you might enjoy it more.
I like to jump from bridges
My toenails painted pink
To go around with orange hair
And cause a mighty stink.
I carve my name on doorposts
Paddle in the sink
Ride a trike quite recklessly
Give passing cars a dink.
I go where I’m not wanted
And rudely interfere.
I ruffle people’s feathers
And then just disappear.
I aim to be a nuisance
Get pleasure from the mess
Do I like just causing trouble?
The answer’s clearly yes.
You asked the same old questions
Just in a different way
Provoked me into this response
My answer for today.
Name an attraction or town close to home that you still haven’t got around to visiting.
Can’t think of any we’ve not been to – so with apologies to the Beach Boys.
Round, round, get around (I get around)
Missed some place? Heaven no! I get around
I get around (get around, get around, get around town)
From town to town (get around, round, round, I get around)
I have an old head but I (get around, round, round, I get around)
I keep myself busy (get around, round, round, I get around)
I’m not tired yet of this this same old strip
But if I need a new place I’ll hop on a ship.
Our local area’s real well known
Yeah, no place near we won’t be goin’.
I get around (get around, round, round, I get around)
From town to town (get around, round, round, I get around)
I’m a cool old head (get around, round, round, I get around)
Too old to make bread (get around, round, round, I get around)
I get around, round, get around, round, round, ooh
Wah-wa-ooh
Wah-wa-ooh
Wah-wa-oohI
I’ll take car our cause it can’t be beat
Though we always get stuck in the traffic we meet.
We’re still fairly steady ’cause it wouldn’t be right
To walk with a zimmer on a Saturday night
I get around (get around, round, round, I get around)
From town to town (get around, round, round, I get around)
I’m a real old head (get around, round, round, I get around)
Too old to make bread get around, round, round, I get around)
I get around, round
Round, round, get around, I get around
Yeah, get around, round, round, I get around
Get around, round, round, I get around
Get around, round, round, I get around
Get around, round, round, I get around
Get around, round, round, I get around
Get around, round, round, I get around
List five things you do for fun.
List five things you do for fun
Well silly rhymes for one.
This is kind of one of them
So guess I have begun?
Let’s put running number two
Another thing I do.
I feel like a kid again
That’s fun in my view.
Watching sport is number three
Obsessed with it that’s me!
Football, rugby; either game
I watch obsessively.
I’ll be dad dancing number four.
My efforts clear the floor.
Anything that has a beat.
I can’t ask for much more.
Number five the countryside
Just to be outside.
Give me space and good fresh air
To wander far and wide.
Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.
Andrew is a Greek name
From ‘Andros‘ – of a man.
It’s meaning apparantly
‘Manly’ or ‘bold’.
One of Christ’s disciples
A fisherman by trade
Simon-Peter’s brother
Among the first Christ called.
Patron Saint of Scotland
Of Greece and Russia too.
I had a Scottish grandad
Is why they called me that.
His flag is the diagonal cross
Used on the Scottish flag
It’s said it’s how they crucified
This early Christian Saint.
If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be?
I’m in love with a penguin
It’s wildlife that floats my boat.
I’m not that struck on a dog or a cat.
It’s penguins get my vote.
We’re out on the ocean
One whale of a time
I like to see wild creatures
Don’t need them to be mine.
What’s your dream job?
I’m too old for dream jobs
The old don’t dream of work.
I had enough of working life
The need to earn a crust.
There’s no place now I have to be
Or boss I must obey.
There’s time to do the stuff I like
Unworried by the pay.
There’s some things I still dream of.
I’ve still not wrote that book.
But dream jobs. It’s too late for them.
I think I missed the boat.
What makes a good leader?
True leadership is vision
It points the way to go.
A people see what they must do
And do it for themselves.
Good leaders are empowering
Don’t tell you what to do.
They help you find the best in you.
You do things for yourself.
A leader will surround himself
With all the help he needs.
He knows he’s not a one man show
Can’t do it all himself.
He pulls us all together
We each have our own role.
He helps us work collectively
And each play to our strengths.
The final thing I ought to say
Is he can be a her.
There’s nothing in these qualities
That says he’s not a girl.
If you could un-invent something, what would it be?
Uninvent? No contest!
Has to be the bomb.
And if it can’t be all of them.
We’ll say the nuclear one.
Bombs are indiscriminate
You don’t know who you’ll kill.
Most likely be civilians
They are the coward’s way.
And the ‘payload just gets bigger
You can wipe whole cities out
Devastate whole countries
Obliterate our world.
Nuclear deterrence?
Supposed to keep us safe.
But who will rivals target
But others who have bombs?
Have they been successful
Or out an end to wars?
No. We’re too scared to use them.
Violence has not paused.
We’re waiting for the idiot
The ultimate suicide
Then that will be the end of it
We’ll all go up in smoke.
Andrew Green's Poems 