Tag: dailyprompt

Getting back my voice

What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?

This year was not unpleasant

But has my life moved on?

I’m doing stuff I like to do

I’m happily retired.

The grandkids all got older

They’re moving on in life.

It’s nice to mark their milestones

But have I got my own?

There’s places still to travel

There’s places we marked off

But is that an accomplishment

A positive result?

I’m pleased to still be active

I’ve walked and run a lot

But I am getting slower

Not moving on a lot.

I’ve tried to be more social

But still don’t talk that much.

Even though I try quite hard

I’m still the man I was.

Oddly it’s my writing

That I’ve moved on the most

It isn’t brilliant writing

But every day I post.

I haven’t missed a day since June

I’m on here every day

I’m not producing my best work

But getting back my voice.

Thanks for being with me

For sometimes dropping by

It’s good to be back writing stuff

Let’s see where it may go.

First up there’s the squirrels

Do you ever see wild animals?

First up there’s the squirrels

We see them every day

Competing with the garden birds

For seeds we have left out.

I can see a nuthatch now

It’s feeding upside down.

Soon there’ll be goldfinches

And blackbirds on the ground.

There’ll be loads of pigeons

Feral parakeets.

Blue tits, great tits, coal tits

All of those will come.

Greater spotted woodpecker

He will come along.

Starlings, magpies, robin

Red Kites in the sky.

Sometimes there’s a Heron

Comes to get our fish.

We’ve even had a sparrow hawk

Drop down from the sky.

Occasionally in dark of night

An owl up in the tree.

And don’t forget the swans,

the ducks and other river birds

We are near the River Thames

And see them all the time.

Sometimes in the garden

More often in the street

We will see an urban fox

In search of stuff to eat.

Foxes are quite fearless

And will not run away

They will simply stare at you

And then just slink away.

We’re near to Windsor Great Park

And see a lot of deer.

Mostly larger roe deer

But sometimes muntjac too.

Then of course there’s rodents

Hope not to see a rat

But often there are field mice

Or perhaps a vole.

Kerala: The Beach at Kovalam

Do you have a favourite place you have visited? Where is it?

I sat on the beach at Kovalam

Watching India go by

For life comes to you

If you sit very long

Beside the Keralan Sea.

The fishermen first

Will catch your eye

Pushing out their boats.

They cast their nets

Swing back to shore

Dragging the nets behind.

And the tourists join in

As they pull the nets in

Beside the Keralan sea.

And the cameras click

As they pull the fish out

And they wriggle live on the shore.

A red and white lighthouse

Surveys the scene

From its perch up on the rock.

And palm trees line

The sandy beach

Along the Keralan shore.

If it’s shopping you want

There’s no need to move

Besides the Keralan sea.

Sit where you are

No need to shift

The shops will come to you.

With acres of cloth

Or fruit on their heads

The sellers will come to you.

If it’s not what you want

There are ‘sin’ glasses too

Or reading if you prefer.

Families come and swim fully clothed

Saris and all in the sea.

They all have such fun

And bring gran along

As they splash and have fun in the sea.

Nuns will appear,

with children who play

Their habits of every hue

And the whole of the beach

Is a colourful scene

Playing in front of you.

On a darker note

There are youths who run

With abandon into the sea.

They have made themselves drunk

Have not learned to swim

And all too easily drown.

Police whistle and shout

And call the kids in

Warning of Kerala’s currents.

If you’ve not learned to swim

You shouldn’t go in

And risk those dangerous tides.

If you sit long enough

A goat or a cow willwander on up

And want to make friends with you.

You could get bored on a Keralan beach

But God only just how.

No particular order and fairly random things.

Share five things you’re good at.

I can write succinctly

I do not waste my words.

I write reports professionally

Or once did when I worked.

I can write with rhythm

May even make it rhyme

Though often I’ll just knock it out

Because polish takes more time.

I can be persistent

And will stick to a task.

I’m on a lengthy Jetpack streak*

And plan to make it last.

I am a decent runner

For someone of my age

I often win my age group

When running a 5k.

They say I am a ‘workhorse‘

Put head down and work hard.

That’s often manual labour

Now I’m home retired.

*175 day streak on Jetpack

I wish I could be present

What is one thing you would change about yourself?

I wish I could be present

And didn’t just drift off

I’ll focus on one aspect

Miss most of what you say.

I can’t do conversation

I find it quite a trial.

Small talk isn’t easy

I’ll drift off for a while.

I’d like to blame my deafness

But I’ve always been this way.

I’m not too good at listening

And my face gives that away.

I guess that folk must notice

That I’m staring round the room

They shouldn’t take it personally

It’s just the way I am.

I can’t restrain my wandering thoughts

Be present in a room.

I mean to listen I really do

But my mind’s on something else.

At school I got on badly

Until I learned to read.

Couldn’t keep up with teacher

But could learn at my own speed.

It takes a while to know me

As you will understand.

I’d like things to be different.

I wish that I could change.

The morning belongs to me.

Are you more of a night or morning person?

I’m no fan of staying up late

I can not see the point.

What’s the point of being up tired

When you could be asleep?

Late nights seem the sort of thing

That naughty children do.

Excited that they are still up

When they should be fast asleep.

Not for me I’m grown up now

I know I need my sleep.

I like to be up when the morning’s young

And there’s few folk around but me.

Give me the sound of morning birds

Chill morning air on my skin.

I like to be up and off on a run

While I’m still fresh and alive.

The day will have its distractions

Life can get in the way

But the mornings mine

I’m alive and I’m free

The morning belongs to me.

Meat, meat I like to eat it

What are your feelings about eating meat?

Meat, meat I like to eat it!

I find it delicious

and pile up my plate

But we don’t eat as much of it

As we did once.

For these days the veg

Often takes the star place.

They say that meat

Isn’t great for our health

But a great source of protein

And building our strength.

A good balanced diet

I’m sure is the best.

We’ll keep on eating it

Though we eat less.

We like to be careful

That farmings not cruel

And animal welfare

Obeys all the rules

But it’s in our nature

So we eat it still.

Favourite things to wear?

What are your two favourite things to wear?

My favourite couple of things to wear?

Depends the time of year.

A good coat when the winter‘s cold

Or shorts when summer‘s here.

I’m not too into clothing

I really hate to shop

But I am fond of what I‘ve got

And hate to ever get rid.

So favourites in the wardrobe?

Not sure that I can say.

There’s favourites for the rugby

There’s favourites when I run.

Favourites for the evening

Or basking in the sun.

I mostly wear what comes to hand

Or what I’m told I should.

It always looks the same on me

Dishevelled and unkempt.

AI wrote this poem – so you’ve no need of me!

What technology would you be better off without, why?

The Weight of the Wires

What if I left behind the glow,

The ceaseless scroll, the endless show?

The world through glass, a fractured view,

Would my mind find clearer hues?

The smartphone sings a siren’s tune,

Its whispers haunt from morn to noon.

A thousand voices in my hand,

But none to walk with on the sand.

I’d trade the taps, the pings, the dings,

For quiet dawns and birds that sing.

The pulse of life that calls me near,

Not measured out in likes and shares.

Why carry screens that steal the stars,

Replace soft nights with pixel scars?

Connection comes when hearts align,

Not through a signal’s fragile line.

So cast it off—this heavy chain,

And feel the sun, and smell the rain.

For in the stillness, I might see

A life that’s rich, and truly free.

A ten week old on life support

What’s the hardest decision you’ve ever had to make? Why?

The worst decisions really hurt.

They really mess you up

They really are too very much

For human heart to bear.

You want the ground to open up

To swallow you right there.

A ten week old on life support

In special baby care.

Should the doctors switch him off

Or keep him hanging on?

Brain damage his alternative

If he should chance survive.

We thought it would be up to us

We’d have to make a choice.

I really felt quite paralysed

How could we decide?

I fell upon my knees in prayer

Not knowing what to ask.

The only prayer,’Thy will be done’.

I could not make that choice.

In the end he slipped away.

It wasn’t down to us.

Some would say was for the best

But devastated us.

Riddle of destiny who can know

What thy purpose here below?

Peter Andrew Green

9 March – 21st May 1985