APRIL, COME SHE WILL

The month of March in Guernsey has been behaving like April with an unpredictable mixture of sunshine and showers. 
This poem seems a fitting one to welcome April itself.

RAINBOW

A dappled frog croaks
a prayer for rain. Rain falls.

We set out walking in the afternoon
with small provisions and light waterproofs
in sturdy boots because the ground was rough.
We climbed uphill, below we saw red roofs,
and stopped to eat when it was opportune,
then off again when we had had enough.

As we walked on, the rain was left behind: 
a rainbow spread before us like an arc.
The day grew bright, I felt my spirits rise.
the air was charged by some elusive spark.
We clung together, fingers intertwined.
The world seemed new. We viewed it with surprise.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE HOLY

Here's a poem for Easter week. 
An earlier version of it can be found in my Strange Journey collection, published in 2012.

RIDER

A man rides into town ...

he’s a good man and this used to be a good town
but the bad guys have taken over
and the townsfolk are weak
so it’s a bad town now with bad problems.

The rider will change things. 

Valiantly, he’ll make a stand
against hopeless odds. He’ll confront the bad guys,
inspire loyalty, teach the timid townsfolk to confront evil.

I told you, remember,
that the odds were hopeless,
so the bad guys win in the end and the rider dies alone
in the sun, as the townsfolk look on, helpless.

But his death’s not the final reel.
 

Right now,
he rides into town on a swaying donkey
as cheering townsfolk cast palm-fronds at his feet.

A QUIET LIFE

Jane and I have been staying in our friends' house situated high above Fermain Bay, one of the most scenic locations in Guernsey, whilst looking after their dogs.
As always on a Saturday, we buy newspapers to read, in greater depth, of the events reported by online news sources.
Daily, reports from the world beyond this little island grow more and more depressing, yet in this tranquil place, chicanery and conflict seem foreign in every sense. 

FERMAIN

Today, at noon, newspapers read,
we step outside. A world of grass,
of trees and sky, seems free from dread
or jeopardy. How it contrasts
with the grim newsprint world of grime,
skullduggery and petty crime.

We walk, with dogs, down to the bay,
through conifers, on well-worn tracks,
watch small boats carve their zig-zag way.
None of that other world impacts,
no angst, no overspill of war,
here by Fermain, where tide meets shore.

 

FINAL JOURNEY

This poem, from my Strange Journey collection (2012), was written following the untimely death of a friend's mother. Obviously, therefore, it's factual, but I hope it manages to transcend mere reportage.

Old Postcard of Torteval Church

 
FUNERAL AT TORTEVAL

The heart beats, now, a mourning drum
behind the coffin held aloft.
Head bowed, you step, back ramrod-straight,
blue light, through stained-glass, falling soft,
from the black car beyond the gate
into the congregation’s hum.

Grief carves a beauty in your face  
or highlights what was there before,
unrecognised.  You seem to shine,
to have become not less but more,
while others’ faces, at this shrine
to gracefulness, lack any grace.

The hedgerow birds, today, seem dumb
as one by one the black cars leave:
you by your crumpled father’s side,
consoling him, holding his sleeve,
so full of elegance, dry-eyed,
with redefined years yet to come.

A REFLECTIVE MOOD

Guernsey's Reflections on Occupation begins tomorrow in the Greenhouse Gallery at Candie Museum and will run until 3rd June. 
I urge you to see it if you can.
A fascinating mixture of art forms is on display, each reflecting, in its own way, that traumatic period in the island's history.
This thought-provoking exhibition coincides with the release of the film version of Mary Ann Shaffer's best-selling novel, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society starring Lily James, which is set during the Occupation.
Poetry features strongly among the submissions and one of the poems on display is A Letter Home, which I wrote from the perspective of a young German soldier stationed on the island during World War Two.  

A LETTER HOME     

 
This is not proper soldiery,
no proud thrust for the Fatherland:
instead we police, unwillingly,
people we do not understand.
They are an island race, apart:
intransigent, shrewd, stubborn, smart.

We count the months, our rations low,
imprisoned by an angry sea.
At the parade-ground, to and fro,
we march and drill, purposelessly.
While months accumulate to years,
we yearn for heimat and cold beers.

And all the while, the Occupied,
gaunt Guernsey peasants, enemy,
exhibit an unbending pride
that chills the heart and unnerves me.
Such angry spirits. I thank Gott
that we are armed and they are not.

Each breaking day, I make a vow
to summon strength, refuse to weep.
Rations are non-existent now.
Expendable, our lives are cheap.
Such brokenness will never mend.
Would that this pointless war would end. 

A PIECE OF CAKE

Unlike the homicide in my previous post, this murder didn't quite fit into twelve lines.
If my wife happens to read this: relax Jane, it's purely fiction.  

 














TILL DEATH US DO PART

I cannot stand my ghastly wife:
instead, I love her sister, dear.
The former one pollutes my life.
The latter woman I revere.
I’ve hatched a plot to rid me of
my wife, I’ve simply had enough.

I’ve put rat-poison in a cake:
my wife is fond of sweets and treats.
One slice is all she’ll have to take:
rich cream will guarantee she eats
then she’ll be gone and I’ll have Maud.
It’s simple: just give fate a prod.

Maud’s phoned me to my work and said
she’s at our house to tend my wife
who’s got the sniffles, gone to bed: 
there’s germs around and flu is rife.
I fear I’ve made a great mistake:
Maud’s brewed some tea and scoffed the cake.

BLOODY WOMAN

Staying with comic verse, albeit of the blacker persuasion, here's a grisly tale of murder in just twelve lines.

BLADE RUNNER

Bright stiletto in the sternum.
On the parquet, blood is spreading
as she mutters, That’ll learn him ...
then she’s through the doorway heading
for the Ford and then the State-line
in the Californian sunshine.

Bright stiletto, polished handle:
icicle of death and danger. 
Dead, he's like a snuffed-out candle:
half her lover, half a stranger.
She, a victim of his lust, is
now a fugitive from justice.

BIRD BRAIN

Here's a lighthearted piece of verse to counteract the winter blues.

THE PARROT

The Parrot has a tiny brain
but what he has works fairly well
He’ll perch all day, will not complain,
and now and then he’ll ring his bell
then, with a smiling, open beak,
he’ll twitch his tongue, commence to speak.

Now you might think the words he squawks
are fascinating and profound:
what he comes out with when he talks
won’t half impress you and astound
until you stop and think, this bird
is just repeating what he’s heard,

he hasn’t really got a clue,
decisions are beyond his ken,
it’s all a load of ballyhoo,
he’s like that fool at Number 10.
Despite his feathers and his poise,
he’s simply making pointless noise.

NO BUSINESS LIKE SNOW BUSINESS

I missed Monday's Open Mic due to an unusual event in Guernsey's weather calendar, the arrival of snow.
It's not something we have to contend with often: once every four or five years on average, but when it happens the island grinds to a standstill. 
Schools close, shops become denuded of provisions and businesses limp along with only those few die-hard staff who manage to brave our treacherous, ungritted roads.
I'd planned to read this bit of light verse on Monday because the chosen subject for Open Mic was "Words". 
Maybe I'll give it an airing next month if the snow's gone by then.  

WORDS

Spray-can taggers in the street
 

obey the law of graffiti.


Musicians, with a hip-hop beat,


legitimise depravity.


Con-men, chat-show hosts and hacks
 

stick words, like daggers, in our backs

.

 The Internet, email, smart phones, 

breed words that wildly reproduce


like cancer-cells within our bones ...


a narrative, verbose, diffuse.


Words, nowadays, require a crutch:


they’ve been recycled overmuch.



Poets, with each lively ditty,


use their dictionary quota:


nothing changes, more’s the pity, 


not one thing, not one iota.


Words, although at times fantastic,


choke the human sea like plastic.