Best Mantlepiece Poems

I was born to sail.
I can hear whispers of the ocean calling me,
but there are no tides upon this mantlepiece.
I cannot set sail, trapped in this glass cocoon,
collecting dust.. I am no resting place for flies.

Eyes gaze at me in wonderment,
at the patience and precision...

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Forty days and forty nights in lock down

	Breathless for inhaling my own air ad infinitum

		Could be worse if I was left out to dry in the desert


Isolation in my own four walls in solitude

	Puffing and panting from the magic scented flacon
 
		Fragrant innocence of lost...

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...for the Rev Eric Shirvell-Price


A blizzard of papers blanketed his desk.
His pipe rack stood like a chess piece, 
mutely waiting to be shifted.
Sepia toned photographs lined the mantlepiece,
like soldiers standing at attention, 
and there was a smell of stale tobacco.
Volumes and manuscripts burst
from a bookshelf,...

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My vacuum cleaner’s broken, 
sits in the garage gathering dust 
Beside dad’s old green car,
oxidising an orangey rust
I tried washing it last week, 
and the water turned to wine
Well the colour miraculously looks,
venetian turpentine 

World weary in a dusty brain,
contemplating null dividends 
Doubtful the universe...

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The Ship In The Bottle

Who can't admire the ship in the bottle
that sits on the mantlepiece of a stately home
with it's windblown sails, its row of cannons
and it's loyal crew.

A ship that will never encounter storms 
or risk danger of running aground on jagged reefs
never...

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For Eve Senn
 
You may have never believed in ghosts
Smart people never do,
Or certainly they never admit
To others that it is true.
But I can tell you of a ghost
That's known where ever you roam,
And that is the spirit that remains
When at last you leave your...

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...for the Rev Eric Shirvell-Price


A blizzard of papers blanketed his desk.
His pipe rack stood like a chess piece, 
mutely waiting to be shifted.
Sepia toned photographs lined the mantlepiece,
like soldiers standing at attention, 
and there was a smell of stale tobacco.
Volumes and manuscripts burst
from a bookshelf,...

Continue reading...

Old country house rich colored rugs hot wind
Gallopping hair whipped wildly at his cheeks
Solid double doors  top of stairway  top coat
Mantlepiece  photographs  in ornate frames 
Small  white  dog  head  between  its  paws
China  tea perfect...

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Matchstick Girl.

Matchstick Girl in ragged clothes,
lace up shoes and purple toes.
'Come buy your matchsticks from me sir,
your wife all fancy in her fur'.
Every night on London's streets
there were matchstick girls
with clip clop feet.
Men with sticks and big top hats,
cobbled streets with hungry cats.
Gaslights dimming out...

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i'm talking world war three blues
and how the baubles resemble the planet neptune
one kid has trashed the grotto
flameless LED tea light candles on the mantlepiece  

another exclaims, 'can we stop talking and just take 
the photo?'
a girl says she wants a telescope
a boy says...

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Pictures on the mantlepiece
Of those in your heart,
Black and white or with a crease
Where they have come so far;
Taken only yesterday,
Yet forty years ago;
Remember when you used to play 
Out in the sun, the snow?
But the faces slowly fade,
Growing weaker in the light;
You feel you...

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...for the Rev Eric Shirvell-Price


A blizzard of papers blanketed his desk.
His pipe rack stood like a chess piece, 
mutely waiting to be shifted.
Sepia toned photographs lined the mantlepiece,
like soldiers standing at attention, 
and there was a smell of stale tobacco.
Volumes and manuscripts burst
from a bookshelf,...

Continue reading...

...for the Rev Eric Shirvell-Price


A blizzard of papers blanketed his desk.
His pipe rack stood like a chess piece, 
mutely waiting to be shifted.
Sepia toned photographs lined the mantlepiece,
like soldiers standing at attention, 
and there was a smell of stale tobacco.
Volumes and manuscripts burst
from a bookshelf,...

Continue reading...

...for the Rev Eric Shirvell-Price


A blizzard of papers blanketed his desk.
His pipe rack stood like a chess piece, 
mutely waiting to be shifted.
Sepia-toned photographs lined the mantlepiece
like soldiers standing at attention, 
and there was a smell of stale tobacco.
Volumes and manuscripts burst from a bookshelf,...

Continue reading...

Morning with snow

It had been a cold, clear night, moonlight on icy soil
towards dawn, it clouded over, snow fell soundlessly
shielded the glittering glass of broken windows 
In the backyard made the ugly look eerily lovely
Worried about his wife, went into her bedroom, they
had long since...

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