Long Regimental Poems

“Just when he thought he’d had all he could take,
April arrived like a careless mistake.” 

From DRIVING DIXIE DOWN by Anonymous Brown
Smithstonian Folkways Recordings catalogue # 317-704-1106

When something is broken, it’s no longer of any...

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“Blue Sky Eye and The Hope Angels”



It came to be 
that many forgot
the messages imparted 

prior to arrival
instructions were encoded 
inside all our vessels 

we were berthed 
locked and loaded 
waiting for ignition

but we were...

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Tell me
Have you ever felt you could runway
Far away to a secret place
Where time stands still
The hot sun mostly shows its beaming face.

Well come!
Take my hand
And I'll take you to that place
A world away in...

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“METROPOLIS BLUES”

The elemental wind
curls in from the north east,
sublime salon creations in
disarray, in grimy profusion
inventiveness subsides.
The town clock strikes out,
within ear shot, a bench seat plays
host to a cast of thousands. 
Soon! succulent rotting form...

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Some soldiers receive medals for their bravery in war,
Or praise for their services on ships, air, or shore.
Men and women fight for world peace,
Continuous battles that never cease.

Make love, not war is an adage,
Where is...

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Poets Hanging from a Poet Tree

Poetry in motion is perilous a dangerous pastime a thing of the anachronistic 
past in the global villainous village in which minds are colonised for the greater 
comforting good of...

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The Forgotten Soldier

Clickety clack - clickety clack; the train trundled on empty stations of an old past
Lightweight in its endeavours - portraying its only passengers as its unholy cast

Each face a palpable grey - their...

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There’s Scottie in his chair
Tongue firmly in his cheek
Trying to wind up Old Noel, 
The highlight of his week.
Noel, over eighty, Veteran
Of the Korean War
Gives as good as he gets
And dishes out much more.
Gordon’s his...

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The greatest holiday gift I ever received  
Goes back so many, many years
Before my life became turmoiled
And before my tears for fears

I was a child like many out there
Torn, strewn and split of kin
Mother...

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Profiling Contest Entry 


The mother sat pale with an exhausted look
The policeman sat writing notes in his book
The fire, he said caused damage so bad
But we think it was arson, a crime that is bad.

The...

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THE BALLAD OF MISS DUTTON

Little Miss Dutton, 
Bright as a button
Sits with hands in her lap just so
Neat and petite, 
Friendly and sweet,
With little girls all in a row

Quiet and demure,
Polite and pure
She teaches girls...

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It was a desperate situation,
Regimental honour at stake,  
Decision urgently needed
As to what actions to take.
The Colonel was in paroxysms
The RSM was spitting blood
The M.O. was overworked and
Things just weren't looking good.

An outbreak of...

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NOT A VETERAN

I’m not an Army veteran, it’s a cap that doesn’t fit.
I’m a guy that wore the green yes, but I don’t feel I did my bit.
I’ve never faced the enemy, stared down the...

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"19 Davenport"



Spitfires lined in regimental row
Amberley in Autumn
fuel burns on the runway
mirages burn slow

Wings counted

His Adjutant's pad 
counts dollars and time, 
cold and sharp, he salutes lesser ranks, 
all spit polished, all in neat lines,...

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Lee's birthday 28.02.2020


Today is your birthday
There's so much I want to say
We're going to visit your special place
Hope to see your smiling face

I know you're looking down on us
Wondering what's all the fuss
We miss you...

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The salient drew his mind to the terrors of the day,
and the stink of the long dead buried in the mire.
The creeping barrage sought him hiding in his clay,
found him there and surrounded him in...

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Where once the mighty timid
Flanders soldier shook

Bathed in foriegn mud underfoot

All but one and two a man

Hard fought and pressed with bayonets clenched in hand abreast
expedient beating pumping chest

Side by side shoulder deep

To breach to...

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The Guildhall clock chimes
Eleven times this special day,
A great silence descends as
The two minutes tick away.
On parade at the Cenotaph,
An old man among old men
(Where did the years go for
In my mind I’m young again):

Not...

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Standing in Dad's private empire, 
every corner echoes early memories,
his essence tied up in a cache 
of plant bulbs sitting in a box.

The light bulb hangs lifeless at the flick
of its switch, drained of all...

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Power and Form

Are the two elements of a human life
Our words are sweet and sometimes sour 
However it’s a deadly trace throughout the human race
We say yes too often to satisfy our so-called rational minds
...

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It was only a few days
On their barren soil
Through a doorway he went
So many lives now spoiled

An explosive device
Plastic in design
Could never be detected
Now a life resigns
 
The regimental medic
Rushes to his aid
To stem his...

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(a couple of war wives out the front of their houses)
(Please note fag is cigarette and aye is yes)

So whilst the golden fire displayed nature in her prime
And oak trees stood proud and good in...

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(December-January))

The brazen wind flows through the naked trees, where multitudes of scrawny fingers attached to stout limbs conduct the aria.

the trill of the dawn
awakes the sedulity
a sense of fragrance

Each perpetual morning a regimental instinct, drives...

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The brazen wind flows through the naked trees, 
where multitudes of scrawny fingers attached 
to stout limbs conduct the aria.

the trill of the dawn
awakes the sedulity…
a wee tad foisty

With each sunrise a regimental instinct, as...

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Squadron leader to his Sergeant.

Another fatality Felicity,
another regimental letter of commiseration,
another space to type in with a name a rank
another space to enter our lives,
on this the darkest of days.
He was my friend Felicity,
an old...

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