Long Spitfires Poems

Disability, Illness and Fundamentalism

My brother died of Cystic Fibrosis, 
When I was twelve and he fourteen, 
It took away his ambitions, 
To study at Oxford - the pipe organ’s steam. 

I understand being born with...

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His restless wolves still taunt each dauntless ship,
though sly attrition neutralized their hunt,
for subterfuge let not a whisper slip
as vantage shifted on the battlefront.
A riddle solved unveiled the raging packs
as alpha domination was denied.
The murky...

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>I must be honest, being new to this poetry, I do not understand half the terms describing types of poems, hence you will see a lot of, ' I do not know,'   At...

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"Road to Lovejoy - Piano for the Self Taught" (Part 2)


His name was
Flight Left-Tennant V.C.Burton,
or "Victor Charlie Bravo", when he
got pulled over by the cops, explaining
"a sherbert or two Lynette, but not on the rocks".
though...

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Spare change was rare at our house when I was a lad,
But you could bet on it, when I got a quarter from my Dad,
I didn't blow it on mundane things like a baseball or...

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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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Do silence them
Do prick the mortal flesh
Spin a web in what they bleed
And chain them to the garden gate

Maidens of the high teas
Casting a tower of pollution
The thick smoke clinging to the inside
Of a cautious...

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Hawker Hurricane was his plane.
 Karubin was chasing a German fighter
 at tree top level, when his Hurricane
 had run out of ammunition.
 
Karubin closed the distance
 and climbed right above
 the German fighter,
 who...

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Balcony birds eye view
Tiny gardens as tin soldiers
Tight in a row
Some as spoilt cherished children 
Desired domains
Some have dinked  boxes
Former relished
Remains....yet still standing
 
One seems a foxes
Potential secret den
Wildflower prolific
Non specific
Design on the eye
Nor...

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RISKS
Scarred hills, risked mine shafts, dark and deep. 
The plonk of a stone,  dropped into water, far below.
Kids drifted to sounds of the gold-rush, pick and windlass.

But inside our school, Sir recruited afternoon classes...

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Jumped by fighters
Hiding in the Sun
Firing Brownings and Hispanos
Young lad was on the run

But quick the fighters learned
Their surprise was for naught
Soon they were the hunted 
They were the caught

Young lad 
Whirled in a hurry
Face...

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I spied the dark little spitfires
fork-tailed and white breasted,
over the river bank
and then my head they crested
 
Then the couple would part
to scour the tops of the reeds
and meet triumphant
amongst the leafy trees
 
Their speedy...

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