Long Veranda Poems

I believed that I was rural … that I lived in country style,
where the city was close handy … that big distance was a mile.
Trains and buses ferried daily; a freeway ran close by …
comforts...

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The excitement mounted as we rummaged around in the attic looking through old steamer trunks for discarded clothes and props to make Halloween costumes. With an old suit and hat of Granddads, I became a...

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Curiosity.
Exploring Innocence,
In all innocence.
A journey into manhood.

At three, sweet Linda’s flower bloomed for me
in my driveway under our old maple tree
where pedestrians, neighbours, family could see.

In our innocence- as we explored – they did not...

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‘WHITE COLUMN RESSURRECTION’

Even now you stand poised with memories of a corned cobbed pipe in one hand-tight gripped lapel in the other-perched against thick southern charmed columns positioned on a once so powerful veranda .

Peering...

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My Halloween party was in full swing. I had gone all out this year and rented an old crumbling, reputed-to-be haunted mansion for the evening's Dionysian festivities, and all the invited guests were present and...

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I saw Pop sitting just outside the veranda, slumped over in his wheelchair, his limp left arm tied to the chair’s railing.  He looked up and waved with his good hand.  “Sara!” he...

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There were no gold medals to pin
and no starters gun to begin
but for sure we were out to win
               the Baptism...

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It’s siesta, yet one can hear from the second floor of the house the animated sharing of juicy news some visitors have brought to the gracious host, the lovely widow of a wealthy sugar planter....

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HOME
They picked the stones and threw them at her,
She tried to beg but nooo they had gone deaf,
So in pain she picked herself up and ran,
Ran on her feeble weak legs.
Their laughter followed her…chasing her...

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One day I wish to know, 
as the scars of devils do, 
when your eyes, married to the auburn fox, 
will remove their pantheon of petrified ghosts
and lay with me once again.


Lay with me again...

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From England's dark blackout
We came to these shores
I and my siblings
In refuge from war.
How enchanted we were
With all we saw.

First Sydney's fine harbour
And her bridge of one span
Then the azure blue sea
The long beaches of...

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City Skin

    A city can be so close, 
    enclosing, 
    familiar, 
    that it leaches into one’s soul,
    becomes...

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I was sitting on the back veranda perusing through a book,
and I could find nothing in it that I should ever overlook.
I’m not certain that the contents would be welcome by my spouse,
for the title...

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One night about a year ago, we heard whimpering at our door.
One of us had to get up and go, didn’t reckon for what was in store.
A dog, with a note “look after our dog...

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She bares the marks of a life lived hard, her face the giveaway.  Faint scar above her brow, chipped tooth, deep furrows that should be gentle crow feet to compliment her gorgeous eyes. ...

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Deliberately inching its way toward break of day,
The morning sun begins to emblazon the barley field.
Relaxing and watching the orb find its way,
The lady of the house waits for night to yield.
Like every morning, she...

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Screaming Guillotines

I.

I sit on the wide veranda of this house called America,
And I can see the Beast Boys coming our jungled way,
Coming like wild torrents of lapping flames over the astonished landscape,
Coming with black eyes...

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I didn’t want to let her down. She was a fellow teacher in the language institute and a very dear friend. When my husband went on trips, which was often, she’d look out for me,...

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Each time my Auntie Rosa went to shop in the High Street,
She’d bring us back a pink-iced bun; it was our special treat.
We’d take them up to Grandad’s (we preferred to eat them there)
We’d scoff...

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This is the closest that I have ever been to  a funeral for more than forty years, a young boy just eighteen was shot dead for stealing
I sat quietly on the school veranda and...

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After coming back from church last night, wishing everyone a Happy Easter, my sister's only wish was to watch The Greatest Showman. So, my mother and I took our seats next to her and watched,...

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Iron Balloons Concrete Skies  
               (PART 1)

Florescent plants fill up the planet in green light
The gigantic world found us before...

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Christmas 2022  is fast approaching
Where has the year really gone
Well after two years of covid isolation
Boris resigned his prime minster position

He got us through brexit
And a pandemic  
This wasn't enough 
For government and...

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A Quiver Sliding Down the Ribs 

                            ...

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spring blesses with scent a mind 
encased in February’s mummy-swathe.
I drop my rags of winter 
stretch out on the warmed porch
thought steps lightly on to a carpet, 
woven of mist and aromatic perfumes,
which glides silently...

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