Oh mammy, what time is it now?
Where is Daddy?
At the Horse and Plough
Will he be home
When we have our tea?
Mum shook her head, that's unlikely
Will he be home
Before I go to bed?
I doubt it today, the tired mother said
Will he be home
In the cold light of day?
I hope not, I overhear my mother say
bizarre stuff
in fact, she'd never visited a golf course before
in fact, as i took my daughter to the clubhouse toilet
i held the door open for her
the contents of the coffee was
all over the floor
i hit my tee shot against the trees
and the ball ricocheted back onto the fairway
'Good shot!' my mother yelled
there was a lot of top of the lungs stuff
MASHED POTATOES
i shanked it
mammy chops and bunkers like thunder thighs
my daughter wants to sleep in a bunker
i want to throw my clubs in the lake
worm burners
and municipal memories
this was meant to be a love sonnet
i'll be your caddy
i love you flagstick
Little princess you've had a long day,
Running,laughing,keeping boredom at bay,
It's been lots of fun but now you must rest,
You need lots of sleep to look at your best.
So take off your day clothes and put on your nightie,
Then mam'll come up and tuck you in tightly,
I'll read you a story and sing you a song,
And you'll meet me in dreamland before very long.
There you're a princess and live in a castle,
You ride a pink bike with handlebar tassles,
You have a big bedroom and four poster bed,
With big fluffy pillows to tickle your head.
You own lots of toys and a furry white horse,
He lives in a stable,a big one of course,
You feed his dinner then off you both fly,
You shout look at me mammy as you shoot by.
But now its the morning and time to get up,
We've got nanny to see and Immy to beat up,
But the same time tonight once you've laid down,
I'll be in our castle to give you a crown.
You're a princess in dreamland and always will be,
And even in the real world you're a princess to me.
February 19th,2004
we heard that sammy
had a mother called mammy
won grammy in miami
button and button
after we had gone hunting
who has the button
we started to search
in a place where he would perch
on bench made of birch
were with many fears
they even had bought some steers
after rounds of beers
money disappears
when their twilight nears
in hock up to ears
you should see long spears
they did use to kill a deer
poor at changing gears
Hickory, dickory, dock.
Jerry the mouse ran up the clock
Tom smelled him from afar
Jumped up on top like a star.
Jerry as always was quite wise.
And with a rod struck Tom’s eyes.
The cat fell nastily on the clock
And received a decisive knock.
But alas the clock fell to the ground.
Mammy Two Shoes with a broom chased Tom around.
Jerry slinked into the kitchen for cheese
Cheddar, mozzarella, stilton and more of these.
But Mammy Two Shoes mad at Tom’s disaster fling,
With a broom chased him to make him sing.
Then threw him in the garden quite dark,
Let Spike bully dog ran after him with a bark.
14 March 20211
Nursery Rhyme 2 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Eve Roper
With apologies to Agatha Christie's
for use of her great detective book
Hickory, Dickory Dock.
Monsters should look like monsters....
But most don't.
I mean, some will actually
warn you that they're monsters,
But generally... most won't.
Instead... you see
People you like,
People you love,
People you trust.
People you have fun with.
People you lust.
And, that's why I firmly support,
Burning a BIG ASS M
onto their forehead.
One that never heals,
stays infected,
and maybe drips Green Puss.
Because ,
we need a better way to identify
these muhas.
A registration....
A muhin Monsters are Us....
& Let heartbroken mothers,
& traumatized kids decide,
who gets on the bus....
to ship these muhas,
to wherever the ,
monsters need to go.
Let the victims make those choices.
Give them a chance,
to exorcize their fear silenced voices.
It'll be a whole ass mess...
Because it's a whole lot of stress.
And, how it doesn't kill folks,
is anyone's guess.
And Psssstttt,
if you haven't been through it,
be a dear, and say less.
Go debate it with ya mammy,
Because, I'm standing by what I said.
Monsters should look like monsters.
Straight facts. No gest.
Folks say Willie ain't quite right
Searchin' for a woman in the dead of night.
Cane clackin' snappy on the hard road top
'Til sound in the bushes make Willie stop,
"That you woman? I'm a-comin', y'hear? "
Old mammy 'possum go scuttle in fear.
Ain't no lonesome like bein' alone
In a backwoods cabin, cold to the bone,
When the moon rises high and quiet settles down
'Specially if they's no one for miles around.
Kinfolk gone off to the busier places
Leavin' Willie with mem'ries of dry-stony faces,
An empty table, and slabs out back
Dust settlin' all over the smoky shack.
Folks say Willie ain't quite right
Searchin' for a woman in the dead of night.
I will not be your puppet in a minstrel show
Because I guarantee no Mammy, Jezebel, or Sambo lives here
You may try to control my thoughts and dreams
But I will not be your Venus Hottentot
As you stare in awe of my beauty through a glass cage
I will not be your freak show
or your gateway to a cultural experience
So please find your own
I will not be your token prize that you flaunt for credibility
Referencing my existence ever-so-often to quench your thirsty guilt
I will not allow you to parade my black skin as a badge of honor
I will not let you touch my kinky locs
I will not let you use my tears to wash away your sins
I will not ‘dance monkey dance’
I will not sing or perform for you
My body is not a vessel for your insecurities
Do not twist and turn my limbs into a web of amusement
I will not plaster a smile on my face while you poke and prod my soul
Because I do not belong to you
A little backward Glance
Daddy painting plain
the porcelain pots
For the flower plants
Mammy cooking cookies
By the kitchen corner drinking clover
Peggy flaunting her new flabby fitting dress
Jubilant like a fermenting foam fauntain
Uncle Tamu tapping on the dinning table like a tamporine
Belowing like a trumpet
Taf tip toeing from the toilet
Sneaking to take a teast of the tasty mutetsu
I am watching comic cartoons
Carling on a single sofar
Wishing it was a couch
I still wonder how mummy could stay humble handling all of our hudles
McCartney on Midsummer’s Night
So much of my life
I’ve thought if only
If only about things that could never be
If only Daddy had read for my daughter
If only Mammy had laughed with her
If only I’d seen a Beatle concert
If only I’d seen one of them........
And then it happened -
McCartney on Midsummer’s Night
In the National Stadium
A one time performance
First time here
He said Na Raza
But will he come again?
Who knows?
But sometimes the best things in life
Only happen once
Thank God for this If Only happening
Dreams can come true
For me and you
Paul too- thank you
But you may have to wait 50 years or more
But there may be a right time and place
There may be
Maybe there
In a time and place you’d never thought of
50 years from now or more
It may happen
In the end.............
"Lantana"
Beans grown
in a belly
planted they bloom
through crimson
they arrive
trying to weed
the prickly parent purple
Lantana out
The future is
bright and shiny
just like a new penny
that was held in the hands
of pappy and mammy
But they know better
like no dog was ever a pup
or walked on a leash before
Entitled impunity
endorphins win out
Beans grown
in a belly
planted they bloom
trying to weed
the prickly parent purple
Lantana out
Entitled impunity
endorphins win
grinning
Serious insects
and Rust
kill the analgesic
the prickly parent purple
Lantana turns
the child
entitled
Inside
Out
(LadyLabyrinth / 2020)
“Everything You’ve Ever Learned” / Jack White
https://youtu.be/ruYd9n008RM
“Why Walk a Dog” / Jack White
https://youtu.be/1ZQiwUQldTM
"the interloper spreads its monstrous weeds
o’er what you cherished
now strangled, blighted and smothered
by a false mother,
overgrown..."
Daddy, how we missed you when you died
I had not been told when I was five
Come back,Daddy,miss your smiling eyes
We were told that we must never cry
When the cancer took your earthly life
Daddy, how you suffered ,then you died
When you wanted company, I tried
I was too articulate to thrive
Come back,Daddy,miss my Daddy’s eyes
By the flower beds, you wanted a guide
You wanted me to talk.I really tried.
Daddy we fell down a black hole, why d’y die?
You slept all alone, the pain arrived
We slept with our mammy, on your side
Come back,Daddy, don’t you miss my eyes?
I always hum like you did though I’m shy
You are singing through me, close and wise
Daddy, we still miss you and your pride
Come back,Daddy, teach me how to cry.
Daddy, how we missed you when you died
I had not been told when I was five
Come back,Daddy,miss your smiling eyes
We were told that we must never cry
When the cancer took your earthly life
Daddy, how you suffered ,then you died
When you wanted company, I tried
I was too articulate to thrive
Come back,Daddy,miss my Daddy’s eyes
By the flower beds, you wanted a guide
You wanted me to talk.I really tried.
Daddy we fell down a black hole, why d’y die?
You slept all alone, the pain arrived
We slept with our mammy, on your side
Come back,Daddy, don’t you miss my eyes?
I always hum like you did though I’m shy
You are singing through me, close and wise
Daddy, we still miss you and your pride
Come back,Daddy, teach me h
THERE'LL BE CORNBREAD AND BISCUITS IN HEAVEN
There'll be cornbread and biscuits in Heaven.
And Mammy and Pap will be there.
The chickens will lay eggs under the house
so the young-uns can look for them there.
And Lester will bring back a deer from the hills.
And Chester will clean his old rifle.
And Sarah will sing her old hymns and tell tales,
and chase through the house for a trifle.
There'll be cornbread and gravy in Heaven
with sausages made by our hands,
and the eggs that we eat will be fresh and sweet.
Bill will milk the old cow where she stands.
But the best thing about going to Heaven
is all of our kin will be there.
And we'll live as we did in those mountains again;
and then I will comb Mammy's hair.
Janet Marie Bingham
Lying on your shoulders mammy
I saw the world from above
And I even learned how to talk
You taught me how to walk
You showed me how to sing
You fed me from your breast
I grow up on your back
Why am I supposed to look for heaven?
When you are the heaven
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