Shocks more than it ought
Face, cordial, lit.
Darker, for what now looms up
More in fear of it
Way of the stranger. Paved. Cracked!
Home to shop's. Too long!
Once for such, a pleasanter
World-age moved along.
O greenish blue neighbour of mine
across my kitchen window, sunning in shine
perching very high on the doctor's house fig tree
resonating your tunk...tunk louder than metronomic glee
Saw you today, puffing your yellow throat,
the silk floss petals plucking with your hand glove
bobbing your red head and flicking bluish tail,
have you tracked a sincere mate?
have you picked a red berry or two for your consort,
hope allopreening is not building on snort?
what about fluttering your blue grey black wings side by side ?
start a "Beak Game" in a full stride?
Keep flight straight, with rapid flaps
Be away from that, extortionist Blue-throated barbet
avoid flying klepto red-vented songbird,
eyeing at your red berries and burd.
PS:A coppersmith (barbet) , very old next tree neighbour, annoying sometimes by her incessant calls ,many times reminds me that that is how a life goes on
Cheers for New Zealanders’ new itch
To move across what they call 'ditch'.
Cheers for camaraderie
With sibling rivalry,
And more, for free passage
In freedom to engage,
For peaceful life across the beach.
Woes alas for my neighbourhood
That worries me if it’d turn good,
There’s no dividing ‘ditch’,
What’s missing, the right itch--
A food for thought today to brood.
_______________________
Happenings | 16.02.2026 | freedom, friendship, neighbours, peace, limerick
Note: Two neighbours, Australia (population: 28 million) and New Zealand (5 million) across free borders. More and more new Zealanders shift to Australia lured by higher salaries, economic opportunities, and more sun. And alas, closer home.
Frozen streams are calm incidents of winter
When lean, broken stems seem dead and gone
But the way things stand now in the nearby minster,
Canticles accompanied by spawning candles are worn.
We see them popping up on random streets
in a neighbourly outreach kind of way.
We don't know who to thank
since no one steps up to claim the credit
but it's the community as a whole
who benefits in many wondrous ways.
The suburbs are delighted to champion
these ecofriendly gifts of sharing ~
not only charming but welcomed pointers that
goodwill and kindness are alive and well.
AP: 2nd place 2025
tv in the fifties altering weekend rituals
one set in the neighbourhood
streetboys sitting around the famous indian head
for their fill of saturday morning cartoons
sci-fi flash gordon and i love lucy
allowed to stay up on sunday nights
to watch the old ed sullivan show
always one appointed volunteer
to get up and change the channel or adjust the volume
another to finetune the rabbit ears
to fix reception and remedy the dreaded snow
AP: Honorable Mention 2024, Front Page Pick 2025
Sighs of susurration sunder the silence ~
The neem tree swaying in the wind
An old lady yapping like a non-stop chatterbox
The roar of the road hero's motorcycle revving past
And a radio playing romantic songs nearby
An occasional vendor selling village vegetables
The honking horn of the ice-cream man
Children running by after a busy school day
Household hens clucking to announce their presence
Crickets croon in crazy chorus
Then, there's the train whistling past thrice a day ~
Soulful sounds sweeten the symphony
Sadly , my acquaintance of IsiZulu and other local languages was so badly.
hardly to speak to acquaintance neighbors in the erea
as majority of them were sadly.
Neighbourhood had an acquaintance woman
superstar of Hollywood,
African woman who spoke American English
fluently like an African - Americans.
Hollywood superstar once carried firewood,
Woodland is the name of that Neighbourhood.
Place where you can find beautiful traditional houses
and an important old Palace.
traumatized good people always portrayed Apartheid
and colony as the causes of trauma.
Hardly communication between some people
As they were wounded by others hardly.
Painful life when you are victims of injustice, Trying to transform some unjust people by sharing love
and they continue to ignore your goodness
and kindness to increase your pain.
February 18/2023
Written for contest sponsored by Sotto Poet
...Honorable win
In the contest...
Strolling through my new town
Strangers talking solely on their phone
Quiet, with the occasional ringtone sound
Despite the smiles and laughs they feel alone
Imagining a conversation with a friend yet found
That awkward nod to a stranger, still on my own
Now avoiding eye contact, staring at the ground
A community broken by an isolated tone
A place no longer bound
Time to go home
27/1/23
Acquaintance and neighbourhood poetry contest
Sotto Poet
Trim the bushes
So that
It's not too high
Like hiding yourself inside a jail
Trim the bushes
So that
It's not too high
For love and help to rush in
In times of critical hours
Trim the bushes
So that
You can see
The bustle and rustle of your lovely neighbourhood
The wife can interpret wet dreams
(The neighbours all knew that, it seems)
They all think its grand
That she'll lend an hand
Whilst teenagers research X-tremes
A rather young couple have
Moved in together
In the two up, two down
Across the street.
Not for them conventionality
Or conformity:
No wedding band offends
Her third finger, left hand
Nor, it must be said
From appearances,
Does bath water very often.
Long, lank and greasy hair
Drools over their acne-scarred complexions.
They proudly declare their membership
Of the rock music degeneration
With booming bass
And screeching electric guitars,
Earth-quaking the street.
Oh yes, they have defiantly
Made it clear
They’re not going to conform
And prefer to live their lives
Living in din.
Common complaints causes construction cautions
Builders banging boulders
Battling brash big mouths
Next. Frightening fractured
features free of foundation
Opened and operated officially
Neighbors napping lacking
Sleep slowly rising dealing with
DUSTY floors maybe must have
Heaved a heavy mop DAY by day
Or not.
Having hungry man. Dinners and TV.
For featured EXHAUSTION leads to
Quizzical self: TV or not TV. NOW
Builders were BANGING and boulders
We're booming. Here comes HEAVEN
Crashing down on MORNING.
EARLY midnight storming.
As some began their mourning
And I was JOINING.
What an unbearable noisy
Nuisance. There goes the neighborhood
Thunderous and numbing.
Not ENOUGH sleep. I tried to weep.
Thought maybe I'd cry myself To
Sleep. Neighbors yelling, dogs
Barking. I joined in.
A pity. SINK OR. SWIM.
THAT'S DEEP.
A very powerful house of Asia,
made with multiple materials and several distinct colours;
Chinese paints, Arabian decorations, Persian carpets and British Architecture
amongst others are the most conspicuous of its beautiful mixture.
Its dining place is carved out of the historic Sarawak chamber
where hot milk tea is served as breakfast
and could be made more luxurious and traditional
with a fragrant rice dish cooked in coconut milk
and served wrapped in a banana leaf.
On its walls are hanged, wooden masks, silver works
and hand woven baskets.
It protects its most cherished Tiger-pet in the backyard
and has for eight times adjusted the hands of its local clock.
This house still stands a growing global influence
because it is in a neighbourhood occupied by teenagers
fast growing to become Adults in global economy and civilization.
I was run down
Feeling low
Needed restoring
Back to my flow
Some sort of tonic
Would do me good
Then I saw her
In the neighbourhood
She came to my rescue
In the nick of time
Started telling me
I look real fine
Raised my spirit
My soul felt good
I’m glad I met her
In the neighbourhood
She was my angel
Who came to cradle
Picking me up
Each time I was down
Sure glad I found her
Can’t do without her
Glad I met her
In the neighbourhood
She was sweet as can be
Saw the child in me
Playing along
With such fantasy
I’m sure glad I know her
And I didn’t deserve her
Now we are living
In the Neighbourhood
© Copyright K.C.Leake
21st November 2015
All Rights Reserved
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