To visit a museum
Where you’ve never been before
Means you have the opportunity
To amble and explore.
At the Worcester* Art Museum
Were mosaics on display
And some special arms and armor
In an orderly array.
There were works by famous artists
And a treasure trove amassed
Just awaiting our perusal
As we slowly moseyed past.
In the gift shop, objects beckoned
So I bought a little treat
To remind me of my visit
And to make the day complete.
*pronounced “Wooster,” like “wood”
A spider dropped into my soup
oxtail it was
with a dash of Worcester
he popped right up
and made for shore
not too hairy
nor too large
for a heart-beat
I could only stare
as he bobbed about
in my bowl of soup
released from my dismay
I reached in with my spoon
scooped him out
and tipped him onto the table
as I watched him scurry away
all spidey-like
without so much
as a backward glance
I dearly wished
that I could speak spider.
I am a proud red rooster
from the friendly town of Worcester*
Equipped with a brain the size of a pea
I'm glad it's my red comb that people see
The highlight of every day
comes early my way
As dark of night yields to light
I wind myself up extra tight
then I let loose
with blood-curdling
Cock-a-doodle hurdlings ~
And that concludes
this poem's wordlings
_____________________________________
*The 'or' in the first syllable of Worcester, Ma
is pronounced like the 'oo' in 'look.'
I had set up the table with a tablecloth full of memories
That will leave them mesmerised
The smell that was coming from the kitchen door
It tickled the taste buds
I had outdone myself this time
The meat was nice and tender based with a Worcester sauce
It was dipped in a sweet and sour sauce
And the rice was just glowing
Not forgetting the salads, all the colours were there
The wine was ready to be sipped
They were here
It was time
This is it
O"", my hands can do wonders
The surprise that I have in store for them
A fruity smell,
An apple smell,
A peachy, strawberry, grapey smell
Sugary, bitter and sweet.
Cream-like,
Soup-like,
Anything at all like,
That keeps everything cool in the heat.
You get brown,
You stay brown,
You get a lot more browner brown,
You remain this lovely colour of course!
Its not cream or spray thats doing all this,
Its lashings of worcester sauce...
Like children, pages
drift away adolescent,
refusing what I offer
Defiant
in their questions,
beyond all answers in their parting
Forcing what’s left, to live trapped
in the abandoned distance
between us now
All movement stopped
and estranged, from the very things
we used to know
(Worcester Massachusetts: March, 2011)
At the age of 17 Ian broke his back,
In a motorbike accident, had rehab,
He then worked for a w/c company,
Who showed him w/c basketball fab.
For 3 years he played in the club,
Of the Sheffield Steelers, and then,
He transferred to the Tameside Owls,
To join the British team of deft men.
In 2009 at the European Champs,
Ian and team won the bronze, Turkey,
And then in Israel at more Europeans,
,2011, the team collected gold monkey.
In 2013 at the Europeans in Frankfurt,
The basketball team won the lush gold,
Then in 2015 in Worcester, East Sussex,
He rolled his team into another gold.
So when Rio came they were ready,
And took the bronze from Turkey, 82-76,
Ian was born in Barnsley a 3 pointer,
On the 29th March 1982, quick sticks.
Phil is a Welshman from Cardiff, basketball,
Who plays for the club the Sheffield Steelers,
On the 2nd February 1994 he was born tall,
And wears vest 11 for TeamGB, has feelers.
His classification is 3.0, he’s experienced,
‘Cos he was a junior before being a senior,
He first played as a senior very balanced,
2012, Standard Life Continental Clash leer.
In 2015 TeamGB won the European gold,
In Worcester in England’s West Midlands,
So in Rio in 2016 the basketball team bold,
Beat Turkey to win bronze, third strands,
Ade is a 2.5 wheelchair basketball player,
Who was born in Lagos in Nigeria in 1978,
His home town is Liverpool, a Mersey sayer,
In Spain club BSR Amiab Albacete is a date.
He lives partly in London, joined the Bullets,
And he’s travelled with the sport worldwide,
German, Italian, Israeli and South Korean sets,
Sunshine is his normality to love and abide.
In 2003 at the Europeans in Sassari in Italy,
Ade and his basketball team won the bronze,
And in 2005 at more Europeans, Paris’s sway,
The GB squad came second with silver cons.
Then in 2007 at the World Champs, Germany,
A silver was wrought, and in Beijing in 2008,
TeamGB won a bronze to the podium occupy,
And in 2011 a gold fell, Isreali Euro freight.
2013 and TeamGB won the Euros, Frankfurt,
2015 they won another Euro gold, Worcester,
So in 2016 at Rio Ade contributed to support,
His team to add a bronze to this large cluster.
Ade was jailed by Liverpool Crown Court,
For claiming over £33000 of state benefits:
Housing, council tax benefit, income support,
In 2009 he spent six months with jail slits.
Terry was born in Redcar, Middlesborough,
On the 28th day of June in the year 1983,
And he flips between Worcester and Spain,
To train for his basketball matches actively.
In 2008 at the Worlds Terry won the silver,
2004 and the Athens Paralympics, a bronze,
A bronze in 2008 at the Beijing Paralympics,
And fourth place at the 2012 London dons.
In Rio de Janeiro in South America, 2016,
The GBR basketball team came in third,
Collecting the bronze to win over Turkey,
When they won the overtime final word.
Rebecca was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa,
Aged seven and was born in 19th December 1999,
In Droitwich Spa which is in Worcestershire county:
She trains, works out at Worcester Swimming Club.
Spotted by a British Swimming Vision for Rio guru,
She debuted internationally in Funchal, Portugal,
At the Swimming European Championships 2016,
Where she claimed a silver, missed gold by 0.02.
In Rio she came second to take home the silver,
For the SB13 category of the 100m breaststroke,
Striking the wall in a speedy time of 1:13.81 mins,
Just behind Fotimakhon Amilova of Uzbekistan.
Her local community honours her at Christmas,
By asking her to switch on the Christmas lights,
The Droitwich Christmas Lights, and she was,
The local year’s Junior Female Sportsperson.
Mel had to berate a bad car driver,
Who, at traffic lights, nearly hit her,
She said “Life flashed” in rigid fear,
When the car towards her did steer.
She rubs shoulders with Crockroft,
As a middle distance athlete not soft,
Because she lies in the T34 category,
Whilst also doing sprints, has agility.
Born in the July of 1977 in Worcester,
She did well in meets, her multiplier,
Of her talent and skill, her preparation,
For the 2012 Paralympics in London.
In London Mel finished 7th, the 200m,
But went on from there to have feathers,
On podiums when she came in third,
In the 100m - 2014 European standard.
Also in the 800m she came in second,
To obtain the silver medal conditioned.
And then at Doha in 2015, World’s stand,
She took silver again for her strong hand.
She made the Rio GB squad and calls,
Her wheelchair is Dolly, and her stalls,
Are as a teaching assistant because she,
Studied Equine Science, it is her sea.
Vicky is an archer, born on the 14th of April,
In 1977, and started getting that archery thrill,
In 2010 when she competed for the first time:
She found archery thru a friend’s lucid dime.
She lives in Malvern in Worcester, England,
So she trains in Lillishall in Shropshire’s land,
At the National Sports & Conference Centre,
Where there are facilities and lots of banter.
Her coach since 2013 is Rikki Bingham, tough,
She’s right-handed, not left, it does the stuff,
Vicky throws 26” long arrows at weight 24lbs,
And she went international in 2014, grounds.
Indeed, at the Euro Para events in Switzerland,
She shoot a new WR to get a silver garland,
Then at the Para Worlds, in Holland at Almere,
She won a bronze and a coherent team silver.
And then in 2016 again at the European Paras,
But this time in Saint Jean de Monts in France,
Vicky gained another individual bronze medal,
So she is also going to Rio de Janeiro to treadle.
The big debate : “What is a city ?” –
A town created by a charter
And often with cathedral church
But sometimes with an ancient abbey.
St David's, Pembroke is the smallest,
Just twelve hundred citizens
And London is by far the largest,
Populous eight million plus.
Many sprawling conurbations
Are the backbone of our nation :
There's Leeds and London, Bath and Bristol,
Canterbury, Sheffield, Hull;
Then Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh,
Norwich, Wells and Peterborough,
Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester,
Swansea, Truro, Chichester,
Worcester, Portsmouth, York and Belfast,
Carlisle, Chelmsford, Perth.
In cities there is entertainment
With cinema and theatre too,
Museum, gallery and concert hall –
A cultured way of relaxation.
A city has a green side too
With parks and gardens to explore,
Pedestrian precincts help us shop
Away from traffic noise and fumes.
I recommend a city visit,
So many secrets are in store.
Leave your car outside the ring-road,
Hop on a bus to start your tour.
here’stuh
the girls of Woostuh
the ones we usetuh
get closetuh
and pretendtuh
dancetuh
the Sambuh
The girls of Worcester Mass.,
making our short training tour
in 1957 Fort Devens bearable.
There was a dance hall there.
Public formal dancing is almost
unknown in the South.
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