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Best Poems Written by Mavis Jackson

Below are the all-time best Mavis Jackson poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

Details | Mavis Jackson Poem

Poverty and Power

Do you know a child
That will get up to play?
What if they died before tonight?
In the third world children are piled,
Thousands of them die every day,
Poverty is their daily plight.

Do you care? 
Do you fight?
For you have the power,
You know it can't be right
So many 'buds' don't flower.

Do you have a fridge
That is filled with food?
Unlikely our children will starve,
If we all linked hands, built a bridge,
Wiped out their debts as a prelude,
By that act the dying might halve.

Do you have a home
That is safe, snug and warm?
How would you feel if it fell down?
Bloodied, children’s feet have to roam,
Around their eyes and mouths flies swarm,
Obscene to them must seem a jewelled crown.

Do you care? 
Do you fight?
For you have the power,
You know it can't be right
So many 'buds' don't flower.

Do you have a mind?
Will you stand and say no,
That no more will needlessly die?
Do your utmost to help mankind,
Use your power, make it not so,
Face their truth, stem the tears they cry?

Do you have a child
Could you stand, watch them die,
Knowing that they could have been saved?
Could you carry on, not feel wild,
Look other children in the eye,
Not by a 'white' lie be enslaved?

Do you care? 
Will you fight?
For you have the power,
You know it can't be right
So many 'buds' don't flower.

Please fight endlessly,
Use entrusted power?
Make poverty history,
Help all those 'buds' to flower.

Make poverty history,
Help all those 'buds' to flower.

Details | Mavis Jackson Poem

To Me This Matters

I feel more than a little out of place
As if my trusty pen does deface
The paper, that lies stubborn, blank,
My words hang heavy and outrank
My thoughts, which battle to clear
But struggle in a fog of fear.

I try hard to shake the demons out,
I will not sink to harbour doubt
Or turn to lay claim to fragility,
Fractured phrases mar ability
And jumbled lie and make no sense,
Cause rifts to form in competence.

I want to leave an inscribed trail,
To succeed where odds are set to fail,
To make a difference to the world
And use my pen with fingers curled
To hold the precious gift and savour
Writing truth without fear or favour.

I hope my words will fill a need,
Defend all of our freedoms, that lead
To providing power, to build, renew
And abandon weak words; join the few
Who have learned to wield a mighty pen
That defeats the brutal acts of men.

Evil might not be specifically based
Its head emerges when something’s erased
That leads to censoring our creations
It’s not linked just to religion or Nations.
At first subversive it rises and shatters
All I hold dear - and to me this matters.

Details | Mavis Jackson Poem

Confusion

Confusion is something that's hard to explain,
It's the depths of despair the heart of a pain, 
It's the burning sun and the freezing rain,
The darkness, the light that has shone in vain.

A throbbing desire that just can't be denied,
Like listening for loved one’s voices who've died.
Thinking of ways to escape when we've lied,
The muddle of schemes in the mind not yet tried.

The worrying about love, life, death and war,
The wanting, the grasping, the aiming for more,
Trying to make out we're rich when we're poor,
Unsure if our values are worth fighting for.

Doubts come to taunt us when we've aimed too high,
And clouds of confusion mist over the sky,
And we sink down so low that we refuse to try
To get up again and ask ourselves why?

Details | Mavis Jackson Poem

Always

You sit there across the room from me,
Your familiar silhouette that I can see,
I don’t need to look, in my mind it stays 
And I can picture you anywhere always.

The way your hair flicks, the look in your eyes,
The lift to your eyebrows as if in surprise,
The sound of your voice, the turn of a phrase
And it’s as if time stands still and as always

I feel comfort just from you being there,
So glad you chose me as your wife to share
Our lives in a way that can still amaze
And my heart skips a beat just as always.

Details | Mavis Jackson Poem

Taking It Easy In Retirement

So much for my ideas of slowing down,
Taking it easy just sitting watching TV.
I moved to a peaceful seaside town,
Since then I have found a few things occupy me.

I play bridge at least three times every week,
Read poems with a group on Thursday afternoons,
For extra fun I can find anything I seek
And I can write about it and put it to tunes.

On Tuesday mornings I see my four men
In the U3A song writing group that I run.
They compose their music on my key board and then
I write some words and another song has begun.

The women visit Fridays. We have fun,
Writing rhymes, banging bongos, blow didgeridoos,
Each week there are many things waiting to be done
Bells to shake, guitars to play, so much to choose.

Hairdressers, library, lots of jigsaws to do,
Trips to town, trips to do weekly shopping,
Mah-jong, Scrabble, flower arranging, cooking too,
Tea dances, line dancing from foot to foot hopping.

Each week at the local coffee morning
I get to hear about all that is being planned,
There’s knitting, card making, keep fit and it’s dawning
NO TIME FOR TV I’m too busy, understand!

Details | Mavis Jackson Poem

Touched By An Elephant

I felt as if I was intruding, invading her space,
When instructed, I reached out and touched her face.
I stood in awe before South Africa’s gentle giant.
I listened to the story of her proud and defiant
Fight for survival. Elephants at Knysna are so few.
The hunters had slain thousands, tragic tales but true.
I stopped and looked deep in her eyes, it is hard to explain,
But it was a special moment, as if we shared the pain.

What terrible memories has she stored of times gone by,
Back when she wandered wild beneath South Africa’s sky?
As her trunk took the fruit I offered from my outstretched hand
I knew it was impossible for me to understand
That greed could prove to be just as deadly as a disease
That anyone could even think of killing one of these
Magnificent, peaceful creatures, it seemed obscene to me
That so many had died for the sake of their ivory.

She finished eating the fruit, turned, moved away ambling, slow,
Reluctantly I turned also, it was time for me to go.
My meeting with this great old matriarch had meant so much.
Then, I felt it, gently with her trunk she reached out to touch
My neck. It was like a velvet teardrop, caressing, soft,
I turned, she raised her trunk in triumph, high aloft.
The sad story of her herd we must tell and then retell,
Save elephants from extinction, stop that final farewell!

Details | Mavis Jackson Poem

Irish Roots

I'm a piece of Ireland, far away across the sea,?
American I've become but I'm very proud to be?
Forever Irish; and forty shades of green?
I sing it from my heart, picture the Irish scene, 
?I still have the Emerald flowing in my soul,?
My childhood's long ago and now it's a whole
Different life I've claimed to become free,
?But my Irish roots still mean the world to me.??

I sing favourite Irish songs in a bar, tell jokes, ?
Music, violin playing for me always evokes
?Feelings from those almost forgotten times,?
Lilting ballads, jaunty jigs, Ireland's rhymes.?
I'm telling the story of my Irish roots tonight
?I always keep a bit of Ireland in my sight,?
Tunes bringing tears, tunes making you smile,
?I'd like to share my Ireland with you for a while.??

Irish jokes and laughter hide the passion in me?
For the country of my birth, that's far across the sea.
?Family gatherings there with music to the fore,?
There's singing and dancing, all Irish to the core,?
With a fire in the kitchen warm are my memories,
?I always remember my folks and their families,?
So as I sing to you tonight, look into my eyes
?You'll see something there I don't try to disguise.

??It may be many years since I walked in Dublin city?
Saw the rivers flowing, saw Irish colleens so pretty ?
As they danced familiar jigs in a traditional way,?
The likes of which you do not see in the USA.
?I miss the green fields, beautiful when blooming,?
But I am not unhappy, so don't you be assuming?
I am, I may be pining just to visit for a while,?
My Irish eyes are smiling as I sing of the Emerald Isle.

Details | Mavis Jackson Poem

Beauty In the Garden

I look at the eagle sat high up in the tree,
I’m envious of all that he can see.
I look at the agapanthus, a brilliant blue
But the most beautiful flower of all is you.

I watch the falcon soaring higher and higher,
A blue green kingfisher lands on the wire,
Vivid red poker flowers stand stately and tall
But you are the most beautiful flower of all.

The bright flashes of hovering sunbird so small,
The hadedah bird with distinctive call,
The lilies that glow with a vibrant orange hue
But the most beautiful flower of all is you.

White storks tiptoe delicately up the hill,
The dam reflects mountains quiet and still,
Mauve and white flowers grow shaded by the wall
But you are the most beautiful flower of all.

Plants of every colour grow in the flowerbeds
And swooping swallows dart over our heads,
So much beauty’s there in the garden to enthral
But you are the most beautiful flower of all

Details | Mavis Jackson Poem

Terrorism Failed

United in isolated collectivity,
Standing erect for reflective solidarity,
Sited to enable individuality,
Symbolising the dead, the loss in totality.

So many damaged people, with so much to remind,
There are tear-laden memories for those left behind.
A tangible grief can still be heard in their voices,
Faltering as they speak out about that day’s choices.

Take underground trains or avoid confused crowds and fuss,
Diverted, turned back, decided to run, catch a bus.
Explosive devices never discriminated,
Primed bombs blasted apart, London was devastated.

They ripped through metal, taking and tearing precious lives
And scarred the future for each one who survives.
Destroyed calm, delivered terror with impunity,
Suicide bombers believed in their immunity.

Now peace, time taken for moments of contemplation,
Silent thoughts that bring an end to all conversation.
Remembered faces, the past a painful looking back,
Centrally listed, names on the newly engraved plaque.

Children run, play chase, amidst the memorial shown,
As people feel emotion, cry, prove that flesh and bone
Continues to exist, to love, to laugh and to weep
But, never to forget those whose memories we keep.

United in isolated collectivity,
Defiant, standing tall in solidarity.
There to celebrate the individuality
Of the murdered dead, fifty-two in totality.

Tragically their hopes, dreams were brutally curtailed
But, ours were not; we are strong as steel, terrorism failed.

Details | Mavis Jackson Poem

April Fool

Spring your surprises
wrapped in disguises
The telling of lies is
Okay today

As April is dawning
Issue no warning
You’ve just got the morning
To play today

Time to plan and plot
Give it your best shot
Got to get the lot
While trying not to get got
Who’ll be your April fool?

Practise your wheezes
Try out your teases
Do as you please, 
It’s the way to be

You’re on the loose, full
Of tricks to confuse all
Your friends and bamboozle
Your family 

Time to plan and plot
Give it your best shot
Got to get the lot
While trying not to get got
Who’ll be your April fool?

Instrumental

Time to plan and plot
Give it your best shot
Got to get the lot
While trying not to get got
Who’ll be your April fool?