ON THE BRINK

I think he thinks this is his history-making "Kennedy Cuba" moment but doesn't realise that when the other guy is also as mad as a box of snakes, it's not likely to end well...

ON THE BRINK

You do find yourself constantly wondering
As you head off to your bed as night falls
Whether one of those two numpties
Playing their brinksmanship games

With the whole of the rest of humanity
Might have actually gone and done
Something unutterably irreversibly stupid
Before you wake up the next morning

MAWH, Aug 2017

THOUSAND

THOUSAND

‪I love a word like "Thousand"‬
‪It has weight, and bearing too‬
‪It feels strong, dependable, solid -‬
‪Sometimes a "k" just will not do‬

MAWH, 110817

NOUGHTS AND CROSSES

NOUGHTS AND CROSSES

There's a crisp coldness
To the early morning air
Perfect for playing
Noughts and crosses
With the universe

MAWH, 110817

THE GREY SKIES OF DERBYSHIRE

THE GREY SKIES OF DERBYSHIRE

The grey skies of Derbyshire

Close in hiding the full moon again

Causing the white flashing Barn Owl

To stay home sulking starving

As endless rain smears down

Beneath the undulating moon dust

And I dreamed that I was

Working as a lifeboat volunteer

It would seem not a very good one

Struggling with my equipment

Having to be shown again how

To get my oxygen to work

And still the rain pummels

Beating the overnight drums

Under the dark black starless skies

As I fitfully dream of becoming

A lifeboating lifesaver

In land-locked Derbyshire

Martin A W Holmes, August 2017

ON THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED

ON THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED

On the day the world ended

President Trump promised

To bring fire and fury

Down upon North Korea

Whilst North Korea

Considered a strike on Guam

On the day the world ended

On the day the world ended

On the day the world ended

Kenyatta takes the lead

In the Kenya election

Whilst at a London stadium

Isaac Makwala was turned away

To control a Novovirus outbreak

On the day the world ended

On the day the world ended

On the day the world ended

The NHS is to fund a baby’s

US heart operation

More medical school places next year

But drivers avoid “Pay-by-Phone”

Parking bays when parking cars

On the day the world ended

On the day the world ended

On the day the world ended

Glen Campbell died at eighty-one

Darling wants us to stay vigilant

After the crash ten years on

Rihanna’s carnival costume goes viral

Taylor Swift was “certain” she was groped

On the day the world ended

On the day the world ended

MAWH, 090817

GLEN CAMPBELL RIP

GLEN CAMPBELL RIP

I'm remembering the night
We put "Rhinestone Cowboy"
On all the jukeboxes in Caerleon
At closing time
Then stood on the green
To hear the village singing

This was either
My greatest achievement
As an art student,
Or something I've misremembered
So often now that I start
To doubt it really happened

Yet I remember
That evening so clearly
That it would be
Such a disappointment
To find out now
That it never really happened

Although maybe it didn't
Happen in quite that way
It would take more organising than a group
Of drunken art students could manage
But in my mind I can hear each pub
Singing as we all staggered away

So if it never happened
Then it should have happened
And I wish it had happened
To hear a thousand Welsh voices
Singing "Cowboy" and hear it drifting
High into the dark November skies

Martin A W Holmes, August 9th 2017



‪...also, you know, he was in "True Grit"‬