for PATTAYA TRADER 250 (A)

A-PASSING-POET'S-PATH
One was a druidic
prophetic bard.
The next was a minstrel
playing the poet's card.
He was a troubadour
at the courts until
fading kings and queens
couldn't meet the bill.
I don't ask, girl,
for you to pay,
or anyone who's going
his or her own way.

A-GIRL-GROUNDED
Sat in a wheelchair -
the breeze in her hair -
at the waves she'll stare
and wish for fish-fins
or a seagull's wings,
her lovely head aswim
with flights of fancy there.

A-WORKHOUSE-WORKHORSE
The Victorian workhouse
made a poorman a workhorse.
(Work shall set you free
proclaimed Death Camps in Germany.)

THE-BARE-BONES-ON-THE-BED
She's got a sinking feeling
now her guy forgets to kiss
when going out the door to work.
It has come to this...
she's sinking like Atlantis,
yes sinking like Atlantis.

She's hitting rock-bottom,
hitting a seabed.
Her ship has now sunk,
to a ghost she is wed.
Oh she's at the bottom
where a skeleton rests his head.

VERSE-POEM-ON-FLIGHTS-
OF-FANCY-WITH-OPIUM-FLOWERS
Coleridge conceived
of his albatross
and was to end only
like his Mariner, lost.

A-WIN-AT-LAST?
Lost her cell-phone,
lost her key.
Lost her knickers
and virginity.
A loser she might be
but counts the latter a victory !

DO-NOT-YOU-TAKE-EVERY-
GIVEN-DAY-FOR-GRANTED-FIND
Sun-up, sundown.
Dawn, dusk.
Sunrise, sunset.
Plus, minus.

A-RAVEN-POET-VERSE
The ravenous raven,
even the carrion crow,
brings to mind black-clad poet
Edgar Allan Poe.

BIG MISTAKE
she asked forgiveness
far too many times.
I was a fool to forgive,
if petty her crimes.
Petty crimes add up
to one big crime.
She wasn't one to learn,
yet I learnt big time !

for PATTAYA TRADER 249 (F)

FAREWELL-FOUL-WORLD
I am soaring
inside my head.
To a greener planet
I am rocketed.
(A purple goddess
I might go bed?)

From an overcrowded
earth I fly.
I pass through space,
I've passed through sky.
To a poisoned world
I have waved goodbye.

POEM-FOR-A-TOWN-BUFFOON
Fool, damn fool.
Clown, yes clown.
Joker, jester
of the town.

Your mouth's sure big
as your shoes
and they're as big
as canoes.

Oh man, oh man,
you've been a tonic.
The circus wagon's going,
why aren't you on it?!

HARD-AND-HEAVY-RAIN-VERSE
Black clouds, black clouds
wash out the day.
Spout rain-water
the gargoyles grey.

Spout rain-water
the gargoyles grey
and black clouds, black clouds
upon my mind weigh.

WIDE-WATER-WORLD
Fountains and waterfalls,
the-ups-and-the-downs.
One man swims above
whilst another man drowns.

for PATTAYA TRADER 249 (E)

A-GUY-WHO-SURE-WISHES-HE-
WAS-A-GIRL
A naked Civil Servant
chased a Will-of-the-Wisp
outside the concrete jungle.
He was a Quentin Crisp.
But the Will-of-the-Wisp
flew free of his nakedness.
He went back for his clothes...
high-heels and a dress.
He returned to the city
in his female disguise
and to ape women's ways
in joints full of guys.

for PATTAYA TRADER 249 (D)

HEADY-WINE
Your glass half-empty
and mine half-full,
you say you found
half a goat's skull.

"Death, death, death.
It's death and decay
comes to us all,"
you go on to say.

But half a skull -
like half a brain -
tells us a full-life
strive to gain.

IT'S-A-VERY-DREAMY-
BLUE-GARTER-GIRL-
THIS-SIDE-OF-THE-WINDOW
Dawn has cracked.
The domestic cock crows.
The sun is rising
as red as a rose.

Out there on the grass
surely rests the morn's dew,
and here in my arms she
who wears a garter blue.

NECK-NOOSE
The press-gang.
The highwayman.
The olden days
we're not golden days,
let such a tale go hang.

THE DUMPY-DWARF
The girl was struck
by a dumper-truck.
Her guy has dumped her.
With a hearty laugh
he has driven off.
Their affair is over.

Revenge is sweet
to drink and eat,
she will make him suffer,
for her huge vanity
which dwarfed he
her lover, shall devour.

THE-DRAGON-GIRL-AND-
THE-DOVE-LADY-VERSE
His last was a dragon,
you are a dove;
or rather cute-dolphin
in the sea of your love.

He's your king Neptune,
or rather Poseidon.
Yes you're a dolphin,
his last was a dragon.

MIDNIGHT-MISCHIEF
Mischief at Midnight
on a midsummer's day.
With the fairies, girl,
we're away, we're away.
Batty as the bats,
and like wolves at bay.
Yes with the fairies
we sure are away.
Botom of the garden -
beyond the May Ball -
upon a bed of petals
which caught our giddy-fall.

for PATTAYA TRADER 249 (C)

IT'S-A-VERY-DREAMY-BLUE-GARTER-GIRL-
THIS-SIDE-OF-THE-WINDOW
Dawn has cracked.
The domestic cock crows.
The sun is rising
as red as a rose.

Out there on the grass
surely rests the dew,
and here in my arms she
who wears a garter blue.

for PATTAYA TRADER 249 (B)

THE-SQUIRRELLY-GREY-HAIRS-MINE
There were grey squirrels
and there were red
skipping through the trees
when I was a young lad.

Now there's still the greys
but rare are the reds.
The greys have outgrown them
and I've grey upon my head.

MALE-GYM-MEMBERS-EYE-
THE-LITHE-BIG-CAT-GIRL
The girl works out hard
in her leopard leotard.
She keeps fit, she keeps slim
by going down to the gym.
Leopard lady, men are struck.
See the membership is up !

for PATTAYA TRADER 249 (A)

AWAY-WITH-MAY
Springs to mind May.
"Hawthorn?" you ask, you say.
A girl, not the hawthorn's-flower.
My memory ushers in summer.

HURT-RIVERS-IN-YOUR-VEINS
You didn't read the signposts,
you didn't take note.
The highway to his heart
became a lowly route.

Became a lowly route
the highway to his heart.
You missed the bridge, Miss,
over the River Hurt.

for PATTAYA TRADER 248 (G)

CYCLE-AND-RECYCLE?
From cradle to grave,
from womb to tomb,
all is just change,
ask the sun and moon.
All is change, all is change,
and does not death rearrange?

SOARING SPIRITS
Round and round
until we fall
dizzy, drunk
as at a May Ball?

Round and round
dance and spin
as round the Maypole
of fertile spring?

Round and round,
ah round the world
let us two fly;
let us both soar, girl.