for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 282 (G)

PANDORA POEM
You were my muse
but now no more,
I have the god Janus
to guard my door.

He looks both ways
to see you come,
he looks both ways
to see you're gone.

He sees the good
and bad in you,
and it's the bad
that rings most true.

Yes you were my muse
fallen from the sky,
you were the apple
of this poet's eye.

I gave you space
and too much rope,
you're Pandora's Box...
just free of hope.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 282 (F)

A-VAMYRE-LORD-AND-LADY-VERSE
Gargoyles, mist
and mystery,
Gothic cathedrals,
dark poetry,
a lady vampire
she was to me.

A lady vampire,
a beast unchained.
A lady vampire
I caressed, I tamed.
Yet Lady Vampyre
find left me drained.

Gargoyles, mist
and mystery,
Gothic cathedrals,
dark poetry,
a lord vampire
she made of me.

UNCOVERED
So now you are sorry,
sorry you're caught, of course.
I see no real regret,
no sign of true remorse.
Found with fingers in the till,
caught with panties down.
You and I are over, discover,
wrong-sider in this town !

A BANQUET IN HER BOUDOIR
After you, my dear lady,
through the door to the feast.
Yes after you, my dear lady,
beauty before the beast.
After you, my dear lady,
I will walk behind
looking forward to the banquet...
my mouth on your mouth find !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 282 (E)

DON'T  LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT
The Shadow knows -
or so, girl, it goes -
and your-own's-in-the-know.
'Young woman needs aid',
you're like-an-old-maid.
Just let your aged-secret go.
You are no virgin
but you need urging
not to play the prude.
The shadow knows -
or so, girl, it goes -
and your own is rude.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 282 (D)

LONGEVITY VERSE
Gain eternal youth,
you may have to lie
should a girl give you
the glad eye.

Two hundred years old
and she twenty.
Oh you old rogue
with youth a-plenty !

WITHER NOT LADY ROSE
What a witch-woman !
Nose like a hook.
Warts and wild eyes,
deadly withering look.

What a witch-woman !
Beware rose-flower.
Wizened is envy
this witching hour.

A FAR-STAR INFLUENCE OR NOT
You do not think, girl,
astrology to be true,
but the starry-portrayals
are all around you.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 282 (C)

PROFITING SPIRITUALLY ?
Arrive on a bicycle, yes,
leave with a chain of cars.
Find non-materialistic gurus
can damn sure go far !

TIME AND SPACE
There are those would
to the past return.
There are others would
books on the past burn.
There are those would, too,
for a far-off planet leave,
and others who live in
a world of make-believe.

A-GYPSY-MADAM'S-MESSAGE
FOR-MINOR-ME-FIND
As the gypsy-girl said
when I very young:
"You shall be a messenger
in the long-run."

Yes I'm the verse-poet
she said I would be.
I am the messenger
as said the girl-gypsy.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 282 (B)

THE-GOLDEN-BUDDHA-
ON-THE-BALL-GAME ?
The Buddha said life
is just an illusion
here on this earth,
this ball of confusion.
Allow me to say...
Allow my intrusion...
life on this globe
is a disillusion !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 282 (A)

THE FAT-SALARIED FIDDLERS
Play a sad tune
on the violin,
our poor MPs
had been fiddling.
Their high-salaries
were piddling
to hear them talk.
Oh poor, poor things !
Play a sad tune
on the violin.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 281 (F)

THE-BAR-AT-THE-BOTTOM
For pints of bitter,
for pints of beer -
and the sweet blue angel
who calls men "Dear" -
to a cheap-Charlie's
he lonesome wends
and drains each glass
to the cold bitter's end.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 281 (E)

A COMICALLY SUPER SOCIETY
IRONY-MAN ?
The super-rich
bulk-buy galore.
Outside the supermarket
will sleep super-poor.
Laugh, the superhero
is comic-book for sure.

INTERNAL INVESTIGATIONS
Honest company ?
Now there's a thing.
Honest folk
are for the hiring.
Hirers though
aren't always as true.
Expose them,
find sacked are you.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 281 (D)

AN UNDERGROUND POETRY PIECE
The magician was to put his hand
in the upturned top-hat,
while the jumpy rabbit inside
wouldn't have any of that.
It bolted along the lengthy tunnel
that was the big hat's top,
down to a poetry underworld
the rabbit was then to hop.
"Welcome to our Wonderland,"
said the magic poetry lines
that were written on the walls
of that shiny diamond mine.
But almost an eternity later
the rabbit just had to go,
and headed for the spotlight
like that in the stage magician's show.
Yet the grand circle of light
was the tunnel's very end come,
and the rabbit was to exit
to the loud applause of everyone.
The people were now fluffy bunnies...
what conjurer's trick ? What scheming ?
The rabbit had to pinch itself,
but the child Alice woke from her dreaming.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGUIC SHIP 281 (C)

VAMPIRE VACATION
She was off to whitby
for the Gothic-Weekend,
said he'd sure be batty
not to go and attend.

The girl was hung up
as to her damned boyfriend,
he replied he'd lie low
over there in Gravesend !

for MIDDLESBROUGHMAGIC SHIP 281 (B)

YIN AND YANG
When one is up
another is down,
its never the same
the world around.

The opposites
are ever the law,
contradictions
like kiss and claw.

A TEESSIDE TRANSCENDER
The Transporter Bridge
doesn't take minds where
the Rainbow Bridge does.
To Asgard fine and fair.

THE DESPOTIC ROBOTICS ?
Paid not to work
when the robots come ?
Never to go earn
more than that sum ?

Never to protest
that benefit to protect,
or face robot soldiers
due to your disconnect ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 281 (A)

STATE OF THE HEADS ?
Politicians ? What a bunch.
Vacuous, vacant, out to lunch.
Drink the wine, eat the bread,
stuff withy something the empty head !

BARNSTORMERS
Old McDonald had a farm;
politicians stormed his barn.
The meeting was moo moo moo;
quack quack quack; though clucks too.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 280 (H)

DUAL NATURED MAN
Two sides to one coin,
so minted are men.
Both sides as one joined.
Duality makes them.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 280 (G)

THE RARE STAR
She was a star
but lost her shine.
No more a picture
to my frame of mind.

So as to empty space
became lost she
who reappears I find
in rare memory.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 280 (F)

LADY LONG-LOCKS
Let my fingers climb
through your hair.
A royal Rapunzel
is under there.

Yes long your locks
girl who's most fair.
A royal Rapunzel
is under there.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 280 (E)

WINTER WITCH
Oh witch that is winter
you may come snow white
or dark as my depression,
but you come with a might,
lay to rest the shiny-sun
that bold as a knight
lay you down to rest.
Now once more you alight.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 280 (D)

SILENT APPLAUSE
Silence is the very sound
of the clapping one hand.
Silence is golden, girl,
don't you understand ?
So cut your silver tongue,
I'll applaud when you are done !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 280 (C)

A GALLANT YOUNGER GUY
She pressed a white-feather
into the boy's hand,
said "Go fight, chicken,
in a far-off land."
Along with the feather
the young lad flew,
sure like a cock
cried "Cock-a-doodle-doo !"

Proud the boy stood
against foxhole men.
Underage was he.
Officials ? he lied to them.
The young lad died
for a girl he'd never know.
Died a virgin soldier,
first shot, last blow.

THE NOBODIES
Do away with gender ?
Do become a nobody ?
No more girls and boys,
no more sexual identity ?
And this, it is said,
in the name of equality.
As if we're not all treated
as though a nobody !

fopr MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 280 (B)

HONOURING HEROES
Did Arthur live here ?
Did Arthur live there?
Did he live at all ?
Did he live anywhere ?
Was he a Roman ?
Was he The Bear ?
And was Robin Hood
a Robert and poacher ?

Are they just tales
from minds at play,
some stuff added to,
some stuff taken away ?
What do we learn
from tales of them ?
That heroes are honoured
as to ages of men.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 280 (A)

A LAW ABOVE ALL
He thinks women inferior.
She thinks females superior.
But no matter how they jaw
nobody's above, under the law.

PROGRESSIVE PC ?
Should hating a PM
be seen as a crime ?
Perhaps it could
in a short time !

WE HAVE OUR EQUAL
DIFFERENCES ?
Nobody thinks their life
less important than another's.
In this we ARE equal,
whether haters or lovers !

LOVING TO HATE ?
The absence of love
is not always hate,
many of mankind
in a neutral state.
But there seems hatred of
those who claim not to love !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 279 (H)

THE FOOT SOLDIERS
Pictures of women
from way back home
to their foes in battle
were to be shown,
and of their few -
their meager goods -
an Xmas exchange
of presents stood
(the first world war
when both the sides
came out their trenches,
bridged the divide).
A game of football
would then take place
before all returned
to his gunner's base.
There are the fouls
in a footie game,
and war is foul
by any old name.
There was evil afoot,
knew this them all.
Just go on back
to fight or fall.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 279 (G)

VERY-OLD STONY-HEARTED ROME
Love ? To the lions
it was thrown.
The Christians were
meat on bone
in the amphitheatre
of ancient Rome.
Love your enemies
whose hearts are stone ?

Correction: No man's an island find it said,

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 279 (F)

COSMIC KATE
Look for a planet that is lush,
and otherworldly as Kate Bush.
Seek that planet in your head.
No man's an island find it said,
yet on that planet you're not alone.
It's where katy built a home !

THE DEMON-DICTATORSHIPS
Watch out for the Left fist.
Beware of the communist.
Watch out for the Right fist.
Beware of the fascist.
Both are a mighty blow.
Stalin, Hitler, told us so.
What body these fists belong ?
Surely a demonic-one !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 279 (E)

MO'S TIME AND TIDE
I knew Mo Mowlam,
the Redcar MP,
who'd a seafront
surgery.

Yes I knew Mo Mowlam,
the Labour MP,
not scared to
speak out was she
against the flaws
in her own party.

No she did not
toe-the-line
like the inland sheep
of her time.

A BENEFICIAL FUTURE
FOR MACHINE AGE MAN ?
Where work is mechanical,
where men are like machines,
robots will replace them.
Men shall be sold dreams.

Men shall be sold dreams
of a future work-free,
end up on a scrapheap
for redundant machinery ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 279 (D)

VERY-MUCH-A-VENUS-IS-SHE
She is a star
who is in the swing
of late evening
turning to morning.
A veritable Venus she
for every sailor-on-life's-sea.

BEDSIDE BOOK
On the outside world
she could spit.
Inside her home
the candle's lit.
She'll read a bard
of the bedsit.

A glass of cheap wine,
she reads what's writ.
Drink and poetry,
both make a hit.
The world is gone,
she's out of it.
She's in a dream,
not a bedsit.

BECKY BURLESQUE
There is a Poison Ivy,
but Toxic Cherry is the envy
of girls outside burlesque.
A cocktail that makes merry,
Becky is the cherry
on the stick in my glass.
She dances on a pole,
is always in control
of how she connects.
Some like it hot,
it is Cherry on top,
dance-pole or dance-deck.
Becky's is the art
of tearing hearts apart,
stockings and Trilby-hat.
A tonic is Miss Toxic,
her pole her cherry-stick ?
I do drink to that !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 279 (C)

GRETNA IN SCOTLAND
Gretna had run away
with boyfriend Scott Green,
both their parents being against
them being a teen team.
They crossed the border
where the two were bound
in marriage, in matrimony.
Wedded Gretna now found
they truly were a team
and her name Gretna Green !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 279 (B)

AN APPLE OF EYE MINE
I'll be straight with you, girl,
for I'm a straight guy.
You are the apple
I target with my eye.

Call me William Tell,
call me Robin Hood.
I'm straight as an arrow
from a bygone greenwood.

TEN DOWNING STREET UPPITIES
Servants of the people ?
It's very much a con.
They act as if our masters.
They lead us all on.
They live in number ten,
think they're number one.
Up the garden path we go.
Downing hasn't a garden though.

RESPONSIBLE RESPONCE
"Somebody should do something,"
you'll hear people say,
not wishing to do it themselves.
Do it yourself, they turn away,
you get no support.
Grudging will be their thanks,
and if you do naught,
perhaps it's what they deserve
for their very lack of nerve ?

ROUGH-TRADE ROY
IS A NON-STRAIGHT BOY
There goes the guy,
he's the robber Roy,
black and blue bruises,
a back street boy
who's on the game
as well a stealer.
Rough and ready trader,
part-time drug-dealer.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 279 (A)

THE FANCIFUL SUNSET THOUGHTS
With the fairies she's away
as the sun begins to lay
and moths await twilight.
A butterfly settles
there on a nettle.
Soon shall come the night.
But with the fairies away
at the close of the day
the girl's mind is alight.

A LAW OF NATURE
Find she's a solicitor
where sure against the law
to solicit.
The judge didn't mind,
he judged her fine,
paid for a bit.
Also to enjoy her
was the girl's lawyer.
Just, isn't it ?!

THE MAN OF OTHER WORLDS
One world ? One mind-set ?
Where'd genius find an outlet ?

SOME ARE MORE AN EQUAL
THAN OTHERS
Some folk 'special' ?
Some folk 'unique' ?
Then where the equality
of which men speak ?

fr MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 278 (I)

AN EGG-SHAPED  ZERO ?
The naught is no number,
it's the nothing from which
the very universe
was to hatch.

The naught is the egg
from which the nothing
turned out to be
the everything.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 278 (H)

RHYME NOR REASON ?
Out the Eternal Now
of a sole Universal Mind
men are born individuals
into a world of Time,
here to seek some reason
and to seek some rhyme ?

THE HEAD HOLES
Where are we heading ?
Back to a so-long-ago cave ?
A hole in the hillside
or a hole that's a grave ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 278 (G)

YOU CAN READ THEM LIKE
THEIR MANY BOOKS
They've never been anywhere
and they never will
while they have lots of books
their lives to go fill,
to go live through them
like the parents who
live through their children.
Books are children too.

A book is the brain-child
of its author,
which is then adopted
by its reader.
No, they've never been anywhere,
find never will go.
The books they read are good,
a proxy-life not so.

INFINITE LAUGHTER
We can only find
there is much to learn,
that a know-it-all
is a comic turn
whom eternity would limit
to his own clown-like-finite.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 278 (F)

A SURE-CURE DOCTOR
A beanpole punk poet,
yet Dylan look-alike,
his hair now down,
not in upward spikes,
John Cooper-Clarke
was just by my door.
A comic, a tonic,
a doctorate, a cure !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 278 (E)

NOI-ADMITTANCE-TO-THE-HOTSPOT
They strung along to Stringfellow's
wearing only their string-vests !
Did not get through the door
this gang beating their breasts.
The very-drunk Tarzans after Janes
might've found the jungle best !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 278 (D)

LIFE'S LIMITLESS LENDING
LIBRARY ?
Old boy," they said,
"she's half your age !
You are chapters ahead
of this girl's page !"

He replied a book
has beginning and end,
and timeless stories
life does some lend !"

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 278 (C)

A LADY DECK DANCER BE
Don't you treat me like a carpet
that you can walk all over,
but more like the dance deck
to move your body upon, lover !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 278 (B)

THE POET AND THE ROSE
The guy was a poet,
his girl was a rose.
He mouthed her breasts,
her belly and her toes.
Ah yes he devoured
as he deflowered.
His words overwhelmed,
yes his poetry overpowered.
He gave vent to volumes
as far as this story... goes !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 278 (A)

A-BIG-GIRL-AND-BOY-GAME-YES
The big boy was
playing cricket,
watched by his girl
close to a thicket.
He batted the ball,
the girl caught it.
"Chase me game boy
with a sticky wicket !"

Her game boy chased
without his bat -
and oh what fun -
the girl liked that.
Both his hands free
for a fresh-catch.
"Grab me game boy
when I fall flat !"

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 277 (H)

ON DANCES DUNCAN ?
Dance in the sunshine
and, yes, in the rain.
Dance on the hillsides
and dance do on the plain.

Dance down the streets,
come dancing up again.
Isadora Duncan, girl,
shall be your new name.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 277 (G)

ETERNAL YOUTH
If the apples
of youth were real
would age matter
as to sex appeal ?

LIGHTENING THE VERY
HEAVY LOAD
At the four lane ends
you'll know true friends.
With a so hefty load
at these dark crossroads
which way you wend
only you can decide,
true friends at your side.

A PLIMSOLL PAIR
They were to wine-and-dine
in the Plimsoll Line,
she in her stilettoes,
sea-green frock so fine,
he in his posh shoes
with a polished shine
and a navy blue suit.
They'd a very good time.
Didn't miss the boat
as to bed. It was divine.

THE-BEDEVILLED-VICAR'S-DAUGHTER'S-
CURSE-VERSE
There was a clergyman's daughter
thought she could walk on water.
Vanity and opportunity
did not lead to her slaughter.
She'd still her god on her side,
but was the cause of a wider-divide.

TRADE-WIND-STAR-SIGN-NO ?
I am an Aquarian,
air-sign with the pail.
Find, too, a captain,
on life's sea do I sail.
Wind and water carry me
as my air-sign the pail.

BRANDO AND DEAN
Here's to Marlon Brando
and to James Dean.
Here's beers-and-cheers
to heroes of the silver screen
who gave us youngsters
the golden rebel dreams.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 277 (F)

HUNG OVER DOWN UNDER ?
The old drunkard, Denny,
went to spend a penny
and seemingly took his time.
His pal thought this funny
so he looked in the dunny
but Denny couldn't find.
Denny an Australian was.
Had he peed off back-to-Oz ?!

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 277 (E)

A-MONKEYING-AROUND-AT-
MIDNIGHT-OH-YES
The girl ran away.
A mischievous monkey she
stole into a zoo
and set a real one free.
Yes stole into a zoo
and freed a chimpanzee.
They ran off together,
the girl and the escapee.
Were sought high and low,
under bushes and up trees.
Why'd she run away ?
Why free the chimpanzee ?
Nobody can get to hear,
nobody can get to see.
All I can reveal
she's a mischievous monkey.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 277 (D)

IT'S-FAREWELL-MY-BEAUTIFUL-LADY
Bon voyage beauty mine
who had lived in France.
Though it was in Thai-time
we did the boudoir dance -
drank only the rice-wine,
found it a brief romance -
wasn't it truly divine.

IT-NOW-WAS-THE-FREE-JESTS-
ALL-ROUND-FOR-THE-BEERY-LADS
It was in riotous laughter
us drinkers found release.
The landlord - sober as a judge -
didn't call for the police
but barred out we the jokers
just to keep the peace.

AROUND-AND-ABOUT
I can drink with the high-brows
as well as with the low.
I enjoy mixing my company
as I gad about solo.
Life's sure an adventure.
Yes I'm a Marco Polo.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 277 (C)

IN-A-FOX-AND-HOUNDS-
PUBLIC-HOUSE-FIND ?
Here comes the proprietress
the pub's landlady in the dress
that never fails to impress
the guys propping up the bar,
each in his hand a pint-jar
of bitter that's tasting sweet
now the landlady's on her feet
pulling levers, pouring beers,
with a smile from ear to ear.
Guys, just do not you hound,
if the fox she sure is found !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 277 (B)

THE P-TAKING PIECE
People, far too many.
Public toilets, far too few.
Yes somebody's a p-taker
and you know it isn't you !

NOTHING NEW
A bird in a cage,
a fish in a bowl,
life's an empty page
for poor lonely souls
who're of an age
to feel the cold -
and also a rage -
while the sun is bold.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 277 (A)

A SUNDAY RAINCOAT
Here in my rain-wear,
the grass is soaked.
The whole park is wet
as is my coat.

The skies are grey.
The clouds are black.
Oh day of the sun,
sunshine you sure lack !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 276 (H)

A FRESH FISH-GIRL GUY ?
The guy is a fish-farmer,
he loves the husbandry.
Got rid of his fishwife,
doesn't like vulgarity.

A farmer of the salmon,
a fish once thought wise,
plenty-more women to fish for
say the rest of the guys.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 276 (G)

A-LIBRARY-LOOKER-YES
The lady librarian
in the house of books
brought me back for more
than a second look.

And not the stuff
picked from a shelf,
but for more than one look
at she herself.

The lady librarian,
she was so pretty.
Her picture spoke loudly
there in York City.

Her picture spoke aloud
within the library
that had wall-to-wall words.
Hers were poetry.

THE SHIP IN THE BOTTLE
Like a boat in a bottle
on somebody's mantelpiece,
I want to find freedom,
I want cork-popped release.

You could be my ocean,
my beauty who's sure deep.
You could be the freedom
from a bottle-like keep.

A YORKSHIRE ROSE IS SHE
A long-stemmed glass
holds a long-stemmed rose.
The long-stemmed rose
is a long-legged lass.

Aye, the long-stemmed rose
is a long-legged lass.
The long-legged lass
holds a long-stemmed glass.

YES-CHAUCERIAN-CHEEKINESS-WAS-
WILLIAM-CAXTON'S-REAL-CHOICE
The Moral Proverbs Of
Christine de Pisan,
first woman printed in England
by Willy Caxton.

Willy reprinted
the famed Canterbury Tales -
enjoyed very cheeky Chaucer -
probably had big sales.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 276 (F)

A SPELLBINDING PAIR
She's a magic unicorn
though lacks the horn.
He's the magic horn
her male unicorn.
Him and her, sure find,
make a fabulous bind.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 276 (E)

THE-BEDDED-ROSE-LADY'S-
OTHERWORLDLY-ROMANCE
Under a rose-petal spread
she lies flat in her bed
with an eye on the window.
She can see the moon.
The girl knows that soon
she'll see, too, the shadow
of he whom she awaits.
He will drink her up
as from a gold-cup,
yes he'll sink her down.
Her vampire-like-lover
shall have come on over
from the other-side... of town.
Does not fret, he'll not be late.

GENTEEL-BEAUTY'S-
JEALOUS-BEASTS
Oh lovely Cinderella
don't look so very blue
though ugly jealous sisters
fight over your lost shoe.
Beauty just turns them green.
Their shoes will never fit you.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 276 (D)

CLEAVE TO THE LAND
The currents, cascades
of our rivers,
the sheer force and fall
of our waters
that are drink, are fluid,
for bank and dockside flowers,
while the sun spies
through the trees and towers.

Green sheep gaze
on greener hills,
innocent of industry,
of man's mills,
where blind as bats
and bloody wills
is green, green nature
in her frocks and frills.

Green as pound notes
that have gone,
green as the green-grocer
to the butcher's song
of sweet salad days
and the heart he had won
now tied to the strings
of a new lover's apron.

Green as the children
in the chimeless fun-park
yet to be charmed
by the linnet and the lark.
Green to the lights
after dark
but not the star's
inspiring spark.

Blind as the drunkards
hell-bent on brawling,
innocent as the infants
to the deviant's calling,
while prone as prostitutes
to men's mauling,
forced is the virgin
into her falling.

Forced is the virgin
into her falling
by old professions
and a new blood's roaring
just like lions at lambs,
proud and pawing,
rude as the rose
to real men's knowing.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 276 (C)

THE SILK-MOTH TRANSFORMATION
Fried silkworm cocoons
we downed with spoons
(I was simply being polite).
They were liked by Lek
and so what the heck,
I ate to her delight
until we'd emptied the pan.
I felt a Moth-Man
drawn to Lek's Thai light.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 276 (B)

THE-GODDESS-DIANA'S-REDRESS-TO-
THE-GAZING-MOON
The huntress Diana takes a bath
there a silvery moon beneath,
leans over, picks up her bow
and an arrow then unsheathes.
Shoots the sharp-arrow into a night-sky.
Not even the moon her naked-beauty must spy ?

A-VERY-CREATIVE-IMAGINATION-
CAN-JOIN-FLESH-TO-BARE-BONES-FIND
Aboard an old ship
that was named The Hex
a skeleton crew
literally fleshless
was said to be seen
on the ocean blue.
Skull-and-crossbones
on their flag flew.
Sure was a ship
from a day bygone
when ships by ships
were set upon.
A pirate-ship she
still a-sail on the waves
with a skeleton crew
free of their graves.

What can it mean?
What does it tell ?
Who were the crew
as under some spell ?
Perhaps the answer
the ship's name is in ?
Or just tales are told
of sheer imaginings ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 276 (A)

A WHALE-BONE ARCH
From beneath the arch -
made of mammal bone -
see the black-wet beach,
black-wet rocks, black-wet stones.

Find the huge-monsters
of the widely-raging sea
not the dying-out whales
but toxic industry.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 275 (H)

THE CUCKOO CAP
There by the garden gate
stood the birdhouse.
Find a cuckoo entered
that home to a titmouse.

The cuckoo laid her egg
in the tit's nest
from which the chick hatched,
kicked out all the rest.

Yes big bully cuckoo
kicked out the tinier tits.
Not all bullies are cuckoo,
but sometimes the cap fits.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 275 (G)

SUNKEN DRUNKEN
He will drink
until he's drunk,
till to the bottom of
the barrel he's sunk.

Roll out the barrels,
roll out the kegs.
His life is a drag.
His life is the dregs.

DOUBLE D
Ooh ! Aah !
Dem and Da.
My Siam suns,
my Siam stars,
my twin peaks
in the East afar.
Ooh ! Aah !

AN APHRODISIAC IN THE FLESH
"Love goddess Aphrodite,
where on earth's your nightie ?"
find some would say
on the globe today.
They'd try make sex past history.

NO LEFT-OVER LOVE
LOL meant Lots Of Love,
it now means Laugh Out Loud.
Let Off his Leash, I'd say,
since divorce has been allowed !

HULL MAN'S RIDE TO FREEDOM
William Wilberforce
got on his hobby-horse,
helped set the hobbled free.
Yes William Wilberforce
got on his hobby-horse,
helped put an end to slavery.
Slavery had ever been about
almost globally. He forced it out.

FRIENDS AND FOES
"There is a wall.
Here's a bridge.
Come cross over,
a wall's a wedge
between people." True.
But welcome enemies too ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 275 (F)

A MAN-TRAPPER FLAPPER
Dark, dyed red, then blonde,
yes the hair of Clara Bow.
She'd really have been the 'It' girl
had she three heads in a row !

A FRESH-CREAM CAT FIND
You're crème de la crème -
the cream of the cream.
Find I am the tom-cat
who has always been
fond of the she-cat
sure a catnap-dream.

WAILS WILD A WITCH RIDING
ON THE WINGING-GOAT
Astride a winged-goat
flies witch-woman she,
and wild is her wail,
like an Irish banshee's.

Between the goat's horns
sits the witch's black cat.
There upon her head
sits her pointy witch-hat.

"Fly oh fly, fly oh fly,
carry your witch my billy.
My warlock in goat's guise
carry your witch, your nanny !"

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 275 (E)

A-VERY-COLD-BACK-OF-THE-NIGHT'S-
COAT-IS-HEWN-WITH-LITTLE-STARS
In a turning universe
its planets appear stock-still.
New breeds and new deaths
as to this whirling windmill.
The far bright stars dots
for a dark Cruella Deville ? 

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 275 (D)

ENCHANTING ESMERALDA
Notre Dame,
you may know,
was the home
of Quasimodo.

Hunchbacked
was Quasimodo,
bell-ringer created
by Victor Hugo.

Esmeralda's
very-gracious tone
straightened-up
a man's backbone.

WRITING-ON-FIGHTING-ON
Find I'm no pen-pacifist,
yet call me no damn-warlord.
Just cut right through
to the Truth, I aim to do
with a double-edged-sword.

TWO CABBAGE WHITE BUTTERFLIES
Reborn as a butterfly
caterpillars touch the sky.
On this cabbage of a world
fly you, my love, and I !

A CITY GREY GUY
A woolly white -
like a passing sheep -
onto that cloud
sure tried to leap
the guy atop
a high-rise block.

Missed the cloud
grey city man.
Ride to countryside
was his plan.
All fell black
with a hefty-crack.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 275 (C)

ALIENATION
She came with a purpose
on the back of a porpoise
torpedo-like through the sea.
She came on a mission,
was met with derision,
what an odd fish she
from the waist down,
with a seaweed crown.
Yes what a strange Miss.
"Of the ocean or the stars
stay out our affairs.
What damn message a kiss ?"

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 275 (B)

FIND-LIFE-IS-JUST-A-JOKE-WE-DO
Find the belly laughs of the Buddha
ended here on earth. Try not let humour.

BOTH-REARED-IN-DARKNESS-
ONE-SAW-THE-BRIGHT-LIGHT
His sister became a bat.
Her brother became a bird;
one of the hawk family,
an owl I had heard.

His sister winged-on blind.
Her brother winged on wise.
She lived in dark-shadows,
he lived for starry skies.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 275 (A)

NOT THE ELEPHANT-HEADED GOD
YOU WILL FIND
Unlike the god Ganesh
made of mortal flesh
was the Elephant Man.
A cruel enormity
was his deformity
but not his life-span.
Heavy the load -
upon life's-road -
for this Victorian.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 274 (G)

IT'S THE PITS !
I see the rusty river snake
where Saltburn had a boating lake.
I hear the rusty river flows
due to old mines not closed.
Mad as Skelton's 'Crazy Castle' -
justly named by John Hall, the rascal,
who formed The Demoniacs -
I turn and make town-ward tracks.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 274 (F)

NEW PORTS OF CALL
It is raise anchor and away
when the wind of change is blowing.
It knows how to get me where
I don't know where I'm going.
The wind of change lands me there,
that place I go unknowing.

Here on life's sea-journey
I am just passing through.
Many cruel storms I brave
and maybe even do you.
Up and down with the waves,
heading for destinations new.

A DOG-SHED MAN
Black dog, black dog,
in the doghouse again.
She gets you down,
you're on her chain.

Black dog, black dog,
you see only black.
She's got you shackled
inside the dog-shack.

Black dog, black dog,
in mind, in brain.
She gets you down,
you're on her chain.

A-SPIRITED-AWAY-SISTER-GYPSY-GIRL-DUO
The horse from the wagon unhitched,
there the midnight moon bewitched
the gypsy-men by the camp fire
as the girls danced in Romany attire.
These were the gypsies true.
One surely could the future view
when the spirit had so allowed,
before her vision it'd then cloud.
The other was a beautiful rose,
same flower 'tween teeth, rings on toes
and fingers. Yes she wore no shoes.
Barefoot the girls danced. The two
were sisters. Yet beauty was to pass
and visions fade as to the glass.
No more the Romany-rose nor the seer
who saw into her crystal ball so clear.
No more the gypsy-men fiddles play
while the girls, like fairies, dance away.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 274 (E)

DELIGHTFUL DEM
Red and orangey leaves
as well as green -
just like the skies
are sometimes seen -
and a turquoise sea
through these trees
from my condo's balcony
in a Pattaya breeze
can I get to view,
when my eyes - dear Dem -
aren't fixed on you.

A VERNACULAR VERSE
Sing, sung, sang.
Swim, swum and swam.
Then cling, clung, clang ?
Swing, swung, swang ?
Surely not, say you -
of the latter two -
no Yorkshire man !

BARED AND SQUARED
His love-life was triangular,
the husband was having an affair.
From wife to lover he circled,
but the wife got square
taking for herself a lover,
laying it before him bare.

CORRECTION:

AT-A-GIANT-HEAD below

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 274 (D)

A RAM STEW
Gordon Ramsay or Ramsey?
The name was a what-a-to-do
when served up on television.
It sure has some in a stew !

DON'T WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK ?
A whistle-blower did his duty.
The tune he whistled was a beauty.
He blew on his corrupt-company so
now on the dole this hero.

A VICIOUS SHOVER VULTURE
Find a deadly-drug culture,
the pusher a damn vulture.
Don't the vultures fly
and swoop low down ?
Don't druggies get high
then hit the ground ?
Yes a deadly-drug culture,
and victims of a vulture.

A MOLDY AND DUSTY TOWN
A mushroom cloud went up
after The Bomb came down,
that is how it sure seems
to the folk of Toadstool Town.
They smell no more the mold
growing from the ground,
they've got so used to it
and are fairyland bound
on a kind of magic dust
the furtive pass around.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 274 (C)

OH-JUST-GAZING-AT-GIANT-HEAD-
GAZING-BLANKLY
I see the cliff's brown face
and its blades of green hair,
and down by its chin
the tide washing rocks there.
Yes the tide rushes in
down by the giant's chin,
the head with a blank stare.

YELLOWY LOVE LETTERS YES
What she wrote in the sand
is no longer there,
her writings were subject
to wear and tear
and to the washing sea.
To the Sands of Time, you see.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 274 (B)

THE SAD OLD HIPPY PAIR
He used to be a beatnik
beating his bongo drums.
He met a happy hippy girl
and he too became one.
Not a hippy girl, ha ha,
but a hippy guy.
Grew his hair as long as hers.
Together they would lie
kooky though carefree
beneath the summer sun,
both hearts beating fast
as he on his bongo-drums.
So many summers ago,
not that they were job-shy.
But life's just hard-work
since kissing youth goodbye.

IMPOSE WILL
I taught in Thailand.
Over there I met
a fine young guy
who came from Tibet.

To his very homeland
he couldn't go back,
the way of life
was under attack.

There are those
who will impose,
even march up mountains
to tread down on toes.

FIND SOON A WELL-FED WORM
Now under the ground
the guy's dead and gone,
but to the hungry-worm
life does go on.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 274 (A)

DON'T LOSE YOUR OWN HEAD
JUST YET
The French Revolution
gave way to The Terror
and she, Madame Guillotine,
and her very cruel horror.
Do try keep your head on,
find yet an Emperor Napoleon !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 273 (H)

DOWN DELL-LADY'S DREAM
Wonders if a warlock, she,
can cast the magic spell.
Wonders does a wishful she -
by the wishing well -
will she get her prince...
a satyr for her fairy dell ?

CORRECTION:

BOW BOYS end line should be
'All their arrows on you released !
not 'release !'

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 273 (G)

A DRAX DRAGON
The power-plant dragon Drax
fumes by Carlton Towers.
The swans on the Carlton pond
are unruffled, they don't cower.
Men go feed the Drax beast
with their work. The fumes don't cease.

THE PERFECT PARADISE NOT
Paint me a picture of a paradise
with peacocks and with peahens.
Paint in their feathers no parasites.
Pictures do often lie to men.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 273 (F)

MANY WAVES ON ONE SEA
Unity
verses individuality ?
More individuality
for me !

Accuse me
of eccentricity,
too much
of an individuality,

unity
is ALL being free
from bonds
of one-minded unity.

END OF PLAY TODAY
Like the Dennis Potter play,
or one by Peter Greenaway,
you were hot, girl, yesterday
but now you have nothing to say.

UP-NORTH'S-SMILEY-
TONY-BLAIR-WENT-'SOUTH-MOUTH'
Blair's smile was as wide
as Britain's north and south divide.
But once Number Ten inside
he let out "What divide ?"

TOO MUCH FLESH YOU'D
LIKE ON YOUR BONE
They'd work men to the bone,
buy a palace with a throne,
but in their shoes
might not you?
Yes they'd work men to the bone,
men happy with a humble-home,
but in their shoes
no not you ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 273 (E)

FROM-SALTBURN'S-BECK-
TO-BELOW-HUNTCLIFF-YES
Upon a rock
midst the river
something part-human
was to slither.
It raised a head,
a fishtail swished,
sat on the rock
where men fished.
A fisher, whose
bait was a fly,
was netted by
her spidery-eyes.
In those eyes
he was to drown.
His ghost a gull
now flies around
the coastal cliff.
The coastal cliff
very foot of which
his mermaid sits.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 273 (D)

THE-WOMAN-ONE-WITH-A-WOOD
Her hair cascaded
like the waterfall,
a raven-coloured.
Willowy and tall,
by the river
the lady stood.
A cawing filled
the  wild wood.
Heard the splashes,
rainbow-trout leaping.
Jumped with joy,
came nature seeking
the lady who
then parted weeping.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 273 (C)

MIND-AND-BODY-BALANCE
Hamlet could only be
when inside his head.
A play within a play
the boards he'd tread.

We all have to think,
but some don't do enough.
It sure calls for action
when some think far too much.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 273 (B)

THE COLD NORTH'S
HARD-HEARTED ANGEL
The homeless beggar
who'll also steal.
The upfront street-girl,
but down at heel.
The Angel of the North
with a heart of steel.

DANCING UNTIL
THE VERY LIGHT OF DAWN
A budding ballerina
dances in her bedroom.
Dances in the darkness
to the Swan Lake tune.

Dances in the darkness
only the stars turned on.
The dawn light show
she not a black swan.

FADED NOT HER NAUGHTY
MUSICAL MOVES
The opening act was a stripper
before came on the band.
Wild were the wolf-whistles.
The boys gave a big hand.

Time now for the music,
heart and souls bare laid.
Mine with the stripper
whose G-string didn't fade !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 273 (A)

PICTURE THE NORTHERN SCULPTURE
You were my Angel of the North,
your arms spread wide like wings,
till I found you'd an iron heart
though you spoke the sweetest things !

DARK DEPRESSION
Dawn cannot kill
dead of night,
but darkness disperse
with its morning light.

And do not we -
when we are down -
await a sun
which is upward bound ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 272 (G)

BOW BOYS
Kama, Eros, Cupid,
three gods of love these.
Hindu, Greek, Roman.
All their arrows on you release !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 272 (F)

CIRCULAR SOWING SEASON
We reap what we sow.
We're aware from the ground
grows sunflower, deadly nightshade.
Sow, do then be bound
to what's sent around
surely reeling back around.

A TRUE MAGIC
Just like a genie
the truth will out,
and when it does
how you shall shout.

How you shall shout
and maybe scream.
You sealed the bottle,
truth uncorked'll stream.

CHANGES AND CHALLENGES
I am not the same as you.
You are not the same as me.
We've both grown apart,
on this we can agree.
There's ever conflicting interests
girl, as to individuality.

SPELLBOUNDS
His wife was a witch
he too late found,
but now, like a frog,
he bed-hops around !

A BEAUTY BENEATH
THE SPRING-BRIGHT SKY
The time will come -
as does it go -
when beauty fades,
leaves a thorn the rose ?

Leaves a thorn the rose
for men won't eye
the beauty that was
under a spring-sky ?

RISING-AND-RACING-UNRIDDEN
White-horses some name the waves,
waves by Poseidon sent.
White as his own Pegasus
whom his way winging went.
White as the white-hot sun
the day on the beach I spent.

THE ROARING 21st CENTURY ?
The big lion's roar
to the tiny mouse is thunder.
Are we to be lions
or among the mice number ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 272 (E)

THE OUTER-SPACE RIDER
We're worlds within a world.
Let each not collide.
The very populace
overcrowds my space.
Should I take a starship ride ?!

THE-DRAGON-LIKE-
CREATURED-GALAXIES ?
The prehistoric-monsters
and monsters of our seas.
Men who are monsters.
Monsters in other galaxies ?

THE HUGE SNAIL HORNS
On the horns of a dilemma
that dampens like a giant snail,
every cloud's a silver lining
and this giant leaves a silvery trail.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 272 (D)

DARK DEEDS AT THE
DEAD OF NIGHT
It's the White House
on Saltburn Lane
smuggler John Andrew
was to gain.
Master of foxhounds
he became.

But off to prison
was taken he,
king of smugglers
on Saltburn's sea.
No White House then
for Lord Darkly.

SPRINGING UPWARD
There was a pond-fountain
by the Valley-Garden,
stocked with goldfish
when we were children.

They were larger days then.
Are we down the mountain ?
Gone are the goldfish
and also the pond-fountain.

SALTBURN SEAFRONT
What happened to the boating lake
across from summertime's Fair ?
They broke the dam, a river again
there's no boating there.

What happened to summertime's Fair
across from the boating lake ?
It could not now break even.
No Fair when summer goes wake.

OVEN-COOKED LOVERS
She is his older woman.
He is her younger man.
You can see he is tied
to the strings of her apron.
Oh boy, does she cook !
Turn on the kitchen fan.

FREE ANCIENT WISDOM FIND
The Greeks granted that genius
was each man's individuality.
There are dimwits enjoy being
enslaved by non-democracy.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 272 (C)

OTHERNESS
Superior in some things,
in some things inferior.
Perhaps that balances out
all things in one another ?

But is it not a mistake
to say there's neither -ior,
and that we are all equal
other than under the law ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 272 (B)

THE SURROUNDING
SIAMESE SIGHTS
So up we both went
on the Buddha Hill.
The view we took
was, girl, to thrill
the heart and soul,
enliven the mind.
We yin and yang
in a globe-round-bind.

ADOLPH HITLER
Far Right ? Far Right ?!
Let it not be missed
Adolph held racial-spite
but was a national-socialist !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 272 (A)

A-FAMILIAR-FAMILY-AFFAIR
Here comes the bride
in her white gown,
though the groom
has got a frown.

Her father seems
to have the hump.
Her mother curses
her daughter's bump.

That's how it goes
with families today.
They're so familiar
with the-family-way !

THE WHIRLWIND ROMANCE
Dashing Indiana Jones
jumped Lara Croft's bones.
He could whip up a storm.
She liked him to explore,
was hot for more and more.
A whirlwind sure was born !

SAUCY SEEKER
She looks for dirty words
so she can complain ?
Oh what a filthy mind !
Yes such a mucky brain !