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.