for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 293 (B)

BOLD-BOADICEA-SUNSET-SONG
She was a warrior queen
way back in Albion.
She was a raging storm
and like the Greeks' Amazon,
vengeance would be hers
for what the enemy had done.

She rose on up
like the golden sun
and came down on them
in her flames of crimson.
Yes she rose on up
like a goddess become.

Hell had not the fury.
No devil was so horned.
They had raped her daughters,
whipped and left her torn.
She was death to the Romans,
an Arthur in female form.

HISTORICAL BRITISH
DIVISIONS
Religious division,
then political division.
From the flames of Notre Dame
has the phoenix arisen ?

A rebirth or a renewal,
no more an EU bride
our country Britannia
came the Christmastide ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 293 (A)

CARS AND CARRIAGES AND
A WATER-CARRIER
Should cars drop from the sky
while on the roads we keep an eye,
will they fall like a bomb
killing the occupants and the ones
who haven't eyes atop their heads,
those in houses, and in their beds ?

Do we want to see many flying cars
block out the sun and the stars
as if pollution via our city-lights
does not block out our starry nights ?
Well yes, it is true, there are some do,
this may be the future for me and you.

But then we have to move along.
I live in tomorrow, I'm an Aquarian !

A PARTY PIECE
A Champagne Socialist
is the party's host.
To the novelist George Orwell
he lifts his glass in toast.
But he then falls over
as if pushed by Orwell's ghost.
Some are more equal than others.
Some do better than most.

A BURDENED BEAST
Yes the overtaxed workhorse.
It's Orwell's Animal Farm
tells us Caviar Communists
take the house, the rest the barn.

INSECT COLLECTIVES (AND
UPWARD) ARE NOT FOR ME
"Set me, set me,
set me free.
Give me, give me,
individuality,
the uniform
is not for me,"
sang a worker-ant
and worker-bee.
But hill and hive
their destiny.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 292 (D)

PLAYED ALONGSIDE PETER
THE LOOKER LOREN
I didn't get to meet Sellers.
I met Milligan, his friend.
I met she who played The Millionairess,
the lovely Sophia Loren.

I'd seen her in the movie,
met her later in the flesh.
Though she was much older
she was still worth nothing less.

LIVES STRANGER THAN FICTION
Some say ignorance is bliss.
Wisdom they have never sought.
They live inside a bubble
that's rounder than a naught.
They go through life non-plus
not ever having been taught.
A strange kind of bliss
to ones of intelligent-thought.

THE MOULIN ROUGE AFTERSHOW
THERE IN MY HOTEL ROOM
Could the ladies can-can ?
Oh boy, they could, they could !
There I was in Paris.
There it was in my girl's blood.

Could the ladies can-can ?
Oh boy they could, they could !
There we were in Paris.
In our room my girl danced good !

PASTOURELLE
"With talk like that
you must come from France
when you ask me
do I May-pole dance.
You're such a bad boy
I shall tell you true.
It seems I will have
to keep my eye on you."
Oh merry maiden -
if maiden you really be -
I'm a high Romantic
and a revolutionary.
I rebel against convention.
I believe in love that's free.
Come into the tall grass
and lie down low with me.

"I think you but a satyr
who takes me for a goat.
I've heard much about pan-pipes
and in your look I note
a sun-shiny brightness.
Your eyes are on fire.
Merely with lust they burn.
Your horny head I don't desire."

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 292 (C)

A CHRISTMAS SPIRIT
The spirit of Christmas
floated down the chimney.
Gifted the girls and boys
in the Orphanage he.
Gifted the boys and girls
as he did yearly.

"Oh spirit of Christmas
your children are we.
You are like a father
who feeds us spiritually.
We thank you for your presence
and what you give for free."

The spirit of Christmas
floated up the chimney.
He came like a ghost,
like a ghost went he.
"Be cheery small children
and in high spirit like me."

SEEING THROUGH ?
There are fortune tellers,
many who are quacks,
folk being seduced
by these Count Dracs,
vampires who have
own fortunes made
via scare tactics,
such is their trade.

There are fortune tellers
will your money down.
There are victims -
their minds unsound -
sought some comfort
in a future near.
If only their minds
had been crystal clear.

TRYING TO SAVE THEIR OWN
POLITICAL BACON
Who'll plant more trees ?
Who'll plant more trees ?!
Our politicians have caught
Dutch Elm Disease !!
They'll take their snouts
out the trough for hogs
and save the world
so we can sleep like logs.
They'll save the earth.
Yes save the earth
if into number ten
we shall let them surf.

DIZZY WORLD
Yes some believe in angels
and some believe in fairies.
Some believe in God's son
and in his mother Mary.
Some believe in aliens
who live in the stars,
and some once believed
they lived as close as Mars.
Science tended to dismiss
the whole - above - lot,
now parallel universes -
multiverse - are hot
topics for their discussions.
We surely live and learn
that nobody knows everything
in our global spin and turn.

MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP No. 150   (The flyer/circular)
Over The Green Hills parts 1 and 2 serve as bookends for the album Tons Of Sobs by the band Free. The track was inspired by the Green Fields area of Middlesbrough, near to where vocalist Paul Rodgers was born. The band's last album, Heartbreaker, features the track Muddy Water. The title is a reference to the River Tees, as well as a tip of the hat to blues legend Muddy Waters. Rodgers opens with "I was born on the muddy water..." Paul had earlier been with Brown Sugar. Guitarist Paul Kossoff and drummer Simon Kirke with Black Cat Bones. Bassist Andy Fraser had played alongside bluesman John Mayall. Free had played a number of gigs at Redcar Jazz Club. Paul went on to form Bad Company with Kirke and the guitarist Mick Ralphs from Mott The Hoople. Then he formed The Firm with guitarist Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin. He then formed The Law with drummer Kenney Jones from Small Faces, Faces, and The Who (where he'd replaced Keith Moon). Rodgers would go on to replace Freddie Mercury in Queen. When Brian May of Queen says he and Paul were sat outside a public House called The Queen but nobody recognized them, it was in Saltburn. I was there. Andy Fraser formed Sharks. Paul Kossoff formed Back Street Crawler (a reference to a heroin addict which he was. The drug eventually killed him). Rodgers had toyed with a band called Peace before forming Bad Company. Tetsu and Rabbit joined Free on their last album. Free's single All Right Now came from their album Fire And Water. The stealer came from Highway. My Brother Jake didn't appear on an album. Little Bit Of Love came from Free At Last. Wishing Well (and I wish Paul well) came from their album Heartbreaker.  

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP No. 147 (the circular/flyer)

Some more celebs who used the alleyway by my then home on Glenside, via Albion Terrace, as I suggested long before, to avoid Saltburn town centre, on the way to the seafront, following a gig in Teesside with McFly, Famous Friends and Celebrity Guests, several years ago:- Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Leslie West, Yoko Ono, May Pang, Julian Lennon, Tony Visconti, Mary Hopkin, Warren Beaty, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Hopper, Peter and Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Germaine Greer, Richard Gere, Barbara Windsor, Jerry Springer, Oprah Winfrey, Deborah Harry, Nicole Kidman, Amanda Redman, Rula Lenska, Dennis Waterman, David Soul, Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Martin Sheen, The Stranglers, Buzzcocks, Echo And The Bunnymen, Spandau Ballet, The Hollies, Brian Wilson, LORD OF THE RINGS cast, HARRY POTTER cast, Robert Plant, Tony Iommi, Peter Noone, Donald Trump (before he became president) who told me he was a big Elton John fan. Eddie Izzard, who told me Elton was not amongst the celeb visitors to  Saltburn. Charlie Watts, Mick Taylor, Ronnie Wood, Rod Stewart, and Bill Wyman who said Keith Richards was still in Jamaica. Pricilla Presley, Elvis Costello. Peter Perrett, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Iggy Pop, Bruce Springsteen, Marilyn Manson, Britt Ekland, Edward Woodward, Quentin Tarantino, Bay City Rollers, Alan Bennett, Alan Sillitoe, Hugh Grant, Elizabeth Hurley, Benedict Cumberbach, Ray Dorset, Maggie Bell, Ian Anderson, Elkie Brooks, Brian Eno, Rick Wakeman, Eric Burdon, Cat Stevens, Will Ferrell, Bruce Willis, Cybil Sheperd, Faye Dunaway, Ursula Andress, Cameron Diaz, Lucy Liu, Lynda Carter, Grayson Perry, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Shwarzenneger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sharon Stone, Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas, Tiger Woods, Ian Botham, Peter Stringfellow, Graham Norton, Helena Bonham Carter, X-MEN cast, Carly Simon, Neil Diamond, Patrick Macnee, Grace Slick, Grace Jones, Val Kilmer, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Peter Falk, Michael Caine, Jeremy Paxman, Melvyn Bragg, Robert Redford, Albert Finney, Kevin Costner, Whitney Houston, Bob Geldof, Alexi Sayle, Madness, Bananarama/Shakespeare's Sister, Courtney Love, Foo Fighters, Jon Bon Jovi, Demis Rousoss, Demi Moore, The Doors (minus of course Jim Morrison), Dustin Hoffman, Glenn Close, Pierce Brosnan, Meryl Streep, Daniel Craig, Uma Thurman, Robin Williams, Robbie Williams, Ben Stiller, Mel Gibson, Sharon Osbourne, Joe Cocker, Jarvis Cocker, Sandra Bullock, Lindisfarne, Roy Wood, Blur, Paul Weller, Fish (Derek Dick), Guns 'n' roses, Chris Rea and Paul Rodgers (both from Middlesbrough. Paul's song with FREE, 'Muddy Water' is about the River Tees).

THE SPELLBOUND PRISONER'S PROPHECY
"Wicked warlords will have their evil way
while King Arthur sleeps this very day,"
Merlin-the-Magician was overheard to say.
"There is not the magic anymore,
priestcraft came and rendered poor
the wizards of old-Albion's lovely-shore.
Long I've been a prisoner in this cave.
Arthur will not rise and the Kingdom save
till Britannia's children ride-above-the-waves."

SHIP-CAPTAIN'S LOG: 292 (B)

Editor of Saltburn Scene, various flyers in the city of York, contributor to Pattaya Trader (Thailand), published in various booklets and magazines, broadcast on regional radio and published in local press, appearance on BBC 2 television (among other Teesside poets), postcard from pop poet Brian Patten and letter of gratitude from Prince Charles as to climate change (1989), my invite to two musicians on their way to being celebs to visit Saltburn by-the-sea, with any of their future celeb friends, led to Hollywood stars and pop/rock stars visiting after a Teesside all-star gig, using the alleyway by my then home, and which could do with a plaque stating 'Stardust Alley'. Will this come about? Read on for more information between sets of my verse-poems. A couple more SHIP-CAPTAIN'S LOGS before the informative pieces that were published in MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP flyers that - like all my publications - carry verse-poems too and other writings, apart from a publication that carries my playlets/satirical sketches, which were first published in some of my 33 poetry booklets, from 1988 to 1992 (when I founded Saltburn Scene).

A WORD-WIZARD WALTZ
She waltzes with the wizard of words,
dances to the slow as well as the quick,
but the girl breaks into a tango
at the sudden sorcery of the man's stick.

With the wizard of words she waltzes
to the witching hour's magic tick,
prances to the power of the man's pen
and his bedroom talk just so bardic.

A CONVERSATION PIECE
"The art of conversation is not dead,
but the conversation about art is," I said.

A SHIP CAPTAIN
we are each the captain
of our own little ship.
The storms that grow
and the waves which whip
are for us to brave
on the vast sea we ride
as we come but must go
with life's push-and-pull tide.

KIDS PAY A DEAD PIPER'S PRICE
The people hired a sniper
to take care of the piper
who led the children astray.
They hired a sniper
to take care of the piper
who'd many a tune to play.

The people hired a sniper
to take care of the piper
and marched to the one drum that day.
They hired a sniper
to take care of the piper
but the children had the bill to pay.

TELL AGAIN TALE
There sits the starry-eyed girl
by the wishing well,
while dances the dark world's dwarf
in the dusky dell.

The broken-hearted boy
grieves for she, his bygone belle,
while cackles the cunning crone
inside her cosmic cell.

But comes a conquering king
the laughing fiends to fell,
while yearns the noble-hearted hermit
young love's dream again to tell.

PASS THE PROZAC
There's a survey on the service,
so the train'll be on time.
We'll meet in half an hour,
the sun is bound to shine.

Yes the sun is bound to shine
because the weatherman said it won't.
I'll try to say I love you
though you know I don't.

We'll plod around the shops,
wait for ever in a queue.
If only love could last as long,
but it's too damn late for me and you.

DISTANCE
She was over the moon.
They'd romance and fun.
She let him down badly.
Why so damn dumb ?

Awaits she now no letter
her ex-lover from.
Awaits she now no post
her mat to fall upon.

Awaits she now no message.
No poem nor no song.
Awaits the lady's inbox
no rocketmail.com.

(The 'nor no' double negative is intentional. Double negatives still exist in songs. But it shows the distance we have come since the double negative, with technology as well as the distance between ex-lovers, plus there was alliteration considered.)

COLOURLESS DEATH ?
Is death a darkness
or bright-light ?
Is death a blackness
or is it white ?
White as a ghost
or black as night ?
Beyond earthly colour
could just be right.

DRUNK
A tail swish, yes a tail swish.
Half woman and half fish.
What a dish, yes what a dish.
Half woman and half fish.

Sailor beware, sailor beware !
see that long net of hair.
Sailor have care, sailor have care !
You are legless, just like her !!

NAME GEMINI
She blows hot, she blows cold,
in the wink of an eye.
She is two girls in the one.
Call the lady Gemini.

Sometimes she is narrow.
Sometimes she is wide.
She is a Doctor Jekyll
and she is a Miss Hyde.

She blows hot, she blows cold.
She's a golden sun in the sky
when she's not an icy storm.
Yes call the lady Gemini.

AN OUT OF THIS WORLD WIT
Sit down and dine
by candlelight,
we'll talk and climb
to dizzy heights
and circle the world
as do satellites.

A woman of wit,
a lady with looks.
A beauty before me
versed in books.
Your flavour's sweet.
The evening cooks.

GRAPE-WINE GIRL
I'm sure I knew you once,
in an ancient time.
The earth a green grape
way back on the vine.

I'm sure I knew you once,
handmaiden to a queen,
and I the key-master
in a palace that had been.

I'm sure I knew you once,
serving the queen wine.
Do I, the key-master,
now unlock your mind ?

GETTING AWAY
I saw an orangey-red sphere
as did many a Siamese.
Out there in Thailand
seen are lots of these.
If from another planet
I wonder what they'd say:
"Only came for a visit,
it is good to get away."

I taught in Bangkok and Pattaya.
Went for a job in Phetchaburi.
Down from the hilly jungle
came for folks food the monkeys.
If the monkeys could speak
I wonder what they'd say:
"Only came for a visit,
it is good to get away."

We apes in this world
are called the human race.
It is we who sent monkeys
into dark outer-space.
Up there with the stars
I wonder what they'd say:
Only came for a visit,
it is good to get away."

I did not take the jungle job,
was only there for a day.
Very much liked the visit,
it was good to get away."

PAT IS NOT FAT SHE IS PREGNANT
She sought a sugar daddy,
so did her friends,
to see her through college
by making meet ends.

She sought a sugar daddy
to make ends meet,
and see her through college.
To make life sweet.

She sought a sugar daddy
and found a real treat.
Far too much sugar later
she can't see her feet !

DEEP SLUMBER SEABIRDS
PLUS A SAIL-SHIP TELLS PRETTY SHE
Awoken from your dream
my name upon your lips,
two gulls you'd seen
above a sailing ship.
What did this mean
for you who thus awoke
from such a deep dream
as my name you spoke ?
Our twin souls soaring ?
We as one body sailing ?

FOUND YOU OUT
The genie is out the bottle.
Out the bag is the cat.
Go find a flying carpet.
Flee on this magic mat.
The cat is out the bag, yes.
Go flee, you lady-rat !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 292 (A)

UP THE WRONG TREE BARK
The group was seated
at the sit-in,
awaited the studious poet
to start, to begin,
or the stony silence to break
with the drop of a pin.

He stood there quiet
as the bark on a tree,
might have stood longer
than is my memory
of the man who cried "Timber,"
loud and suddenly.

THE WHITE HOUSE BUILT JACK
There in the huge-garden
all his flowers wilt,
and the rooms are empty
in the house that Jack built.
"It is his white elephant,"
village folk are heard to say,
"it is the guy's own folly,
the man's money-throwaway.
But it is no use him crying
over white milk spilt,
though white as a ghost
Jack who the house built."

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 MAGIC SHIP 291 (E)

ROMEO AND JULIET
Romeo seeks love on the Internet,
"Where are you my Juliet ?
Why have I not found you yet ?"
Juliet seeks love with a dating ad,
life is lonely, cruel and sad,
all the girl's boyfriends turn out bad.
"Where are you, my Romeo ?"
But a fairy story is long ago."

A PANTOMIME PYRATE
Lady I's a Long-John,
a Long-John-Silver ooh.
Yes lady I's a Long-John,
a Long-John just fo' you.

Girl I's a Long-John,
member of a motley-crew.
Pieces-of-eight, pieces-of-eight,
pieces-of-eight I got fo' you.

Yo ho ho and yo ho ho,
beach brown eyes 'ave you.
Arr lady I's a Long-John
whose eyes are ocean-blue.

Girl I's a Long-John,
come 'n' cruise wi me.
I'll be your sailor-boy,
you m' pretty-sailor-lady."

A WOMAN IN MY WHISKERS
I am the cat, you are the cream,
I am the sleeper, you are the dream.
I am the moon, you are the sheen.
I am the riverbank, you are the stream.

I am the dancer, you are the waltz,
you are the swoon, I am the salts.
I am the head, you are the hat,
you are the cream, and I the cat.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 291 (D)

DIAGNOSIS: A DREAMER
The doctors say I've got it bad,
the nurses cry "how sad, how sad,
he's a romantic, that is for sure,
draw the blind, there is no cure."

My head upon the pillow I lie,
of this disease I am bound to die,
don't bring me fruit or the latest news,
let me wallow in my love-struck blues.

"Who is it did this ?" people ask
as the nurse applies the oxygen mask,
and though my life I'll one day lose,
I will forever love the poet's Muse.

LIVE LILLIPUT
There I was walking tall
here in the land of the small.
I viewed the markets of the mean,
shops and stalls were my every scene.
The little people of Lilliput
tried to bind me hand and foot
for being so big of such thought
as not to buy into and nor be bought.

THUMB TOM A LIFT
Tom thumbs for a ride,
towards him the motors glide,
but he is too small to be spied,
very minute.

Tom thumbs for a ride,
by him the drivers glide,
there is no space inside,
nor will they have him in their boot.

Tom thumbs for a ride,
past him the motors glide,
"Strangers today are just suicide."
The man gets the hoot.

SHIPPING-CAMEL AND
SHADY-OASIS COUPLE
As their ship of the desert
rests in the shade of the palms,
so she rests her head -
free from all harm -
on her lover's breast
and is thirsty no more.
Her man not a mirage
but a dream lover for sure.

WRITE OFF WAGTAIL
Once there were wagtails
but fast they have flown
now that the river
this brown has grown.

Once there were trout
and pike too were known,
a kingfisher perched
on tree-stump or stone.

Once there were fish,
once there were birds,
but all that is left...
these few words.

CASTLE CARLTON
Yonder side of York, between old Drax Abbey
and the cut by Snaith did my star first shine.
The dragonflies above the Carlton lily pond,
and under the sun's hot climb,
flit here, flit there, while fishes dart
here, dart there, in the village pond's slime.

Carlton Castle stood a fairytale far-side the trees,
at the age of four such magic was mine;
hermits, hobgoblins and witches of the wood,
swans that dove for the final time
when I waved my child's last farewell
in that place my star was to shine.

SHIP-CAPTAIN'S LOG

There is another Captain's Log, and another Captain Mark. There is also a footballer called Mark Beevers. I am, of course, neither of these two. This is captainmarkb.blogspot.com (Mark B). The B for Beevers, or Busy Beevers, ha. An anagram of my full name is A Verse Maker Be. Read on to hear about SALTBURN'S STARDUST ALLEY, my letter of thanks from Prince Charles in 1989 too. Writings dispersed among the great many verse-poems from when first published in 1988. Cheers mateys, Captain Mark, or Mark B !!

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 291 (C)

TWIN SPIRITS
Where the otter swam
with the mermaid and merman,
the trout leapt, the salmon too...
where the dam
had not been a dam
and on his pipes old Pan blew,
and blew like the breeze
through the flowers and trees
his tunes, timeless and true,
which brought centaurs to their knees,
there to swat among the fairies
while on the backs of swallows other fairies flew,
and danced the fauns
by the unicorns
and the nymphs sang. But only the sun now shines through.
It is here, my love,
like the turtle dove,
that we bill and coo.
Yes here, my love,
I the hand to your glove,
where the petals, the leaves, in the glistening dew
stick to our skins,
and we are spirit twins
who roll like the river
once used to.

A WOMAN WATCHES IN THE WOOD
Nor the dipper-bird in its diving
beneath the viaduct by the waterfall,
nor the force of the river in its driving
towards the sea and the sea's call,
nor the lilac that bends in the breeze
farther down at Rushpool Hall,
nor the squirrel that skips in the trees
or the hedgehog in its prickly ball
know the heart of the watchful girl
dives, drives, bends, skips and curls.

WAS A NOBODY ?
They call the man a has-been,
but it does not bother him because,
it is so much better to have been,
than to be a body who never-was.

WHAT SAW A BUTLER
Milady in the raw
was what the butler saw,
the nude chauffeur on his knees.
The cook - if you please -
he spied just as clear
where she swung from the chandelier.
Her ladyship cracked her crop
and his lordship would not stop
as he hurried round a track
with a saddle on his very-back.
He would have joined his employer
were the butler not a voyeur.
Now as a storyteller
his book is a best-seller.

A PLUME FOR MY PRINCESS
Perhaps she'll puff with peacock pride
for the prize of the pretty plume -
blue and green as is the sea,
bronze like the sun, gold like the moon,
Hera-honoured and Argus-eyed -
goes to she, yes goes to she,
the girl who brings colour to the room.

GO GOBLIN
There came a curious creature,
a spurious sort of sprite,
who rode on the back of a minute mare
whom he was heard to call Night.
His lies were far from thin,
indeed his fables were fat,
and the horrid little man kept pulling
the tail of the girl's pet cat.
"You are such a cruel creature,"
the young princess said,
"for so small a being
you have a very big head.
You dare to spin tall stories,
weave for me enormous lies,
would even have my cat believe
you are really giant-size.
Were I not fast asleep
I would call my father's guard
to come in and bang your head,
to come in and bang it hard.
But I know I must be dreaming
and that you are just not there,
so begone now, little man,
on Night, your tiny mare."

THE DRINK LONG AND COOL
The
man
stands
tall
and
quiet
so
the
good-
looking
girl
might
think...
he'd
quench
her
thirst
like
a
cool
and
long
drink.

BY THE THREAD A WORLD HANG
Hang
the
world
by
a
fine
thread
because
we've
a
conker
for
a
head.

SET SAIL FOR NOWHERE
Where venture I the voyager
while the wyvern flies
and breath-blows my boat-sails
as sparkle the night's many eyes ?

More eyes than heads the hydra,
more eyes than limbs the octopus,
so the night looks down on me
and the dragon blows me thus,

as I journey from this island
I compare to a giant whale
that falls in a deep slumber
and sleeps too its tail,

and so starts to sink
beneath the waves of the sea.
I sail for a far-off world
of myth, of fancy, of fantasy.

(A wyvern is a type of dragon.
Whales are said to only half-sleep,
their fin-tails still active)

SHIP-CAPTAIN'S LOG (SALTBURN'S STARDUST ALLEY)

A 'Stardust Alley' plaque for the Albion Terrace to Glenside rear lane leading to the woods and seafront, past my then side door ? Yes, why not. My community magazine, Saltburn Scene, did much for Saltburn by-the-sea (1992 - 2000), spawning much later copyists, and helped to bring 'bus-loads' of Hollywood celebs and pop/rock stars, various royals and MPs to the town, using the alleyway, as I suggested long before their visit, to avoid the town centre. More information on this following the next few verse-poems. Cheers mateys, Captain Mark (anagram: A Verse Maker Be).

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 291 (B)

THE GNOME NEIGHBOURHOOD
"My parents are plastic,"
the girl pens in a poem,
"plastic as the garden pond
and the beastly garden gnome.
Here in this suburb
it is the same each day,
when will the fairy
come fly me away ?"
My parents are plastic
just like our home,
plastic as the Joneses
and their garden gnome."

A MAGIC MORN LEAVE
The girl is sound asleep,
but here I am awake.
Morn just leave the magic
should the rest you take.

My hand in her hair
while her head is on my breast,
morn just leave the magic
but you can take the rest.

Here I am awake,
she sound asleep,
morn just leave the magic,
let me this golden moment keep.

BLEED BEAUTY
A tar-feathered swan
that looked regal in the reeds
now swims like a beggar
… beauty bleeds.

A roadside poppy
drops many pointless seeds,
we race to nowhere
… beauty bleeds.

Here are the signs,
but who is it heeds ?
Nature's surely wounded
… beauty bleeds.


CRY SHARK
All tell your sons
and warn your daughters,
shark-infested
are these cruel waters.

The lifeguard goes
without his shotgun,
while the whole beach
lacks a golden sun.

Up to the knees
in a bloody slaughter,
shark-infested
is this cruel water.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 291 (A)

A BANK BANDIT MASK
The bus starts with a jerk
and makes Julie spin.
Might she be in time for work ?
Her chances look slim.
"Late again," her boss will say,
"the bank shall have to dock your pay."
Not even time to put on the face-paint
that his girls are told to wear,
like the smile free of restraint
for the customer who stands there.
"Julie you are a disgrace,
do go to the bathroom and fix your face."
Fix her face, fix her face ?
As if it were broken ?
And her hair out of place ?
No truer words are spoken.
Reflected in the bus window see,
"Julie you are a misery."
But it takes such a push
to get up and out of bed,
join the early morning rush
to earn a mere crust of bread.
Julie, Julie, half-asleep.
Julie, Julie, too tired to weep.
Julie, Julie, too late to spy
the masked bandit with his gun.
Julie, Julie, too late to lie
with the frowning face on everyone.
"Julie," a ghost is heard to ask,
"Julie, where have you hidden your mask ?"

THE BARE CUPID CLOUD OVER HUNTCLIFF
A red sun sets on the brown cliff,
tints too the cliff's green hair.
Wide and glazed is the blue-eye sea,
a white cloud turns pink like Cupid bare.

But love's only arrows are the rays
of the crimson sun in its descent.
A red pupil for the glazed blue eye
that is soon to view the starry firmament.

BE NOT
No, my dear,
I am not Shakespeare,
to this I most surely agree.
He has served his time,
done with verse and rhyme,
and now for ever gone has he.
He's served his time,
these poems are mine,
yes truly mine as you can see.
So have no fear,
I'm not Shakespeare,
why should I wish to be ?

MOUTH WATERING
A 'Tequila Sunrise'
with a girl at sunset ?
Yes, my appetite
is greatly whet !

REMEMBRANCE
I pop pennies
inside a tin
carefully designed
to pop pennies in,

buy a poppy
which I then pin
to the front of the coat
that I'm shopping in.

The pin pricks,
breaks my skin,
too shallow is the wound
for remembering.

A CHILD'S PLAY GARDEN
There in the garden were small children
who played with a cork-and-feather shuttlecock.
"So sorry to interrupt your happy game,"
said a strange creature from behind a rock,
"but my friends and I are from a distant land
that your own has surely very much forgot.
Such creatures as we know no tick of time,
in the world of fairy old age exists not.
The hobgoblin, the pixie, the dwarf, the elf,
are but a few of our many various names.
Why don't you both come and join us
in our land's magical fairy games ?
You shall be given no cause to worry
and can bring your cork-and-feather shuttlecock,
while your mother and father are too busy
working like slaves around your country's clock."

CROSS SWEAR WORDS
Seven years the young pair lived together,
four across the street and three down.
Their seventh was a cryptic clue
of what was to call around.

The eighth sees the pair now wed
and both completely square.
Before the two had got married
cross words were very rare.

CHEEKY
My tongue in your cheek,
that would be bliss.
Humour me, lady,
with a French-kiss !

SHIP-CAPTAIN'S LOG

GOOD SHIP ALBION carries verse-poems from my Saltburn Scene, Pattaya Trader, Middlesbrough Magic Ship, and various other publications. A vast ocean of poems are found here, but not all of them, and there are a few selected writings amongst the verses,  as to my editorship of Saltburn's first ever community magazine, to my letter of gratitude from Prince Charles after my supporting his views on climate change in 1989, and the stars/celebs I've met. Some poems may have been repeated. There are also typing errors. I'm too busy a Beevers to correct them all! Ha. Pages from Pattaya Trader, Thailand, can be found by scrolling right to the bottom of this blog, or - far easier - by clicking on the year 2011 BLOG ARCHIVE at the side. There are pages from 2009 scattered amongst these. Most of these verse-poems are from much earlier. I began being published in 1988. Cheers mateys, Captain Mark

For MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (F)

A MEMORY-SHIP MAGIC
My pen quests,
see trickle the tip,
a crow's nest crowns
my magic ship.

Far up the flag flies
and the sail is full
while glitters the gold
down in the hull.

Glistens the sheer gold
of your pretty tress,
and shines your white body
in its nakedness.

Yes the magic ship
of my memory
brings such beauty as yours
back home to me.

THE BOTTLED BOAT
There is a boat in a bottle
with sails set for nowhere,
yes a ship in a bottle
caught as in a snare.

There is a captain on the booze
who will set sail no more,
a veteran who awaits the voyage
behind death's door.

The drinker toasts the darlings
in every port he has been.
Lifts his glass to the pretty girls
in every land he has seen.

There is a boat in a bottle,
caught as in a snare,
but the magic ship of memory
takes him just anywhere.

A MUSIC MAKER'S MORTAL MISTAKE
The man was a minstrel,
a make-tracks troubadour.
He strummed on a lute,
banged on a lordship's door.
The personage bid him play
and as a reward
for the man's fine music
offered him a sword.
The player took the weapon.
The lord was at peace,
studied to learn the music
he hoped would never cease.
The troubadour burdened
with the long blade
celebrated war in song.
A short-lived life made.

GURGLE GURGLE GURGLE !
What's happening to democracy ?
It's going down the drain.
The politician, yes the MP,
is sure going down the very same.

What's happening to democracy ?
To the sewer-rat it's plain.
Expenses-fiddlers, crack-heads,
taking over its furry domain !

A SHARP-TONGUED SHE-DEVIL
Her guy sure feels on a rack,
the fellow's found disjointed.
His girl is now a witch in black
to he, so hopelessly disappointed.

That mouth of hers began to hack
he who was by love anointed.
His girl has now a witch's hat
just like her tongue. Sharp pointed !

A MARRIAGE MADE TO LAST ?
I lived with a Thai-girl or two,
marriage not my thing.
I'd lived with an English woman
when it was named a sin.
Thirteen years we lasted
without that wedding ring.
Can't be said of friends.
Marriage did them in !

Thirteen years, thirteen years,
thirteen's lucky for some.
I'm not a bingo player,
but the lasting game we won.

CATHARTIC COUPLING
She sparkled, oh she sparkled,
she sparkled with delight.
Yes her eyes sparkled,
it was a bonfire night.

A bonfire night it was,
bang bang bang bang bang.
Rockets and catharsis wheels
for she and I her man.

THE THAI-GIRL'S GIFT FOR ME
She was Christmas in her stockings
and her red corset.
Although she is a Buddhist
it was a safe bet
this was her gift to me.
Who needed an Xmas tree !

LADY LOTUS MINE
She called me a "white-monkey" in fun
(though it was 'meant' by some),
but I had the year-round sun
of her country and of her smile.
My lotus-lady did so beguile.

A GOLDEN-HOUR GIRL HAS GONE
Hers is an heart
with an open door.
Hers is a mind
to explore
as is her body,
its every contour.

She is a soul
with whom to bond
and sail into
a blue beyond.
She is a girl
of the hour gone.

GIFT OF A POEM
TO A VERY PRETTY GIRL
Into your sweet dreams
did my message come ?
Did I enter your head
through my medium ?
My medium was the poem,
a message was the verse.
Did you invite it
into sleep's warm embrace ?

Yes into your sweet dreams
did my message come ?
Or did you ignore it,
give a downwards thumb ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (E)

PAPER BOATS
The girl never knew she held him
in the palm of her hand
till he slipped through her fingers
like fine grains of sand,

while he never knew how lucky
he was to escape her,
for her temper was a tempest
but the poet's boats were paper.

YOU'RE-A-PERSON-INCLINED-
TO-CORRECT-MISSPELT-WORDS
I have an inkling
that you are the type
who seeks out errors
in the words men write.

I have an inkling
that you come awake
over a verse-poet's
or a printer's mistake.

I have an inkling
you're under a spelling
of what the poet
or publisher's selling.

A-DAWN-DAISY
If only to awake
to a day that's new,
fresh as a daisy
in the morning dew,

and see the world
on such a morn
as though I'd died
and been reborn

and did not know
how it would pain
my very soul
to live again

when in time
this thought I'd find
does not ease
a troubled mind.

GENTLEMAN GIANT
Size twelve shoes
upon my big-feet,
my foot in mouth
wouldn't be a treat,
but with the ladies
I am always sweet,
even with the ones
not good enough to eat !

NEED AND GREED
Money's not the root
of all evil,
it is damn greed
that can bedevil.

I used to have money
to throw away
on the young ladies
who came my way.

But for beauty, too,
I'd not a greed,
though money fetch more
than you need !

LIFE AFLOAT NOTE
Not much a man
for materiality,
possessions pin me down,
I like to be free,
I like to feel a sort
of spirituality...

to consider my body
is but a boat
for the soul inside.
It keeps me afloat.
Yes, take note,
it keeps me afloat.

A-FOOL'S-CAP-OR-
THE-WIZARD'S-HAT ?
She couldn't believe the age of me
and thought I was the vanished Doctor Dee
or surely some wizard at longevity !
Though she may have been a sorceress
using magic words just to impress
a perfect fool. The girl did, I guess !

HUMPHREY BOGART-FIND-
I-AM-NOT-GIRL
I might have been Humphrey Bogart
were I not so tall,
and were you a beauty
you might have been Bacall.
No you're no plain-Jane,
but then you weren't Lauren.
Me ? I'm no Humphrey,
I'm too tall I'll say again.
Find that I won't say
"Here's looking at you kid",
because I just don't love you.
Probably never, not ever, did.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (D)

INSOMNIAC'S-XMAS-COCK-DINNER
"Now breaks the dawn
and don't I know it !
The colourful cock
is about to crow it !
Later, in the coop -
fed on corn and crumbs -
he'll strut around so-proud,
lord of the chicken run.
And there in his harem,
the choice of any she,
I'd cock-a-doodle-doo
had I plenty as he !
No work to do
other than praise the sun
and grow fat on pleasure.
Just wait till Christmas comes !"

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (C)

A BLOODBATH BATHORY
Evil Elizabeth Bathory
was the bloody baroness.
Some called her "Werewolf."
Some called her "Vampiress."

In the blood of virgins
bathed the ageing bat.
Vanity drove to their veins
the very-cruel aristocrat.

Evil Elizabeth Bathory
thought youth could regain
in every drop of blood
an old-wolf can go drain.

CONFUSING NORMAL
WITH NATURAL
Normal is concrete.
Natural is grass.
Yet there're folk can't tell
their elbow from their ass !

SAX AGE
The young black saxophonist
has got her swinging so,
she's the ageing white woman
and he's her gigolo.
Lift that sax young-guy
and blow, blow, blow.
She's the ageing white woman
and he's her gigolo.
"Black-and-white," hear her say,
"becomes a lady who's going grey.

THE FEATHERED FRIENDS
I repeat you're too pretty,
you repeat I'm too clever.
We could go on, girl,
like this for ever.
You'd think us both parrots,
but birds of a feather ?
Are we not opposites
attracted by the other ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (B)

THE BRIEF WINTERLUDE THEIRS FIND
Theirs was a long summery love,
but came a short winterlude
when a stranger, the jealous kind,
was to turn up and intrude.

He could not get a girl of his own
and would try to come between,
or break up the young couples
that made the guy envy-green.

Theirs was a long summery love,
but came a short winterlude.
Try to make jealousy a stranger,
avoid a bitter fight or feud.

AN ARTWORK WOMAN
She is a colourful character,
with a body beautiful.
Both funny and serious.
Who can call her dull.
The girl is a painting.
The girl is a sculpture.
She is a work of art.
Fine-tuned by Nature.

DISCUSSING NEW APPLIANCE
"It's not the size that counts,"
said his new girl,
"it's how you use it."

"Both quantity and quality,"
replied her new guy.
She did not refuse it !

WORK FOR FREE !
Due to the unemployed
he has a job behind a desk.
If most were to find work
he might be on the dole next.
Not very many paid-jobs around,
though voluntary work is easily found !

TIGHT SCHEDULES ?
London, Oxford,
Edinburgh, Blackpool,
Paris, Amsterdam.
Feed me more fuel.

Bangkok, Pattaya.
Feed me to fly.
I like to get around.
Not the round you buy !

CURIOUS TOURIST ATTRACTION
Tourists' cameras snapped
as the pigeons crapped.
I stood in Trafalgar Square
like a cross, or a scarecrow
that did not seem to scare.

My hands held out pigeon beans,
pigeon crap on my jeans
and pigeon crap in my hair.
Scratches on my leather jacket...
birds settled on my arm wear.

Yes tourists' cameras snapped
as the pigeons crapped.
In Trafalgar Square I stood
like a cross, or a scarecrow,
or like a clown stuck in more than mud !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (A)

YES-AN-ALBATROSS-LADY
She was the albatross around my neck.
I could not take much more.
The girl hammered her fists against my chest
so I pusher her. She fell to the floor.
There she lay down on the deck.
Her arms spread out like a cross,
the girl who was ever round my neck,
the lady albatross, yes the lady albatross.
Oh now she would be a martyr.
Of this I'd not hear the last.
She'd tell her friends for a starter,
and probably with an added twist.
Go tell the world I said, go tell all.
Hammer your fists against my chest
when you rise from the push and fall,
but this relationship is now laid to rest
(I would no longer argue the coin's toss
with she, a lady albatross).

YES-WILD-KITTY'S-LONESOME-
DEADWOOD-GRAVE
Kitty Le Roy met her end
in the Lone Star saloon.
In bed with a 'friend'
she danced to his tune.
Sam Hurley, gun in hand,
crept into the room.
Kitty the jig-dancer
was a well-known whore.
Sam, her furious romancer,
left two bodies on the floor.
Jealousy creeps like a cancer
whether sex is free or paid-for.

A SORT OF SANTA'S GROTTO ?
It was down in The Grotto bar,
beneath the Coatham Hotel
that the smoke from cigarettes
had a heady smell
cut-through by a jukebox David
like the Bowie Knife,
or by the voice of Bolan
upon a swan of white,
or of Bryan Ferry
with his seductive croon
that carried the young ladies
to Paris or the moon.

Yes down in The Grotto bar
some would call a dive -
the jazz club above
later to come alive -
we'd start out the evening
that ended with a wild jive.

LONG LOOK BACK
She looked for a tall dark handsome stranger,
why did I not say "I'm the one for you ?"
Perhaps it was just my modesty ?
The girl leapt aboard the bus number sixty-two.
Many a line of verse ran through my head,
yet to this poet's lips they went unknown.
I mouthed a quite goodbye to the beauty
who caught my very last poem home.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 289 (F)

A-SLEEPLESS-SHE-SHARK
And so she swims
with the many sharks,
the pimps, the pushers.
Had a poster of Howard Marks.

"They were nice to me
at first," she says,
"but now I'm the one
who pays and pays.

Behind the smiles
lie sharp the teeth
that sink well in,
drag you beneath.

There's no getting out
when you're down deep.
I am up all night.
Find I just can't sleep."

OLD-WIVES'-TALES-VERSE ?
They say that sharks
don't really kill,
it's fish-wife tales
that linger still,
but then go say
that in the deep
sharks can attack you
while in their sleep !
Oh save us, save us all
from the quacks.
From egghead experts
cuckoo brains shall hatch !!

TO A WAIST DOWN
NAKED AM I
Long and slender as a mast,
veins knotted like a cat-o'-nine,
naked down to the waist,
I drink in the brine.
Jaunty as a jolly Jack Tar
I seek a good time.

The ladies see me swagger
while men cry "It's a crime."
But naked down to the waist
with no sun to shine,
bare below the navel-button
I seek a good time.

Long and slender as a mast,
veins knotted like a cat-o'-nine,
I'm naked down to the very waist,
my shirt is on the washing line.
Now sick as a pirate's parrot
I seek a good time.

BY HELEN'S BEAUTY
A BOY'S HEART BREAKS
Hot on the heels of Helen,
for her burns the zealous boy,
aflame is the city of his heart
like another Troy.

Hot on the heels of Helen
he yearns for the dear lips
of the young reborn queen
whose face launched
a thousand ships.

Hot on the heels of Helen,
for her burns the zealous boy.
Razed unto a ruin,
how beauty can destroy.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 289 (E)

REQUEST AS TO CREMATED REMAINS
The old chocolate factory worker
was finally to pop his socks.
"Cremation," had been his call,
"ashes place in a chocolate-box.
Yes ashes place in a chocolate-box
and send to my dear ex-wife.
The woman was a damn fiery sort
all our flaming wedded life !"

OLD AND TYRED
For a new model
he wished to trade his wife
(emphasis on 'model').
That'd be the life.

He would make do
with rusty old she.
She would make do
with old-wreck he !

DEEPLY JEALOUS JILL
Her jealousy crept like a cancer,
like a crab into a foggy sea,
only to be lost and find no answer
to the question of such jealousy.

Oh how she felt the pincers
and wanted him to feel hurt too.
Get away would not her mister
as the storm inside her grew.

A-PORT-BANGOK-PIRATE-
GIRL-MAYBE ?
She sailed into port
inside her canoe,
monkey on shoulder,
on bared-back a tattoo.
Find no green parrot
just a white cockatoo
was perched up front
of the Thai-beauty's canoe.

Yes sailed into port -
Bangkok City within -
a pirate or gypsy-girl
who set my head swimming.

A-COMICAL-CAPERING-YES
I went to a cartoon of a party.
Yes it was comic but also dandy.
On his own was little Lord Snooty,
while looking through keyholes caught was Katy.
I came across the cat called Korky,
and Denis the Menace was being naughty.

Yes I went to a cartoon of a party.
Desperate Dan ate cow-pies heartily.
Biffo the Bear bristled all hairy
at Denis the Menace being naughty,
and Pansy Potter, too, got a bit iffy.
They took him outside. It was over in a jiffy.
I was not going to cause a scene, so
I sat down in a corner and read the Beano.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 289 (D)

DOING THE MATHS
The bar-girl had five foreign men
whom their money would send
for a child they thought was theirs.
"Five fathers," the girl would grin,
counting the cash coming in.
She still worked the Siam bars.
Pull beers and bedfellows the bar-girls can
over in what is now Thailand,
and might make quite a hefty sum.
It is not the men she was numbering
but the pounds and dollars rolling in.
She obviously thought maths such fun !

THE KNOWER
"Find we're all performers
in a life-long play.
Some of us know our roles,
others struggle day to day.

This is what the wise-man
had then got to say:
"Yet it is not a breeze
when you do know the way."

THE SUNNY DAYDREAMS
You are beautiful
 as the butterfly
upon the red rose
that catches my eye.

You are beautiful
in sweet memory
as the cherry-blossom
that attracts the bee,

and like the busy bee
you are beautiful
who honey the dreams
here in my skull.

SAD-FOR-A-FAST-FADING-SUMMETIME
It is getting colder by the day,
the blue sky is turning to grey,
the wind and rain on their way,
both with a more often stay.

Birds will flee thick as thieves,
and leave the trees the leaves.
Out will come longer sleeves
as for the summer my heart grieves.

A DARK HORSE MEADOW
Raven hair to match
her mount's coal-black hide,
there in the green meadow
see the girl gypsy ride.

Romany youths all want her,
but she's not for the taking,
at one with her steed
the wild gypsy's not for breaking.

Were the youths to know
just how long she has ridden,
or know of the secret
she has ever kept hidden,

would they understand ?
Or yet could they ?
Break horses and hearts,
while tame her ? There was no way.

A CLEAR TEAR
The day's-eye daisy
has opened up.
The clear-dawn-dew
in her eye's cup
is so like a tear...
so like a teardrop.

A BEAUTIFUL BEYOND
The girl sits by the golden flowers
and builds ivory towers,
while kites with their streamers
fly in the sun
and the children run.
She's one of the beautiful dreamers.

The man lies back in his boat,
watches the white clouds float
like smoke from old paddle-steamers,
drifts free from the fast pace
of the whole human race.
He's one of the beautiful dreamers.

The children are running
and yet still sunning
are the two dreamers.
In shadow the children run
as their kites block out the very sun
like the world beyond the two dreamers.

KATE THE KITE
"Kate is a kite,
light-headed, light, light..."
all the kids go sing
to the poor dizzy-thing.
She isn't too bright,
ribbon hung like string.
Did you hear her say
"Please God fly me away" ?

IT'S-A-GREY-SPLATTER-
MATTER
Living in a tenement on high,
thought he'd leap aboard the next cloud,
the guy,
and sail far, far away,
from the city he found grey.
But he missed the next cloud,
only to lie very much splattered.
Find that was the end of that.
To so few folk it mattered.

A BEEPING BARRACKS PARSON
Beep beep beep, beep beep beep,
"The road here is blocked by sheep !"
cried out the man sat in the jeep.
He was a Yorkshire army-parson,
The Lord his shepherd, but - by gum -
the man was sure heard to swear some.
Being one of his Lord's sheep,
shouldn't he 'baa' and not 'beep' ?!

A-FORECASTING-FEMALE-IN-
FREEZING-COLD-WINTERTIME
A spellbinder is she,
a caster of dreamy spells
amongst the fairy glens,
amongst the fairy dells.

A white witch of winter
who sees and foretells,
just like a mystic-gypsy,
of heavens and hells.

And what shall we find
by springtime and bluebells ?
Not to know the future
has often served us well.

SO-LATE FIRST-AND-FINAL DATE
The rose I gave her withered,
the soft chocolates in their box
the girl was to leave uneaten.
They turned as hard as rocks.
These happened within an hour
of our first, our only date.
The evening was still so young,
but find it sure felt very-late.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 289 (C)

IT'S-A-DUO'S-HEATED-HEARTS
From a block of ice
he is thawed.
Brought back to life,
a youth unflawed.

For a hundred years
was frozen he.
Frozen at the age
of twenty-three.

Twenty-three also
is the pretty-girl
he will then meet
in this new world.

Is he far too old ?
Is she sure too young ?
A hundred-and-twenty-three
but still handsome.

Perhaps it will be -
despite warm hearts -
their two minds will say
"We are worlds apart" ?

TWO HEADS BETTER THAN ONE ?
"Hi, I'm your local god.
Dropped down to say hello.
Last time I journeyed here
was two-thousand-years ago.

Yes I have twin-heads,"
said the man from space.
"I prefer talking to myself
and not the human race.

Look at how time flies.
I guess I've got to go.
Fare you well strangers,
till next I say hello."

JUST THE JOURNEYMAN
WAS JOE
They said that old Joe
was nothing but a hobo,
American for tramp.
He sure was no boho,
short for bohemian, y'know.
But yes a freeway scamp.
The freeway, the highway,
the roadway bum.
A truck along tumbleweed,
trucking, tumbling on.

They said that old Joe
was far from a boho,
and far away from town.
Nothing about him artistic,
being far too realistic,
too real to settle down.
Just a journeying hobo,
not a travelling boho
lost in his art.
Just a journeying hobo,
not a travelling boho.
Spied a town, quickly to part.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 289 (B)

IT'S SPRIGHTLY SUMMER AND
A WEARY WINTER
Outside my window
blows a breeze
through the leaves
upon the trees.
The sun smiles
down on the park
as will the moon
after dark.

Yes outside my window
a breeze blows.
Will fall the rains,
will fall the snows,
the back-of-year sun
lose its glow,
for Time's sure swift
on his toes,

though in the winter
drags his feet
come the hard rains
or the heavy sleet.
But now the breeze,
the sun on park,
the leaves on show,
does my road greet.

A FOXY-FEMALE CHASER
I WAS NOT
A flame-haired fox
set my soul afire,
had my heart racing
with burning desire,
sure like a huntsman
on a vixen's track,
so like a horseman
with a hound-pack.

Yes a flame-haired fox
set my soul afire,
but for the very chase
I'd not the desire.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 289 (A)

MISTRESS OR WIFE, JIM LAD ?
The girl on the griffin's back
through the dark sky went soar.
Below her, on a long dirt track,
winding his way to a sandy shore,
journeyed the boy hard to keep,
the lover of the lashing-waves.
The boy whose mistress was the deep.
The boy who'd make the sea his grave.
No spell of hers could hold him,
and beauty was her greatest spell.
No spell was to hold young Jim
who'd made a wish by a wishing-well
when still in the village school.
He'd wished to sail the high-seas,
be under Mistress Ocean's rule.
Under a witch-queen's thumb he'd be
were he to stay put at her side,
and so Jim journeyed the long track,
the sea his mistress, not his bride
the girl on the griffin's back.

A PERMITTED PRECOGNITION
"The future I foresee
when the spirits permit,
though not my own future,"
said the ageing hermit.

"No not my own future,
but I see what's in store
when the spirits permit,
and open wide the door

or open my mind's eye
to what may well be.
Many men just so blind.
Some see, some foresee."

A FLY-FOLK TO VERY FAR
FROM HERE INVADERS
A fear of flying-saucers ?
Of beings part-man part-octopus ?
Fly-swatters in their tentacles
here to bash the lot of us ?

Invaders from outer-space,
beings who are more advanced.
Seeing us as boils on the earth,
each one of us to be lanced ?

We must seem quite alien,
we really are a strange lot.
Perhaps only a trifle better
than the flies that we swat ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 288 (H)

THE KNIFE ANGEL
Angel of the North,
meet the Angel of Knives.
Find it's been brought forth
that it might save some lives.

A STRAIGHT EROS'S ARROW
I served up the meal,
I poured out the wine.
I cooked her a treat.
She was treated fine.

Straight as an arrow
I was feeling erotic,
my Thai-girl guest
was damn sure exotic.

She'd not tasted wine,
to her it was very-new.
Heady as I her host,
off her clothes she threw !

She stood in a thong.
Yes she stood in a thong.
Do the cooking right,
get to cook all night long !

NOT A PLAYING-CARD JOKER
IN SIGHT
There's a running riot,
the police can't keep pace.
There're running rioters,
cops with truncheons and Mace.
It's there on the Tv-News,
right up in your face.
Yes it's a running riot,
rioters winning the race.

There's a running riot.
It runs all over the place.
It runs with such a fury
the police go lose pace.
Some cheer the mob on,
some say it's a disgrace.
A pack of cards is flying,
of the joker just no trace.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 288 (G)

A VOYAGING VERSE-POET
I worked down a mine
and for a steel company.
I edited a magazine
in a seaside community.
I worked at the Post Office
after a chocolate factory.
I'd taught Creative Writing
(in a city the last three).
I taught English Language
in a far Eastern country.
Wrote for a publication there.
Aided the son of an MP
who was in private care.
Then taught English voluntarily
(the last two back here).
Many folk, many a celebrity,
has this poet now met.
Many a place do I journey,
a sailor with his sails set
for a wind blowing free.

For MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 288 (F)

A GOOD TIME ALL ROUND
Not a girl in every port
but his every girl in one.
And each of them he sought
when back from the big pond.
A sailor-boy, oh a sailor-boy
of all of them so fond.
Each his pride, each his joy.
Each his crew just on land.
All were known to each other.
All his Thai-girls did not care.
Each might take another lover
when the sailor-boy wasn't there.
What was it about the guy
had the girls run to him ?
Unspent money and good looks,
many a worldly-tale to spin.

A-FULLY-FLOWERED-SMILE-
FROM-OLD-SIAM
Her face amongst sunflowers
had an equally sunny smile.
She shone for the photograph
her hair up in a cute pile.

Very pretty, so very pretty,
my Thai-girlfriend had style.
A sunflower field, not the city.
Not the city by many a mile.

A-VERY-MURDEROUS-
GRAVE-ROBBING-PAIR-
HUNG-DAMN-HIGH
Burke was a berk,
he forgot his spade.
Hare dashed off
away from the grave
to fetch the spade
that Burke forgot.
Dig up that body
before it went rot.
Body snatchers both,
corpses sold they
to any fool doctor
who'd willingly pay.
To any researcher
or any Frankenstein.
Hare dashed back
in the nick of time.
Burke being a berk
was now fast asleep.
His snores were loud,
breath heavy and deep.
Birds in the trees
began to unsettle.
Mice in the grass,
rats in the nettles
ran there and here,
ran here and there.
Ran across the path
of Burke and Hare.
Hare awoke Burke
and whispered "Hush.
Could be a bobby
beyond any bush."
"We'd not want that,"
Burke was to reply,
"let's make a start,
or hang me high."

From MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP No. 144 circulated 20/9/2019

I received a postcard from pop poet Brian Patten and I met punk poet John Cooper Clarke outside my home, in Saltburn. I also met another writer of poetry, the comic Spike Milligan, who sometimes visited my next-door neighbour on Glenside with his agent, Norma Farnes. However, it was Spike's pal the Prince of Wales (Charles) who sent me a letter of gratitude when I supported his views over climate change, in 1989, when the media and many MPs, Tory and Labour, were calling him "Cuckoo", as to the 0-Zone Layer, in a piece I published in charity mag E.T., at the old Chambers of Commerce in Middlesbrough. The Evening Gazette did a story on this. I'd been in the press before as to Brian, and many verses of mine were later published in the Evening Gazette via Dr Andrew Croft of NOTICEBOARD. The poet Philip Larkin had been concerned as to the loss of our natural surroundings many years before, and rock bands in the early-to-mid 70s sang about pollution. Black Sabbath had 'Hole in the Sky', Deep Purple had 'No No No', Rainbow had 'Run with the Wolf'. Thin Lizzy had 'Mama Nature Said'. Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon concept/story album was about madness, not space travel, caused by the environment. 'Lunacy' derived from 'lunar', the moon. Brian Jones was the founder of the Rolling Stones. Their name was taken from an old song called 'Rolling Stone Blues'. He was found dead in his swimming pool. On their psychedelic album Their Satanic Majesties' Request, features the track 'Citadel' with dollar bills flying as flags. Indeed, we've been concreting over the countryside, too busy trying to earn a living or make more money. In Purple's song 'Woman From Tokyo', Ian Gillan sings of the garden he and his girl love, inside her concrete city of lights. Let us not start demolishing parks to build houses and green belts to expand our towns. Surely the earth, the ground, needs to breathe too, and wild animals need places to live and feed. Captain Mark

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 288 (E)

FOLLOW THE LEADER ?
"Don't do as we do,
do as we say."
Has it not always
been this way ?

They make the laws,
they make the rules,
think they're kings and queens
and we their fools.

Whether on the Left
or on the Right,
they who lead us
will also smite

we who would do
as do they.
"Don't do as we do,
do as we say."

STARS VISIT TO SALBURN: Due to an earlier invite from me, to Pete Doherty, and to Tom Fletcher (of McFly), to come to Saltburn with their friends, an all-star attendance at a celebrity gig in Teesside later visited the town, the many black celebs and many white celebs overcrowding the pubs on the seafront, after disembarking on Albion Terrace a number of days, and avoiding the town centre, as I'd suggested, by filing past my home on Glenside, then into the nearby woods that led to the seafront, or taking the S-bank, along the alleyway I now choose to call 'Stardust Alley'. I'd recently returned from Thailand where I'd been teaching English Language and writing for Pattaya Trader. As published in the trader, I have written lyrics, anonymously, for several now known bands, and two female vocalists. I may one day write a book about this. Prolific poet, Mark Beevers (anagram: A Verse Maker Be). Some names of the great many celeb visitors appear in information pieces from my circulars, MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP, 7 or 8 articles which are posted on this blog amongst the many, many verses. Find them by scrolling down. Paul McCartney had previously received a copy of my magazine SALTBURN SCENE and chatted to me about the Victorian pier.

From MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP No. 137 (Summer Special 2019)
Almost five years of Magic Ship, which brings me to David Bowie who'd a song called Five Years. I was introduced as Tom Fletcher's friend to David, outside my home on Glenside, in Saltburn, after I'd recently returned from teaching in Thailand. There'd been an all-star gig in Teesside, which would move onto Manchester and then near London, film-maker Oliver Stone told me. Bowie had arrived late, jet-lagged, for the Teesside gig.
He'd once had a fear of planes, saying he was waiting for the flying saucer. Anyway, he was eager to chat with Ricky Gervais who'd only just told me he liked my funny lyrics. There were royals and MPs young and old, and - of course - security, among the many black celebs and the many white celebs, now visiting sunny Saltburn. I have previously mentioned some names in Magic Ship, but here are some more: Doris Day, Buzz Aldrin, Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall, Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithful, members from Abba, members from Fleetwood Mac, Bryan Ferry, Sting, members from Dire Straits, Pete Doherty and Kate Moss, Mickey Finn, Steve Harley, Adam Ant, members from Duran Duran, Gary Numan, Status Quo, members from Pink Floyd, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, Meat Loaf, Rik Mayall, Lenny Henry, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Jonathan Ross, Russell Brand, Keith Lemon, Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts, cast from FRIENDS, cast from the blockbuster TITANIC, Johnny Depp, members from Spice Girls, Jimmy Page, Brian May and wife, Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Minouge sisters, John Travolta, Olivia Newton John, Norman Wisdom, John Cooper Clarke, Arthur Brown, J.k. Rowling, Sean Connery, Billy Connolly and wife, Kate Bush and brother, Ringo Starr and son, Tina Turner, Cher, Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, Jack Nicholson, George Clooney, Will Smith, Janet Jackson, John Lydon and wife, Boy George, George Michael, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen (who sadly took ill), Lou Reed, Morrissey, Eartha Kitt, Prince and Madonna, Brigitte Bardot, Diana Ross, members from Village People, cast from STAR WARS, Tom Cruise, Michael Crawford, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Jack Black, Christopher Lee, Honor Blackman, Diana Rigg, Martin Shaw, Cliff Richard, Hank Marvin. Cheers mateys, Captain Mark

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 288 (D)

LEGAL GAGGING ORDERS
Writing lyrics for bands
whom your name then edit,
you take the pocket-money,
they take all the credit.

But they write the music,
they do the touring.
You share not in the royalties,
there's no one you adoring.

You get legally gagged,
yet it's you choose it.
Where lyric, and pocket-money,
should they go refuse it ?

MAGIC SHIP No. 136 snippet: Just a few of the very many celebs/stars who attended a gig in Teesside some years into this century, then visited sunny Saltburn. These, here, are now deceased: David Bowie, Lemmy, Scott Walker, Amy Winehouse, Steve Strange, Ronnie Dio, David Cassidy, Peaches Geldof, George Martin, Terry Pratchett, Gerry Anderson, Stan Lee, Ken Dodd, Freddie Starr, Gene Wilder, Joan Rivers, Peter O'Toole, Heath Ledger, Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor. MB

More detail on this blog. Scroll down.

A FANCY-DRESS DISCO WAR-DANCE
Chief Sitting Bull
at the bar was stood,
looked at me and said
"Think you're Clint Eastwood ?"

Strolled by Geronimo,
"Hey there, little big horn,"
to Sitting Bull he spoke,
"Ill whip you up a storm."

Chief Sitting Bull,
now aflame with fire-water,
put down his whisky,
ready for the slaughter.

Head to head they went,
a juiced up Geronimo
and a raging Bull.
What a wild west show !

PUSH-BIKE PAVEMENTS
Heavy loads
upon the roads
fill cyclists with fear.
On the sidewalk
they don't balk
at riding up your rear.

Off the roads
with heavy loads,
on pavements biking,
they go steer
up your rear.
Not to your liking.

Heavy loads
upon the roads
fill cyclists with fear.
No brakes, no bell,
bode not well,
watch your back, hear ?!

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 288 (C)

THE SEABEDDED HEARTS
AND SOULS
Like the ship, Titanic,
which sank from view,
in an earlier story
the Titan sank, too.

There've been lovers sailed -
and sailed apart -
both sure been left
with a rock-bottom heart.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 288 (B)

THE-HOLLYWOOD-HEROES-AND-
STARRY-OTHERS-IN-SALTBURN-BY-THE-SEA
The famed, they filed
down Stardust Alley,
towards Glenside
and Saltburn Valley.

Though Stardust Alley
was not Stardust then,
just a rear cut
to Saltburn's glen.

A cobblestoned lane
joins a dirt track
from Glenside's front
to Albion Terrace's back.

The famed, they filed
down Stardust Alley,
towards Glenside
and Saltburn valley.

(This verse is better explained in 6 or 7
info sheets posted on this blog, I already having met with Tom
Fletcher, Pete Doherty and Paul McCartney)

SOARING AND SINKING
I see, girl, in your eyes
the blue of the sea and of the skies.
I'm off the ground, I'm off the land,
flying-but-drowning, understand.

CONTROL FREAKS
There is always someone
who loves to control
the bodies around them,
steal their very soul.
There is always someone
who'd rise to the top,
control the country and
give democracy the chop.

A FAT-CAT WOMAN
UP A TREE
The weekly sum
she spends on her cats,
many families live
on far less than that.

Her weekly pay
as a stuck-up MP
makes her a pussycat
near the top of the tree.

"BEAUTIFUL BUT GOODBYE"
Beautiful as is a butterfly,
yet with the sting of a bee.
To her I'd to say goodbye,
she sure wasn't the girl for me
with only her surface beauty.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 288 (A)

HER LONGING LONESOME HEART
In London, it's Liverpool Street Station
for the girl's up North destination.
At the platform the train's just stood.
Sergeant Pepper's music plays in her head.
She hears his Lonely Heat's Club Band.
Another town seems like another land.
Love has gone away, city romance ends.
She heads for home and helpful friends.
Alone in the crowds, even with London lights,
it's back to a small town's starry nights.

APOLLO ATTENDED BY THE MUSES ?
I'm a-Mused, I'm be-Mused,
to the highest degrees
as to low-down politicians,
and to which I make no Apollo-gies !

NO MORE A MAGICAL AMOUR
There is not the magic
for her anymore
since her word-wizard
walked out the door.

Gone has the guy
who spoke into her eyes
while he caressed
so softly her thighs.

Gone now has the guy
who made her spirit rise.
Gone the girl's man
and his amour.

A LIFE-TIME'S FLOWER
were we really dying
from the time we are born,
we'd not grow to kiss life's rose
nor feel its cruel thorn.

A MORN MARE RIDE
The girl is out riding
this early morn
upon a white horse
she calls a unicorn.

A sea-breeze her gold-hair
is to blow
as she chases after
a fading rainbow.

Chase that dream,
go chase that dream,
upon a horse
white as icecream.

Chase that rainbow
across the sand
till you find yourself
in fairyland.

Chase that rainbow
but, girl, be aware
that fairyland, too,
has its nightmares.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 287 (J)

FACT NOT FICTION
He'd build a rocket,
leave behind the EU.
Leave behind Britain,
the whole globe too.

He'd soar through space,
head for the stars.
Play Robinson Crusoe
up there on Mars.

Sick of the politicians,
of the lies and fake news.
Sick of the pollution
and of power's abuse,

yes build a rocket
he would, if he could.
So down on the ground
is his neighbourhood.

MAYTIME MAYOR
Who'll be our Mayor
elected in May ?
"We're sick of votes,"
the people say,
already worn down
by the PM May.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 287 (I)

BRANSON PICKLE
Richard Branson,
don't an air-hostess tickle;
she might land you
in a damn pickle !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 287 (H)

PARLIAMENTRY PANTALOONS
There's divide-and-conquer,
but no divide-and-rule.
You cannot rule division, find,
as now sees wise-man and fool !

THE MARCH MADNESS MAN ?
Mad as a March hare,
I'm one of the old-loons
who so-think April showers
shall one day be monsoons !

from MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP No. 128 the flyer/circular

From the flyer/circular:- Though Irish, Spike Milligan's parents were living in India when he was born, thus he said he was Indian. The comic became friend to Prince Charles. He voted Labour, though he'd fall out with the party at times, and fall out with the BBC for whom he worked. His manager, Norma Farnes, often visited a friend on Glenside, next door to me, and would sometimes bring Spike along for the ride. The comic was much concerned with pollution and overpopulation. He wrote both funny and serious verses, having a big fan in Joanna Lumley. Known for his collaboration with Peter Sellers in The Goon Show, he went onto his own tv series and wrote comical novels about his part in the war. He was an inspiration to the Monty Python's Flying Circus team whom I also met when there was a celebrity/star gig in Teesside, which I've mentioned more than once before. Eric Idle was over from where he was living in Bangkok. I was back from teaching English Language there, and in Pattaya, Thailand. The celebs arrived - from Middlesbrough in taxis, mini-buses, coaches - on Albion Terrace, throughout the day, and the next, filing down the alley at the rear, past my side-door on Glenside, some to go through the nearby wood to the seafront pubs, some to take the S-bank route. Cate Blanchet asked to use my toilet, but then decided most everyone else might want to! So she didn't. Later, in a tv interview, she joked the English live in alleyways! I'd earlier informed Tom Fletcher of McFly and Pete Doherty of The Libertines/Babyshambles that they, and any of their friends wishing to visit Saltburn, could use the alleyway, to avoid the town centre. Paul McCartney was already aware of my magazine Saltburn Scene. He'd received a copy on the Mull of Kintyre. David Bowie, Paul Simon and Clint Eastwood were amongst the last to arrive. Richard Branson, Simon Cowell and the Oasis brothers were amongst the first. Pere Waterman was surprised to learn from me that his old pal, Trev Teasdel, had lived for a time in Saltburn. I understand the landlady of The Queen public house has many photos of visiting celebs. Cheers mateys, Captain Mark

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 287 (G)

CHOOSED TO BE
NO NEW MUSE SHE
She could have been
my Angel of the North,
or the Valkyrie
on a heaven-high horse.

My angel, my goddess,
my latest verse-muse
the girl might have been.
She chose yesterday's news !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 287 (F)

LOVERS UNLINKED
He found her stocking
in his bottom drawer.
She found his cufflink
on her bedroom floor.
There is no knocking
at each-other's door.
Stockings and cufflinks
are from a world before.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 287 (E)

A-GIRL'S-DAMN-ANGRY-DAD'S-
DOUBLE-BARREL-BLAST
Her daddy pointed a big-shotgun.
Said "Marry my daughter or you're dead, son.
In seven months the stork will arrive,
so get over here boy and look-alive !
Two months pregnant is my little girl.
Say your prayers and goodbye to the world,
or come right here and be wedded
to she whom you went and bedded !"
Those were the days before the Pill
way up there on Hillbilly-Hill.
Those were the days when sex was a sin
and not as healthy as a hillside spring.
And so they married, the child kept hush
till the stork left it under the gooseberry-bush.

THE-HONEY-POT-MOON-
DOWNWARD-POURED
My girl and I lay together spooned.
Outside the window the night was mooned.
The stars, like eyes, our bodies ate
with their glare, our bed their plate.
I did not take her for my wife.
We did not pair like fork and knife.
My girl and I lay together in a spoon
while poured-down upon us a honeyed-moon.

VALENTINE-VERSE-MINE
My pen says more
than can I
when we speak
eye to eye.

My heart says more
than can I
when we meet.
I'm too shy.

Convention's surely
not my line,
but hear this:
be my valentine.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 287 (D)

DARK DAYS
On the backs of owls with bloody bills
the very cruel little people came,
riding high above the tops of trees and hills,
over pond and lake and old country lane.

On rocks in the sea the mermaids sat and sang
while along the shore the water-nymphs played,
there to be caught by the sharp eye of any young man
who onto the moonlit cliffs had strayed.

And on the pirates' or the smugglers' ship
he might have spied far out beyond the bay
the jolly sailors, after their all-round trip,
through his telescope, drunk and at play.

Yes on the backs of owls with bloody bills
the very cruel little people came.
It's said there is black magic still,
or that such darkness shall come again.

UGLY-THE-WITCH-WITHIN
Under the spell
of her beauty
he was the sword
to her sorcery.

Fight the beauty
and her spell ?
Kings and fools -
truth to tell -

have found it hard
to try to resist
the skin-deep beauty
of a soul-ugly witch.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 287 (C)

A-HOUSE-HAUNT
Down the road that leads to the old mill
the haunted house was standing still
where Tom and Paul used to play
long ago on that fateful day.
The house was not haunted then,
but the two were to pretend
that a ghost went its rounds
and that they both were out of bounds.
There the pair would clown, would fool,
that day they were truant from school,
yet something dreadful was to occur
and set young Tom's mind astir.
Now young Paul has long been dead
for against a beam he struck his head,
though Tom insisted Paul did not die,
were you to ask he'd have told you why.
It was because they'd meet up to play
every year on that fateful day,
while the two together you'd not see
as Paul was the ghost of Tom's memory.

THE SINGER MISS G. MOTH SOARED
War had come around again.
Find the girl had took the name
of the Gypsy Moth aeroplane.
In the bar soldiers thronged
to hear her voice her songs
of lovers and lovers wronged.
All their fears they overcame
with a soaring sing-along.

DRAWING A LINE BETWEEN ?
She was drunk on love
when she phoned.
He was very-drunk
and droned and droned.
She'd not heard him
when this stoned.
She put down the phone,
hung up on him.
He'd be hung over
in the morning.
A landline now drawn
'tween both of them ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 287 (B)

FREE SPEECH
You can speak of freedom,
you can win applause:
and yet speak freely,
you must die for your cause !

CAREERING TOWARDS
COMPLETE CONTROL ?
There has always been division
due to our individuality.
At our very best
we can agree to disagree.

Who wants to be the same
when we can be unique ?
Most governments don't like that,
it makes their power weak.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 287 (A)

EDWIN-THE-BEHEADED-KING
The ravens perch
upon the headstones
in the graveyard where
lay buried the bones
of York's King Edwin
whom, in battle beheaded,
in Whitby Abbey's grounds
was then bedded.
Hilda of the Abbey
was his great-niece.
Now, like Dracula ?
the King was a peace.

BASKING IN THE BAST-LIKE SMILE
Bast, offspring of Isis,
Bast of the cat or lion-head.
Bast, director of the sun's rays
it once had been said.
Musicians come play, dancers come dance,
time for a Bast festivity.
I bask in the very sunny-smile
of a sure-catlike Siamese lady.

WENT-A-WATER-HORSE-KNIGHT-RIDER
A fairy-knight upon a kelpie rode.
It swam as fast as the river flowed
through the valley 'tween highland hills.
And under an old haggy's spells
her minute minions took up their bows,
and fired, at the pair, poisoned arrows.
But swam the kelpie with such speed
the arrows missed the knight and his steed.
There is magic in thoughts just as fast,
and imaginations that sure do spell-cast.

THE ARTIST-AND-THE-POET
Kate went to live in Newcastle
where had been filmed Get Carter.
I went to live in York City
where'd be filmed some of Harry Potter.
A sort of grim reality or fairy-story
our own dreams we had to pursue.
Cities are often made of both.
Oh katy, have you found that too ?

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 286 (E)

GREEN GIANT AHEAD OF THE GAME
A Green Knight, as green as holly,
rode into King Arthur's court, bold as a berry.
Prickly was the Green Knight's boast
to Arthur's guests, and to their very-host
whom to his challenge, would've give way
to the Knight sent by Morgan le Fay,
or Morgan the Fairy, as we English say,
who held the Knight under her sway.
But Gawain, or Gavin, Arthur's nephew,
a fine man of honour and integrity too,
took up the challenge, ah yes Gawain
took up the Knight's Beheading Game.
The Knight's head fell like a berry,
yet still he rode-off, and merry !
Head back on his shoulders he went,
the Knight whom Morgan le Fay had sent.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 286 (D)

A-LANDED-DOLPHIN-DESTINY ?
The word love's been abused
by churches and by states,
by rascals and revolutionaries
whose hearts know only hate.

The word love's been abused
by many writing songs
who think only of the money,
but do not get me wrong

for there are those who love
though love's not reciprocated
by the ones who are loved.
Returned love is not fated.

Do not go march for love,
who are you to demand it ?
Love leaps like the dolphin;
sure is very hard to land it.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 286 (C)

A DARKLY-DRESSED DANDY
WAS BAUDELAIRE
Fashions go out,
new ones get in.
The black-peacock ?
Yes very-much him.
The darksome dandy
in the darkling.

Opium and brothels,
his poems a-flower,
Charles Baudelaire
in the midnight hour.
These, and these only,
his ivory tower.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 286 (B)

ETERNAL YOUTH (II)
Yes I'm a Peter Pan,
young ladies keep me youthful.
The Muse of all my muses -
if I am to be truthful -
is the goddess of verse-poetry.
Forever young sure is she.

HOUSE !
We 'lived in sin' -
you understand the lingo ?-
for thirteen years.
Lucky for some. Ours "Bingo !"

GOLDEN ERAS
Britain was an empire
as once great Rome.
In empire-building
we were not alone.
Other countries, too,
were wont to enslave,
equality being
for those in the grave.
Racism's not only
for a few whites,
and sexism wears
trousers or tights,
while - as to ageism -
we all grow old.
There's just not a time
to call pure-gold.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 286 (A)

MORGAN LE FAY
Caliburn or Excalibur,
the sword in the stone
was as an arrow
in the heart of flesh-and-bone.
'Twas no pink Cupid
let loose his shaft
but Morgan-the-Fay
with-bolt-sharp-witchcraft

AN AGES OLD STORY
Not always the same person,
we change as do the seasons.
Dust unto dust,
change we must.

A PHANTOM LOVER VERSE FIND
The man came forth
from out red mist,
embraced the girl,
oh how they kissed.

Oh how they kissed,
the man and girl,
the red mist grew,
in the otherworld

she found herself
with the phantom
who was her lover,
all earthly things gone.

All earthly things gone,
earthly stuff sure lost.
Their very love, though,
so worth the cost.

COVER-TO-COVER-JOURNEYS-
JACQUELINE-WITH-THE-MUSIC-OF-RAY
Saw her sat in beatnik-black.
She read a novel by Kerouac.
Hit the road Jack, hit the road Jack
(from front cover to back),
hit the road Jacqueline.

Saw her sat in beatnik-black.
She listened to a Ray Charles track.
Hit the road Jack, hit the road Jack
(en route to the end, sit back),
hit the road Jacqueline.

THE-DAMN-UNTRUSTWORTHY-POLITICAL-
PARTIES-PROBLEM-CAN'T-NOW-BE-SOLELY-MINE ?
LABOUR sure brings to mind
Red-Russia's labour camps.
TORIES sure bring to mind
the blood-sucking vamps
myths tell us prey on man.
This verse says, "Both go hang."

BAMBI'S BACK
Tony Blair's illegal war,
the death of whistle-blower Kelly.
The smugly smiling man is back -
as to Brexit -on the telly,

trying to re-win favour
with people who'd voted Remain.
Ex-Labour-leader now millionaire.
Red Rose... and blood-red-stain.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 285 (J)

STRIPPERGRAM SEAMAN
Long John Silver
in his underwear.
Long John Silver
found almost bare.
Long John Silver,
she shall see
him going for gold
at her hen party !

NO MORE  A DOWNBEAT DECK-DANCING
NOW MY SHIP SHALL SAIL
Your big lies have been whaled,
your beasts have been impaled
and it's time, girl, my boat sailed
far from yet a further chance
of you leading me a merry-dance.
Say farewell to our brief romance,
yes say farewell to another chance,
this relationship has, girl, failed.

A-MERCILESS-MADAM-MILKS-HER-
SO-SEXY-HARD-WORKERS-DRY
Very much a pushy-pussy,
a big-bossy-boots,
the doggone drug-dealer
with whom she's in cahoots
wears his golden chain
as if it is a medal
for all the stuff he's sold,
for all the drugs he's peddled.
The big-bossy-boots
goes wear her sable;
her guy has his purchasers
and she has her stable
of good-looker hookers
with their time for sale.
At her Majesty's service
she will reside in jail
just like a caged rat -
or rat caught in a trap -
very much a pushy-pussy
no more milk to lap !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 285 (I)

JUST JUNO
June called herself Juno,
the Roman goddess of fertility.
She'd say it with  a sexy smile,
and what a beauty she.

It was many a year ago
this very-fine girl I knew.
The Roman goddess of fertility
even more beautiful grew.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 285 (H)

WORD-POWER WIZARD
One was a warlock who -
out of envious spite -
struck a word-wizard
with a great-might.

But the word-wizard's magic -
in his book of verses -
overcame the warlock
and his many curses.

A-CRUISING-DREAMBOAT-CAPTAIN-
MISSED-SHY-SHE
Opportunity for her knocked
but she left closed the door.
The boat to dreams was rocked,
she landed back on the shore.

He'd sailed into her harbour -
the captain of the cruise -
there he was to down anchor,
gave her good time to choose.

Opportunity for her knocked
but she left closed the door.
Days, months, years up clocked
he cruised her way no more.

BREAKING-IN THE BEASTS
The offspring of the elephants
the Thais beat with sticks
so as to tame the baby beasts,
make them do fancy tricks.

Living by the elephant farm
on Pattaya City's skirts
I saw the brutal beatings,
I felt the animals' hurts.

They reared their baby heads,
waved their trunks at blue skies
as if their Hindu god Ganesh
had closed his elephant eyes.

Had the Hindu god Ganesh
his elephant eyes truly closed ?
Did they try poke him awake
with their trunks, their long nose ?

HIS DAD'S HAND-ME-DOWNS ?
Call him The Great Fatsby,
he really is a fat-cat.
Huge house here, huge house there,
and more than just one yacht.
You do have to wonder
why he drives a Rolls
when he's so roly-poly
he'd benefit from swift-strolls.

Call him The Great Fatsby,
he never was self-made;
no rags to riches story,
his wealth does he parade
as if he's somebody special,
as if he's  Mister Big.
As if he's The Great Gatsby
without the backing jazz gig.

MAD AS THE MAN IN THE MOON ?
Some think the earth is flat,
think it no sphere.
Boats sail over the edge ?
Seamen to disappear ?

Some think the moon's a disc
visited by no man,
"No real rocketship
could ever there land."

We each take a view
that others will not,
so sure we're the one
hasn't lost the plot.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 285 (G)

THE CAPITAL COMIC
He thought he was Che Guevara
but was more like Wolfie Smith
the comical tv character
who gave our spirits a lift.

He made a bomb out of revolution
with angry words and waving fist,
selling Che Guevara T-shirts.
Now calls himself a capitalist !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 285 (F)

SHE-IS-THE-FIERY-FIEND-
WITH-HER-PITCHFORK
She's a woman scorned
and now she's horned,
cloven-hooved, dragon-tailed.

Yes she's a woman scorned,
into a fiend transformed,
board your ship, set sail.

She's a woman scorned,
you have been warned,
on her fork don't get impaled.

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 285 (E)

A PLAYTIME QUEEN'S QUARRY
Way down her back
her dark hair streamed.
It was every night
the young boy dreamed
of his one true friend
the Jackdaw Quarry queen.

In the Jackdaw Quarry
the two of them played.
Visions of the girl
with him have stayed.
His memories of her
shall not go fade.

Yes down her back
her dark her streamed,
and how her eyes
to the boy gleamed.
But long ago flew
the Jackdaw Quarry queen.

SMOKE AND CLOUDS
Both had jobs at the factory
which churned out black-smoke.
"I sure think you're the girl for me,"
coughed aloud the guy, "no joke !"
Now the two are a so-happy pair,
high as white-clouds in the air.

THE DOWN-AT-HEEL DOLLY
She'd like to be a call-girl,
live in fairytale Amsterdam;
lie in bed much of the day
with some wealthy man.

She'd like to be a call-girl
and not have to walk the street
in a dull poor people's town.
Spend less time on her feet !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 285 (D)

FREELAND ENGLAND
"You'll be home for Christmas"
my father was told,
as were my grandfathers,
all the brave and bold
who went to war
to fight for democracy,
a land fit for heroes,
all their children free.
They'd get to know
lies, lies, lies were told
to all the soldiers
who were brave and bold.
Two World Wars
and the same old story,
"You fight for peace
and a land of glory."
But where is it now,
this democracy ?
What kind of future
can we hope to see?

FIND-TWO-FACES-TO-JANUS-
A-GATEWAY-GUARDIAN
Without there being love
there can only be hate ?
You may live with neither
until one comes through the gate !

A PUBES BY CUBES PAINTER
An artist was Picasso
who liked the cube
as well as the fair sex
who posed for him nude.

Yes a painter was Picasso
and much older than those
who were far from square
in their cool naked pose.

YES-IT-IS-A-TIGER-GIRL
Like the fierce Blakean tiger afire
comes the girl with symmetry and ire.
Of her burning beauty who could tire ?
Of her anger who would not desire
such abandon beneath the bed-linen ?
Big-cat, wild-cat, cub-cat, sex-kitten.

A HOOKER
In her fishnet stockings
by the park gate,
the girl's the hook
and she's the bait,
and if your appetite
has been whetted
you'll be hooked
as well as netted !

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 285 (C)

A STREET HALF-AWAKE
The postman whistles
in the morning sun.
The half-asleep street
would strike him dumb
with curses, damnation.
The twittering birds
they'd also silence
with some foul words.
Can't face the day
so it sure seems.
They'd like full-sleep,
a world of dreams.

PLAYING PARTY POLITICS
You can support PC
and play politics
when the other party
lets a non-PC word slip,
fall on your own sword
when you, find, go slip
on a non-PC word
in the game of politics.

DIZZY DUO'S CLIMBDOWN
Up the Blackpool Tower
and the Eiffel too,
climbed you and I,
went me and you;
and there we viewed
the 'pool city lights,
and there we viewed
the Parisian sights.
But I am afraid
it was found to be true...
we were not meant
to last dizzy-heights.

MOTHER EARTH
A plastic sea, find a plastic sea,
and all countrysides concreted.
Is this how the world's to be ?
Mother Nature so defeated.

A BITTER BITE
The sweet-apples offered
will almost always turn damn sour
once the sweet-apple offerers
find themselves in power.
The apple-green envy of politicians
poisons their systems when in opposition.