tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70645860800349620152024-03-05T08:21:51.328-08:00Good Ship AlbionCaptain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.comBlogger1219125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-64446188136892531642021-12-22T03:08:00.003-08:002022-09-13T02:16:25.078-07:00JOINING BLUE SEA AND SKIES
JENNY
The Women's Royal Navy Service
would join the singer Jen/
and there in the W.R.N.S.
she was known as Jenny Wren./
still she'd sing for soldier boys -
just like the famed Vera Lynn -/
flew up to the blue skies her voice
that joined songbirds on the wing.
(Follow up to poem below, Tiny Bird W.R.N.S.
Jen, also published in 1990s)
Paul McCartney's Victorian pier friend (MB)
as stated in a biography.Paul seems to have forgotten this since.Ha. Old age?Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-83964833025918572212020-11-03T03:22:00.002-08:002020-11-03T03:26:26.497-08:00MAGIC SHIP- TINY BIRD W.R.N.S> JENJenny Wren, oh Jenny Wren,
the world is at war again.
Sing your songs before the men.
The soldiers cry come back again.
Jenny Wren, oh Jenny Wren,
fly back on the stage again.
Sing your songs without an end,
don't you go fly away again.
(Paul McCartney did an adaptation of it
in song. Dr Andy Croft published in his
Internet NOTICEBOARD page in the 1990s.
He was with the Evening Gazette. I am
referred to as Paul's Victorian pier pal
in a McCartney biography)Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-33717837698700886892020-03-14T03:41:00.000-07:002020-03-14T03:41:11.964-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 293 (C)WE COME AND GO<br />
MORE TIMES THAN SOME<br />
When down on the beach <br />
looking out to sea<br />
perhaps, girl, you will<br />
one day remember me.<br />
<br />
The message that I have<br />
I'll not bottle inside.<br />
I won't take it with me<br />
across the ocean wide.<br />
<br />
I'll not take it with me<br />
on the retiring tide.<br />
We barely got to speak,<br />
thus my message denied.<br />
<br />
The message was mine<br />
before you were born.<br />
Life's a peaceful calm<br />
before a raging storm.<br />
<br />
As the tide comes in<br />
and surely then goes out,<br />
opposites are what life<br />
tends to be about.<br />
<br />
You're looking for answers<br />
to just what you're about.<br />
It's a coming-and-going.<br />
My message is now out.<br />
<br />
SEASONAL SWITCH<br />
She's been born before.<br />
Of this find she is sure.<br />
She is a Thai Buddhist.<br />
Many changes of the soul,<br />
plays she another role.<br />
She is a reincarnationist.<br />
Who's to say it's not true.<br />
See the springtime renew.<br />
<br />
BRIGHTLY-LIT LANTERN LADY<br />
She called me Magic Fingers.<br />
They held a healing heat.<br />
I'd give the girl a massage<br />
before we would retreat...<br />
<br />
retreat to the bedroom<br />
out there in old Siam.<br />
We are no more together.<br />
It wasn't a long-term plan.<br />
<br />
She called me Magic Fingers.<br />
Lady Dem was a delight.<br />
I'll call her Thai Lantern.<br />
Always she'll shine bright.<br />
<br />
THE COLOURFUL CELEBRITY CIRCUS<br />
When Salvador Dali came to town<br />
Hollywood colours were his surround.<br />
He stood there centre of the ring.<br />
He didn't have to paint a thing.<br />
The music collective gathered round too.<br />
But the artist Salvador felt so blue.<br />
Well he was a long long way from home,<br />
and not content with his old grey tone ?<br />
<br />
THE GYPSY VERSE-POET GAVE<br />
THE GIRL JUST A LINE OR TWO<br />
She knew that he knew<br />
what she was about.<br />
She knew that he knew<br />
her, in and out.<br />
<br />
How did he know ?<br />
Hadn't they just met ?<br />
Yes, it was so.<br />
"But dear girl let<br />
<br />
me tell you that<br />
in art and poetry<br />
some have second-sight<br />
if only occasionally...<br />
<br />
Some have second-sight<br />
if only occasionally.<br />
How'd understand you<br />
who don't so see ?"<br />
Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-56882252802999487702019-12-27T05:47:00.000-08:002019-12-27T05:47:11.012-08:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 293 (B)BOLD-BOADICEA-SUNSET-SONG<br />
She was a warrior queen<br />
way back in Albion.<br />
She was a raging storm<br />
and like the Greeks' Amazon,<br />
vengeance would be hers<br />
for what the enemy had done.<br />
<br />
She rose on up<br />
like the golden sun<br />
and came down on them<br />
in her flames of crimson.<br />
Yes she rose on up<br />
like a goddess become.<br />
<br />
Hell had not the fury.<br />
No devil was so horned.<br />
They had raped her daughters,<br />
whipped and left her torn.<br />
She was death to the Romans,<br />
an Arthur in female form.<br />
<br />
HISTORICAL BRITISH<br />
DIVISIONS<br />
Religious division,<br />
then political division.<br />
From the flames of Notre Dame<br />
has the phoenix arisen ?<br />
<br />
A rebirth or a renewal,<br />
no more an EU bride<br />
our country Britannia<br />
came the Christmastide ?Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-710222604050419122019-12-27T05:34:00.000-08:002019-12-27T05:34:59.587-08:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 293 (A)CARS AND CARRIAGES AND<br />
A WATER-CARRIER<br />
Should cars drop from the sky<br />
while on the roads we keep an eye,<br />
will they fall like a bomb<br />
killing the occupants and the ones<br />
who haven't eyes atop their heads,<br />
those in houses, and in their beds ?<br />
<br />
Do we want to see many flying cars<br />
block out the sun and the stars<br />
as if pollution via our city-lights<br />
does not block out our starry nights ?<br />
Well yes, it is true, there are some do,<br />
this may be the future for me and you.<br />
<br />
But then we have to move along.<br />
I live in tomorrow, I'm an Aquarian !<br />
<br />
A PARTY PIECE<br />
A Champagne Socialist<br />
is the party's host.<br />
To the novelist George Orwell<br />
he lifts his glass in toast.<br />
But he then falls over<br />
as if pushed by Orwell's ghost.<br />
Some are more equal than others.<br />
Some do better than most.<br />
<br />
A BURDENED BEAST<br />
Yes the overtaxed workhorse.<br />
It's Orwell's Animal Farm<br />
tells us Caviar Communists<br />
take the house, the rest the barn.<br />
<br />
INSECT COLLECTIVES (AND<br />
UPWARD) ARE NOT FOR ME<br />
"Set me, set me,<br />
set me free.<br />
Give me, give me,<br />
individuality,<br />
the uniform<br />
is not for me,"<br />
sang a worker-ant<br />
and worker-bee.<br />
But hill and hive<br />
their destiny.<br />
Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-32967704290296789912019-11-20T02:39:00.000-08:002019-11-21T03:29:29.707-08:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 292 (D)PLAYED ALONGSIDE PETER<br />
THE LOOKER LOREN<br />
I didn't get to meet Sellers.<br />
I met Milligan, his friend.<br />
I met she who played The Millionairess,<br />
the lovely Sophia Loren.<br />
<br />
I'd seen her in the movie,<br />
met her later in the flesh.<br />
Though she was much older<br />
she was still worth nothing less.<br />
<br />
LIVES STRANGER THAN FICTION<br />
Some say ignorance is bliss.<br />
Wisdom they have never sought.<br />
They live inside a bubble<br />
that's rounder than a naught.<br />
They go through life non-plus<br />
not ever having been taught.<br />
A strange kind of bliss<br />
to ones of intelligent-thought.<br />
<br />
THE MOULIN ROUGE AFTERSHOW<br />
THERE IN MY HOTEL ROOM<br />
Could the ladies can-can ?<br />
Oh boy, they could, they could !<br />
There I was in Paris.<br />
There it was in my girl's blood.<br />
<br />
Could the ladies can-can ?<br />
Oh boy they could, they could !<br />
There we were in Paris.<br />
In our room my girl danced good !<br />
<br />
PASTOURELLE<br />
"With talk like that<br />
you must come from France<br />
when you ask me<br />
do I May-pole dance.<br />
You're such a bad boy<br />
I shall tell you true.<br />
It seems I will have<br />
to keep my eye on you."<br />
Oh merry maiden -<br />
if maiden you really be -<br />
I'm a high Romantic<br />
and a revolutionary.<br />
I rebel against convention.<br />
I believe in love that's free.<br />
Come into the tall grass<br />
and lie down low with me.<br />
<br />
"I think you but a satyr<br />
who takes me for a goat.<br />
I've heard much about pan-pipes<br />
and in your look I note<br />
a sun-shiny brightness.<br />
Your eyes are on fire.<br />
Merely with lust they burn.<br />
Your horny head I don't desire."Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-44228951199042639292019-11-20T02:20:00.000-08:002020-01-18T02:54:09.506-08:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 292 (C)A CHRISTMAS SPIRIT<br />
The spirit of Christmas<br />
floated down the chimney.<br />
Gifted the girls and boys<br />
in the Orphanage he.<br />
Gifted the boys and girls<br />
as he did yearly.<br />
<br />
"Oh spirit of Christmas<br />
your children are we.<br />
You are like a father<br />
who feeds us spiritually.<br />
We thank you for your presence<br />
and what you give for free."<br />
<br />
The spirit of Christmas<br />
floated up the chimney.<br />
He came like a ghost,<br />
like a ghost went he.<br />
"Be cheery small children<br />
and in high spirit like me."<br />
<br />
SEEING THROUGH ?<br />
There are fortune tellers,<br />
many who are quacks,<br />
folk being seduced<br />
by these Count Dracs,<br />
vampires who have<br />
own fortunes made<br />
via scare tactics,<br />
such is their trade.<br />
<br />
There are fortune tellers<br />
will your money down.<br />
There are victims -<br />
their minds unsound -<br />
sought some comfort<br />
in a future near.<br />
If only their minds<br />
had been crystal clear.<br />
<br />
TRYING TO SAVE THEIR OWN<br />
POLITICAL BACON<br />
Who'll plant more trees ?<br />
Who'll plant more trees ?!<br />
Our politicians have caught<br />
Dutch Elm Disease !!<br />
They'll take their snouts<br />
out the trough for hogs<br />
and save the world<br />
so we can sleep like logs.<br />
They'll save the earth.<br />
Yes save the earth<br />
if into number ten<br />
we shall let them surf.<br />
<br />
DIZZY WORLD<br />
Yes some believe in angels<br />
and some believe in fairies.<br />
Some believe in God's son<br />
and in his mother Mary.<br />
Some believe in aliens<br />
who live in the stars,<br />
and some once believed<br />
they lived as close as Mars.<br />
Science tended to dismiss<br />
the whole - above - lot,<br />
now parallel universes -<br />
multiverse - are hot<br />
topics for their discussions.<br />
We surely live and learn<br />
that nobody knows everything<br />
in our global spin and turn.<br />
<br />
MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP No. 150 (The flyer/circular)<br />
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. Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-76827436675143691002019-11-02T04:46:00.001-07:002019-11-02T04:46:10.844-07:00for 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).<br />
<br />
THE SPELLBOUND PRISONER'S PROPHECY<br />
"Wicked warlords will have their evil way<br />
while King Arthur sleeps this very day,"<br />
Merlin-the-Magician was overheard to say.<br />
"There is not the magic anymore,<br />
priestcraft came and rendered poor<br />
the wizards of old-Albion's lovely-shore.<br />
Long I've been a prisoner in this cave.<br />
Arthur will not rise and the Kingdom save<br />
till Britannia's children ride-above-the-waves."Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-44750079225913745252019-10-26T02:17:00.000-07:002019-10-26T02:17:43.917-07:00Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-11627030476301422762019-10-16T02:48:00.000-07:002020-03-14T03:47:12.986-07:00SHIP-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).<br />
<br />
A WORD-WIZARD WALTZ<br />
She waltzes with the wizard of words,<br />
dances to the slow as well as the quick,<br />
but the girl breaks into a tango<br />
at the sudden sorcery of the man's stick.<br />
<br />
With the wizard of words she waltzes<br />
to the witching hour's magic tick,<br />
prances to the power of the man's pen<br />
and his bedroom talk just so bardic.<br />
<br />
A CONVERSATION PIECE<br />
"The art of conversation is not dead,<br />
but the conversation about art is," I said.<br />
<br />
A SHIP CAPTAIN<br />
we are each the captain<br />
of our own little ship.<br />
The storms that grow<br />
and the waves which whip<br />
are for us to brave<br />
on the vast sea we ride<br />
as we come but must go<br />
with life's push-and-pull tide.<br />
<br />
KIDS PAY A DEAD PIPER'S PRICE<br />
The people hired a sniper<br />
to take care of the piper<br />
who led the children astray.<br />
They hired a sniper<br />
to take care of the piper<br />
who'd many a tune to play.<br />
<br />
The people hired a sniper<br />
to take care of the piper<br />
and marched to the one drum that day.<br />
They hired a sniper<br />
to take care of the piper<br />
but the children had the bill to pay.<br />
<br />
TELL AGAIN TALE<br />
There sits the starry-eyed girl<br />
by the wishing well,<br />
while dances the dark world's dwarf<br />
in the dusky dell.<br />
<br />
The broken-hearted boy<br />
grieves for she, his bygone belle,<br />
while cackles the cunning crone<br />
inside her cosmic cell.<br />
<br />
But comes a conquering king<br />
the laughing fiends to fell,<br />
while yearns the noble-hearted hermit<br />
young love's dream again to tell.<br />
<br />
PASS THE PROZAC<br />
There's a survey on the service,<br />
so the train'll be on time.<br />
We'll meet in half an hour,<br />
the sun is bound to shine.<br />
<br />
Yes the sun is bound to shine<br />
because the weatherman said it won't.<br />
I'll try to say I love you<br />
though you know I don't.<br />
<br />
We'll plod around the shops,<br />
wait for ever in a queue.<br />
If only love could last as long,<br />
but it's too damn late for me and you.<br />
<br />
DISTANCE<br />
She was over the moon.<br />
They'd romance and fun.<br />
She let him down badly.<br />
Why so damn dumb ?<br />
<br />
Awaits she now no letter<br />
her ex-lover from.<br />
Awaits she now no post<br />
her mat to fall upon.<br />
<br />
Awaits she now no message.<br />
No poem nor no song.<br />
Awaits the lady's inbox<br />
no rocketmail.com.<br />
<br />
(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.)<br />
<br />
COLOURLESS DEATH ?<br />
Is death a darkness<br />
or bright-light ?<br />
Is death a blackness<br />
or is it white ?<br />
White as a ghost<br />
or black as night ?<br />
Beyond earthly colour<br />
could just be right.<br />
<br />
DRUNK<br />
A tail swish, yes a tail swish.<br />
Half woman and half fish.<br />
What a dish, yes what a dish.<br />
Half woman and half fish.<br />
<br />
Sailor beware, sailor beware !<br />
see that long net of hair.<br />
Sailor have care, sailor have care !<br />
You are legless, just like her !!<br />
<br />
NAME GEMINI<br />
She blows hot, she blows cold,<br />
in the wink of an eye.<br />
She is two girls in the one.<br />
Call the lady Gemini.<br />
<br />
Sometimes she is narrow.<br />
Sometimes she is wide.<br />
She is a Doctor Jekyll<br />
and she is a Miss Hyde.<br />
<br />
She blows hot, she blows cold.<br />
She's a golden sun in the sky<br />
when she's not an icy storm.<br />
Yes call the lady Gemini.<br />
<br />
AN OUT OF THIS WORLD WIT<br />
Sit down and dine<br />
by candlelight,<br />
we'll talk and climb<br />
to dizzy heights<br />
and circle the world<br />
as do satellites.<br />
<br />
A woman of wit,<br />
a lady with looks.<br />
A beauty before me<br />
versed in books.<br />
Your flavour's sweet.<br />
The evening cooks.<br />
<br />
GRAPE-WINE GIRL<br />
I'm sure I knew you once,<br />
in an ancient time.<br />
The earth a green grape<br />
way back on the vine.<br />
<br />
I'm sure I knew you once,<br />
handmaiden to a queen,<br />
and I the key-master<br />
in a palace that had been.<br />
<br />
I'm sure I knew you once,<br />
serving the queen wine.<br />
Do I, the key-master,<br />
now unlock your mind ?<br />
<br />
GETTING AWAY<br />
I saw an orangey-red sphere<br />
as did many a Siamese.<br />
Out there in Thailand<br />
seen are lots of these.<br />
If from another planet<br />
I wonder what they'd say:<br />
"Only came for a visit,<br />
it is good to get away."<br />
<br />
I taught in Bangkok and Pattaya.<br />
Went for a job in Phetchaburi.<br />
Down from the hilly jungle<br />
came for folks food the monkeys.<br />
If the monkeys could speak<br />
I wonder what they'd say:<br />
"Only came for a visit,<br />
it is good to get away."<br />
<br />
We apes in this world<br />
are called the human race.<br />
It is we who sent monkeys<br />
into dark outer-space.<br />
Up there with the stars<br />
I wonder what they'd say:<br />
Only came for a visit,<br />
it is good to get away."<br />
<br />
I did not take the jungle job,<br />
was only there for a day.<br />
Very much liked the visit,<br />
it was good to get away."<br />
<br />
PAT IS NOT FAT SHE IS PREGNANT<br />
She sought a sugar daddy,<br />
so did her friends,<br />
to see her through college<br />
by making meet ends.<br />
<br />
She sought a sugar daddy<br />
to make ends meet,<br />
and see her through college.<br />
To make life sweet.<br />
<br />
She sought a sugar daddy<br />
and found a real treat.<br />
Far too much sugar later<br />
she can't see her feet !<br />
<br />
DEEP SLUMBER SEABIRDS<br />
PLUS A SAIL-SHIP TELLS PRETTY SHE<br />
Awoken from your dream<br />
my name upon your lips,<br />
two gulls you'd seen<br />
above a sailing ship.<br />
What did this mean<br />
for you who thus awoke<br />
from such a deep dream<br />
as my name you spoke ?<br />
Our twin souls soaring ?<br />
We as one body sailing ?<br />
<br />
FOUND YOU OUT<br />
The genie is out the bottle.<br />
Out the bag is the cat.<br />
Go find a flying carpet.<br />
Flee on this magic mat.<br />
The cat is out the bag, yes.<br />
Go flee, you lady-rat !<br />
<br />Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-32353618004247804562019-10-16T02:21:00.000-07:002019-10-16T02:21:34.794-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 292 (A)UP THE WRONG TREE BARK<br />
The group was seated<br />
at the sit-in,<br />
awaited the studious poet<br />
to start, to begin,<br />
or the stony silence to break<br />
with the drop of a pin.<br />
<br />
He stood there quiet<br />
as the bark on a tree,<br />
might have stood longer<br />
than is my memory<br />
of the man who cried "Timber,"<br />
loud and suddenly.<br />
<br />
THE WHITE HOUSE BUILT JACK<br />
There in the huge-garden<br />
all his flowers wilt,<br />
and the rooms are empty<br />
in the house that Jack built.<br />
"It is his white elephant,"<br />
village folk are heard to say,<br />
"it is the guy's own folly,<br />
the man's money-throwaway.<br />
But it is no use him crying<br />
over white milk spilt,<br />
though white as a ghost<br />
Jack who the house built."<br />
<br />
AN UNDERGROUND POETRY PIECE<br />
The magician was to put his hand<br />
in the upturned top-hat,<br />
while the jumpy rabbit inside<br />
wouldn't have any of that.<br />
It bolted along the lengthy tunnel<br />
that was the big hat's top,<br />
down to a poetry underworld<br />
the rabbit was then to hop.<br />
"Welcome to our Wonderland,"<br />
said the magic poetry lines<br />
that were written on the walls<br />
of that shiny diamond mine.<br />
But almost an eternity later<br />
the rabbit just had to go,<br />
and headed for the spotlight<br />
like that in the stage-magician's show.<br />
Yet the grand circle of light<br />
was the tunnel's very end come,<br />
and the rabbit was to exit<br />
to the loud applause of everyone.<br />
The people were now fluffy bunnies...<br />
what conjurer's trick ? What scheming ?<br />
The rabbit had to pinch itself,<br />
but the child Alice woke from her dreaming.Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-70294032077857903002019-10-15T06:47:00.000-07:002019-10-15T06:47:16.494-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 291 (E)ROMEO AND JULIET<br />
Romeo seeks love on the Internet,<br />
"Where are you my Juliet ?<br />
Why have I not found you yet ?"<br />
Juliet seeks love with a dating ad,<br />
life is lonely, cruel and sad,<br />
all the girl's boyfriends turn out bad.<br />
"Where are you, my Romeo ?"<br />
But a fairy story is long ago."<br />
<br />
A PANTOMIME PYRATE<br />
Lady I's a Long-John,<br />
a Long-John-Silver ooh.<br />
Yes lady I's a Long-John,<br />
a Long-John just fo' you.<br />
<br />
Girl I's a Long-John,<br />
member of a motley-crew.<br />
Pieces-of-eight, pieces-of-eight,<br />
pieces-of-eight I got fo' you.<br />
<br />
Yo ho ho and yo ho ho,<br />
beach brown eyes 'ave you.<br />
Arr lady I's a Long-John<br />
whose eyes are ocean-blue.<br />
<br />
Girl I's a Long-John,<br />
come 'n' cruise wi me.<br />
I'll be your sailor-boy,<br />
you m' pretty-sailor-lady."<br />
<br />
A WOMAN IN MY WHISKERS<br />
I am the cat, you are the cream,<br />
I am the sleeper, you are the dream.<br />
I am the moon, you are the sheen.<br />
I am the riverbank, you are the stream.<br />
<br />
I am the dancer, you are the waltz,<br />
you are the swoon, I am the salts.<br />
I am the head, you are the hat,<br />
you are the cream, and I the cat.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-76028468361760662222019-10-15T06:31:00.000-07:002019-10-21T06:54:44.181-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 291 (D)DIAGNOSIS: A DREAMER<br />
The doctors say I've got it bad,<br />
the nurses cry "how sad, how sad,<br />
he's a romantic, that is for sure,<br />
draw the blind, there is no cure."<br />
<br />
My head upon the pillow I lie,<br />
of this disease I am bound to die,<br />
don't bring me fruit or the latest news,<br />
let me wallow in my love-struck blues.<br />
<br />
"Who is it did this ?" people ask<br />
as the nurse applies the oxygen mask,<br />
and though my life I'll one day lose,<br />
I will forever love the poet's Muse.<br />
<br />
LIVE LILLIPUT<br />
There I was walking tall<br />
here in the land of the small.<br />
I viewed the markets of the mean,<br />
shops and stalls were my every scene.<br />
The little people of Lilliput<br />
tried to bind me hand and foot<br />
for being so big of such thought<br />
as not to buy into and nor be bought.<br />
<br />
THUMB TOM A LIFT<br />
Tom thumbs for a ride,<br />
towards him the motors glide,<br />
but he is too small to be spied,<br />
very minute.<br />
<br />
Tom thumbs for a ride,<br />
by him the drivers glide,<br />
there is no space inside,<br />
nor will they have him in their boot.<br />
<br />
Tom thumbs for a ride,<br />
past him the motors glide,<br />
"Strangers today are just suicide."<br />
The man gets the hoot.<br />
<br />
SHIPPING-CAMEL AND<br />
SHADY-OASIS COUPLE<br />
As their ship of the desert<br />
rests in the shade of the palms,<br />
so she rests her head -<br />
free from all harm -<br />
on her lover's breast<br />
and is thirsty no more.<br />
Her man not a mirage<br />
but a dream lover for sure.<br />
<br />
WRITE OFF WAGTAIL<br />
Once there were wagtails<br />
but fast they have flown<br />
now that the river<br />
this brown has grown.<br />
<br />
Once there were trout<br />
and pike too were known,<br />
a kingfisher perched<br />
on tree-stump or stone.<br />
<br />
Once there were fish,<br />
once there were birds,<br />
but all that is left...<br />
these few words.<br />
<br />
CASTLE CARLTON<br />
Yonder side of York, between old Drax Abbey<br />
and the cut by Snaith did my star first shine.<br />
The dragonflies above the Carlton lily pond,<br />
and under the sun's hot climb,<br />
flit here, flit there, while fishes dart<br />
here, dart there, in the village pond's slime.<br />
<br />
Carlton Castle stood a fairytale far-side the trees,<br />
at the age of four such magic was mine;<br />
hermits, hobgoblins and witches of the wood,<br />
swans that dove for the final time<br />
when I waved my child's last farewell<br />
in that place my star was to shine.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-48090622530151639232019-10-14T06:02:00.003-07:002019-10-16T03:00:39.771-07:00SHIP-CAPTAIN'S LOGThere 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 !!Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-86340054225954602312019-10-14T05:54:00.002-07:002019-10-14T05:54:46.607-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 291 (C)TWIN SPIRITS<br />
Where the otter swam<br />
with the mermaid and merman,<br />
the trout leapt, the salmon too...<br />
where the dam<br />
had not been a dam<br />
and on his pipes old Pan blew,<br />
and blew like the breeze<br />
through the flowers and trees<br />
his tunes, timeless and true,<br />
which brought centaurs to their knees,<br />
there to swat among the fairies<br />
while on the backs of swallows other fairies flew,<br />
and danced the fauns<br />
by the unicorns<br />
and the nymphs sang. But only the sun now shines through.<br />
It is here, my love,<br />
like the turtle dove,<br />
that we bill and coo.<br />
Yes here, my love,<br />
I the hand to your glove,<br />
where the petals, the leaves, in the glistening dew<br />
stick to our skins,<br />
and we are spirit twins<br />
who roll like the river<br />
once used to.<br />
<br />
A WOMAN WATCHES IN THE WOOD<br />
Nor the dipper-bird in its diving<br />
beneath the viaduct by the waterfall,<br />
nor the force of the river in its driving<br />
towards the sea and the sea's call,<br />
nor the lilac that bends in the breeze<br />
farther down at Rushpool Hall,<br />
nor the squirrel that skips in the trees<br />
or the hedgehog in its prickly ball<br />
know the heart of the watchful girl<br />
dives, drives, bends, skips and curls.<br />
<br />
WAS A NOBODY ?<br />
They call the man a has-been,<br />
but it does not bother him because,<br />
it is so much better to have been,<br />
than to be a body who never-was.<br />
<br />
WHAT SAW A BUTLER<br />
Milady in the raw<br />
was what the butler saw,<br />
the nude chauffeur on his knees.<br />
The cook - if you please -<br />
he spied just as clear<br />
where she swung from the chandelier.<br />
Her ladyship cracked her crop<br />
and his lordship would not stop<br />
as he hurried round a track<br />
with a saddle on his very-back.<br />
He would have joined his employer<br />
were the butler not a voyeur.<br />
Now as a storyteller<br />
his book is a best-seller.<br />
<br />
A PLUME FOR MY PRINCESS<br />
Perhaps she'll puff with peacock pride<br />
for the prize of the pretty plume -<br />
blue and green as is the sea,<br />
bronze like the sun, gold like the moon,<br />
Hera-honoured and Argus-eyed -<br />
goes to she, yes goes to she,<br />
the girl who brings colour to the room.<br />
<br />
GO GOBLIN<br />
There came a curious creature,<br />
a spurious sort of sprite,<br />
who rode on the back of a minute mare<br />
whom he was heard to call Night.<br />
His lies were far from thin,<br />
indeed his fables were fat,<br />
and the horrid little man kept pulling<br />
the tail of the girl's pet cat.<br />
"You are such a cruel creature,"<br />
the young princess said,<br />
"for so small a being<br />
you have a very big head.<br />
You dare to spin tall stories,<br />
weave for me enormous lies,<br />
would even have my cat believe<br />
you are really giant-size.<br />
Were I not fast asleep<br />
I would call my father's guard<br />
to come in and bang your head,<br />
to come in and bang it hard.<br />
But I know I must be dreaming<br />
and that you are just not there,<br />
so begone now, little man,<br />
on Night, your tiny mare."<br />
<br />
THE DRINK LONG AND COOL<br />
The<br />
man<br />
stands<br />
tall<br />
and<br />
quiet<br />
so<br />
the<br />
good-<br />
looking<br />
girl<br />
might<br />
think...<br />
he'd<br />
quench<br />
her <br />
thirst<br />
like<br />
a<br />
cool<br />
and<br />
long<br />
drink.<br />
<br />
BY THE THREAD A WORLD HANG<br />
Hang<br />
the<br />
world<br />
by<br />
a<br />
fine<br />
thread<br />
because <br />
we've<br />
a<br />
conker<br />
for<br />
a<br />
head.<br />
<br />
SET SAIL FOR NOWHERE<br />
Where venture I the voyager<br />
while the wyvern flies<br />
and breath-blows my boat-sails<br />
as sparkle the night's many eyes ?<br />
<br />
More eyes than heads the hydra,<br />
more eyes than limbs the octopus,<br />
so the night looks down on me<br />
and the dragon blows me thus,<br />
<br />
as I journey from this island<br />
I compare to a giant whale<br />
that falls in a deep slumber<br />
and sleeps too its tail,<br />
<br />
and so starts to sink<br />
beneath the waves of the sea.<br />
I sail for a far-off world<br />
of myth, of fancy, of fantasy.<br />
<br />
(A wyvern is a type of dragon.<br />
Whales are said to only half-sleep,<br />
their fin-tails still active)<br />
Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-76986280662804584782019-10-07T03:08:00.000-07:002019-10-07T03:10:05.248-07:00SHIP-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).Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-61969048452832099742019-10-07T02:57:00.000-07:002019-10-07T02:57:25.893-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 291 (B)THE GNOME NEIGHBOURHOOD<br />
"My parents are plastic,"<br />
the girl pens in a poem,<br />
"plastic as the garden pond<br />
and the beastly garden gnome.<br />
Here in this suburb<br />
it is the same each day,<br />
when will the fairy<br />
come fly me away ?"<br />
My parents are plastic<br />
just like our home,<br />
plastic as the Joneses<br />
and their garden gnome."<br />
<br />
A MAGIC MORN LEAVE<br />
The girl is sound asleep,<br />
but here I am awake.<br />
Morn just leave the magic<br />
should the rest you take.<br />
<br />
My hand in her hair<br />
while her head is on my breast,<br />
morn just leave the magic<br />
but you can take the rest.<br />
<br />
Here I am awake,<br />
she sound asleep,<br />
morn just leave the magic,<br />
let me this golden moment keep.<br />
<br />
BLEED BEAUTY<br />
A tar-feathered swan<br />
that looked regal in the reeds<br />
now swims like a beggar<br />
… beauty bleeds.<br />
<br />
A roadside poppy<br />
drops many pointless seeds,<br />
we race to nowhere<br />
… beauty bleeds.<br />
<br />
Here are the signs,<br />
but who is it heeds ?<br />
Nature's surely wounded<br />
… beauty bleeds.<br />
<br />
<br />
CRY SHARK<br />
All tell your sons<br />
and warn your daughters,<br />
shark-infested<br />
are these cruel waters.<br />
<br />
The lifeguard goes<br />
without his shotgun,<br />
while the whole beach<br />
lacks a golden sun.<br />
<br />
Up to the knees<br />
in a bloody slaughter,<br />
shark-infested<br />
is this cruel water.<br />
Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-41856637626487120442019-10-07T02:39:00.000-07:002019-10-07T02:42:18.121-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 291 (A)A BANK BANDIT MASK<br />
The bus starts with a jerk<br />
and makes Julie spin.<br />
Might she be in time for work ?<br />
Her chances look slim.<br />
"Late again," her boss will say,<br />
"the bank shall have to dock your pay."<br />
Not even time to put on the face-paint<br />
that his girls are told to wear,<br />
like the smile free of restraint<br />
for the customer who stands there.<br />
"Julie you are a disgrace,<br />
do go to the bathroom and fix your face."<br />
Fix her face, fix her face ?<br />
As if it were broken ?<br />
And her hair out of place ?<br />
No truer words are spoken.<br />
Reflected in the bus window see,<br />
"Julie you are a misery."<br />
But it takes such a push<br />
to get up and out of bed,<br />
join the early morning rush<br />
to earn a mere crust of bread.<br />
Julie, Julie, half-asleep.<br />
Julie, Julie, too tired to weep.<br />
Julie, Julie, too late to spy<br />
the masked bandit with his gun.<br />
Julie, Julie, too late to lie<br />
with the frowning face on everyone.<br />
"Julie," a ghost is heard to ask,<br />
"Julie, where have you hidden your mask ?"<br />
<br />
THE BARE CUPID CLOUD OVER HUNTCLIFF<br />
A red sun sets on the brown cliff,<br />
tints too the cliff's green hair.<br />
Wide and glazed is the blue-eye sea,<br />
a white cloud turns pink like Cupid bare.<br />
<br />
But love's only arrows are the rays<br />
of the crimson sun in its descent.<br />
A red pupil for the glazed blue eye<br />
that is soon to view the starry firmament.<br />
<br />
BE NOT<br />
No, my dear,<br />
I am not Shakespeare,<br />
to this I most surely agree.<br />
He has served his time,<br />
done with verse and rhyme,<br />
and now for ever gone has he.<br />
He's served his time,<br />
these poems are mine,<br />
yes truly mine as you can see.<br />
So have no fear,<br />
I'm not Shakespeare,<br />
why should I wish to be ?<br />
<br />
MOUTH WATERING<br />
A 'Tequila Sunrise'<br />
with a girl at sunset ?<br />
Yes, my appetite<br />
is greatly whet !<br />
<br />
REMEMBRANCE<br />
I pop pennies<br />
inside a tin<br />
carefully designed<br />
to pop pennies in,<br />
<br />
buy a poppy<br />
which I then pin<br />
to the front of the coat<br />
that I'm shopping in.<br />
<br />
The pin pricks,<br />
breaks my skin,<br />
too shallow is the wound<br />
for remembering.<br />
<br />
A CHILD'S PLAY GARDEN<br />
There in the garden were small children<br />
who played with a cork-and-feather shuttlecock.<br />
"So sorry to interrupt your happy game,"<br />
said a strange creature from behind a rock,<br />
"but my friends and I are from a distant land<br />
that your own has surely very much forgot.<br />
Such creatures as we know no tick of time,<br />
in the world of fairy old age exists not.<br />
The hobgoblin, the pixie, the dwarf, the elf,<br />
are but a few of our many various names.<br />
Why don't you both come and join us<br />
in our land's magical fairy games ?<br />
You shall be given no cause to worry<br />
and can bring your cork-and-feather shuttlecock,<br />
while your mother and father are too busy<br />
working like slaves around your country's clock."<br />
<br />
CROSS SWEAR WORDS<br />
Seven years the young pair lived together,<br />
four across the street and three down.<br />
Their seventh was a cryptic clue<br />
of what was to call around.<br />
<br />
The eighth sees the pair now wed<br />
and both completely square.<br />
Before the two had got married<br />
cross words were very rare.<br />
<br />
CHEEKY<br />
My tongue in your cheek,<br />
that would be bliss.<br />
Humour me, lady,<br />
with a French-kiss !<br />
<br />Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-20789534705839188652019-10-03T02:42:00.001-07:002019-10-03T02:42:15.407-07:00SHIP-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 MarkCaptain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-28888402967559678262019-10-03T02:24:00.001-07:002019-10-22T02:51:43.591-07:00For MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (F)A MEMORY-SHIP MAGIC<br />
My pen quests,<br />
see trickle the tip,<br />
a crow's nest crowns<br />
my magic ship.<br />
<br />
Far up the flag flies<br />
and the sail is full<br />
while glitters the gold<br />
down in the hull.<br />
<br />
Glistens the sheer gold<br />
of your pretty tress,<br />
and shines your white body<br />
in its nakedness.<br />
<br />
Yes the magic ship<br />
of my memory<br />
brings such beauty as yours<br />
back home to me.<br />
<br />
THE BOTTLED BOAT<br />
There is a boat in a bottle<br />
with sails set for nowhere,<br />
yes a ship in a bottle<br />
caught as in a snare.<br />
<br />
There is a captain on the booze<br />
who will set sail no more,<br />
a veteran who awaits the voyage<br />
behind death's door.<br />
<br />
The drinker toasts the darlings<br />
in every port he has been.<br />
Lifts his glass to the pretty girls<br />
in every land he has seen.<br />
<br />
There is a boat in a bottle,<br />
caught as in a snare,<br />
but the magic ship of memory<br />
takes him just anywhere.<br />
<br />
A MUSIC MAKER'S MORTAL MISTAKE<br />
The man was a minstrel,<br />
a make-tracks troubadour.<br />
He strummed on a lute,<br />
banged on a lordship's door.<br />
The personage bid him play<br />
and as a reward<br />
for the man's fine music<br />
offered him a sword.<br />
The player took the weapon.<br />
The lord was at peace,<br />
studied to learn the music<br />
he hoped would never cease.<br />
The troubadour burdened<br />
with the long blade<br />
celebrated war in song.<br />
A short-lived life made.<br />
<br />
GURGLE GURGLE GURGLE !<br />
What's happening to democracy ?<br />
It's going down the drain.<br />
The politician, yes the MP,<br />
is sure going down the very same.<br />
<br />
What's happening to democracy ?<br />
To the sewer-rat it's plain.<br />
Expenses-fiddlers, crack-heads,<br />
taking over its furry domain !<br />
<br />
A SHARP-TONGUED SHE-DEVIL<br />
Her guy sure feels on a rack,<br />
the fellow's found disjointed.<br />
His girl is now a witch in black<br />
to he, so hopelessly disappointed.<br />
<br />
That mouth of hers began to hack<br />
he who was by love anointed.<br />
His girl has now a witch's hat<br />
just like her tongue. Sharp pointed !<br />
<br />
A MARRIAGE MADE TO LAST ?<br />
I lived with a Thai-girl or two,<br />
marriage not my thing.<br />
I'd lived with an English woman<br />
when it was named a sin.<br />
Thirteen years we lasted<br />
without that wedding ring.<br />
Can't be said of friends.<br />
Marriage did them in !<br />
<br />
Thirteen years, thirteen years,<br />
thirteen's lucky for some.<br />
I'm not a bingo player,<br />
but the lasting game we won.<br />
<br />
CATHARTIC COUPLING<br />
She sparkled, oh she sparkled,<br />
she sparkled with delight.<br />
Yes her eyes sparkled,<br />
it was a bonfire night.<br />
<br />
A bonfire night it was,<br />
bang bang bang bang bang.<br />
Rockets and catharsis wheels<br />
for she and I her man.<br />
<br />
THE THAI-GIRL'S GIFT FOR ME<br />
She was Christmas in her stockings<br />
and her red corset.<br />
Although she is a Buddhist<br />
it was a safe bet<br />
this was her gift to me.<br />
Who needed an Xmas tree !<br />
<br />
LADY LOTUS MINE<br />
She called me a "white-monkey" in fun<br />
(though it was 'meant' by some),<br />
but I had the year-round sun<br />
of her country and of her smile.<br />
My lotus-lady did so beguile.<br />
<br />
A GOLDEN-HOUR GIRL HAS GONE<br />
Hers is an heart<br />
with an open door.<br />
Hers is a mind<br />
to explore<br />
as is her body,<br />
its every contour.<br />
<br />
She is a soul<br />
with whom to bond<br />
and sail into<br />
a blue beyond.<br />
She is a girl<br />
of the hour gone.<br />
<br />
GIFT OF A POEM<br />
TO A VERY PRETTY GIRL<br />
Into your sweet dreams<br />
did my message come ?<br />
Did I enter your head<br />
through my medium ?<br />
My medium was the poem,<br />
a message was the verse.<br />
Did you invite it<br />
into sleep's warm embrace ?<br />
<br />
Yes into your sweet dreams<br />
did my message come ?<br />
Or did you ignore it,<br />
give a downwards thumb ?Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-26846673308830840752019-10-03T02:14:00.000-07:002019-10-03T02:14:00.963-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (E)PAPER BOATS<br />
The girl never knew she held him<br />
in the palm of her hand<br />
till he slipped through her fingers<br />
like fine grains of sand,<br />
<br />
while he never knew how lucky<br />
he was to escape her,<br />
for her temper was a tempest<br />
but the poet's boats were paper.<br />
<br />
YOU'RE-A-PERSON-INCLINED-<br />
TO-CORRECT-MISSPELT-WORDS<br />
I have an inkling<br />
that you are the type<br />
who seeks out errors<br />
in the words men write.<br />
<br />
I have an inkling<br />
that you come awake<br />
over a verse-poet's<br />
or a printer's mistake.<br />
<br />
I have an inkling<br />
you're under a spelling<br />
of what the poet<br />
or publisher's selling.<br />
<br />
A-DAWN-DAISY<br />
If only to awake<br />
to a day that's new,<br />
fresh as a daisy<br />
in the morning dew,<br />
<br />
and see the world<br />
on such a morn<br />
as though I'd died<br />
and been reborn<br />
<br />
and did not know<br />
how it would pain<br />
my very soul<br />
to live again<br />
<br />
when in time<br />
this thought I'd find<br />
does not ease<br />
a troubled mind.<br />
<br />
GENTLEMAN GIANT<br />
Size twelve shoes<br />
upon my big-feet,<br />
my foot in mouth<br />
wouldn't be a treat,<br />
but with the ladies<br />
I am always sweet,<br />
even with the ones<br />
not good enough to eat !<br />
<br />
NEED AND GREED<br />
Money's not the root<br />
of all evil,<br />
it is damn greed<br />
that can bedevil.<br />
<br />
I used to have money<br />
to throw away<br />
on the young ladies<br />
who came my way.<br />
<br />
But for beauty, too,<br />
I'd not a greed,<br />
though money fetch more<br />
than you need !<br />
<br />
LIFE AFLOAT NOTE<br />
Not much a man<br />
for materiality,<br />
possessions pin me down,<br />
I like to be free,<br />
I like to feel a sort<br />
of spirituality...<br />
<br />
to consider my body<br />
is but a boat<br />
for the soul inside.<br />
It keeps me afloat.<br />
Yes, take note,<br />
it keeps me afloat.<br />
<br />
A-FOOL'S-CAP-OR-<br />
THE-WIZARD'S-HAT ?<br />
She couldn't believe the age of me<br />
and thought I was the vanished Doctor Dee<br />
or surely some wizard at longevity !<br />
Though she may have been a sorceress<br />
using magic words just to impress<br />
a perfect fool. The girl did, I guess !<br />
<br />
HUMPHREY BOGART-FIND-<br />
I-AM-NOT-GIRL<br />
I might have been Humphrey Bogart<br />
were I not so tall,<br />
and were you a beauty<br />
you might have been Bacall.<br />
No you're no plain-Jane,<br />
but then you weren't Lauren.<br />
Me ? I'm no Humphrey,<br />
I'm too tall I'll say again.<br />
Find that I won't say<br />
"Here's looking at you kid",<br />
because I just don't love you.<br />
Probably never, not ever, did.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-32249658220238128852019-10-02T06:09:00.000-07:002019-10-02T06:09:41.728-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (D)INSOMNIAC'S-XMAS-COCK-DINNER<br />
"Now breaks the dawn<br />
and don't I know it !<br />
The colourful cock<br />
is about to crow it !<br />
Later, in the coop -<br />
fed on corn and crumbs -<br />
he'll strut around so-proud,<br />
lord of the chicken run.<br />
And there in his harem,<br />
the choice of any she,<br />
I'd cock-a-doodle-doo<br />
had I plenty as he !<br />
No work to do<br />
other than praise the sun<br />
and grow fat on pleasure.<br />
Just wait till Christmas comes !"Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-89647984442481177142019-10-02T06:02:00.002-07:002019-10-02T06:02:44.902-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (C)A BLOODBATH BATHORY<br />
Evil Elizabeth Bathory<br />
was the bloody baroness.<br />
Some called her "Werewolf."<br />
Some called her "Vampiress."<br />
<br />
In the blood of virgins<br />
bathed the ageing bat.<br />
Vanity drove to their veins<br />
the very-cruel aristocrat.<br />
<br />
Evil Elizabeth Bathory<br />
thought youth could regain<br />
in every drop of blood<br />
an old-wolf can go drain.<br />
<br />
CONFUSING NORMAL<br />
WITH NATURAL<br />
Normal is concrete.<br />
Natural is grass.<br />
Yet there're folk can't tell<br />
their elbow from their ass !<br />
<br />
SAX AGE<br />
The young black saxophonist<br />
has got her swinging so,<br />
she's the ageing white woman<br />
and he's her gigolo.<br />
Lift that sax young-guy<br />
and blow, blow, blow.<br />
She's the ageing white woman<br />
and he's her gigolo.<br />
"Black-and-white," hear her say,<br />
"becomes a lady who's going grey.<br />
<br />
THE FEATHERED FRIENDS<br />
I repeat you're too pretty,<br />
you repeat I'm too clever.<br />
We could go on, girl,<br />
like this for ever.<br />
You'd think us both parrots,<br />
but birds of a feather ?<br />
Are we not opposites<br />
attracted by the other ?Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-61120347760027199942019-10-02T05:50:00.000-07:002019-10-02T05:50:15.661-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (B)THE BRIEF WINTERLUDE THEIRS FIND<br />
Theirs was a long summery love,<br />
but came a short winterlude<br />
when a stranger, the jealous kind,<br />
was to turn up and intrude.<br />
<br />
He could not get a girl of his own<br />
and would try to come between,<br />
or break up the young couples<br />
that made the guy envy-green.<br />
<br />
Theirs was a long summery love,<br />
but came a short winterlude.<br />
Try to make jealousy a stranger,<br />
avoid a bitter fight or feud.<br />
<br />
AN ARTWORK WOMAN<br />
She is a colourful character,<br />
with a body beautiful.<br />
Both funny and serious.<br />
Who can call her dull.<br />
The girl is a painting.<br />
The girl is a sculpture.<br />
She is a work of art.<br />
Fine-tuned by Nature.<br />
<br />
DISCUSSING NEW APPLIANCE<br />
"It's not the size that counts,"<br />
said his new girl,<br />
"it's how you use it."<br />
<br />
"Both quantity and quality,"<br />
replied her new guy.<br />
She did not refuse it !<br />
<br />
WORK FOR FREE !<br />
Due to the unemployed<br />
he has a job behind a desk.<br />
If most were to find work<br />
he might be on the dole next.<br />
Not very many paid-jobs around,<br />
though voluntary work is easily found !<br />
<br />
TIGHT SCHEDULES ?<br />
London, Oxford,<br />
Edinburgh, Blackpool,<br />
Paris, Amsterdam.<br />
Feed me more fuel.<br />
<br />
Bangkok, Pattaya.<br />
Feed me to fly.<br />
I like to get around.<br />
Not the round you buy !<br />
<br />
CURIOUS TOURIST ATTRACTION<br />
Tourists' cameras snapped<br />
as the pigeons crapped.<br />
I stood in Trafalgar Square<br />
like a cross, or a scarecrow<br />
that did not seem to scare.<br />
<br />
My hands held out pigeon beans,<br />
pigeon crap on my jeans<br />
and pigeon crap in my hair.<br />
Scratches on my leather jacket...<br />
birds settled on my arm wear.<br />
<br />
Yes tourists' cameras snapped<br />
as the pigeons crapped.<br />
In Trafalgar Square I stood<br />
like a cross, or a scarecrow,<br />
or like a clown stuck in more than mud !<br />
Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7064586080034962015.post-43541030737000322772019-09-30T06:33:00.000-07:002019-10-19T06:15:51.256-07:00for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 290 (A)YES-AN-ALBATROSS-LADY<br />
She was the albatross around my neck.<br />
I could not take much more.<br />
The girl hammered her fists against my chest<br />
so I pusher her. She fell to the floor.<br />
There she lay down on the deck.<br />
Her arms spread out like a cross,<br />
the girl who was ever round my neck,<br />
the lady albatross, yes the lady albatross.<br />
Oh now she would be a martyr.<br />
Of this I'd not hear the last.<br />
She'd tell her friends for a starter,<br />
and probably with an added twist.<br />
Go tell the world I said, go tell all.<br />
Hammer your fists against my chest<br />
when you rise from the push and fall,<br />
but this relationship is now laid to rest<br />
(I would no longer argue the coin's toss<br />
with she, a lady albatross).<br />
<br />
YES-WILD-KITTY'S-LONESOME-<br />
DEADWOOD-GRAVE<br />
Kitty Le Roy met her end<br />
in the Lone Star saloon.<br />
In bed with a 'friend'<br />
she danced to his tune.<br />
Sam Hurley, gun in hand,<br />
crept into the room.<br />
Kitty the jig-dancer<br />
was a well-known whore.<br />
Sam, her furious romancer,<br />
left two bodies on the floor.<br />
Jealousy creeps like a cancer<br />
whether sex is free or paid-for.<br />
<br />
A SORT OF SANTA'S GROTTO ?<br />
It was down in The Grotto bar,<br />
beneath the Coatham Hotel<br />
that the smoke from cigarettes<br />
had a heady smell<br />
cut-through by a jukebox David<br />
like the Bowie Knife,<br />
or by the voice of Bolan<br />
upon a swan of white,<br />
or of Bryan Ferry<br />
with his seductive croon<br />
that carried the young ladies<br />
to Paris or the moon.<br />
<br />
Yes down in The Grotto bar<br />
some would call a dive -<br />
the jazz club above<br />
later to come alive -<br />
we'd start out the evening<br />
that ended with a wild jive.<br />
<br />
LONG LOOK BACK<br />
She looked for a tall dark handsome stranger,<br />
why did I not say "I'm the one for you ?"<br />
Perhaps it was just my modesty ?<br />
The girl leapt aboard the bus number sixty-two.<br />
Many a line of verse ran through my head,<br />
yet to this poet's lips they went unknown.<br />
I mouthed a quite goodbye to the beauty<br />
who caught my very last poem home.Captain Mark's Poemshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05033276732011452434noreply@blogger.com0