JOINING 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?

MAGIC SHIP- TINY BIRD W.R.N.S> JEN

Jenny 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)

for MIDDLESBROUGH MAGIC SHIP 293 (C)

WE COME AND GO
MORE TIMES THAN SOME
When down on the beach
looking out to sea
perhaps, girl, you will
one day remember me.

The message that I have
I'll not bottle inside.
I won't take it with me
across the ocean wide.

I'll not take it with me
on the retiring tide.
We barely got to speak,
thus my message denied.

The message was mine
before you were born.
Life's a peaceful calm
before a raging storm.

As the tide comes in
and surely then goes out,
opposites are what life
tends to be about.

You're looking for answers
to just what you're about.
It's a coming-and-going.
My message is now out.

SEASONAL SWITCH
She's been born before.
Of this find she is sure.
She is a Thai Buddhist.
Many changes of the soul,
plays she another role.
She is a reincarnationist.
Who's to say it's not true.
See the springtime renew.

BRIGHTLY-LIT LANTERN LADY
She called me Magic Fingers.
They held a healing heat.
I'd give the girl a massage
before we would retreat...

retreat to the bedroom
out there in old Siam.
We are no more together.
It wasn't a long-term plan.

She called me Magic Fingers.
Lady Dem was a delight.
I'll call her Thai Lantern.
Always she'll shine bright.

THE COLOURFUL CELEBRITY CIRCUS
When Salvador Dali came to town
Hollywood colours were his surround.
He stood there centre of the ring.
He didn't have to paint a thing.
The music collective gathered round too.
But the artist Salvador felt so blue.
Well he was a long long way from home,
and not content with his old grey tone ?

THE GYPSY VERSE-POET GAVE
THE GIRL JUST A LINE OR TWO
She knew that he knew
what she was about.
She knew that he knew
her, in and out.

How did he know ?
Hadn't they just met ?
Yes, it was so.
"But dear girl let

me tell you that
in art and poetry
some have second-sight
if only occasionally...

Some have second-sight
if only occasionally.
How'd understand you
who don't so see ?"

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 ?