March 2020 – MichaelAitken

The Death Of The Tramp In The Park

On The Death Of Patrick McVarish

Tramp cooked by the sun
Hot enough to fry an egg upon
Marinated in lager he died
Alone, with no-one by his side.

For six hours in the park
His burning skin turning dark
His organs boiling in their blood
A man that no-one understood

In the heatwave, he sat down
With the parched earth all around
To still the pain in his heart
Now pains are gone
and from the living, he departs

Unable to respond to his fears
Painfully he shed his tears
That evaporated from his eyes
Drifting from his face into the skies

The laughter at the inquest began
When described as the boil in a bag man
But a man came to this end
Dying in a park without a friend

Nov 7, 97

All These Things

There’s a three-piece suit
That collapses when you sit on it
There’s a Staffordshire bull terrier
That lies in front of a coal fire
The garden has a border with bundles of flowers
That never seem to fill the bare patches
There is a dusty old vacuum cleaner
That is used to sweep the carpets every morning
There is a battered old radio
That is tuned indefinitely to “talk radio”
There is an old shed in the back garden
Where the remains of a working man’s life are stored
– rusty hammers, boxes of nails,
– the smell of leather and wood
There are nice flowery curtains in the kitchen window
With a much treasured “bizzie-lizzie” in a pot
There are photographs of children on the wall
Along with a photo of a ginger tom-cat
There are two teak wall units
Passed on from a long lost relative who died
There’s a bed and a chest of drawers
That I brought over twenty years ago
There’s an old bucket by the back door
That’s filled with coal and a rusty shovel
There’s an old biscuit-tin
With musty old trade union cards and letters
There’s a little statue of a cobbler
That’s been painted silver all over
There are towels hanging along the stair banister
With an airing cupboard full of warm sheets
There is a handmade bathroom cabinet
Thickly painted in cream gloss paint
And all of these things were struggled and fought for
And all of these things are loved and hated
And all of these things are working class

The Forests Gate

Since she moved to the forest’s gate
I oftentimes have missed her
Hidden by the wind in the trees
By the branches that grow around her

Since she lives by the forest’s gate
Her skin has turned much browner
Her clothes are like the bark of trees
Her hair has been covered in leaves

From the forest’s edge, the animals come
From the trees the birds surround her
The grass grows wildly beneath her feet
The ivy seems to cover her

The wolves that live in the forest deep
Reach out their claws to take her
She disappears just like a sheep
I never more will see her

Sept 10, 96

Spike Milligan – Ying Tong Song

Spike Milligan lived in Jerico
when the walls came tumbling down
and as he Israelites scaled the walls
they heard this terrible sound

ying tang, ying tang, ying tang, ying tang
ying tang tiddle-i-fo, etc

Spike Milligan was a Mexican
at the battle of the Alamo
as Davy Crocket levelled his musket
he heard this tale of woe

Spike Milligan was a clockwork bird
when they landed in Normandy
as they grouped upon the shore
this song came over the sea

Spike Milligan had a granddad
who fought at Waterloo
and as Napoleon rode his white horse
he heard this crazy tune

Ghengis Khan and his Army
came to engage the foe
but one man alone stood on guard there
singing, Ying Tang diddle-i-fo

Spike Milligan was a genius
who joined the British Army
by the end of the second world war
they saw that he’d gone barmy

Singing

take me home, I feel lazy
I think the whole world’s gone crazy

“That’s all for now, folks”

Spike Milligan – Pakistani Daleks

Oh, Dalek you are handsome
Oh, Dalek, if you’re free
Won’t you come into my arms
And one day marry me

Q. Why did the Dalek isolate itself?
A. Because it saw the new Doctor Who

Long life and good health

I didn’t know what to do
So I blogged it

Teachers are few, students are many
But artists are treated like dirt
Artists, are teacher and student
Artists are explorers where it hurts
Artists are often to be pitied
A few are honoured, and loved
All of them give some happiness
In our lives both hard and tough

I didn’t know what to do
So I saved it
I didn’t know what to do
So I engraved it
I didn’t know what to do
So I remade it
I didn’t know what to do
With my life, my love
With my freedom, my time

I didn’t know what to do
So I hid it
I didn’t know what to do
So I got rid of it
I didn’t know what to do
So I refitted it
I didn’t know what to do
With my life, my love
With my freedom, my time

Oct 2, 1995

A poem to all the followers over the past year or so, I wish you well through the present crisis.

BabyFunbo, Blackwings666, Victoria, farhad Kaiser, ludwigcobaya, notlimey. Vincent Ehindero. Nguoidentubinhduong, Universo Web News, myplace3187, thompsoncrowley, Aquila News, Katy Claire, Harman Kaur, Don Charisma, Tatterhood, dangerkit, womaves, Chinamancreek, @yl10tian, TodayVitamin.com, pickvitaminhome, Shubhi Rawat, Elephant Under the Bus, Shirobanryu, ebookvaultbiz, Trev Jones, AmritaVitamin,com, Albert Shmidt, fromasparktoaflame, thetradersdaughter, Author_Joanne_Reed, Shayleene MacReynolds, Vishal Dutia, Climate Change Take Action now, Jason A. Muckley, Daniele Peluso, Sayer Teller, srijan, Luke Otley, Mugilan Raju, webrootcomsafe1, Elin,MJ, mrfanxietyanddepression, patientandkind, the freedonmof, Meera Daesil, EPR, PurpleStar, Deep Tuesdays, milkencoffee, Sandra J, violatogom, appdeally, Speaking Bipolar, janettbeloved, napilapertiwi, Lou des Anges, Baffled Bear Books, uniqueproductstobuy, Mark Tulin, YouLittle Charmer, aramblingcollective, Shelly Ann v. Joseph, simple Ula, Lauren, Phillip Knight Scott, Charles A. Kush 111, whatsonsidsmind, Elk Arse Vet, Nature At Your Back, Sonam Tsering, Asish kumar, Shell-Shell’s tips and tricks, alikhansrk, laurencelewis1960, Greg Dennison, Your Last Day On Earth, wesm18, Nathan Cocker, Anonymous Scribe, Sean Crawley, sarabeth98, m. caimbeul, Au Au, parkashpencia,bleusapphire, Dr. Perry, Cosima, VeganialLifeStyle, sharonmastel66, Shawn L. Bird, The Only Place Where You Can Find Extraordinary, prajwaleliya, Mondukpe, Steven RM, The Divine Voice For Women, ragstark, Bill, lunatikenigma, Andrew Dalrymple, Cryp Tee, Riddhi Chitalia, Neil, pouringtruth, irevuo, SHAERINAA MEGESAN, Seolin Jung, Hyperbola, Phobe, MD: Medicine + Poetry, kenyacara, ysshekhawat347, Nancy Botta, neeldip1998, Mitali Rajawat,, TOmRobbins, Stress Management, Joshua Idegbere, PoojaG, sevenburnedlillies, femalefilmfestiva, lemonjooz, equipsblog, Russell Deasley, reistatrascendiendo, Blogging Tips, Claudia, Ren’ee Verona, Romantic Ninja, 1800PetsAndVets, davidguerrieriwrites, poetryfest, beznco, cloudigitalogix, shllyn, truly_kendi, visualartlive, Hettie D., Education, c17princess, rashidul.huda, Self Development, Destiny Tuning Secret, DPAPA, ProfitScapes, Click the “View Complete Profile” button for an A, JoeTeriault, Spandex Kitten, Pritam, Walter, JPE, Savvy101 – Writers, Family Today, Saumya Kushwaha, Alison Little, Abhinav, AndyTheRomantic, Lily, TCast, Cristian Mihai, Jamie Dedes, By the Left Hand, gsethi2409, Tim Miller, Art of Blogging, Chris Hall, Sonderwriter, Celia Hales, Halbarbera, Jordan Peters, Kristie Weaver Realtor, Leecoppin.com, Tthenumber26, Lucid Being, RTW Roxy, NewsTodayPW, Erwin Wensley, tombriscoe, Shreya Vikram, dlaofficial, The Godley Chic Diaries, Prasna Velcheru, Word Hunter, pennington writer, Joao-Maria, Lillian Hendricks, petesteph1, lemanshots, peimankhosravi, thebettermanprojects.

This is like a time of the impossible

This is like a time of the impossible
When hatred is exposed to the light
The photo is published in the news syndicate
So people can see how a creature of the night
Slavers over its prey in its dark den

This is a time of the impossible
When selfishness is exposed like woodworm
When the rotten wood is left untreated
And selfishness becomes a pain in the heart

Spring is in the air
The days are lengthening
There are the sounds and colours of nature
And the sun is warm and bright

Yet mankind is in a crisis
We pass on a virus to each other
We die by the handfuls everyday
And we use money like beads

If I live through this crisis
If I survive this plague
How can I learn to understand it?
How can I prepare for the worst?

life

Life
Suspended in space
There’s no future
There’s no past
Colours surround you
The universe
Wraps itself around you

Eternity
Starts from the centre
And smiles
Everything is there
A feast
That never ends

Life within you
Is a ripple in the water
A seed of eternity
Growing inward
Growing outward
Growing all around you

The Great Companion
Shines somewhere
As he works
He looks at you
Like a loving father
To a child

An epidemic of the blues

In this grand utopia, the posse rides through heaven
Guided by mission control way above the weather
Flying fish and flying bombs and mermaids in the gutter
Running from the tide of war without their bread and butter