One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.
...
Through every nook and every cranny
The wind blew in on poor old Granny
Around her knees, into each ear
(And up nose as well, I fear)
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Sitting in front of the fire, Auntie Flo's reciting a story,
it's one about her first Christmas as a newly wed,
the same one she broadcasts every year,
but no one is listening.
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Dirty game
Blaring voice and strong signal came
Message from boy aging 9 for playing game
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On the fair green hills of Rio
There grows a fearful stain:
The poor who come to Rio
And can't go home again.
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Father and Mother, and Me,
Sister and Auntie say
All the people like us are We,
And every one else is They.
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It is time for me to go, mother; I am going.
When in the paling darkness of the lonely dawn you stretch out
your arms for your baby in the bed, I shall say, "Baby is not
here!"-mother, I am going.
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My Uncle’s
old blue van
gone to seed now
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A Girl’s Reverie
Mother says, ‘Be in no hurry,
Marriage oft means care and worry.’
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Hi, when you are near towards us
In this amazing horizon,
Light has scattered in the atmosphere,
Your original face is creamed
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CRÚISCÍN...CÍSTÍN BAISE
(LITTLE JUG...LITTLE PALM CAKE*)
Auntie Mary’s
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My daddy calls me Will-dog.
PaPa calls me chief.
I’m always baby brother
to my sister - oh, good grief!
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You have suffered auntie long enough,
You were brave strong and tough.
The battle you fought was long and hard,
But it’s okay auntie let go and let God.
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He wouldn’t come out
of the closet
though she shouted
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The younger sister
Of the second wife
Of my dear friend
Of forty-five years
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O God - or may I call you Lord? –
I remember when I was a child,
You were my best friend, one who knew me
better than I knew myself;
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MY muvver's ist the nicest one
'At ever lived wiz folks;
She lets you have ze mostes' fun,
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I remembered I'd promised my Aunt Adele before she died
that I'd get in touch with her family in Oz
just to put matters to rest, since they'd not spoken for years
since she upped and went off with this Pom
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Young Archie's problem was the size
of his gigantic nose,
the midwife did not realise
that even one of those
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The bell has rang
Faces of cheers mirrored across the classrooms
Packing their beg eagerly
Running to the compound
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Let the sunlight grace the contours of yr soul
Taking you to edge of the universe
You will fly beyond the heavens
A billion lightyears away
...
Don't think too much;
day-dream more,
that makes you
smarter, if you believe in it.
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Good night good night ye, old man
Come to see me fast if you can
I may be leaving you far behind
Don’t try for me ever to find
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The live fish twitched
shrugged its tail
and seemed to pale.
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Wrap me up in me stockwhip and blanket,
And bury me deep down below,
Where this piffle and sham won’t disgust me,
In the land where the coolibahs grow;
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I can see a lot of people coming
little black baby
you must respect the moon
you must praise the sun
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O! He was the boy of the house, you know,
A jolly and rollicking lad;
He never was sick, he never was tired,
And nothing could make him sad.
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Guess what, it’s hair-day O Lord, this week is over,
No more time to count beautiful four leaf clovers.
Perhaps Aunt Mar will initiate the dastardly deed,
Hugged unflinchingly between her legs, useless to plead..
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Dear Boy
As it appears to us old fogeys
If you'll excuse the term that we adopt
You and your battery of bowling bogeys
...
From a cold and exhausting long trip
on Her Majesty's Post Office ship
after Customs they cleared
hand in hand they appeared.
...
Nun pòi sbajà ssi vòi. Qua ssu la dritta,
Ner comincio der Vicolo der Branca,
Doppo tre o quattro porte a manimanca
Te viè in faccia una pietra tutta scritta.
...
Someone across the crowded room says
'Radio Luxemburg'
and it's like hearing your life
through the screech and moan
...
Isis and Orisis,
brother and sister
with the same mother,
married to each other.
...
PETERSBERG (translation below)
Irgendwo auf der Welt,
Über Tal und Berg,
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Why is it when I'm doing what dogs do,
what dogs are designed to do,
then I'm a Bad Dog?
...
Rabbit
with a habit
lived in a hole
next to Vole.
...
When my own father died of heart attack,
And died before reaching the hospital
I asked the Lord why?
When my auntie died of bone cancer,
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Our Auntie Maggie used to sit
In winters evening she would knit
No sooner was one garment done
She'd go and start another one
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'Oh! Nellie the elephant packed her trunks and said goobye
to the circus...off she went with a clumpity clump... clump
....clump... clump! The head of the herd was calling...
far far away.'
...
My nieces, while we enjoyed our festive season
They debated, debated and debated-the debate was to your peril my darlings
They are all adults- may be with daughters -May be without - but the debate was loop-holed
Your consent period to enjoy sexuality may have a full-house of men and women of integrity as debaters
...
I've heard runours involving your auntie
The details are still somewhat scanty
Her behaviour at best
Is causing unrest
...
I sit here
Sifting my basket of Junes
Birthdays and Sundays
And picnics
...
It's a blessing to teach our children, in life that's how they grow.
The things they see in life are pictures of some things they should know.
When given your baby at birth you should train yourself to be
As close to perfect in living you're a parent now, with a family.
...
Each Christmas I had wanted
& now had finally got
...
My Aunt & her friends
are wondering (but not
for long) where I’ve gone.
...
To my dear niece in the USA
Happy BirthDay on the 27 October 2019
an Acrostic:
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I've heard runours involving your auntie
The details are still somewhat scanty
Her behaviour at best
Is causing unrest
...
Auntie, the night runners are coming
We snack at midnight
Ensure enough baking flour is there
And samosas
...
I have the utmost respect for Ronald Reagan,
Who defeated the USSR and crumbled the Iron Clad Curtain without firing a gun,
Who later died of Alzheimer’s,
He left us without knowing completely what he had done.
...
I remember when we was young, we played football at the park
You, your friends and I would play for hours until it got dark
I remember when we was young, we always played on the nintendo
...
Dear MONA REGINA, A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY….
R-regrets she constantly has
E-end of all are the disappointments her side
...
Bibi
she walks in dignity and love
like Toronto at night and heaven above
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Where are we going today?
we all together, together or alone?
we do not know where to go yet?
we do not know where to go?
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The Present, is simple and easy
but chosen with much care
they are so bewildered
...
Dear favourite niece,
today is your birthDay
Congratulations
all the way
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I’m heading West
(where ever that is) .
I march off
...
The wallclimber is is is is is, mm, is is is, er, is is, ah,
Is at home again
Wished Auntie May recovered so asked Mephisto a spell.
So his wife Mary Jane went away,
...
We sat on the rug behind the
Bedford van eating our picnic.
The van masked us from the breeze
blowing from the sea and masked
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An'-wilt-yeh-take-this-woman-fer-to-be
Yer-wedded-wife? -... O, strike me! Will I wot?
Take 'er? Doreen? 'E stan's there arstin' me!
As if 'e thort per'aps I'd rather not!
...
What are you thinking, Mum?
The time when you were young
Spending time in New York City
And being frightened over a coffee machine
...
(limerick) Enough With The Ants Already
Bartholomew ant.. he is apt to rant
Bartholomew boards.He's a ruminant
...
Bob's my Auntie now
And Auntie Jayne is John
My sister, Fred, is such a cow
My brother's still called Ron,
...
Should I call you Godmother or auntie
I think neither 'cause you're like mom
All these years like second mom to me
Through thick and thin there for me
...
O maiden aunt, you have come to call.
Do step into the hall!
With your bold
Gecko, the little flick!
All cogs, weird sparkle and every cog solid gold.
And I in slippers and housedress with no lipstick!
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Like a Wind-Up Toy
herky-jerky
lurchy-lurchy
I careen
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I was the captain standing on the bridge
surrounded by the waters of the sea,
on the horizon, on a lonely granite ridge
remained the memory of all it was to be.
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I want my Dad! i started to cry
why did he have to go and die?
Christmas without him is not the same
i need someone to take the blame!
...
I am writing to you pink puppet clown
my writing is tender
as stroking with one hand and amendment
with hand two because you deserved always
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I was ten when I married
Just after my periods started
I was a woman now, my father said
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I've been to a hundred year party
My friend from the Home - Naughty Nelly
We had curry and rice
Which was very nice
...
Last week we started out in glee,
The boys and Bertha, Aunt and me,
Across the village green to see
The comet;
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I ain't preaching, dear girl
'cause I know you, you'll curl
either your lips or your eyebrow
but, I only wanna congratulate you,
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Esther is her name
being a doctor is her fame,
younger sister of Stella,
is celebrating her birthday today.
...
Softly wicked Auntie Barbara
Made malarkey at all hours
Dodging ribbons of tradition
She was born to ride right off her rocker
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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
the previous announcement (deleted now) was 'just a joke'
hi Lora
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Swirl the teacup three times round
And stand it on its saucer upside down.
The leaves will tell of things to come
And brighten up your afternoon.
...
A friend of mine,
just had a Christmas Premonition.
His Auntie saw him drowning in the sea.
The woman now observes it only was a dream,
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Did you ever wake up
(oh when you were very small)
in the dark black pitch of night
...
Black and white photos
Captured the little girl I once was
A one year old with fascination
Recorded by time lapse pauses
...
I’ll bet that you remember a movie
About a Yellow Brick Road
Dorothy was the little girl
And Toto was her dog
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FRECKLES
My sister has so many freckles the mosquitoes
go crazy tryna find a place to bite
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Just five generations
most men will know.
I knew Great Grandfather
by a faded photograph
...
Five acres and independence
was a book my mother read;
the book became a dream,
then reality, now a memory.
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But Strewth, the winnin'! Ow they loves this ‘frill
Scrabblin' with the kids at Bondi on the beach
When a ‘wowser' gets yous double-word
And Strine is spelt as well as heard:
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Auntie lies in the rest home with a feeding tube and a bedpan, she
weighs nothing, she fidgets and shakes, and all I can see are her
knotted hands and the carbon facets of her eyes, she was famous for her
pies and her kindness to neighbors, but if it is true that every hat
...
I’m a chick, I’m a lush
I’m a lady – now and then!
I’m a mother, I’m a lover
I’m a ten out of ten!
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A heart of gold she got
A heart filled with kindness
A heart filled with so much love
A heart so big
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1.The Tiger o Trincomalee
The tiger o Trincomalee
Took a day trip tae bonnie Dundee
...
I burned my fingers on the stove
And wept with bitterness;
But poor old Auntie Maggie strove
To comfort my distress.
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Oh Toto
we aren't in Kansas anymore!
Look at the changes
it all looks so strange doesn't it, yet here we are
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i am a woman of many things
my style is rare
dare not compare
me to others
...
uncle john badly wants
to be the president of
the United States
because he thinks
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Death, you took away the Kings, Queens,
Popes, Presidents, Ministers, and Marines.
You tucked away the children, the young and the old.
You took away the beautiful, the strange and the bold.
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I have got a little story
Which I'd like to tell
It is here within me
Just ringing like bell
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My grandmother Eliza
was the family surgeon.
Her scalpel made from a pocketknife
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