Poetry - January 2021

Isolation Desolation

The day passes me by
As I look out of the window
And see the Winter sky
But with nowhere to go
We're again staying home
To protect those around us
And wherever we may roam
Is adding risk and harm to us
It does feel rather desolate
As I stare at the great outside
Knowing we're all desperate
To get out to the other side
I know that when the day arrives
We'll all be feeling exhausted
Not from the resumption to lives
But the fact we felt so distorted
From the endless hours
To the numbers increasing
To the tears for ours
With nothing receding.

(I think we've all felt like that this month. But, please, reach out and talk to someone. Whatever you do.)

You Can't Have It All, Even If You Wanted To

There's so much that I'd really like to tell you
That you just cannot have it all your own way
No matter how much money that you may have
Or if you happen to be throwing money away
It's not a case of striving for everything
As that is really not the way to go
Even if you wanted to have everything
There's no value in what you'll have to show
It's a fruitless exercise that you just want to go with
To prove you're supposedly better than everyone
But no one really likes that kind of attitude
And instead you'll end up alone and having no fun
Is having it all really the be all and end all?
Somehow I think it's the wrong path to take
Having a nice life and good friends and family
Is much more rewarding, for goodness' sake.

(You hear and see these sort of people: "I want it all, I want everything" which just sounds superficial and over-aspirational. None of that bollocks from me.)

I Despair

So many things that people do
Drive me to the point of despair
It just doesn't seem quite right to me
And makes me feel if I'm not there
I can sometimes be the quiet one
As I tend to think in conversation
And yet if I'm not the loud one
Then it's like I'm not paying attention
Sometimes I just want to say something
But I don't get the chance to talk
And that makes me feel upset
And so I'd rather head out and walk
I only want to be heard sometimes
As I can bring a fresh point of view
But it's almost as if there's a decree
That we won't listen to you.

(Sometimes though if you're not allowed to speak, that isn't good and makes me wonder just why I don't get that chance.)

Snow in Manchester

It's not often that the white stuff falls
And dominates the Mancunian skyline
It feels almost like it should be Christmas
But it's the end of January and sublime
On top of all the attempted flooding
That seemed to dominate in Didsbury
We now have the snow and ice coming
Which the big freeze really makes you see
Just how much that it's a rare thing
For the city to be blanketed in white
And yet there's a calm peaceful feeling
As we're all inside and alright
As we venture out into the gardens
To have our own safe space to play
Snowmen will be built everywhere
And wishing we were walking in the air today.

(It is a rare thing with snow in Manchester, yet seems so beautiful when it falls.)

The Cat In The Hammock

Brian the cat got a lovely present
Which we assembled over Christmas
It was a cat hammock bed for him to lie on
So he could relax and sleep with no fuss
We put everything together and waited
To see if he would take to lying on it
At first he just kept sniffing the surface
And later on we left him to it
We then saw him resting on the hammock
Staring out of the window at the passers by
He looked ever so calm and peaceful
And even then black and white girl cat would cry
She wanted to be Brian's friend
But I think she wanted the comfy hammock really
But Brian was just so happy at rest
And it's a present that he loves dearly.

(Brian's new cat hammock is fabulous - he loves it so much!)