tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12296820936151261522024-03-11T03:23:12.428+00:00Œ! Read My PoemsI write in form and free verse. I write about: the landscape around Goole in East Yorkshire, music, childhood, houses, the news, ideas.Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.comBlogger621125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-85203450454615314162023-11-22T16:50:00.001+00:002023-11-22T16:50:07.447+00:00An Estate Agent Dreams Of His Ideal Client <p><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The vendor’s getting on, the house is tired,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She thinks things are alright,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because she had the place rewired,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thirty years ago, you can tell she’s tight.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The house is sound, structurally maintained,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But nobody seems to have explained,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You need a bathroom for every bedroom,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To bring things up to the modern age,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A bog of one’s own is all the rage,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A big fat Yorkshire businessman,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Can’t be expected to rise in the gloom,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And walk down a corridor to move his bowels.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If it wasn’t for his wife, he’d use a bed pan,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Can’t really be arsed to go to the bog at all,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let alone go wandering down the hall.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">His wife loves an ensuite, with fluffy white towels,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In piles,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And she says she doesn’t mind hearing him straining,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Giving himself piles, as long as she’s certain<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The toilet’s draining, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And the shower has a modern glass door,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And no curtain,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And a wet room floor.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So, the ornamental plasterwork, newly restored<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Is going to have to go,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">People are bored,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With that kind of look,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Out of a history book.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The conservation people won’t mind,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ll make sure of that, it’s who you know,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Been in the business 40 years or so.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-938613812815805872023-11-08T10:35:00.001+00:002023-11-08T13:00:37.631+00:00STANCE<p> </p><br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I resent the stance you have taken.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I feel utterly forsaken,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For all we have is stances,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our carefully choreographed dances,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With which, round truth, we lightly trip,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hoping never to stumble or slip,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Revealing for all of the others to see”,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Just why it is they can’t trust you or me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We pretend to resent the imperial past,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But you know we must never be honest, at last,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And admit that its over for good,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For how can our virtue be understood,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If it’s known that we’re powerless, alone?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who can possibly know of our rage,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If we do not posture upon the ‘world’ stage?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">From our offices at the council, in Burnley or Oldham or Colne.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-18020545903167605162023-10-03T14:49:00.048+01:002023-11-08T16:51:30.543+00:00Mouth Organ <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wish that I could lie,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Out of sight of cold blue sky,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Empty, cold,</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Absent of mind,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thinking no dull, adult thought,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Uncomprehending, dumb, untaught,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Still myself, boring, old,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But back in that place</p><p class="MsoNormal"> I used to find,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When as a child I sought<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Comfort, satisfaction,</p><p class="MsoNormal">Numb and peaceful noise distraction.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wish to transcend the daily grind,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And all that is stressful and fraught,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Flat on my back</p><p class="MsoNormal">On wide and ancient, deal boards,<o:p></o:p></p><div>Finding some untuneful rest,</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">Breathing reedy, metal chords,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Deep in my receptive chest.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-66961649024556870462023-10-02T10:21:00.005+01:002023-10-02T10:36:20.554+01:00A Government Review <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">People have been talking balls,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Government must review,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Make sure the balls they‘re talking,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Is really getting through,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For who would take much notice,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of all the balls that’s spoken,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If no one from the government <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Made a gesture, just a token,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And held a long enquiry, to find out what to do,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">About the balls that people speak,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Which no one thinks is true.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-30663674894777515942023-10-01T08:42:00.004+01:002023-11-08T16:52:24.080+00:00 The powers that be have “deemed”<p><br /></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">The powers that be have deemed</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Me capable of action</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Of which I have never dreamed,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Or worse, of thinking thoughts,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Which seem to them to have seemed</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">So reprehensible</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">That I should be tried in the courts</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Of their minds and judged</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">According to their new laws</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Invented on purpose to cause</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Me, them to have broken,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Merely by having spoken.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">And now I am guilty as charged</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">To the gleeful satisfaction,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Of those for whom recent history</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; font-size: 17px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s2" style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody;">Is entirely shrouded in mystery.</span></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-6348894599060955322023-08-18T08:45:00.004+01:002023-11-06T19:53:11.961+00:00On Delirium<p><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Delirium’s effect upon the brain</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Lasts far beyond the hour it is at hand,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">It leaves a marker there, a madness stain,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Which ill effect we rarely understand.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">It feels like strength to doubt the shifting sand,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">We sense in this new state we’re deeply sane</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And yet we’re cynical and now let nothing stand.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Delirium’s effect upon the brain</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Means endless fighting, which becomes a drain,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Yet we can’t bear the world to be quite bland,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And argue day and night and so our pain</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Lasts far beyond the hour it is at hand.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And now we seek for cures and then demand</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Our loved ones also take up our disdain.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Delirium invades the peaceful land</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">It leaves a marker there, a madness stain,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">A blood soaked soil where breeds a stronger strain</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Of cynicism, sure that evil’s planned.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And how much evil does this world contain</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Which ill effect we rarely understand?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Why is it the downtrodden who are damned</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And those with power left to grasp and gain?</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">We cannot leave the flames of truth un-fanned,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And so we stoke the heat which we retain:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Delirium.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p> </p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-43110837320303449172023-06-25T15:18:00.002+01:002023-06-25T15:18:57.529+01:00Not Trivial<p> <span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">The dead can’t feel the warm wind from the south,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Across the skin that shivers not, yet feels</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And sends a pleasant message to the mouth,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">About the lovely time of year which then reveals</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">The shallow mind belonging to our flesh.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And yet how terrible to know no more</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">The warm wind on us, or the cold and fresh,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Then hear the mindless comments of each pore</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Or follicle responding to the air,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">By pouring out a little salty sweat</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Or rising up and bristling a hair.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">If we could know when we were dead, regret,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">I think we might express it all together</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">In philosophical discussion of the weather. </span></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-25631699653737592902023-05-13T18:51:00.002+01:002023-05-13T18:51:50.465+01:00I Wish to Chat to A Mushroom<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">I wish to chat to a mushroom,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To tell it all my woes,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’d confide in its ancient wisdom,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And ask it what it knows.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I fear it would not understand me,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Would gossip and tell of my fears,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Through its endless mycelium channels<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That sprout from its mushroom toes.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wish to chat to a mushroom,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wish it would lend me its ears,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But when you confide in a toadstool<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who knows where your secret goes?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I suspect they are less dependable,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Than all the whisperin’ grass,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And their thoughts would be depressing,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And felt as a great morass,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of damp and dark and breaking down<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And a musty smell in the nose.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For although it’s a fruiting body,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s only the bit that shows,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And the rest of it’s complex and murky,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And it prattles away as it grows.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-49597622365659957372023-04-29T19:36:00.007+01:002023-04-29T19:48:03.053+01:00Will it add value, or make it more saleable?<p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Were I to acquire</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">A stuffed pike, </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Would it add value,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">If I put it</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">In the downstairs loo?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Is it the sort of thing people like? </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Would it make people aspire,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">To a certain lifestyle,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Or put people off, </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Because it’s vile? </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">I don’t mean actually in the bog,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Of course,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">I mean on top of the chiffonier,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">To hide a scratch in the veneer.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Would people think </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">I’m a huntin’ shootin’ and fishin’ toff,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">All about horse,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And dog,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Or a liar?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Would it distract from the chip in the tile,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Above the sink?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">What about a crystal chandelier,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Or two,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Are they more tarty than arty?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Or a pair of fauteuils, Louis Quinze or Seize,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Either side of the fire,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Would that make it seem like a des. res.?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Or should one go the whole hog,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">A gilt salon suite,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Would it go with a club fender?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Would that show</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">I was the right kind of vendor?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Someone cultured, in the know?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Would such things complete</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">The impression</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">That this is a home of good taste,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And each possession</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Treasured, inherited, long ago?</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And could I then sell with Inigo? </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p> </p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-79810890911614405272023-04-08T12:34:00.004+01:002023-04-08T12:44:15.180+01:00In The Tedium of a Metric Afternoon <p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had the leisure,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To measure for pleasure,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The nature of an afternoon,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of warm and scented, honeyed June,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When all was peace, yet nothing still,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To calculate the sublime,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In time and also in ‘mil’.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I felt the need, when I heard <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The song of a garden bird,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There was nothing to gain<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By use of the word,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And so reduced it to the absurd,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And measured it’s voice<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And the thrill of its trill<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With great precision and pain.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And afterwards knew,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That nothing was true,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Which existed in fragments alone,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But on a hunch<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After eating lunch,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It occurred,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That I understood,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At the level of instinct and bone,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A truth that pertained in both garden and wood:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Beauty and flowers and finches,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Should always be measured in inches.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-51938339387764516872023-03-31T09:21:00.007+01:002023-05-04T10:14:20.293+01:00The Solid Silver Train<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Why is there no train for my sexual preference?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The train for father and mother, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">30 years man and wife?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Where is the train that only runs about every 6 weeks,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Where the passengers don’t spank each other,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Where nobody speaks,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At all,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let alone makes any reference <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To what’s occurring?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But instead just enjoy the ride,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Without declaring their pride,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As a brief escape from everyday life.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And at the end of the journey,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thank each other.<o:p></o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-63161120506921322682023-03-20T09:19:00.005+00:002023-05-04T10:13:34.679+01:00Trust the Psychopaths<p><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><br /></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Trust the Psychopaths</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Trust the science, trust the psychopathology,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">The two go hand in hand,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Commit yourself, to what we declare is biology.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Place your faith in something you cannot understand,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">You know we materialists would never demand</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">You should place your faith in an ideology,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">We only approve of the concrete, mixed with shifting sand.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Trust the science, trust the psychopathology</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Do as you’re told in obedience to our psychology.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Do not make any enquiry, do as we command.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">We’ve considered economics and epidemiology,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">The two go hand in hand</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">When weighing up what’s best, and so we’ve planned.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And what he have concluded, bearing in mind sociology,</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Is you must all shut up and be shut up, this is the law of the land.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Commit yourself, to what we declare is biology.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">We have your best interests at heart, and therefore make no apology</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">For any negative effects, we have to take a stand.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Caring bullying is not contradiction, self evidently not tautology.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Place your faith in something you cannot understand.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">We intend to grab power and expand</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">The hold we have granted ourselves. Don’t cling to Psephology</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">All parties think alike, our Covid coalition is beautifully grand.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">We know of what we speak, we’re experts in scatology</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Trust The Science. </span></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-55375052777639935882023-03-13T09:13:00.005+00:002023-05-04T10:29:22.511+01:00A Chorus of Twittering<p> </p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Everything is bollocks,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Everything is wrong,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Everything is worse</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Than described in your song.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Everything is dreadful,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Here’s chapter and verse,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Go from here and read it </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Then come back and rehearse</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">The new exciting arguments,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">To show that you belong,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Amongst us true extremists,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Then come and sing along:</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Everything is bollocks,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Everything is wrong,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Everything you thought before,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Was rudimentary stuff,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And everything the plebs think,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Is silly, mindless guff,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Come over here and join us,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">If you’re hard enough. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-80717667633270157162023-02-20T10:58:00.002+00:002023-02-20T10:58:42.070+00:00On Polyamory Among Edible Insects, inspired by Mary Harrington ; )<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">Don’t call me a f*ggot,<span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-font-kerning: 0pt; mso-ligatures: none;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Said the meal worm maggot,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s a term of abuse and hate,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am merely a mealy grub,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Whose fate<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Is to become a meal or grub,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On a plate,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But before that date,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I wish to satiate,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some appetites of my own,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve been feeling polyamorous,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And although I am not very glamorous,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I’ve arranged some wonderful orgies,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For some of my fellow bugs,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And a group of handsome young slugs<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A chance to celebrate<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Before anyone gorges<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Themselves on us,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And it’s all very much too late.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-53328403497494661602023-02-17T20:45:00.001+00:002023-02-17T20:49:37.450+00:00Jackdaw Dance<p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: #222222; font-size: small;">I was finding sticks beneath ancient trees,</span></p><p><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); color: #222222; font-size: small;">In the shady copse at the edge of the lawn,</span></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To mark the dahlias, still in bloom,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But whose death by frost, would come quite soon, </span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Though they blasted out peach and tropical coral,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Mexican vibrancy midst the gloom,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Orange and Barbie and bubble gum heat,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And greenish whites and pale primrose yellows, </span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Ill fitting October’s afternoon,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In an English garden nine hundred years old,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Scented with compost and old leaf mould,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When I saw in the deep, azure sky above</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">A crowd of corvids speaking of love.<br /><br /><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 20.8px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And I had a sensation I’d had before,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Of ancient peace and resistless calm,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And an overwhelming hippyish sense,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Almost embarrassing, hard to ignore,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Of oneness with the world around,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And a sense of a time before I was born.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And the jackdaws circling over head,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Neither cawed, nor carped, but crooned instead,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Like purring doves, or cats making greeting</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And they gossiped and nattered, but seemed quite moral</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">In judgements they passed on their corvid fellows,<br />As they swirled in the air and floated and played,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Though they lazily mobbed a buzzard above them.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And the noise which they made was a gentle sound,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And the gentleness of it filled my head</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And entered my soul and there remained,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Though the moment in relative terms was fleeting,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">I knew the birds’ language and felt I loved them,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">And that this pure love was greater by far,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Than the height of the sky as I lay on the ground,<br />Was greater than ever could be contained,<br />Or described or by poetry be conveyed,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">So I listened to pure, cerulean blue,</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Which danced with the birds, </span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To a lost tune I knew. </span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br /></span></div>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-51096575468313518212023-02-08T08:53:00.021+00:002023-03-20T12:19:08.653+00:00conservative Longings<p><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">If only there were something new to think,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">it’s not just current thought is simply stale,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">but novelty itself can’t satiate.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Ten thousand snowdrops spread beneath the trees.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">A deer in the reedy moat has stopped to drink.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">The still huge, waning moon is turning pale,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">but beauty somehow can’t elucidate.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">I must rely on what has gone before</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">and comprehend that all things interlink.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And all the ancient wisdom must prevail.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And yet I crave some new scent on the breeze,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">that might intrigue before it irritate,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">and might enthuse before it starts to bore,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">might sweep me to the edge and on the brink</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">of some great breakthrough let me there exhale</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">and feel the peace of knowing it’s my fate</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">and duty not to plough ahead, but wait.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px; text-size-adjust: auto;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-49353328573225141662023-02-01T12:36:00.007+00:002023-06-04T10:10:37.355+01:00On hearing the 77th Brigade Were Involved in Monitoring On Line Chat<p>A sad sequel to Tom Lehrer's 'So Long, Mom'</p><p>(I think you have to sing it to get the metre)</p><p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">So long ma,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the truth is so bizarre,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You won’t think much of me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Although I’m a soldier,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The loonies all told ya’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Speech is not free,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And that’s down to me.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We can’t attack ‘em frontally,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">when they get all disgruntley<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And spell out in their punditry,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The freedoms we have lost,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">No need for you to read descriptions,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of the agony and human cost.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Little Johnny Jones<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He was a British Tommy<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And no loser Commie<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Was he. He was mighty scared<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When he heard lockdown declared<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He wouldn’t have dared<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To be free<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And yet he did admit that<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He monitored online chat:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So long Ma,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The truth is so bizarre,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You won’t think much of me,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Though I clean the web<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I protect every pleb,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Or else they might be,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Confused, don’t you see?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Remember Mater,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The truth will come out later,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I worked for a dictator,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But try to smile somehow,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The truth’s so weird<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">'Twill be disappeared<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">An hour and a half from now<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-82433494254221279112023-01-23T16:28:00.002+00:002023-01-23T16:28:39.510+00:00New Church Ladies<p class="MsoNormal">The new church ladies, much the same<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As those well known to Barbara Pym,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They know the words of each naff hymn,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In praise of what is trans or BAME.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their hair is straight, not permed or rinsed,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Although it’s still a shade of blue,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s of a deeper, harsher hue,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To match their latest large tattoo.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their faith is strong, they are convinced,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They’re never wrong nor yet mistaken.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They genuflect and take the knee,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Debate the new theology,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Know when to sneer and victim blame,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And when to praise and feel no shame.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And ‘some form of umbrage can always be taken’.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If others suffer, they are wrong,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nothing to see now, move along,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These are rules, no exemption,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They do not care what cares you face,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Those not with them do not belong.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It must be so, they have a song,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That tells of what a lovely place<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The world will be, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When there’s no trace<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of Western culture, swept aside,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In one last act of suicide,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Which yet will not be thought redemption,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">New Church Ladies don’t do Grace.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p> </p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-44234845700479212982022-11-27T17:30:00.009+00:002023-02-14T15:57:13.801+00:00Advent Service From St John's, 2022<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">The logs are chopped, the basket full,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The smokeless fuel heaped on the grate,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mid-afternoon, some winters chill,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And water in the cellar lies,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And drives the mice to venture in.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The sky is dappled pink and peach,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The day has paused, there seems a lull,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And yet it seems the night can wait,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s music now, amidst the still,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Advent from St Johns which tries<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To balance beauty with the din<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Of modernism, which can’t reach<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The parts that older carols can.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The prayers are said, the readings read,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A Spotless rose is spotless sung,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Perfection is not really dead.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Is that the old familiar pull?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When yet we know we have, of late,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fallen short, against our will,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Or often had to compromise,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Can we sense beneath the skin,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Above our thoughts, beyond our speech,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The greatest truth - that God was man?<o:p></o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-38816116802899255112022-10-11T10:18:00.003+01:002022-10-11T10:18:27.493+01:00Barn Conversion<p> </p><br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tucked away, with appalling views, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Such as those as one might find expressed on the internet<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">By the kind of troll who still lives with his mother,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In her basement. Down a long bleak road,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Such as one might see on the news,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As the scene of a frenzied murder.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Converted to a dreadfully low standard,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So previously, where there was a perfectly serviceable byre,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There is now only a dingy hovel,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Black with soot and grey with drizzle,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">No garden, nothing planted here has ever grown,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And nowhere to play,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Only thick mire<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Such as sticks, when thrown.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">£950 K.<o:p></o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-7467690096007056932022-09-26T11:05:00.004+01:002022-09-26T11:05:42.343+01:00Your Soul One Autumn Afternoon<p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">I watched the dog as she watched you,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Watched your soul rise up and float across the autumn afternoon.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">She tracked it to the door which opened just a crack,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And then she sighed, harrumphed and settled down to doze,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Aware perhaps that you’d return, quite soon, </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">While all the while your body lay in some repose,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Not twitching, eyes relaxed, not rolled back.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">I wish I knew the basic things dogs know</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And had the confidence to feel when all is well,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Happy to observe and to keep track,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Accept that certain things are merely so.</span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p> </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-87968864919042057472022-09-16T15:05:00.007+01:002023-12-22T11:42:57.664+00:00A Queue<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">They waited, sadly, hour after hour,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Doing that quintessential British thing,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Putting up, in line, though tired, hungry, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Never really grumbling,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What were aching legs, stomachs rumbling,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why give voice when greater forces <i>curb</i> the silly tongue,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And silence is the order of the day?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What use are words, when eyes say all there is to say?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What was drizzle, wind that blew a little cold? <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When there was History, both noun and verb,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Before that place sophrosyne so lately manifested,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And there was awe that fit it’s place of old.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Milton’s final line from ‘On his blindness’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Never seemed so apt,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As rapt, they gazed with loving kindness,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To see, ironically, at rest, <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">An embodiment of that which he detested,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yet changed now:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Power without power.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-64024454418851133692022-08-26T09:17:00.009+01:002022-09-12T08:00:17.717+01:00Transitioning<p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">I shall become, such as I am,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">By ‘identifying’ as that which I am not.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">I shall become something external,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Ready made, off the shelf,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">A prêt à porter self</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">A collection of stereotypes, eternal,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">For I shall attempt to cram</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Every hackneyed idea about this other creature</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Into the new version of me,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Every cliché will feature</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">While anything unique will rot,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And </span><span class="s2" face="".SFUIText-BoldItalic"" style="font-size: 17.41pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">ALL </span><span class="s2" face="".SFUIText-BoldItalic"" style="font-size: 17.41pt;">I</span><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"> shall be, will be that which you can see.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 23.213333129882813px;"><br /></span></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-80351413476016473112022-08-09T16:22:00.004+01:002022-08-09T16:24:23.612+01:00Philip Larkin Muses On How Things Turned Out, And How They Might Have Been Different, On His Anniversary<p> </p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Had I been into boys, you’d have been proud,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">No pouring of contempt, or scorn,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">My fantasies of being spanked,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And the Sadomasochistic porn </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">With, to, about which I have wanked,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Would not have cast a cloud.</span></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1229682093615126152.post-40355364344760617432022-08-09T09:01:00.006+01:002022-09-26T11:28:50.880+01:00Today I Amused Myself, for a Short Time.<p> </p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">I have painted them Georgian green,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">The shelves and doors and back</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Of the cabinet piano, now a secretaire.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">A beautiful 18th century shade.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Of course there were no doors, before, only a screen</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Of pleated silk, edged with braid</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">But that is long gone, now the doors are open wide,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Revealing the stringless, dull inside,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And I have placed upon the shelves objet d’art, </span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">A cut glass vase positioned as to hide its crack,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Some Wedgewood items and a stoneware jar,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">An old glass bottle, Napkin rings, a pair,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">A Christening cup, a yew wood chamber stick,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">A burr wood box, elevated on a brick,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Old tat really, nothing very rare.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">And now I feel I need a longcase clock,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">Pagoda topped, Chinoisserie, gold and black</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">To complete the junk shop </span><span style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">scene.</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">So now I am returned to longing and searching,</span></p><p class="p1" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;">No longer fulfilled and serene. </span></p><p class="p2" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; color: #454545; font-family: ".SF UI Text"; font-size: 17.4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 20.8px;"><span class="s1" style="font-family: ".SFUIText"; font-size: 17.41pt;"></span><br /></p>Alison Houston http://www.blogger.com/profile/01250305591584180852noreply@blogger.com0