Poetry Comp 2008

[graysonscolumn]

My pleasure, Gamble. Er, I think!

gc

Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.

[gamble]

Forget the order or meaning of words
Grays If I had your vitality
I could something wid me life

Not in the finest fettle
for as I write this
I have a mouth full of strong antiseptic.
having neglected a tooth
and my walk took in a late night chemist.

Just to go back to my tainted experience
I suppose I was all of nine years old when
the teacher set us all a poed to write for homework.
It was a first for all my classmates as well as me.
The teacher’s name was Pip – not his real name.

I spent three hours on it – an age
and although the title escapes me
it dealt with the heavenly realms
and the devil featured in it.
twelve lines long and I kept
changing and shifting the words
I read it out to Paw and he thought
it was book class.

The next day Pip collected the poems
It was the day after he hauled me up
in front of the class and confronted me with ‘my’ poem.
You wrote this didn’t you ?
Yes I said
Then you wont have any trouble reading it out
in front of the class from memory.
You can start
Sadly all I could remember was the title
and a feeble attempt at the first line
which I got wrong

Well boys let this be a lesson
to you. This boy cheated
and cheats never prosper

I never liked poedry from then on
and it was years later
that the fly was written by the eye
to take the brunt of my crusted anger
and he was hit with metal hooves and horse whipped
as I had been mentally stripped and scarred by Pip

[aaronizneez]

Congratulations to Aronizneez on creating Bamp who I found a very personable entry in Saturday morning and of course his excellent A cautionary tale.

Very kind of you to say so Gamble. Bamp was what my brother and I called our grandfather, I think it’s reasonably common in the west country where we grew up. Bamp was a very kind and patient man who I can’t remember ever raising his voice in anger and writing the poem brought back many happy memories of the times I spent in Wotton-Under-Edge with him and my Nan.

Ironic really that the publishers chose the other poem which dealt with the harm horse racing can do if you are of an addictive nature. Maybe thats the sports problem in how it is viewed by the non racing public.

I have to say I was a tad embarrassed at "winning" as some of the other poems I thought were excellent. I can only think the publishers didn’t quite get some of the entries (they might not be alone for some parts!). The forum voters I think got it about right.

[gamble]

aronisneez your interestingly couched
poed background and fascinating family history
have occasioned
an eye report…

Of course that part of the world where Bamp lived
once predominated with half a million sheep
and this in itself had a pacifying effect on all the inhabitants
and might account for the villagers kindly
temperaments and the fact that history inextricably
tied in to meld with dead sheep spirits
and so enable the meek to be spread under the ‘edge.

A worthy winner – but I would agree with your thoughts
on the irony of Saturday morning choice and its intertwining
moralistic issues of gambling
which may well have scored points with the probable judge.
4/6 she was a woman
they are on balance
more moralistic than men
better at ironying
and have an unnatural and strong hatred
of the roaming fly

grawmaw once caught two flies in one arm swipe..
Admittedly they were both stuck in a stupor state
batting a tired eye on a net curtain
and almost asphyxiated
by the streaming midday sun evidencing the rolling
jigsaw of Moody’s farm both coupled with the
soporific vapours of grawmaw’s curry –
the secretly coded recipe for which
was later removed from her
large double-pocketed apron
to be buried with her

News update…
Obama apparently the future
ducking the bullets of the Hill’s past

My news….
eye am reviewing my future

[Author]

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