Hail hits hardest
when not anticipated
and head is hatless

Good voice
but I'd like
to have heard some words

I'm waiting for a phone call.
Sounds good, doesn't it.

I unwillingly awakened
far too early
and birds were singing

Sun in my eyes
Can't see to write
Relax!
Guilt-free

New perm
Keep dry
Clouding over
Umbrella?
At hairdresser's
Run!

Rain sheeting
as forecaster says
"Showers over Cumbria have cleared"

No rhyme,
No rhythm,
No reason,
No poem,
No satisfaction

The bluetits dash about
The blackbird sings
The robins flick their tails
and bounce
The thrush rustles
through the dead leaves
and the blackbird sings

Soon there will be eggs to coddle
nestlings to feed
and the blackbird will be too busy
to sing

Here lies Janet Aitch
Janet who?
Never heard of her!

What is a change?
An alteration
longed-for or loathed
mental or physical
swift or subtle
demanding or gentle

and some changes
make things better

The poetry group
tried it this morning
without much success

We used to see
red squirrels
tufty-eared
dainty
harmless
rare

Subtle changes
in green of leaves
heralds
autumn's
vibrant splendour

Raspberries
glow enticingly
in the hedgerow
Pity about the nettles

We lived in Cornwall then
crashing waves and seaweed tangles
sea views looking so far distant
it could have been to another hemisphere
Bliss
At least we thought so
until- you know how the smallest things
trigger a firestorm?
In this case it was musc
each of us despising the other's choices
'til the rows reached a crescendo
stereo shouting
and the split was inevitable

The poetry group
teaches us many new things
including Haiku

I write on Fridays
because the group meets
not otherwise

It's possible to make poems
about almost anything
but like most things in life
there's more to it than that
What is a rhyme?
Do all poems need them?
Must I obey rules and formulas
and stick to a code?
What about stanzas, syllables,
punctuation, presentation?
Can the number of lines
accord with the inspiration
or must there be dogmas
to govern its expression?
If I take it too seriously
I lose all impulsion
and the words which should sing
lie flat on the floor

I'd like to think
"Someone,
somewhere
remembered me
with kindness"

Camellias, Forsythia and Daffodils
flowering
Dandelions in bud
Squirrels chasing

In the old garden
long hidden through misuse
amateur gardeners are restoring its past
with the help of professionals
who know about such things as
should bee boles face east
where blue poppies do best
and which are good grapes for wine

It took quite some courage
to hack at the creepers
and break up the concrete
but look at it now

I'm knitting
a gold cardigan
bringing warmth
to winter sunshine

Sometimes
ideas spring up
eager to become poems
Today -
desert

Iona
Place of pilgrimage-
if wind
hasn't halted
the ferry

At Epiphany each year
I think of the Magi
who foolishly doubted
a star's inspired leading
and went to Jerusalem
to enquire of a king.

A king who was noted
for disposing of claimants
to the crown that he guarded
as if held by glue.

In an instant the destiny
of scores of young children
was wiped out forever
by this one mistake.

Had they read Micah's prophecy
of the birth of a Saviour
they would have reached the stable
as lovers to a tryst

and the Bethlehem children
would have lived life as normal.
The carpenter of Nazareth
would still be the Saviour
and the blackbird have sung
over cradles, not graves.

Tenderly drawing a book
from its place on the shelf
noting the decrepit
state of its spine
pages so yellowed
as to be almost orange

I steep myself
in the tiny print
and antique wording
and pray for the grace
to fathom is depths
and grasp its meaning

Had haircut
Look better
feel happier
Good start to day

A smidgen  of snow
slows everything
To a slithering stop

Two things we know
about Janet Aitch
She won't have a poem
and she's always late

but the sharing we give
of laughter and pain
give her something to write on
and we have her back again

February fourteenth
means something to some
but not to all

Rain
Tests your shoes
Wets your feet
Pleases shoe shops

I sat on my glasses
It didn't improve
my vision

Sunshine
shows dust
right where you know
you just dusted

officially true
not your imagination
the sky is more blue

Problem?
Solution?
Yes!
Why worry?

Problem?
No solution?
Why worry?

Work ethic
keeps me busying
doing, doing
impressing
my conscience

With mingled feelings
of sadness and joy
I read the note
found tucked in a handbag
being given away

It brought back faint echos
unsettling thoughts
of relationships broken
of good times and sour

Only a note
but it casts such a spell
It quite overpowered me
'til the phone woke me harshly
and I came back to now

Thieves cut down the tree
that provided privacy
shelter and beauty

6 am
A bird sings
He likes getting up
I should

Over the doorways
new cameras are watching
I wave as I pass

I sit listening
looking through the scaffolding
hearing builders' din

Naming storms after people
is not appreciated
by those persons

Who was she?

Travel company cancelled
Good!
I can choose a new holiday

A Pleasant Contagion
The light in the eyes
of one who feels loved
affects all who meet them
they do not know why

When I was a teenager
I thought
twenty was old
thirty was ancient
and forty was
positively prehistoric

The Roofer
tapped a slate
tenderly
looked up
said "Hi"

Seated, crossed legs forming triangles
your breath coming gently, evenly
feeling comfortable in your skin
you ponder strange mystical words

Group leader's away
Group will play
in verse
or worse