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John Bartholomew Dec 2018
Bland
Like a plate of frozen peas for dinner
Work
Everyday until you die just trying to be above that person next to you
Holidays
Every year to that same villa in Spain
Car
Volvo
Good brakes
Safety No.1
I sigh in boredom of it all
The sight in which we see life is a contrast between us all
And that channel of tuning just isn't for me
Say the odd stupid thing and regret it for days or years
Date that person who scares you blind and brings you to tears
Make the decision that is stupid and plainly wrong
But that's how I roll man, to a different song
I've been a prat at the best of times but that's what makes it fun
Soaking up the rays with no cream in the summer sun
Always a risk taker living life on the edge  
Hey, that's the way I live, a self committed pledge
People look at me and wonder why,
I look back and tell them well at least I tried
As this is a life to live so spread your wings and not sit in the tree
Sometimes we have to make mistakes to prove whats right, hence
The world will always need,

An Idiot Like Me

JJB
Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever -  Francois de La Rochefoucauld

I am greatly misunderstood by politically correct idiots -  Brigitte Bardot

When it comes to idiots, America's got more than its fair share. If idiots were energy, it would be a source that would never run out - Lewis Black
John Bartholomew Dec 2018
We all have our favourite flavours, be it what you will
Add some stock or a can of soup, anything but chilled
Pick a pack from the shelf,
Carrots,
Celery,
Turnips,
A clove of garlic,
All good for your health
A side scoop of fresh mash, potatoes mixed with butter
Bought from the farmer down the road, Mr Smith with the tedious stutter
Straight to bakery for some bread, to soak up that lovely mix
All the ingredients clumped together, every box it does tick
Served with a feeling of a homemade dish, pretty simple when you know how
Delicious and tender and a joy to eat, especially that winter has come now
It warms you up, puts a glow to your cheeks, feels good and livens the soul
Now dunk that bread and sip that wine,

Delicious with Casserole

JJB
Food is an important part of a balanced diet - Fran Lebowitz

People who love to eat are always the best people - Julia Child

You don't need a silver fork to eat good food - Paul Prudhomm

Everything you see I owe to spaghetti - Sophia Loren
John Bartholomew Nov 2018
Its an unwritten book
Each page blank for you to write
Prophecy, gluten for punishment, entirety
It is what you will
Footsteps to follow
Not beg steal and borrow
This life is yours
Make it what you will
Swerve that curve ball from paying the final bill
Trickiness
Stickiness
Sometimes were in a cosmic muddle
But always just be you
Don't follow the path set in stone as that's
What we are supposed to do

JJB
If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success -  John D. Rockefeller

There are many paths but only one journey - Naomi Judd

You set paths for yourself, but as you get older, things change -  Ian McShane
John Bartholomew Nov 2018
They tell a thousand words whatever's in the frame
If its Warhol down to a flower on a wall
That picture says one thing to some
And sometimes nothing at all

Get into the mind of the artist who framed it
Sitting by the canal just painting boats and eating biscuits
There was no great mystery behind that picture of yours
Any excuse from doing the household chores

Did Mona Lisa smile or was she thinking of something else
She may have been bored and just called from the street
Imagining what 2 nearby birds had just tweet
Soon on Da Vinci's bed, or on her knees and off her feet

The imagination is to anybody's discretion
Take it as far as you like, its up to your impression
Just know there is a line that we try to avoid
Of indecency and discretion as that is sometimes too rude

Pictures

JJB
The soul never thinks without a picture - Aristotle

A picture is a poem without words - Horace

I'm always in my pajamas, unless I know for a fact that people are taking my picture -  Bethenny Frankel
John Bartholomew Nov 2018
Approaching like a soul with a bad news update
Small things gradually start to appear
Time,
Loss,
Fear,
That first grey hair on your head
Now showing up in places that you dread
Pants,
Chest,
Nostrils,
No way man,
Impossible
The beat of the radio flicks from Radio 1 to 2
Don't try and deny it, you know this to be true
Now Elbow,
Mike and the Mechanics
Nothing wrong with a bit of Elvis Presley
Now this is getting scary
I'm going to need a Harley or a soft top soon
Impress the ladies that I'm still in tune
Chinos,
Loafers,
A semi grey goatee
Oh man,
I hate becoming an oldie

JJB
Middle age is when you're sitting at home on a Saturday night and the telephone rings and you hope it isn't for you - Ogden Nash

Middle age is when your old classmates are so grey and wrinkled and bald they don't recognize you - Bennett Cerf

Middle age is when your broad mind and narrow waist begin to change places -  E. Joseph Cossman
John Bartholomew Nov 2018
I've been hit
All of us have but in different ways
Depends on how you recover
Waking up and that feeling of utter dread
Where do I look, are the answers in some book
The wife may know or do I ask my lover
A turning point where all is seen in a brand new way
The justice, the injustice, the must have must haves
I'm only here once
A front bigger than Brighton, always on the blag

Maybe I deserved that thump of unfair life
As been a naughty boy and relished in the past
God has his ways, I'll catch you one day you *******

But the hill has a summit as for which I now climb
I toppled, I lent to far, I took my eyes from the prize and crashed that ******* car
But these matters are just a hiccup, a step in the wrong direction
Strive on young man,
Having eliminated those who now do not care
Throw at you what they want, spread your tales online,
For social media is there for us all to bear

But no,
Hold that light of what really still can come
As you ignore those mutters from the downtrodden and those on the everyday rat-run
The horizon has a future yet to be discovered now feeling almost new born
Hold your head up high, banish the clutter that really doesn't matter as you carry on,

Through the Storm

JJB
“What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.” –Charles Bukowski

“I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.” –Emma Watson

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” –Buddha

“You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.” –Bob Marley

“Every flower must grow through dirt.” –Laurie Sennott
John Bartholomew Nov 2018
A light that shines when all others are out
That midnight treat, an escape, a desperation technique
Conversations with an immigrant whose stories are bone chillingly scary
Now keeping tabs on a fridge full of Solero's just wondering if his daughter escaped the screams, the gunfire and if she's now unknowingly buried
The drunk arrives, ***** now gone, gawping at the top shelf
Tried it on, alone tonight, 2 minutes with page 7 just might help
Dome roundabout, A41, a place to stop, from Harrow to Tring
Filling up on a Wednesday, hoping the same man isn't now serving
Air in the sky now 50p to fill the tyres that let us travel
If it wasn't for these rubber soles our lives would be stuck in gravel
But you're hungry and are willing to pay the price for a Ginsters roll
No change for the bridge named after our Queen, how dare they give it a toll
It stands out bright that expensive castle on the hill
Ten pence a litre more to fill the car but hey, you just want to get home and your willing to foot the bill

JJB
I go to church every Sunday, which is like going to the gas station once a week and really, really filling up - Anne Lamott

It's a pipe dream, but for me, I've always wanted a Tesla. I would never have to go to a gas station -- Maren Morris

I just like people. I'll hold a conversation at a gas station. It's not about the fame and the fortune, I just like people - Lionel Richie
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