John Bartholomew: Poems

Jan 2018 · 507

Easy Tiger

John Bartholomew Jan 2018

Times turn for that night on the town
All week at work and now it’s time to be found
This way or that way a few shots at the bar,
A pint or two now just settle the nerves
Skin on skin if it’s Sonny or Cher
A night back at mine for I don’t really care

You’re a desperate case of loving if that’s what you want
Anywhere will do if you drink from that font

Hello, from the ***** side of drinking
Hello, just what had you been thinking
Had enough, of this desperate kind of torture
Time to change, to a newer type of nature

A new you well that’s what you’re thinking
Giving up on highs and the ugly side of sinking
A road of new signs, travel now to somewhere
That new name, taken out of fresh air
Let’s build this man, another to mix with the yes I cans
Married with that job, no different from you and me man

You’re a desperate case of loving if that’s what you want
Anywhere will do if you drink from that font

Hello, from the ***** side of drinking
Hello, just what had you been thinking
Had enough, of this desperate kind of torture
Time to change, to a newer type of nature

So, this is me, fresh new eyes to a world of cynicism
The choices I once now made open to your scepticism
Times move on so let’s forget the mistakes I made
I was young and open to most things I’m afraid
There’s no next time so lets just try it now
You’re along time dead, just give it all a go
Its goodbye from me as I take my final bow,
Easy tiger.

JJB

Jan 2018 · 193

The Fall-Back Option

John Bartholomew Jan 2018

The Fall-Back Option

Happy as Larry who ever he once was with the partner of your dreams
Full of life and to tell the world were so joyous and as bright as two fresh sunbeams
But it’s there
It will always be there
That fall-back option
With the one that could always and might just hurt her
Simmering away, popping up in random thought, always on the back burner

The split, you saw it coming, how could this heaven just carry on
That roaming eye, always on the prowl, who do you think you are, the Fonz (eh)
But you cared
You always cared
For that one that got away
Another path for you to walk down, give her a ring, what’s the worst that she could say?

A tragedy now unfolds, how could this of happened, a date of lost proportions
Hanging on for that lost soul, it didn’t go well, best tread with foreseen caution
I have been such a fool
Breaking that unwritten rule
Love has its borders of which he did not see
Lets set sail again, a new love to find on these choppy waters of loves iniquities

JJB

#love #rules #foolishness

Dec 2017 · 241

One

John Bartholomew Dec 2017

One

We all came from the same source
Be it the sea, the sky or falling with the rain
All developing on the same course
Growing where nature always finds its way

Whether you’re white, black or a different taint from the sun
Why can’t we just live in peace and all be as one
The wars we fight get us nowhere in life
As when were we told that battles and scars were for the right

From boys and girls onto men and the older woman
Living life has its ups and downs as this has already been proven
The easy ride is made up in movies and dreams
At some point we all lose our heads and run out of steam

Even the son of creation had his own backstabber
Your one of the boys until something comes along better
Sway to the left on this good path we now stroll
Judas so be it, many more good souls to enrol

So, who do we trust from this pool of now millions
Your own father and son, the choice can be minimal
Even your family can have its own non-dependencies
It’s a hard slog this life when we all have our emergencies

If the one is really is out there, and you feel you have found
Then keep them wrapped up, close to your side but not too tightly bound
We all need our freedom but not to stray that far
The universe is a mighty big place, keep them safe, treat them with love and make sure you hold onto that star

JJB

#love #dreaming #life #star

Dec 2017 · 290

Overkill

John Bartholomew Dec 2017

Overkill

Do it again, do it again, just for the make sure of it
Twist it twice and make it right just for the hell of it
A job twice done is a mindset for the best
Lets just call it overkill
All our minds at rest

Overbake it for the shear defiance of it
I know what’s best even if you don’t believe me for it
A job twice done is a mindset for the best
Let’s just call it overkill
Never to be put to the test

Adding the cuts to the film ever though its finished
Leave them to the floor and best left banished
A job twice done is a mindset for the best
Let’s just call it overkill
Now torn to pieces by the press

Overkill is for the masters of nothing
If they cannot see what’s not needed,
then on their head be it
Sometimes you must leave what’s supposed to be
Not straining for that extra clip-it

JJB

Nov 2017 · 339

Brexit

John Bartholomew Nov 2017

Brexit

Cast your mind back to 1973
If you wasn't there then you’re in the same boat as me
But Great Britain joined the EEC to make this land a force
So what had we been doing wrong beforehand to lead us on this course

We'd sailed this planet and conquered nations to show them of our pride
The smallest country in the mix of many, no one shoves us to one side
Spaniards tried and failed so bad who else wants to have a go
The Germans twice so anyone else, your dice in the ring, come on and give them a throw

But tactics have changed and evolved with the times, political is our new hurdle
Tony opened the gates and the waves came in, Blair’s fault or now Mrs Merkel?

No matter how you did vote it was a shock to us all that we now set sail on this boat we've named Britannia
29th of March, 2019, we raise anchor and set sail into a gulf of unknown venture

But British spirit much prevail as it always has if it still lingers to blow gust in these new sails
******* towards Brussels, out on our own, with this we cannot fail

We’ve done it before and we can do it again it just depends who might follow
Only time will tell if it was the choice to make or may have to beg steal and borrow

JJB

Nov 2017 · 453

An Every Man.

John Bartholomew Nov 2017

An Every Man.

A reason to love me
you need a reason to love me
Come and speak and I'll show you the hard way
What jumps out of my mouth never meant to be offensive
Something to say, bring it on, the fence is somewhere I'll never sit
A reason to love me
you need a reason to love me
The face department never screamed I'm a looker
A line of flattery, absurd over indulgence, yeah that should hook her
Just don’t expect to much as like most I’m part failure
A reason to love me
you need a reason to love me
having goals that will probably never be reached
I’m just like him, run of the mill
I know what I know and that you cannot teach
A reason to love me
you need a reason to love me
always dreaming of a better tomorrow
a charmed life if you just beg steal and borrow
I’ll climb so high but not up Kilimanjaro
A reason to love me
you need a reason to love me
I’m not driving around in a brand new Audi A6
if you want a city boy then he’ll do the trick
I’m happy where I am out here in the sticks
A reason to love me
you need a reason to love me
well you’ve seen what I’ve got and that’s me to a tee
never fighting to hard so sod it
what will be will be
A reason to leave me
you need a reason to leave me
a summing up of a life just every day and ordinary
what was you expecting, Clark Kent or some other story
sorry my love, that’s just me, an every man, subtle and slightly boring

JJB

Nov 2017 · 233

The Power

John Bartholomew Nov 2017

The Power

We live our lives always needing more power
Changing our lives to a different set of items that need just another hour
My iphone
My Samsung
My office presentation
Shown to all that will listen by that software
Which its point is its power
Power
Power
Power

Did we always need this consumption that drains us on a daily basis
Stocking up on rations in war while the legions try to invade us
Its food
Its water
Its what we need to survive
Look at what we've become when we just need to thrive, yes
Power
Power
Power

Lets go to war and make our country stronger
New lands to ravage for historians to wonder why and ponder
Its harvesting
Its farming
Its boundaries and new borders
But to rule the world would be a sin, yes
Power
Power
Power

Comes in all shapes and sizes this lust we all now need
Human instinct now put to rest
So long as we have good broadband speed
Its tablets
Its laptops
Its the fear of it just dropping dead
As long as its on charge close to hand beside our bed, yes
Power
Power
Power

We all need that bit more power

JJB

Nov 2017 · 184

The User

John Bartholomew Nov 2017

The User

They will come in all colours with different sized feet
From the girl in the chip shop to the Bobby on the beat
Useful for something they could not quite reach
They'll use what they can whilst draining you like a leech

They come in all shapes and sexes
Hence the majority will be your one time exes
Grateful at the time for the experience bold and new
Now left on the pile just simmering away with the plenty and the few

They ring you when its something you never really expected
A coffee in the park
A chat on the past
And then boom
A cash loan in their pocket
You'll soon get it back with a slap on the back
Followed by a cheque that will never clear

They know their intentions but its never once mentioned
This pain they cause to us all
If its not money then its friendship
This false sense of kinship
That fools us and hurts when it falls

The user is a coward
Desperate to climb that tower
That you built whilst they weren't watching

The user is a prey
Conniving everyday
Just watch where your next step may take you

The User

JJB

Apr 2017 · 337

A Social Need to Bore

John Bartholomew Apr 2017

A Social Need to Bore

Don't talk to me about losing weight, how many kids you've got and what you've just ate.
Don't bombard me with your love for a man, the love that you can and that love that you've just banned.
Try and dazzle me with a new rhetoric, a thousand pics of your new pet and tell us all it's been worth it.
A couple of words can mean so much more than a shopping list of hate that can be such a bore.
So let's go for a drink, reminisce, top it up until we both both regret that dumb kiss.
Waking up, a blur of regrets but it's what we both wanted at the time.
Sitting on the tube, how far to go now, wondering if they've posted anything online.
But hey, we're a long time dead, and life's a short time to waste
You've tried the main meal, you skipped the dessert but life has it's other things to taste.
I've done it myself, a few things to tell, like jam I just bought, Fortnum and Mason to make it a boast
It tasted supreme, champagne in mix, the only way to eat your morning toast.
And after a while, it just drags us all down, time to find another site to spread my boring social litter
MySpace has gone, and LinkedIn's just work, time to join that place they all call Twitter.

JJB

Jan 2017 · 217

Loveless

John Bartholomew Jan 2017

Loveless

It's been to long
it's been and gone
this love that we once had

A loveless hug
An emotionless drug
That now makes me so sad

It starts off huge
This heartbeat move
Now faded in the past

Life twists and turns
The heart it yearns
For new hope in the sun now rising

Move on move out
This time is now
New love on the near horizon.

J.J.Bartholomew

Oct 2015 · 854

Just John

John Bartholomew Oct 2015

Just John

Was he a disciple or just a friend of Jesus
So many to choose from it carries on through the ages
Whether you hail from the sunny realms of Brazil as Juan
Or lead your life on the bus tops of Paris, showboating to the tourists as Jean
you are always just John

Did you see that goal on Sunday in Barnsley from Pedro
crossed in on a sixpence by that guy on loan from Bristol
Parading as the next man to steal the footballing thrown from Beckham
Just a council house kid from the block down in Peckham
again, just John

Kissing the Blarney stone an excuse for his gob
the banter the laughter hiding the rile in his job
that day in Ireland that Sean always dreams of
going back would be heaven, to find the girl he should have once loved
again, just John

The shores of Naples looking out over the sea
Ischia, Procida, Capri, the place he’d rather be
behind lays dormant, Vesuvius once angry
Pompeii, Herculaneum destroyed in its fury
now time to spread his net and look for new shores
only Gino knows it’s time to open new doors
again, just John

No matter where you are from
there is somebody like you just struggling along
troubles brew in every corner of this planet
don’t think it’s just you who really cannot stand it
again, just John

Difficulty is rife no matter where you seem to look
your boss is a grievance and you wish them long gone
but it’s not just you, it’s you and every other John
so I’ll say it again without a look in the mirror
I know your stress my friend because I am that man
yes that is me
I am just John

— The End —