I wear my mother’s face like she did hers and she did hers and she did
Pass it to her daughters with the hope that they would carry it with pride,
With the knowledge that a thousand women breathed and lived and died
To give their children half a chance for something more than
Lives of nursing cleaning raising children
That would grow to do the same—
More than another round of the everlasting game
That chooses only newborn players with soft skin and open eyes,
That only ends when all is lost and the final player dies,
The game that steals our bodies, shears our hair, dyes our skin,
That steals away our pride so that some lesser man might win.

If I were in pieces Could I grab the phone
and give you a call?
Would you wipe away my tears or care about me at all?
Would you hear my pain if someone dragged a blade across my heart?
Would you stick my pieces together before I fall apart?
Would you for no reason hold my hand and say it'll be okay?
Is it too much ask? Would you like strangers to just stay away?
I don't know you at all but I wish you picked up the phone and said hi.
I've been with too many people who called only to say goodbye.
Sometimes I read this from the dying passion in their eyes
Sometimes from the awkward silence and often from their lies.
Will you sit through my grief long enough that it turns into a smile?
Will you, Will you for once tell me I am strong even though I'm fragile.
I'm in the telephone box now dialing random numbers on an imaginary list
praying in my heart someone like you can still exist.

You say that all poetry is gobbledygook:
That Art's a waste of time
Elvis was just a Showman
And Freddie Mercury…
(Yes the same first name as you!)
…I’d better not say.

Where is your soul, Philistine Fred?
So many like you around.
Your mind cluttered with clinical facts,
Everything measured
And boxed –
Fastidious and precise.
Emotion killed
By setsquares
Set by Pythagoras
On a geometrical day.

You hate historical dramas
And all things learned.
Admitting any Education
Loses any street cred earned.
Yet you watch hours and hours
Of soaps.

You love supporting football teams
From places you’ve never been near.
But at least you like your pubs
For a lovely pint of beer.

I guess I’ll have to keep trying
To get through to you and your kind.
Yet I know some things ain’t possible
And you may never change your mind.

But yes I’ll keep on trying:
Keep banging out my poems –
Knowing that my pockets
Will never be lined with coins.

I know that you won’t read this,
But I will carry on.
For there are people out there
Who will listen to my song.

Paul Butters

© PB 3\7\2020.

I told you so!
It must have been a blow
When she let you go.

I said from the start
She was a wicked ****
With an icy heart.

When will we learn?
Please don’t think I’m stern:
She should go to hell and burn.

It’s time to move on,
Sing a different song
Onto pastures new -
You know
What you have to do.

Right now you feel broken –
You know I ain’t joking.
Time will heal,
No matter how bad you feel.

Be more careful next time,
Don’t be the victim of crime.
Sure, you must risk being hurt
Before you can wear the shirt
Of someone loved so true
Just for being you.

Yes, I told you so,
But now you have to let go
And continue the show.

But please listen next time
We see any bad sign
And all should be fine.

Never give up –
You can drink from that cup.
She’s out there for you
And you know what to do.
Just do it.
As though you never blew it.
Rise as high as you can,
There’s a good man.

Paul Butters

© PB 10\6\2020.

I can come inspire you
Become your idol
Like I have a mansion
Built on the Bridle

I have to make a move
Come and take you down
I wanna make a movie
And sing like Chris Brown

I wanna make you work for it
So I’m putting in resistance
I’m tryna go half’s on a baby
Bring another life to existence

I just watch you undress
Spend my time fantasising
Sweat drip down your spine
The temperatures rising

Skeggy Lee, Skeggy Lee,
Oh what, oh, you do to me
My Skeggy
My Skeggy Lee hee-hee.
Well, I love that place
And that’s why I love you.

Skeggy Sea, Skeggy Sea
Sandy, sandy, sandy, sandy Skeggy (by the) Sea
Oh Skeggy, my Skeggy free
Oh well I love that place
So I need you Skeggy Lee.

I love you, Skeggy Lee
With a love so rare and true
Oh, Skeggy, Skeggy Lee
Well, I love you so
And I really do mean you.

Yes I love you so
And I want you Skeggy Lee.

Paul Butters

© PB 7\6\2020 (2).

(With due Credit to Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue”).

There’s a stone in my mouth, my tongue is bound
To a fate I can never understand.
Words fall short like sand in my hands,
Timeless consequence, can you forgive me now?

Pain suffers silence and silence does not commend,
The uttering of plosives from the kindness of friends,
No sound will emerge from the pulsing of my heart,
Only the stillness of this poisoned dart.

The subsiding of my sorrow is not yet nigh,
Forgive me, please, and spare me more time,
To return to you coated in colour and gold,
I pledge I shall not let our hearts turn cold.

All I must do to remember you, and all goodness here,
Is witness the stars in the cold night air and shed a single tear,
For I am small, and the world is boundless, blind and grave,
All there is left to do, is breathe and live,
and tomorrow I can begin again.

When I'm in a bad mood
I'm not a poetic dude –
All I can be is rude.

But when I’m in a Good mood
Those blues get ******* –
And I might even get lewd.

For when I feel good
I walk into the wood
Where my dreams are stood.

I love to bring joy
That will never cloy
Oh boy.

I have the vision
No indecision
Or derision.

See all that beauty,
This might get fruity –
Quite a *****.

But now I must go,
It’s the end of this show,
Cue Cupid’s bow.

Paul Butters

© PB 7\6\2020.

Looking at you, ten minutes or more
As you did look, let out vacant stares.
I tried not much, just stood my ground
In such intricacies, love; I disappeared
How elegant you seem, without trying
Too much; the red in lips, awestruck !
The hair in a bun, in an all perfect black
Apparition of your being, it is flawless.
Dear, I am smitten in such hues you don
The reds and blacks and whites and on,
The due in dots, and cells eloping out.
Imagery adding _ layers to your form
Who then, be, creator to your frame ?
A bold tryst in stolid magnificence !
Who then, birthed such countenance,
In contemplation, I just wither away.
For a moment now, for a moment till
Let me just bask, let my soul fill
And in beauty, won't it, I consume.
Refuel my heart, for the dry dunes.
Let me just stare, as you do stare
In art that brings you, alive today.
Let me just stand, deep in thought
And offer you a thoughtful bouquet.

Did I say what they said I said
Some I said, not all
If I said the things I'd said
I'd have no time to play ball

I said some things I think I said
Some things came right from me
Some things I said, I wished I said
But those things, let them be

I said some things I said I saw
Some say I didn't say
Some things I saw, I didn't see
I just looked the other way

Some things I said I didn't say
I know, because it's true
I said some things I said I saw
The choice is up to you

There's things I said, that people like
Those things, I know I spoke
The other things I didn't say
Were just written as a joke

If I said the things I said
And you like them, say them too
But the things they said, I didn't say
Some are old, but most are new

I know I didn't say as much
As people said I said
There's more from me, I didn't say
At least that's what I've read

So, sue me if I say I say
Some things I said, but heard
I know it wasn't me that said
I don't know all those words

So, if I said the things I said
Instead of going out to play
I ask you now, to tell me please
Exactly, What'd I say