I filled  my basket with flowers
And four baby eggs
A son and three daughters
Under a checkered spread.

We never went to market
For that not meant to be
But cuddled up together
With buttered bread for tea.


Love Mummy.

PAINTING PICTURES.

I spent my last day
Looking at pictures
Paintings of a friend
We tried to decide
What was finished
And found it hard in the end.

How long does one continue
When a subjects found
Does one plod on regardless
Or learn to live underground.

Love to Ian for his friendship from Mary ***

There is nothing left the child said
Opening up the heaviest cake tin.
There is nothing left in father’s pocket
And no sweets in the tall glass jar.
I have no clothes for the Winter and
And my special thoughts have died
It is the end of the month so let’s try.


Love Grandma Mary xxxx

Bleached heat, the sun hot
Tarmacadam melted up
The playground equipment
Too warm for little bottoms


Children climbed the wood
Inside were imaginary cats
Daddy stayed outside watching
The crisp grass blew in the wind.


Love Mary
For Evelyn ,Alex and Florence **

Temporal Fugue  :)
Down to the mill
stone to stone to grind
as chaff removed from harvest
the wisdom of better times.


Thank you Mary ***

Redoing the stitches
Did not mend the wound.

Love Mary x

Everyday you took the seeds
Down our garden to feed the birds
Waiting in clusters in the trees
for the beginning of their need
The doves and the pigeons
Sparrows and magpies
Waiting for you the walk
Down our garden side.

To my Roger love his Mary **

Hand in back of my dress
We wandered over the forest
The grass dried and sandy
The evening slowly
Terminating the sun
A yellow globe above the flats.
I thought of home alone
No telephone
And Ovaltine mixed with your love
Your smell of tobacco and *****
And oh those first *******
Taking me out of myself
With desire.


Love Mary **

The lantern tree at ballyroberts
Held out branches of pink gems.


Love Mary **

On being three.

The baby Elephants and the Kangaroo,
Said to Evelyn "what can we do,
How about a game of cards,
Or racing cars in the backyard?"
"No" she said "that's not for me,
I'd rather climb the old oak tree."
So off she went right to the top,
Looked down at all the lollipops,
Down she came foot by foot,
Stood on the ground and took a look,
Saw how very high she'd climbed,
Said "Now I can write this little rhyme."

Love Grandma
Happy Birthday

And wisdom went with her frozen
In glass like snow white's coffin
And what was known singed ash
As petals amongst futility's cry


Mary **

When I was three I played with worms
They simply were my friends
I watched them building worm casts
And knock them down.

Love Mary **

Late in the 60s
It became all the rage
For women to wear dresses
Without any cage
Take a bit of material
Cut a hole for the neck
Sew up the side seams
You'll quickly get the nack
Put in a zipper
Long as can afford
Finish with a gold belt
How could one want more.
Everyone looked pretty
Whatever shape or size
Hid all the bumpy bits
Producing a sillth like bride
The young looked gorgeous
Even without a chest
Did not need to bother
With a bra or a vest
Nothing was as simple
As the tricel shift dress.
Never creased or wrinkled
Always looked its best
Now they are vintage
Collected by a few
Twiggy must still have some
To put on view.

Love Mary

Wife : ‘I have a serious inflammatory condition’.
Husband:  ‘I think you want to stop bullying people,
It gets on their nerves’.

Love Mary **

How are the Lego kids,
With their boxes and their lids,
Shifting colours ,choosing frames,
Making vehicles ,City games,
Evelyn likes to see,
Watching as the plot reveals,
A sailing ship ,a caravan,
With her fingers says, 'I Can';
On the bed next to Dad
A spaceship glides past her head,
Then Mum brings in a big surprise,
French it is and two feet high.
So much fun to be had,
Playing with your Mum and Dad .

Love Grandma !Mum ,xxxx

Woolley Bear did not like computers
For every time he put one on
He forgot what he had to do.

Love Mary

I got through another Winter
It being not too cold
I wrapped myself in blankets
Gave my room a rosy glow.

Then the Hollyhocks came
Tall and straight and bright
Waving in front of the window,
What a complete delight.

Managed to see the Azaleas
With their very tangerine buds,
The red rose climbs the Plum tree
What wonders do we have.

I got through another Winter.

Love Mary **

In trying not to hate
I determined my fate
For people knew
I was kind and true
But they did abuse
The few.

And the wind
Will tell the birds,
The birds the bees,
The bees the flowers,
The flowers the people
Who carry the flowers
When I die because of
Lies.

Love Mary x

Somewhere in my mind,
Was something to be found,
Not on the surface,
No digging would surround.
It came out of nowhere,
As I passed the glass,
Peering at a turquoise stone,
A golden broach it did enhance;
It was my mother's moonstone,
A family heirloom,
Embellished with gold filigree,
And attached by a chain.
The Islamic pendant,
On display at the museum,
Sent me backwards on a journey,
To discover you it seemed.

On the way home I thought of Proust,
Tasting the Madeline, tea soaked,
The pleasure it did give me,
To remember times past,
And the fingers of Mother's hand,
Gently do up the clasp.

Love Mary **

The Millitary road was long and narrow
Hugging the contours of the cliff face
As braiding on a dress,
He teased me
Dancing the children in a line
Along the slim path
Edging  the fallen away grassland.
Dotted every hundred yards or so
Wire cages
Announced memorial sites
For the fallen.
The waves echoed a deathly hush
Crushing against broken boulders
A hundred yards below;
Eventually the path terminated
Running into turf,
The children took up my hands
Again
And the day proceeded as normal.

Love Mary

For all those who like danger.

I pick my friends because they don't need me
For like the flower and bee
It is a passing arrangement .
Not tainted by a smothering gasp
If unavailable.
Never wanted to be hugged
Other than by words
Beautifully written in letters
I am a contradiction.
Gregariously plain.

The passageway joins here and there
It combines today with yesterday
In a sequence of time
Changing forever the future
Letting in light and warmth
A union of sorts without speech
Walked quietly both ways
Frequently and without thought
But now stopping in the middle
Opening an uncertain promise
Where a dream could be made.

Love Mary **

I recall a day in Summer
Many years ago
When my life was about handstands
Done in a row
Fingers stretched out
Pressing the ground
My legs went upwards
Splaying about
Dresses floating
Catching the wind
Pigtails all dangling
Needles and pins
Staying steady
Was hard to begin
But eventually mastered
The handstand thing.


Love Mary ***

As her feet left the ground
She found the tree
So positioned that its asymmetrical
Form filled out all her yearnings
For perfection.
Above, as she climbed, casting
A little shadow on the grass below
She thought how much beauty
Had been made by just this one thing
All on its own with only the sun and rain
And changing seasons for company.
It was her tree, it had found her
Lying, in her pram
Its leaves giving protection
To her heart, their movement
Taking away all fear.
Since that time she had returned
And thought of the wonder of
This tree, standing alone,
As she did now on the edge
Of wisdom.


Love Mary ***

Connie was born a lady
She knew what to wear
Opened up her wardrobe
Stood and quietly stared
Loved the frilly dresses
And the ones with butterflies
What she put on
Was always a surprise
In her silver slippers
And slides in her hair
Connie was ready
To go anywhere.

Thought it might be nice
To go out twice
As the day was sunny
She'd go with her Mummy
Up to the shops
To buy some new socks
White fluffy ones
with ducks at the top
Then a pair of shoes
Pink ones will do
Go with her smock
With the lollipop.

Connie was a lady
She played ladies' games
Never catch Connie
Out in the rain
Liked to dress her dollies
In ribbons and lace
Hand knitted dresses
Slipped over the face
Had a row of shoes
So dolly could choose
Turquoise boots
with high heels too.

How I love dear Connie
We have lots to do
Playing with our dollies
And taking them
To the zoo.

Love to Connie from Grandma xxxxx

In the window frame there is room for you and me
The garden always overgrown still a child’s delight
Pushing wheels along uncemented paths of grass
Those blowing clocks filling the sky with your breath
And I watch you, for hours, golden rounded limbs
Moving the air, swirling dresses, petticoats, a dolly
In spotted blue and a new mother growing into
Herself.
I watch silky chestnut hair, float, pulled by the wind
Over red knitted cardigan and an upturned nose in a
Smile as you see me there at the window of love.

Love Mummy xxxx

I always wanted to meet a genius
Being not one myself
But every time I thought I'd found
Was always something unsound
A scratch or scrape in the wrong place
An area unclearly seen
That in the end
My search did end
No genius to be my friend.

Plenty in the times of old
The voice vigorous and bold
Now there is shimmer on the bough
Temptations for an hour
But that quality I do seek
Lies dormant and not complete.

Bewilderment watered in her small hands
The sky filtered its rays through the blinds
Sitting in solicitude sufffereing sunk down
In the days that past it renounced its truth.

Love Mary ***

Stabilise the sinking grass
That gives the hills their shape
Stabilise the hinges
On the old wrought iron gate.

Letting in the way we see
Please stabilise me.

Love Mary x

When I sit and look out to sea
I know I have always been loved.

Love Mary x

The ferry's late, we missed the last,
Running fast,
Now in the harbour, tickets clipped
Cars first, lorries and buses ****,
Passengers climb the rickety gangway
Looking down, into the murky brown,
Bags and suitcases against legs
Children scramble  ahead
Upstairs on the deck
Drinking coke
Smelling the air
Seagulls alight
We are alright
On our way over the Solent sway
The Isle Of Wight is in sight
Delight!


Love Mary x

Let's write a story
Where shall we start
Who will be the characters
What will be their parts?
I like fairies, you like cars
Dragons are plentiful
In these parts.
Get me Galadriel
The beautiful queen
And Aragon so handsome
Maidens just swoon
A couple of hobbits
To sing a merry song
And we'll find an adventure
To go travelling on.

Love Mary ***

What do we do to time.

Who will remember me after I have gone,
Memory changes everything,
With the seasons come and gone,
Lives are full of business,
Few stop and pause,
Finding a special moment,
To cherish and applaud,
But in my garden,
Is my Mother's Hydrangea bush,
Her shoes in my wardrobe,
That sometimes I do kiss.
On the wall is an embroidery,
Done by her dear hands,
And glasses in a case,
That's as near as I can.
Touching the memories,
The hours that we shared,
They are now part of me
Never to be disturbed.

Love Mary **

When I look at a painting
A woman I see
Reflected in the glass
Standing behind me.

Running between downpours
Mackintosh over head and back
Clutched tightly the front
To stop the drips on our chests
Run now, go.
And we left the shelter of a shop doorway
Feeling the rain hit our shoes
Soaked socks
Eyebrows drizzle
We keep going in the storm
Reaching a dry spot under
The leaves of a Sycamore tree
Rest, relax
Sharing chewy nuts.
The road is awash
Dribbling streams criss cross
Meeting in drains
And steam rises from tarmac
Misting the air
Then out comes the sun
The blue sweeps in
Blowing away grey clouds
And we continue our journey
Splashing  
In the now still puddles.



I loved these moments .
Mary ***

Its True


Ay, the pain it costs me

to love you as I love you!

For love of you, the air, it hurts,

and my heart,

and my hat, they hurt me.

Who would buy it from me,

this ribbon I am holding,

and this sadness of cotton,

white, for making handkerchiefs with?

Ay, the pain it costs me

to love you as I love you!

You bring the outside to my bed
In your brightly coloured dress
Hair tied back in a ponytail
You dance about in a grassy field
The sun's gone in but do you care
Dancing around in the clear air
Wonder who you think you'll be
A circus lady home for tea
A fairy with a golden wand
Whoever it is you'll sing your song.

Love Grandma for Delphi x

Evelyn flew over the sea
In an aeroplane above the blue
To a place she never knew
With a plot and his crew.

She went to see her family there
Amongst a land green and fair
To kiss and hug those she loves
Bringing her smile the little dove.

Grandma Janet, Uncle Jim,
If there's time go for a swim
Crawling with Grandpa is such fun
Next year I'll be able to run.

Saw a lighthouse, the crashing waves
Mummy holds me against the sway
Someone takes a photograph
Be back soon it's been a laugh.

Now it's time to go to bed
Fly over the ocean sleepy head
Back to daddy and my toys
I bet he's waiting that naughty boy.


For Alex from Evelyn and Grandma ***

Connie is upside down
Head between her knees
Feet flaying in the air
Two bunches in her hair,
Connie just likes to be
Upside down
Between her knees.

( for all to see) alternative .



Love Grandma ***

Find what you need to sustain you
I can always be their in your heart
My genes have gently infected you
So that can be a fair certain start.

You have all that you need beside you
A family fit for a queen
One that travels the emotions
One that will not let you scream.

Sorry about the wedding, I had always
Hoped to be there, carrying your possessions
And dancing in the night - time air
But the hall will be full so don’t worry.

Love Grandma xxxxx

We are limits lost and found
Created and removed
A moment of magnificient
Beauty on the go.

Love Mary ***

This girl
Came to visit me
As often as could be
First in her mother's arms
Then on buggy wheels;
She played with the dolls' house
Spread out across the floor
What more could a Grandma want
Than a friend to play with the toys.


Love Grandma to Daisy ***

It be happenchance that two personalities find
In one another an asymmetrical mirrored mind
Brought together in space and time, bending
Reality so far that the book of knowledges closes.


No prediction could have guessed such a loving
Couplet, nor devoured a nectar so cunningly sweet.
For at its core, unobtainable without the other, lies
A tale of unimaginable cradling where terror abides.

Love Mary  x

Cruelty is a kind of dismissiveness,
A remembering to forget,
Not to notice or take an interest,
Ignore rather than prepare.

I have met it infrequently,
Thank goodness,
But harsh it is
And sharp as a knife,
Slicing through another's pain
As easy as butter.

Love Mary

To all those who have suffered at the hands of others .

Daggers in the heart
Spiders on the wind
À hopelessness inside
A battle within.

For those unaccustomed to lies
The daily briefings leave one pain
That any government with shame
Could be blatant in unfaithful words.

Love Mary **

We define people by their shape,
How they sit upon a chair
Twist as they turn to go
Open a door
Place one foot before the other
Cross over legs
Slouch or sleep.
These idiosyncratic behaviours
Are the way we fall in love
Remembering an ear or nape of neck.
My mother was a number eight
Softly outlined with loose curls
And a retrousse' nose.
Shape is how I came to Art
Moved by a silhouette
Roundness of heads
The downturned oval
Elongated by position.
Art is shape in love.

Love Mary ***

A watermelon green on shelf
One tomato in isle two
And your hands to fetch
Your legs, a letter in box.

What I give you poor as I am,
A box of meteorites, a magazine,
A kiss on cheek, a hair cut or two
I would, everthing, for love of you .

Love Mary x

The children all stand
At the headmaster's voice
They do not rejoice
What will it be today?
The girls at the back
Tweek and hack
Twist their hair
And stir.
Hymn books go gliding
To the floor
The boy on the left
Gets hoiked out
Made to sit in the front
With the teacher he dislikes
Someone snores
The teachers aren't singing
Cause they have to watch
Whose doing what.
Then the mood changes
The headmaster takes
To the stage
Makes the children laugh
In so many ways
Tells them stories
Of when he was a lad
On his keyboard plays a tune
Lets have a happy afternoon.

In loving memory of my time as a teacher at  Chater Junior School. Also thank you to the the great and inspiring staff and children.
Love Mary ***

Sitting by the window watching the falling snow
Landing on your dustbin and the ground below.
Footsteps up the path look like a wiggly snake
Big ones and small ones and those ***** cats make.


Love Mary ***

Plastic caterpillars
Which came from Japan
All different colours
Can be held in the hand.

Peacock and Cabbage White
All with suckers and feet
Some have horns
Those you can’t beat.

Love Mary ***