The beer glass empty
Time to leave
My arm  slipped gently
Around your sleeve

The day remained the same
Nothing did we say
Just walked to the station
The usual way.


Love Mary

We part but meet daily
In everything that moves
The caterpillar and the cranefly
The fairies with dainty shoes

So what I laid out for you
In times of greatest best
Will always be before
As you get redressed

Don't look in the mirror
You will not find me there
But in the books I've chosen
And plant pots here and there


I sleep with the dollies
The ones from long ago
And all those you gave me
With your love to show.


To My lovely family
Love Mary ***

I just wanted a friend
To be there at the end
Someone kind and thoughtful
Who knew how to spend
Those last precious hours
Holding my hand
Showing me that
They loved me
Please understand
I just wanted a friend.

Love Mary xxxx

People just fooling around
With others minds
Bending what was standing straight
Crushing crooked the uncluttered
Web of simplicity until one is blind
Please in this desperate hour
Open the windows of awareness
Where the Spring bulbs flower.

Love Mary

Wisdom is not born but grows
Harboured under great uncertainty
Found from a struggled life
Known at the end as beauty
The integrity of the soul’s
Last journey.

Love Mary ***

“Play it like music”,  James said.
Slamming himself into an armchair
The boy took another ride with despair,
“He criticises everything”.
I cuddled him with my words
“It was very expressively played
I like it that way”.

All the years he had tried to please
Fitting in with people’s demands
Braving himself.
He admired his stepdad
Accepted and understood
Affection was not easily shown
By those damaged themselves.

His mother found a lover to hold her
The boy laughed thinking life a joke
Respect faded.
At least James he thought clever
A strategists, of sorts.
Peter was so loving to be flimsy
Like the soft cloth on the door.


Love Grandma xxxxx

I struggle to pull the bed covers
In this little room of walls
Surrounded by images
That touch my soul
And days and hours
And folds.


Its been coming a long time
The whispering in the dark
The jackal on the road
The night shadow
And the lark
Singing.

Love Mary ***

On the seat my legs would swing
letting a shimmer of party dress,
Under light coat, catch the light
Of the humid Summer sunset.

Outings rare as we waited the
Twitch of electricity, flashing,
And the train rolling into view
Coming around a sharp bend.

Lifting possessions we boarded
Finding a seat near the window
Watching the sodium lights
Turn orange in the darkening.

Watford to Euston in twenty minutes
Only one stop at Harrow and Wealdstone.
We disembarked through ticket barriers
And up the sloping tiled floor to Euston.

Love Mary x

In Summer when the dew lays down
And fragrance sears the sky on high
We walk where yellow cowslips dine
And we go so slow.

Love Mary **

When life was simpler
Than today
We lived it in
A different way
When visiting a friend
Or someone new
Always took a posy too.

Mother would, kindly, ask
If I minded doing a task
Gathering flowers
with perfumed scent
Trailing ferns to decorate
Make a bundle of delight
As a token
Of friendship's sight.

Into our garden
I did went
With my scissors
Slightly bent
Chose from all
the pretty plants
A stem or two
From every branch
A bouquet of delicate blooms
On this sunny afternoon
Bound them up with silvered foil
A ribbon tied into a coil.

Showed my Mum
The lovely bunch
Kissed me with
A tender touch
Found a vase
To rest them in
Until the time to begin
Dressed in best
Coat and frock
With Mother ready
We did knock
What a joy it was for me
A happy face to see.

Never forget that simple life
When giving posies
Was so nice .

Love Mary xxxx

Cranberry and Sickert.

Cranberry the caterpillar and Sickert the snail,
Went for an adventure in the woodlands one day,
It was early Summer and the leaves bright green,
The trees swaying, gently, in the light , warm breeze.
When out of nowhere they saw a girl
Blonde as sunshine ,with clips in her hair,
They stopped to ask the girl her name
And very quietly she did explain,
I am Evelyn from fox-moor  way and here is my sister with whom I play.

They all gathered sticks and built a house,
It took a long time , they did not rush.
And then there was time for tea, and juicy leaves for Cranberry,
Evelyn told them all her news, her days at playgroup and the zoo.
At six o'clock it was time to go , journey backwards to find their homes.
It had been a special day, to find Evelyn and Florence in the woods that way.

Love Grandma Mary ***

The sea quarrels with its maker
Twisting and turning
Hunching heaps of gravel
Onto the dry sand.

Life fights out its dignities
***** and hand
Leaving trembling
What was given and planned.

Love Mary

Follow me dear poets all your days
Take me with you to a land of secrets
The worlds' where you do play.
I know you friends by your words
The poems that you choose
By the names that you call yourselves
The photos unused.

Love Mary **

Ballooons bouncing between the stars
Little ladybirds lighting the Lily path
Whirligigs whizzing near an open door
Aconites in ascension this Winter hour.

Love Mary ***

The garden leading to her Edwardian house
Came swiftly off the main road
The front path straight and lengthy
With bobble brick edging in grey stone.

Roses gathered irregularly along the borders
And a privet hedge lined the perimeter
Needing lots of attention in the Summer months
A few small trees and bushes broke up the space.

Every year I would visit my mother's sister ,Betty
Very different from my mother in outlook
As the front door opened the aroma of sweetness
Gathered from the year's cooking apple crop.

And so it would be a weekend of difference
Spread out as the art books lining the walls
A collection of shells, labelled with dates and places
Displayed on a trolley and covered with cellophane,
An old piano,  Boosey and Hawks, on a side wall
And record cabinets containing her favourite music
Everything had its place, still, motionless, peaceful.

She opens her tin
And in liliaceous
Paints rain drops
Big drops, small
Drops and splashes.

A background of
Pale grey washes
Allows the drops
Of rain to settle
Creating spaces.

Then in come the
Animal people
With curly hair
And bright hats
To keep off the rain.

It is fun to paint
Getting into worlds
You don’t know
And play and dance
While it rains outside.


Love Mary *** Grandma x

On the back of a green sleeve
We tackled the holes
Mum and me
He came to the door just as before
But nothing changed
Exception remained
I felt the impossibility.

Love mary

I told you yes when I meant no
I told you a lie about caring so
I told my dad I was shy
That you unkind
I began to cry.

He met the boy
And told him why
I did not turn up
He told a lie
Now is time to tell the truth
I'm sorry
I misunderstood
What was right
And what was strong
Not to tag you along.

You had one bad eye
And I was scared
I was uncomfortable
I am aware
So please forgive
It was me was blind
Sorry that I was so unkind.

Love Mary

I suppose parties could be fun
Dressed up all prettily by Mum
Present in hand here we stand
On the front step
Like in the Ladybird book.

The door opens into Jane’s world
Hand over your coat to someone.
Down the linoleum hallway,
Into the front room of delights
Dropped handkerchief on floor.

Two cut - out books for party girl
She’s opening my sparkly cat card
The one with a feather and pearls
The paper piles up on a chair
Susan’s mother announces tea.

And so they cluster frilly spinning dancers
Across the Autumn stage
Yellow centred bodices
The lilac, white and cerise petals
Of Michaelmas Daisy remembered
Each year flowering for us always.

Love Mary x

Those rugs were your years
In patterns and shapes
Majestic remnants of
Outer wear cut and woven
To make rugs to keep
Us all warm.

Love Mary

From' Twopence to Cross the Mersey' we became friends
Finding in each other's soul a companion
And so we trudged, together, pushing the unwieldy pram
Along the streets of Liverpool where the river swam.

Structure, meaning, characterisation, the book had its plan
But we loved dear Helen, little waif from another span.
The waters had their beauty that we could see,
Finding yet another  moment to share a read.



Love Mum ***

Thank you dear Vics for all the good times we had.

I found you on a train
Sitting opposite me
Face to face we were
So you could see me.

I had my best coat on
Leather M@S brown
Things in the pockets
Buttons to turn around.

When we got off
The sun was in the sky
Went to see the Alabasters
They were a surprise.

Love Mary **

The grass yellow topped wet winter
Separates forming trodden pathway
Between overhanging bare branches
A child might squeeze cautious now
The damp clings like crystal pearls
Through we peep.

Love Mary ***

The wind it blows, cold.
Or southerly lightly with warmth
That comforts the soul
Fixes clothes to knees and teases
Those holiday boys or dreamers
Marilyn did it best on skyscraper
In black and white we sigh
How lovely a sight
We all can admire.

Then in far off lands
The wind it tumbles things
Pulling down mountains
Fracturing streams
It hinders the finding of people
Its  brutality knows no ends.

The quiet wind I love the best
That whispers round corners
Sways the washing on the line
Filling pots with seeds
And rocks the cradle in the tree
Until the baby sleeps.

Love Mary x

I was your bridesmaid but don't know you now
In orange satin gown with circles that went round
I stood near your side in your white wedding dress
But I never knew you in that church where flowers rest.

Though only a child in lace edged gloves
Carrying a white bible given with love
And wearing the crucifix a gift with shoes
I stood and waited for the lady I never knew.


I still have one glove made of lace
And the leather bible in its plastic case
But I never knew you and soon I'll be gone
Thank you for letting me share your song.

The garden sweet
But the indoor roses
Will not keep
Not for times
Ever wanting chime
To linger longer
But do not weep.

Love Mary **

He collects his bag
Catches the bus
Returning with two items
From town centre.

Tomorrow; gardener,
Lady sort.
First gardener in fifty years
Mowing grass, bush cutting.

He wonders how far
He has come after that call
Stating changes
The dust settles slowly.

Love Mary xxxx

‘I am an ideas babe’
That’s what my granddaughter said
She is just five.

Love Grandma xxxxx

How beautiful the hours between
You and me when our histories talk
Now you flourish in your evening
And I find the country girl cutivating
The fields of youth’s treasured times.

Love Mary xxxx

Daddy got ill whilst making a cake
An Easter cake for Easter Day
He bent his tummy and said ouch
And to the hospital had to go.

His family was very worried
To see sick daddy in pain
His appendix had to come out
Outside it began to rain.o,

At ten o’clock they wheeled him down
To pop out his grisly tummy bone
Sewn back together neat and bright
He was soon to be driven home.

For days his poor throat was ever so sore
He could hardly talk
All swollen down the Ulvula
Could not but mutter a word.

Evelyn said she would take great care
Of her daddy whilst he was sick
Gradually his throat got better
And he began to talk and do tricks.

Love Grandma, Mum.

They give you this
To hide
The pain
That hacks the brain.

And all the blame
Of man disdained,
Dismounted.

The blight on the rose
Hesitated, grey dust
Mildewed, mated.

The cabinet makers’
Opened the latch
Threw the petals in.

Love Mary **

That late hour after school
When all is mellow and gentle
The quiet light licks the sides of things
Making pale shadows as we begin.
Unroll the mackintosh and onto
The ground put out our frugal
Tea that we may eat after
Climbing the trees.

For these times are long past
But to see all the leaves
And stones in the dry earth
And feel that warmth of you
Our mum and the courage
She had. For that walk
Was not an easy trek when tired
And your eyes only wanting
A sigh as we both played
It was such as is given
By a poor man.


Love Mary





Love Mary x

Trembling I lift the curtain
To let in the morning lightly
Time has taken away its beauty
Falsing the temperature down
And I cannot stem the flowing.

I’d found culture in my youth
Explosively exciting ,excruciating
In its weapons of desiring dressage
But now the limpets cling to a soul
Holding high the corsets of a cage.

love Mary

The coppice was full of bird songs
And daffodils so fair
But I can no longer see them
For my eyes are dim with dispair.

Could not reach the truth
It was taken without heart
Lies broken somewhere
Stuck in a conjuror’s throat.

Mary ***

Here I stand in the row
Waiting to get my prize
The needlework certificate
I choose a chess set
Not to play chess
But because I liked
Shapes .

They would be my family
Mum and dad ,
Prefects at school
Brothers and sisters
An unusual menagerie
Of souls
On a black and white board.


Love Mary x

Today lent itself to lending
Borrowed number
One hundred and four
The care carrying gardener.

Now the Robbina is robbed
Of half its branches
The grass a carpet
Of strewn lances.

And Rosalind
The pretty repaint
Sits on the shelf
And smiles.

Love Mary **

Stop it sister keep bending your toes
They will be all crooked don’t you know
Where are you shoes, silver like mine?
And pink socks with bows at the top
Stop it sister keep bending your toes.

Love big sister .
Xxxxx

Beautiful black girls
With their fuzzie hair
Arms in abundance
Rich golden words
Oh how they give
Speaking of mandkind
Let me dance with you
Our knees pat and beat
Fingers tough together
Then the music speaks.

Never found you in the daybreak
As it splintered, separating sparks
I stayed, waving at the end
With nothing to give but
The cold Winter heart.

For all the days I lived with you
In our house under tiled roof
And leaded light windows
Making oblong shapes move
I so very much loved you.

Mary xxxx

Poor little lies
Why do you start
Getting in the way
Of truth’s beauty
Sitting in people’s mouths
Sticking to teeth
Eating away at freedoms
You are loved irresponsible
And used increasingly
Breaking trust
Destroying integrity
Poor little lies
Can’t always hide.

Love Mary x

If I was to wear a bikini
Red and orange it would be
With elastic underneath my chest
And below my waist certainly.

I’d pretend the settee was a diving board
And the armchair a ship on the seas
And travel up and down the stairs
With my long seaweed coloured hair.

Love to Constance from Grandma

Xxxxx

The morning lay hazy in the blue
A fantasy of candy floss mists and dew
The trees on either side of the road
Water colour Cotman patches of ochre
Dabs gently mixing
Caressing the unclothed hedges
Where berries formed
And what we shared
Eloped the earth.

Love Mary ***

Take the meadow walk
Where briar and roses meet
And blackberries travel
And little children’s feet.

Where the ground is dappled
And the sky is bare
Letting bits of sunlight
In, here and there.

Love Mary ***

My last try to tell you
Far out I touch your hair
The greyness bleeds into mine
Long fingers dance the computer
How can you know
As you sit I wonder
Thinking your game
How can I tell you
I am sorry that I have to
Go.

My love nestles your neck
Your forehead my table
Under each ear our lives
I am sorry
How can I tell you
Goodbye.

Love  Mary ***

If I ever stood at the bottom
I got no answers
If I went to the highest
I got no answers
I met  with cruelty,
Indifference,
The dregs of human reasoning
Spread out on a conference table
To be dissected,
So the verdict
Went to the powerful
And the frail
Dropped in a ditch
To be washed by ***** rain.

Love Mary x

The cave paintings show us
Art and imagination
Are essential to our being to our health.
To our ability to empathise with others
To be able to show joy in the world around us.
Without our imagination being used we
Create a world of violence , inhumanity
And cruelty.
Just the way it is going today .
Bring back art in schools
For the freedom of our people.

Love Mary ***

Thank you Anthony Gormley
For your programme .

Love Mary ***

Somewhere out in the countryside
Two roses are waiting to bloom
To put out their green leaves
On bright new stems.

Later as Summer warms flower heads
Sumptuous colour will spread and spread
And make a scented spectacle
Better by far they have their hour.

Love Mary ***

The Wild Swans at Coole.
BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All's changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake's edge or pool
Delight men's eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?

Holding the Summer you would play
In the close like a horseshoe
Where garden gates met
And a garage stood beside a hedge.
After four when school had closed
There you all gathered in this close.


Love Mary