There is love
Then there is great love
One may only every know
That there is one kind.



Love Mary **

A little girl sang to me today
Sweetly and with care
She knows everything
About kindness
For that she has been shown.
That love nourishes the world
And is an armour against evil
Dear child stay bright
Displaying a gladness
And truth for ever
Love you Evelyn.

Grandma Mary ***

I simply can't, though,
Through all the words
In this world
Convey what it is to die
To say goodbye.


Love Mary **

The lank winter stretched for days
Along the lanes and on hedge tops
Yet buds appear on new rose stems
Promising leaves for this year now.

If I had a kindling of the loves flame
It would for the ‘Bill Viola’ exhibition,
The mother holding her dead child
Crucified through misunderstanding.

Never let lack of empathy guide you
Or fill a heart weighed down, hurting
For the huntsman finds that cruelty
And wraps it in words of forgiveness.

Love Mary ***

Two builders at my door
Mending the brickwork,
The hardwood board
That’s kindness for sure.

Tenderly I watch them point
With lovingly made cement
A tradesman’s gifted skill
Thank you Charlie and Bill.

Love Mary ***

If I could I would hold you all
Tucked hands into yours
Close eyes together
Finding lashes brush
And where you move
I will stop you
By a loving more
Penetrating and
Unbearably beautiful
Than imagination
Can predict.

Love Mary ,Mum, Grandma ***

The stillness
After the cat had gone
The house seemed empty,
Devoid of soft patter;
Downstairs,
The shaking of biscuits on tin- foil
And the long slow meow
Of a morning yawn.
The warm spot in the garden
Now an obvious space,
Plantless from years of basking.
Only the birds seemed grateful
Peace had returned to their world,
No more feathered grassways
To clear.
We buried you in front of the fir tree,
You were part of eighteen Christmases
Our very dear black and white cat.

Love the kearns family

A lane that connected two extreme differences
One a shabby, littered covered entrance
Where scraps of rope doodled round lampposts
And trolley carts became abandoned aliens
With twirly wheels from mechano sets.
The smell of discarded waste and ash
Made one hurry forth pushing bicycles
Starting the downhill roll leading to Lyles Lane


Covered in a green canopy of trees
The air fleeing past as we gathered speed
Up the steeps and along the flats
Feeling the freedom of escapism
The lane joined the outskirts of the town
With the sublimity of the countryside.
Pedalling on six bicycles.


Love Mary

A fairy in a dress of snow waves to the plastic butterfly,
A six pointed star watches as the painted bird sleeps
And ceramic leaves make circles in the wind.

Mr spaceman , all in red, nods to the dinosaur and says,
" If it weren't for you I'd never have seen the globe of blue",
The boy on the backyard fence cries,
And the Christmas doll lets down her hair
For the very first time.

Love Mary **

I’m going to be a diamond
Encrusted in gold
A piece of costume jewellery
Bought cheaply on the bold
It won’t be worth anything
But to hold a pretty wrap

Life follows this pattern
Dangling treasures in our wake
That afterwards mean nothing
But hold our namesake

A piece of broken glass
Glinting in the sun
The skeleton of a leaf
Unnoticed by some
Many a pretty thing
Lasts longer in our dreams.

Love Mary ***

Float those fingers across my mind
Do not dally in the sad alleyways
For we are always friends
And the dappled Maple
Has been our glade.

Mornings bringing shades of green
Flickering on our window pane
For we are always friends
And the dappled Maple
Has been our glade.

Love Mary **

Marie Thérèse Walter, an imaginative tale.

Marie Thérèse lifted up her golden hair
And placed a clip on the left to hold back a fringe.
She came through the city of Paris, in the hot sunshine wearing simple sandals
And a Summer dress.
           --------------------------
At the door of her lover's house she paused,
Wondering wistfully how he would greet her.
Would she find him laden with canvas
Impatient for her love or her pose.
He was an artist, fabulously famous,
Married, with son, to a noble woman.
She was his mistress at seventeen.
The thing from which he drew inspiration.
That moved her to tears.
                ------------------------
On a street in Paris whilst shopping,
Browsing the Galleries Lafayette,
They had met by chance in an instance,
Her face attacking his skin.
Tall, athletic and graceful,
A beauty with Grecian profile,
Fascinated, he was, by her movement,
The space between her eyes.

Unhindered by his pronouncement,
She offered to model there in;
And so began the beginning,
Of changes,
That altered art from within.
             ----------------------------
The price of art is expensive,
Its development claims many lives,
For Marie Therese it was lonely,
After Picasso said goodbye.
She lived with their daughter,
Maya, born out of love,
But ten years of giving,
Only made her sad.
After he died,
She knew, her time had come.
Knowing the world was empty
With his power gone.

Love Mary xxxx

Mary Rose I loved you
Such a magical shop
Up the stairs of wonder
Residing at the top.

Love Mary x

Falling sun’s rays
Roof tops crisp
Triangles with chimney pots
Plum cherry blossom white
To match my daughter’s rose.

Love Mummy **

Maybe in the fields where the mice run free
And the flower stems reach two feet high
Where the air circulates in the sky
And the soil is devoid of pollution
Only here is there a chance
Of  miracles.


Love Mary **

Maybe after the grass is cut
Things will get better.

Love Mary **

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 **

We met through a latched gate
down a straight concrete path
With flowers and grass on either side
To a white cottage with a
Thick thatched roof.
To the right of the front door
Was a climbing, yellow,’ Chelsea’ rose.

The garden was an orchard of tenderness with
Five elderly leaning apple trees bearing fruit.
And David Austin roses in a variety of colours
Many wild and cultivated flowers grew and plentiful
Of bird song.

Roger and I sat together at a small
Table and chairs
And were given a delightful meal
Of chicken and vegetables
Followed by ice cream and mixed fruit salad
After resting with cups of tea
I wandered round the garden to see all the
Beauty of this wilderness and a boat in a large
Rather dilapidated shed
Later to be rebuild into a fine garage of
Original Suffolk stone and two wooden doors.

Our time together was very precious to me.
Filling in much that I had heard about, but
Never encountered, from a very dear relative.

In the afternoon we went into Bury St Edmunds central
To see the Cathedral, Abbey Gardens, with resplendent
Flower beds frequently replenished in an abudance of colourful changes and the antiquated book shops.
The day was concluded with strawberries and cream in the
Park sitting on a bench in the sun.

We had a long journey back to Watford.
I never forget this day so unusual was it
Made by my friend.

Love Mary xxxx

I tried to give you my beauty
Learnt at my mother's knee
Of Wordsworth and the grasses
The hilltops and the trees
I had a little garden
And hours of golden fun
Hands brown with sunshine
Our laughter could be sung.
Underneath an open window
A little girl swings
Swaying her new dolly
While the blackbird sings.
Pictures of moments
Are all that I am
I give you my beauty
I lay it in your hand.
I know I am not you,
Wanderer of the stars
You beauty is of a different kind
But the choices we made are ours,
Underneath the heavens
Looking at the sky
We met in the middle
And beauty was not shy.


For my Loving Roger from Mary ***

Michael leiris said of Picasso

Everything we love is about to die,
And that is why,
Everything we love must be summed up,
With all the high emotion of farewell,
In something so beautiful we shall never forget it.


And this is true of us poets, too.
So those moments we loved
Are captured with such beauty
That the heart is taken back.

Love Mary xxxx

One each end of a shelf
Victorian figurines
A boy and girl
Like crystalline
With stiff edged lace.
Never fell in love
But still precious
Bought by a Godmother
Who did not have children.

Then the plaster dancers
Spied in a box of my father’s
Given by a poor grandmother
Loved these two
With their net “tutus”
Such graceful arms
Long pointed legs
Felt their life twirling.

The difference between
Two worlds
The rich and stiff
Poor but beautiful.
My bedroom shelf,
With a poster of
**** Jagger,
in the middle,
smiling.

Love Mary x

More sad than any lost child
Or desperate soul
Walking the long road
To nowhere.

Find in your hearts
What is good and kind
And together feast
Unhindered by pain.


Love Mary xxxx

Citrus green of early morning sun
Interrupted by a woman’s shadow
As she looks where land meets sky
In the freshness of another Autumn.

Over the fields, past the evergreens
A silhouette of stillness newly open
Surprised in the glancing light here
A stopping place to hold ones breath.

Love Mary ***

Under a hermit sky you sit
The roof has fallen in and the poem
Begins.
But your not reading the quest
Answering only questions
You like the best.
There's a boy crossing a river
So you decide to fall in
Chasing the dog as he swims.

On the river bank someone calls
And for a minute
You decide to revise.
Taking a pencil to write some lines
Like 'I'm extremely bored'.
You attempt to comply
But all the words flake
On the black and white screen.
At least you don't have Fakebook.

Love Grandma

To miss the early morning birds
To miss the sound of the milk can
To miss the postman with parcels new
To miss the children off to school
To miss you close the door at six
And welcome you back at nine.

Love Mary x

The words have missing letters
Taken from my name
Idiosyncratic patterns,
And here and there
These spaces
You remember
And complete
Putting them back together
Making the word neat.

But these missing letters
Like keys that no longer play
On our old piano
Show that I stayed,
Shared with you a life
Reflected in the genes
But mostly the wonder
Of the world that
I dreamed.

Love Mary ***

Montague and Connie Flu
Got caught up in a racing boom
Found themselves in a field
With coloured banners and an ice cream que;
All the competitors in a line
Wearing fitting clothes , combined.
Connie in her high heeled shoes
Wondered what she could do,
Monty suggested taking them off
Wrapping her feet in an old Jay- cloth
Connie did not like this view
So borrowed a pair of training shoes
From a member of the Boom,
Black and white with silver stars
Matched her top and legging style,
So they ran their fastest best
Over hill and under tree
Won the race without out a phew!


Love Grandma for Monty and Connie .

You stand in front of me
Little boy
A face so gentle and intent
On telling me about your day
With head tipped to one side
You tell me stories with your eyes
Slowly in you quiet notes
So I not miss a sentiment
Stories you like to write
About animals and life
With long expansive words
You always will be heard
A writer you'd like to be
Someone special
We shall see.
Thank you
For all your words
I keep them in my heart
Well stirred.

With love to Monty from Grandma ***

If I had been better made
You would not have been born.

Love Mary ***

My poems are my background
They are my gender and race,
My temperament in the evening,
My breath on a steamed glass,
They start with me as I rose,
Tiny and dreamy in the night,
Pattering barefoot,
Down a sunny path.

They are my parents and brother,
The children I gave birth,
Moonlight on a river,
A cuddle in the church,
My poems tell you more,
Than any photograph,
They are wider and deeper,
Than a narrative verse.

Love Mary ***

Inspired by the Slam poets 2017

The frost curls round grass
I can smell its coldness
Tips of ribbon ice on green
A woman’s shadow wave.

Up above a velvet field
Glistening citrus glows
The sky a streak of blue
Mornings’ Winter snow.

Love Mary ***

Lime green light
Shines softly through the breaks
As each bush stalks into day
Walking the wilderness road
Distilled morning moves the sun
Under a diagonal sprayed sky.

There is a mystery here to make
Taken along telegraph lines
Colours carried across space
White wistful clouds
Rise up towards the majestic
Mauveness and morning awakes.

Love Mary ***

The gardener came to clear the moss,
Which had gathered under pots,
Beneath benches,
And along the side of walls,
On hands and knees,
He chiselled away,
Scrubbing with water,
Until that concrete gleamed
In the late afternoon sun.
The grass mowed,
Yellowed in the heat.
He sat down;
A short break,
Before returning
To the clearing,
Of the moss.

  

Love Mary and thank you ,Ian

Nothing will replace you,
The woman who gave me birth,
Your genes dance in me,
As genius or curse.

My love for you is endless,
Like a rippling stream,
It meanders in my heart,
Échos in my dreams.

I can still feel your touch,
The comb in my hair,
Holding my hand,
When nobody was there.

I recall your voice,
Clear as a bell,
Soft and gentle,
Wishing me well.

So , mother dear,
Know my love for you,
Always resides,
In a pocket or two.

In remembrance of my lovely Mother Grace Emily Ayton-Robinson

Mother of mine.

I hold onto the door frame,
The scullery a small addition
Where you cook , mangle the clothes,
And wipe steam from the windows.
I am always seeking you out,
Talking endlessly about your life,
The loss of your mother,
As a child of seven, and boarding school.
The kitchen is adjacent,
It is our space for eating
The red Formica table set out
With mats and cutlery.
In the corner a boiler for the water,
Difficult to light.
So many times, on bended knees, with a sheet of newspaper and matches
You tried.
Coal dust on your hands.
How patience you were,
My mother.
I remember your hands
Rough from soap powder and the cold.
The simple wedding band.
In the kitchen cupboard drawer
You took out a small zipped bag,
Cherry red lipstick, rouge and powder,
A quick splash to welcome
The man you loved.
Mother you were splendid .

Love Mary xxxx

Hands, rough, gather up two handfuls
Tugging the brown-gold silk into piles
Feeling the chafing on back of my neck
Its tender movement is loved as comb.

A sharp scratch from crown to the nape
Tortoiseshell plastic slightly dusty grey
Divided, plaited, and tied with bands to
Black nylon ribbons, you kiss forehead.

Love Mary ***

Under the damp and darkened skies
The smell of Autumn begins:
The leaves of the deciduous trees,
begin to fall,
Dew forms pools in the cobwebs,
The days get cooler and flowers,
Change direction,
Moving backwards,
They begin to close,
Preparing for the dormant period.
We ,too, know the shutting down,
When slowness creeps into our souls,
And energy leeches out from within.
Let this time be that of reflection,
A tidying up of a life,
And all bitterness or sorrows,
Allowed their freedom,
For what is it,
But to be polite.

Love Mary x

So beautiful lay you all
In your tiny beds
Cuddled up with
Panda,  Firstlove,
Tiny tears and
Noel.
Little fingers curled tight
Knees rolled up
I leaned over you all and kissed
What was my great delight.

We went about together
Down the roads and parks
Caught a train to London
The museums and the art.

You grew up, gently, slowly
In each other’s arms
We made Chocolate Easter
Bunnies and Christmas shower.

We touched the lights together
Sang each other’s songs
Four wonderful children
Never got it wrong.

Love Mummy xxxxx

My children, four children
Always little children
Be happy children
Under the Autumn sky
Mummy says goodbye.

Love Mary xxxx

Where is that girl,
The one that comes,
To visit her grandma,
Even if it's not fun,
She sits by my side,
And makes me laugh,
I feed her sweeties,
Out of my jar,
Daisy I thank you,
Your voice ever wise,
Your face full of beauty,
You'll always be kind,
To those less fortunate,
For now and all time.

Love You ,Thank You .
From Grandma ***

Where ever the walk went
You took me
Carried me home on your shoulders
Showed me a newness bright
We picked up the remains
Of each day
Placing them in a memory
And I loved you father
A love that was so safe
That included me
Every mile of you.

Love Mary x

My Father’s Mile
Where ever the walk went
You took me
Carried me home on your shoulders
Showed me a newness bright
We picked up the remains
Of each day
Placing them in a memory
And I loved you father
A love that was so safe
That included me .
Every mile of you.

Love Mary x


In memory of all father’s

I don’t  know why I left my coat behind
So though the day be dull and deeply wet
And silver tears caressed the evening song.

Love Mary

My good girl.

Shining brown hair with a hint of chestnut
Straight and silky and a sharp cut fringe
Sometimes in black beribboned plaits
Or two bunches showing your ears.
An elfin face cupped in my hands
Slenderly graceful you are still
You are my good girl.

Embracing life joyfully, you smiled
Through days of schoolwork
Touching the world with sunshine
Making all seem bright and clear,
Loving daughter, my first of three
You came to start our family
This is my good girl.

And yet you are many things
Other than my good girl.
You mind an encyclopaedia of answers,
Your heart a lover of nature,
A social activists,
You crochet beautiful blankets
Teach and make ceramic pots
And love to curl up with a book.

Love and thank you My Katie .
From Mum ***

The road of the White garden
Stretching down the side of the old brick wall
Where all the shrubs and plants were white
And cherries hung in clusters from the trees.

In my imagination I had returned
Bringing all my memories
The flowers, trees, birds, tea houses
The pretty playing children, lollies
Best dresses and shoes, skipping rope
My collection of dolls, ‘blueyes’, ‘Rosebud’
The ducks and swans, families, friends.
This was my childhood and here I will
Stay in the grounds of safety and beauty.

Life is short but the memories linger
Floating in the air, carrying scents of
Fragrances Of a time now gone.


Love Mary ***

My Invisible friend.

If I pass you bye on that day,
Please don’t judge me as I rush away.
If I fail to see you,
Don’t presume I even knew
How to discover or trace you...

Call my name my heart will soar.....

My invisible friend no more...

Along the fence, in a line my pots do stand.
And a row of dried Hollyhock stem heads
This is my life along the fence on a warm day.

Love Mary xxxx

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

I am spread out in my green dress
With the buttons updone
And listening to the music
That you played for my song
It is evening and wherever I be
You're all with me
My dear poets
I'm glad I found thee.

Love to my poet friends Mary ***

My friend dressed in grey
A round neck jumper rests
His head on the armchair
Of years and sleeps briefly.

He is my reaper of hours
Gathering in the last joys
Folded head behind that
Soft embrace of his hand.

Love Mary ***