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 .

Standing on the bridge looking down stream
The sunlight a curtain through weeping leaf
Trailing their ends in the moving slowness
Of a shallow children filled patch of crystal.

Love Mary **

The days always had Red Robin and Cyril
And us two sitting on the cold back step
You ninety - four and me in my late forties
Red Robin came forward, hop, hop, hop
And took the cheddar from you old man.

Days of simplicity when the bluetits nested
And the birdtable was filled with seeds daily
Your strong hands, tapped up the peanut tin
Your son shaved the stubble on a rough chin
This quietness was rewarded by many birds.

Love Mary ***

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 **

Closed The Window,
Tidied the sink,
Emptied the ******* bin,
Sorted the letters,
On the kitchen table,
Watered the *** plants,
Folded the clothes,
Wiped the fridge door,
Can't say more.

Love to all my family and friends

Where is that girl
With the growing hair
And lips like cherry,
Asleep on her pillow,
Out with a fellow,
Watching the rain
On her window pain,
Thinking life over,
Taking her time
To find the right mind?
Stay close my beauty
Let the wind not blow
But rock and enfold
That girl we love so.

For Daisy Love Grandma xxxx

My Daisy

From a tiny ball,
I always felt you weep,
Silently,
Whilst your heart broke,
Clutching disappointment,
In your small hands,
Spreading out the jewels,
Of your wonderful tears,
And never letting go.

Love Grandma ***

Daisy got up early
Just as the day began
Clipped in her earrings
Combed her brown hair
Put on the clothes
At the bottom of the bed
Looked in the mirror, quickly,
Then went and got fed.
The breakfast room was cosy
All the family there
They all shared cornflakes
Burnt toast in the air
Then time for coat on
And run up the road
Working for the people
The ones she does not know
A good person is Daisy
Found what she's about
Writing gave her a mission
To fight others' plight.


Love Grandma ***

When you were a little girl
I came to play each Monday
We had such fun as did Mum
Sitting at the covered table
Drawing pictures and writing poems
Cutting and sticking
Our hearts were glowing

We loved the dollies and the flowers
Cuddled up and played about
Barney came and looked around
To see if I had sweeties found
Milo in his pushchair
Dark brown eyes and softest hair
Always gave a smile to me
When I came and stayed for tea.

At your house I loved to be .


Love Mary

Thank you to Daisy ,Barney ,Milo and Katie , love Mummy ,Grandma ***

Daisy Mau is up and down
In and out and round and round
Beautiful as a red- lipped child
Brown eyes under a feathered brow.

A humour that is humankind
A heart of passion and fur- lined
Wanders through a poppy field
Crimson sadness at her heels.

Sensitive to all her days
Cradles honour on the way
Daisy May your sun shines bright
Treasure it and hold on tight.

Love will find you,  no need to seek
The world will open, and not be bleak
Hand in hand the years that pass
Will lead you on to touch the stars.

Stay awhile and sit by me
My darling Daisy you'll always be.

Love Grandma x

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

Daisy you always loved me,
As I loved you from the first
We played together, talked
Ate sweeties and cakes
Watched television.

To be with you each week
With my bag of goodies
They are special memories
They are what is meant
By a life.

Love Mary x

If I'd been born a dandelion
A life of trouble free,
Propped against a fence
Or near an old Oak tree,
No one would notice
When I disappeared,
Only finding next year
I suddenly reappeared.

Love
Mary xxxxx

It grew out of disappointment
That solitary word, indefinite
Lay on the back seat for years
Unneeded, lame
So when it erupted, a surprise
Hanging like a tarnished shade
Devoid of all light.

Love Mary **

It hadn’t been good that year
With emptying drawers
And foraging around the Azer
Finding seed pods fallen in the
Yellow grief stricken grass lawn.


People visited in their silks
Stretching hands to comfort
What could not be tolerated
Infiltrating the harsh reality
Suffering with bespoke smiles.

Love Mary

Bobble hat and Terrance rat
Bought a flat at the back
Filled it up with tiny things
Pebble stones and fairy wings
They built some shelves
Made of wood
Cheaply bought
Without much thought
Stacked them up
Day by day
With their collection
Now on display.
Bobble hat was rather grand
So went shopping in a Harrod's
Van
The store detective very cross
When Bobble hat took a lot.
Under hat, behind the brim
Lots and lots of diamond rings.
Terrance rat was not impressed
Said your manners' a disgrace.
But off they went out for tea
To their local Busy Bee .

Love Mary

For Evelyn and Florence and all those who like to play.

The shephard never came to me
He left me in the lurch
Half eaten by cannibalism
Scrabbling in the dirt.

The paintwork has slipped
The door frame fallen
And teachings, a betrayal
For love is forsaken.

Love Mary **

I keep going back
To the spot
Where the ocean meets the sky
And I am that child
Who never cried
At the front of the bus
Holding onto the rail
So I don't roll my head in the clouds
Watching the farmland slip by
It was once I.

Love Mary **

We went by pathways unknown,
Keeping together our arms enfold,
Such lightness your tender touch,
Seeking my company we matched;
And so it was and so it be ,
That you came to find me .

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 **

Dears never feel the pain of your loss
But hold hands together and in that
Moment know you have a part of me
That is with your heart always there.

Love Mumxxxx

I have become a bird of travel
Bearing winter’s grey and snow
White.
Living my mother’s journey
Later each night.
Youth took me carelessly
Between a row of fools
Threw me back against a wall
With no impunity.


Love Mary x

The man and boy meet the mists
Between hawthorn hedges thorn
Fellow travellers on the wet road
Grandfather and grandson hold
Hands and feel the excitement of
This December gaily trudge along.

Love Mary ***

The road, stretchy silver slug trail
Pinned between house and branch
Winds its way upwards
Then down towards mud tracks
Filled with reflected grey
As the sky starts another
Day in December.

Love Mary x

You float across me
As evidence that you are not mad
Hating the dependence bar where you eat
I am not that spider you nurture
Just a plate of cold ironies.


Outside the running fakes you
Into a daily ritual of bliss
I lie flattened, blind, deceived
The buttress of my heart stapled
You float across me.

Love Mary x

Delirious.

No one ever realises, knows,
Other than in retrospect,
The significance of their action,
How the years will mount up,
Spilling this moment,
Out across the foundation of their lives.

There I was delirious with happiness,
Seventeen and a bit and skipping,
Running in the dark,
To tell,
To tell someone my news.
Circumstance did not touch ground,
Merrily I was oblivious,
As the door opened to the crying of a child
I stepped in,
Announcing my news with a smile,
Trembling with fear of this,
Holding arms she gathered me in,
I joined the clan,
Fell into the limitation,
As she had before,
And thousands before we were even born.
Her mother smiled, another bit of guilt lifted;
I came from a good home.

As I left hearing my footsteps
On the wet streets and creeping into bed,
My innocence dissipated,
The next day, the beginning,
The reality took away that joy,
Leaving the news to be broken
To the grandparents of my
Unborn child.

Love  Mary

Thank you dear Roger for being the father of that child and giving me a good life.

In a hot room overlooking the football ground
I felt the pains filling my brain in reams
The sky held to blue all day and the sheets white
Then I pushed to see and someone ran the corridor.

The silver lift doors swung open and we separate
As your name I bounced off every wall, I shout,
‘Deliverance without my gentle shepherd, my love’.
You peep through green doors to a daughter born.

Love Mary

Holding tight to mother's hand
You peeped into my room
A face touched by angel's grace
And rounded like the moon.

Dressed in gathered netted skirt
And bodice pink and brown
You came to see your grandma
With your opened arms.

The contours of your shape I felt
A kiss as quiet as snow
You loved me in my rosy bed
And did we play just so.

Delphi of the ancient world
You are a modern child
In your eyes history speaks
Of wisdom with a smile.

Kind and gentle , soft and bright,
Grandma's lovely , golden delight.

Have you seen Delphi dancing
On the sand in the Bay
Arms outstretched to catch the moonshine
All the fragments of golden spray
And her feet scatter the sandstone
Her body sways as if to say
Listen as my heart flies skyward
On this glorious of days,
Along the beach the people gather
To watch the plaited maiden dance
Far away in her dreamland
She always gives what she has.


For dearest Delphi when she was seven.
Love Grandma ***

Her name is that
Of past hours
From days of power
And magnificence
When marble busts
Were cast
To satisfy
The desire
For eternity.

But this little beauty
Will not end her days
In  lofty halls
With locked and barred doors
The dust settling on her hair
For she will be suspended
Captured and rendered
On all the screens
That can be seen
From phone to
The Internet
And global websites
Printed texts.

Her name is Delphi
Youngest child
Full lipped star
Hair falling long
Over her arms
Eyes dark under
Arched brows
Peachy cheeks
Tanned skin
In the princess dress
She loves the best
From Asda or Primark.

To my lovely Delphi of the dollies love from Grandma xxxxx

A Birch tree up in younder wood becalmed
And no injustice to this bleach’ed land
For dusk doth bite the lonely head of man
Who in despair bleeds out his endless hours.


Love Mary x

Went to stay in London when I was but a child
Stayed with my Aunty Betty always a bit wild
Put me in a bedroom that smelt of soap and lace
Decorated in liliac, that was the latest taste.
Sat in the front room overlooking the street
Books on the painters displayed very neat
Listened to the classics,  music I'd never heard
Sipped percolated coffee, never said a word.

By the grand piano a table of pretty shells
A collection from holidays in Corsica and Wales
Where there was a fireplace stood a new gas fire
Above it a reprint of Van Gogh's sunflowers
Lunch in the kitchen with a room filled with light
Yellow painted walls to keep everything bright
Plastic chairs from Heels the strings made a ridge
Susie Cooper tea cups soup with crusty bread.

Salad in a basket black pepper to add
Ice cream for pudding I was really glad
Ate all my dinner then to the garden went
Under the Willow together on a creeky bench
Wondered round the garden, listened to church bells
Thought this an unusual life no children to tell
I loved my Aunty Betty the stories she would spell
Of places on Greek Islands, her boyfriend as well.

John was a teacher, literature of course
He wrote lengthy poems and took photographs
They went to the theatre the ballet and special films
They lived not together but an hours dream
John in the country Betty in the town
Was simply perfect for them to get around
I looked at all her photos when Betty was young
The ones with her sister who also was my mum.
Although they were different alike in many ways
They both chose the sweet life but felt the other's sway
My mother had two children with little money to spare
Betty had not got any so that made her rare.

They both died at eighty their influence great
Thank you Grace and Betty you both have your place.


Love Mary daughter and niece **

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

Their out of the office,
On another line,
Away today
Be back Tuesday ;
Can't take your call
Right now
But if you leave your number
We will get back to you!
I am sorry this mail box is full;
All the lines are busy right now
We do apologise;
This person no longer works
In this department;
Please hold the line.
This Extention is unavailble.

Living in a world of excuses
And abuses
Lies and deception
Poor reception
Does my head in!!!

Mary

Few people can be believed
The lips are packed with lies
Words fall as if manœuvred
To benefit selfishness’s world.

I carry the dust of deceitful
tongues, swollen, diseased
Where is cleanliness left?
‘The dog’s bowl at the door’.

Love Mary ***

Do not let the days grow old after me
But polished with that ever sparkling
Anticipation which sets hearts aglow
They are the same street’s arching aways
Intermingled, the comfort of green trees.

Love Mum ***

If on finding me gone
The chair an empty space
Don't send me a rose
It will not replace.
But let those roses grow
With bud and leaf and stem
To flourish in the garden field
To live and laugh again.

Love Mary ***

Dotty was a beautifully coloured dragonfly with four wings
And a  long slender body,
She was made by Evelyn on the coldest day of the year
When the ground lay under two inches of snow
And a southerly wind blew flurry flakes of whiteness
Into faces and down fronts of coats.

All the way home Evelyn held on to Dotty
Protecting her from the bad weather,
Until she was safely on the kitchen table.
When you make things your heart wants
To share so Evelyn thought of her Grandma
Who she knew would just love to see Dotty.

Now in 2018 there is FaceTime a magical device
Allowing one to speak and see pictures of
One's family and friends,
So Evelyn asked her daddy if she could
Show Dotty to Grandma.


Grandma heard this ringing in her room
Coming from her iPad.
Who can that be she thought and went to see?
And there was Evelyn with Dotty
" I wanted to show you my dragonfly
That I made at playgroup this morning".

Well Dotty was beautiful with her painted wings
And Evelyn flew her round the room for
Grandma to see.
This made Grandma so happy and they both laughed
And talked and then Evelyn showed her Bagpus on her
Own iPad and Grandma and Evelyn both sang
The mice song.

It was only a short call and soon time to say goodbye
Evelyn said "you have made me very happy "
And Grandma smiled in her heart all day.

Love Mary ***

Dotty was a beautifully coloured dragonfly with four wings
And a  long slender body,
She was made by Evelyn on the coldest day of the year
When the ground lay under two inches of snow
And a southerly wind blew flurry flakes of whiteness
Into faces and down fronts of coats.

All the way home Evelyn held on to Dotty
Protecting her from the bad weather,
Until she was safely on the kitchen table.
When you make things your heart wants
To share so Evelyn thought of her Grandma
Who she knew would just love to see Dotty.

Now in 2018 there is FaceTime a magical device
Allowing one to speak and see pictures of
One's family and friends,
So Evelyn asked her daddy if she could
Show Dotty to Grandma.

Grandma heard this ringing in her room
Coming from her iPad.
Who can that be she thought and went to see?
And there was Evelyn with Dotty
" I wanted to show you my dragonfly
That I made at playgroup this morning".

Well Dotty was beautiful with her painted wings
And Evelyn flew her round the room for
Grandma to see.
This made Grandma so happy and they both laughed
And talked and then Evelyn showed her Bagpus on her
Own iPad and Grandma and Evelyn both sang
The mice song.

It was only a short call and soon time to say goodbye
Evelyn said "you have made me very happy "
And Grandma smiled in her heart all day.

Love Mary ***

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 ***

As handsome as a lion
Tall with crew cut blonde
Hair and articulate
To the point of nausea.

Too young to give me
The eye or a glance
But was my brother's
Friend from The Bec.

The four of us played
Bridge, a heated game
Where intelligence rules
And chance gets a bite.

Paired into twos, competing,
Boyfriend and I, unequal
Richard and Colin, unequal
The serious and comedians.

Sitting opposite our partners
Reading expression, important
Prediction the golden glitter
Siblings had only expectation.

Love Mary x

Mum dreamed she was an intellectual
Well read and well versed
Mum dreamed she was a lady
Her behaviour never adversed
Mum dreamed she was beautiful
The prettier of the two.

She dreamed she married her sweet heart
But that could never come true
She dreamed things always got better
But they did not as the years passed
She dreamed there was an afterlife
But at the end that did not last.

Mum wanted children to be by her side
Those she did get, Richard and I
Mum wanted to be loved
More than anything
She found it in a gentle man
That he did bring.

Mum thought of her rose - garden
The one up the hill
The one she built from optimism
I know she sits there still.

Love Mary. **

Floaty in your flowery dress
Its layered skirts spill out
And climb you do
The wooden slide
Under the ancient tree.

Your feet do add a child’s dance
Strapped sandals in the sun
And all the while your sister plays
Beating her own trunk song
A dream time for the young.

Love Grandma Mary  x

I close my eyes
And dip again
Feel the moments lie within
Move into space
Dressed in lace
The loveliness of your face.
I close my eyes and look again
What was imagined
At an end
Yet the glow
That you showed
I find it in the words we told.

In memory of Roy Orbison.

Love Mary

I dressed  you daughter in smock cloth
It sewn with mother’s loving touch
A blue check white embroidered dots
And buttons, sashed will fasten back.

Dry and dusty the old man lay
Had not moved a vessel for many a day
Slept below the moonlight stars
Thought of his weath and fading power
Drifting, drifting the old man saw
Far beyond the cliffs and golden shore
Had crossed the marker made for man
Slowly he felt the dying man's hand
Deeper, deeper into silent sleep
The water green, the water deep
And then from the ocean he heard a call
A voice rang out from distant shores
There in his softly swaying boat
Was lifted, feet first, by a riddled rope
Laid in comfort in a cabin bed
Fed and watered, bandaged head
Nearer and nearer the headland crept
Restored this dry and dusty vet
To this world again and whole .
Grateful he was this poor old soul.


Love Mary **

I never bought The Twinkle Annuals
Slipping off the eBay page after six
It is one of those days that drizzles
And bedtime gets closer each time.

Love Mary ***

I dropped from your memory
Like a book of desire
The pages scatter the beach
And the words wash away.

No longer the nightingale sings
Or roses brush the doorstep
Unwelcome enters the rooms
As I slowly wither and die .

Love Mary ***

Brave little ducks
Swimming in the water
Brave little ducks
Doing what they oughta.

Along came a swan
A black necked swan
And the little duck
Went quack quack.

Love Grandma xxo

Reading to her Ducks and Swans
Remembering our morning chats
Somehow we had grown together
Sharing our likes and questioning.

This child radiated such intensity
I felt her spirit entering my spirit
Yet I knew by ten she would have
Outstripped my imaginative life
Would there still be love to hold.

Love Grandma Mary x