"mair" poems
A seventies child
Born in Wales, one of the four
Countries of The UK.
I remember brown as the colour
of the day.
Fabric embossed wallpaper
all the neighbours names, who married who,
who was carrying on, the alcoholic, the beaten wives,
Even, get this the peadophiles (or kiddy fiddlers as was known)
Dai the milk, Mair the bread, the shop of infinite items.
Rugby practice for dad, baking for mam
(Cake and babies) gossip over the garden hedge
Fish on a Friday a Sunday roast, hot sweet tea.
Bubble and squeak, post delivered before you
left for school. Mist on the mountain, dew on the grass.
Welsh valley life, sounds idyllic
but scratch the surface and a darker colour
than brown emerges. Petty squablings leading to
familial feuds, the Williamses don't get on with
the Joneses, and as for the Pritchards, less said the better.
School, local, no not for me. I was sent to a Welsh
School, taught and learnt the language denied to my
Parents by English politics. Cat amongst the pigeons there.
Did I think I was special? Ideas above her station. That's what
the neighbours say.
Well, you all had the option.
Dr Forbes FRCS
Delivered babies buried men and women
Loved by all, especially his lollipop sweets.
I wasn't a child to get ***** or rip wrapping paper
off of gifts, I liked to go under the stairs (like Harry Potter)
and read. I left the dirt for my sister born 4 years later.
Then in 1982 came my brother, tidy my mother describes it.
'74,'78,'82 poor dad to have to wait I say!
More pubs than chapels, more walking than driving
more rain than sun, more music than ever was sung.
The '80's came, and we had strikes, no electric, candles
toast made with a toasting fork over the fire.
No mines, no steel, no jobs.
Picket lines, dole queues, women in work
latchkey kids, Thatcherism, ******* times.
Falklands war, IRA bombs, Royal weddings
Tory rule
But, the fire in the dragon never went out
and Tom Jones still sings his heart out.
Cymru cysglyd gwlad y gân, deffrwch
nawr, dyma'ch tro.
May 15, 2014
May 15, 2014 at 4:27 PM UTC
High on the mountain, overlooking the valley,
the valley where I was born, is a wooden bench.
Standing to attention are the bottom of the deep V
are houses, all the same, all in a row.
From the bench the village can be watched
It's comings and goings, the neighbours gossiping
talking about nothing and everything.
Everyone is there down below,
John the butcher, Dai the milk, Mair the bread,
Oliver's shop, where anything and everything was for sale.
A picturesque Welsh valley, where everyone is actually
Psychotic, and where you'll never leave except in a coffin feet first.
Those of us that get out, stay out.
Old feuds still burn, families not talking,
not remembering how it started.
Chocolate box prettiness masks the tension,
the hate, the jealousies, the negativity held
in the ***** of the valley.
How green was my valley?
It wasn't green, it's colour was red, like a hell fire.
Oh, the trees were green, the mountain was glorious
but that valley was poison.
Jun 7, 2014
Jun 7, 2014 at 12:24 PM UTC
'The puir auld folk at home, ye mind,
Are frail and failing sair;
And weel I ken they'd miss me, lad,
Gin I come hame nae mair.
The grist is out, the times are hard,
The kine are only three;
I canna leave the auld folk now.
We'd better bide a wee.
'I fear me sair they're failing baith;
For when I sit apart,
They talk o' Heaven so earnestly,
It well nigh breaks my heart.
So, laddie, dinna urge me now,
It surely winna be;
I canna leave the auld folk yet.
We'd better bide a wee.'
2.5k
Ah wuz lookin oot o' mah winder and ah saw this lad
wi' a barry wee lassie gaun' up the hill.
-Wair the **** d'ye think you're gaun tae? ah yells oot.
But the daft ***** didnae answer at aww,
must've been oot o' thir ****** heids wi' E's or summat,
d'ye ken what ah'm tellin' ye,ye daft radge?
-Wair ye're ******* going? ah yells a couple mair times
and finally the gadge yells back to ays,
-Up the ******* hill tae fetch a pail o' ******* watter,
me Ma's hud her fuckin' taps turned oaf by the fuckin' Corporation,
which is a ******* pain in the erse ah had ter agree.
I realised ah knew the wee **** Jack but,
eh wuz an auld classmate of ays and eh's hung oot wi' ma brar n me,
when we wuz bairns oan the Scheme,eh?
-That's a bonny wee lassie ye've goat wi' ye, there Jack, ah yelled,
thinking ah'd nae kick her oot o' mah scratcher
withoot gi'ing her a guid ride.
Ah huvtae sey ah recognised hir as a wee ****
called Jill from the Scheme, a right tidy wee ride
in mah opinion wi' a guid little ***** on hir, as ah recall.
-Mind ye're own fuckin' business, the **** yells back at ays,
takin' the pail in yin hand and the hoor's wee hand in the other yin.
Ah can tell ye ah totally pished meself wi' laughter
when the pair o' they wide ***** fell doon,
Jack breakin' his fuckin' croon n the groond,
ah'm sure he nivver meant it tae happen,
'n eh mustae squashed his ******* bawws
as eh fell doon n aww from the wey he screamed oot,
but the wee lassie cam tumbling doon the ****** hill n aww,
heid n **** oor her fuckin' erse
'n ah could see she wasnae wearin' any ****** *******
'n her ***** was on display under her skirt.
Ah wouldnae expect anything else from a wee hoor,eh?
-Dinnae worry, ah'll com and help ye, ah called oot,
but when ah goat thir, both o them wis deid,
ah thoat o' gittin mah hole wi' the deid lassie n aww,
but you shouldnae dae that, it's no respectful tae wimmin,
'n eywis, the polis might trace me through the DNA,
those ***** are clivvir 'n aw, ye ken.
So ah contented mesel' wi' rummidging through the poakits
o' the lad's jaykit tae see if eh hud ehs payment from the Joab Centre,
but the daft **** mustae spent it aww on a boatil or two o Grants,
ah ken ah'd hae done the same mahsel'.
And there wasnae a penny in the lassie's purse,
so ah thoat ah'd jus' **** oaf doon the ******
'n ask some **** tae call the hoaspital and the ****** polis.
Eh?
Dec 16, 2014
Dec 16, 2014 at 7:34 AM UTC
*Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun*
It was silent. His body sunk into the earth.
His soul long gone from there. He had died
A gun upon his arms.
*When they come a wull staun ma groon
Staun ma groon al nae be afraid*
He had died with a home that his dream would
live on.
*Thoughts awe hame tak awa ma fear
Sweat an bluid hide ma veil awe tears*
Later they had told us he had died with courage
and valor.
*Ains a year say a prayer faur me
Close yir een an remember me*
The shots continue he fell by the
tenth.
*Nair mair shall a see the sun
For a fell tae a Germans gun*
A ******** grasped in his stone
cold hand
*Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun*
He saw a line of faces, brown, black
and white. Some were smiling others,
crying
*Lay me doon in the caul caul groon
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun*
His body sunk into the cold, wet ground
As God opened his arms, for a boy
drenched in blood.
Whaur afore monie mair huv gaun
A group waited in the wings. Soldiers
from many places. Who fought to keep
their shores safe.
Feb 6, 2016
Feb 6, 2016 at 7:54 PM UTC
wee ribbit, hoppin, daftie beastie
a rebber baind is in tha breastie
thou needs but waindie baindie up
and off tha hop
i *** be laith to rin an chase thee
tha niver stop
wee hoppin freggie tha smal laigs
is baitter spring than sailver stail
but i wud giv ye this advaice:
dinna tak a chance
some think tha laigs a taestie meal
dinna *** ta france
nu laieth flattie en the wa'
laik paice o' paeper gon astra'
nae mair tha hoppin in the aer
sae daft an barmy
the ainly fewture fair thee now
is origami
Dec 30, 2011
Dec 30, 2011 at 1:21 AM UTC
She was a rough dame
Johnny thought
watching her pass by
kind of girl
to take no nonsense
no lip
or give a ear a clip
bust a jaw
and give what for
but there was
an element
of beauty there
the flowing hair
the fine figure
as she walked
the burning eyes
with her backward glance
aff tae Scootlund
she said need
tae gettae wae
nae mair tae say
she said
then was off
with a turn
of her head
and Johnny watched
her go
her firm ***
big *****
***** like
bundled babes
and then out
of sight
like a bold ship
rough riding
in a dark night.
Jun 27, 2015
Jun 27, 2015 at 12:09 PM UTC
"Mirror mirror on the wall who's the fairest
Of them all?"
"With guns of great aim
As this world goes up with one flame
Snow White I declare
With her white studded mair
Her dwarfs have gone
But she still has till dawn
With her prince charming at her side
And her fairies to guide
Snow White I declare
With her white studded mair"
The chipmunks and deer
That once killed her fear
Now follow her hungry and moaning
As they creep closer you hear them groaning
Her friends are dead
Her heart is full of dread
How will she go on and make it to dawn?
They attack
She fights back
The horde its gone?
Ten minutes till dawn
At least that's the happy ending?
WRONG!
An apple red and delicious
Plucked from a tree that seems so viscous
"A bite won't hurt?"
Now she's lying in the dirt
With a moan
And obviously a groan
You question the mirror once more
"Mirror Mirror on the wall who's the fairest
ZOMBIE of them all?"
"SNOW WHITE
SNOW WHITE"
As the sun began to rise
You'll hear her faint cries
Her flesh is burning
Because of her yearning
For that one bite
Ended her fight
For no guns of great aim
Will ever hide her shame
For the last bite she'll take
Took it all without a stake
"I don't think a true loves kiss
Will turn out to fix this"
Apr 3, 2012
Apr 3, 2012 at 9:20 AM UTC
...as Mum taught me.
(sonnet #MMMMMMCMIX)
Did sparrows gaily call as wont, t'avail
Espresso with Dad's lecture of a sense
Long since forgotten, just where blue skies fence
Is't Sunday morning's placid airs as frail
White clouds lent April's winking eye a pale
Note of grey yonder, what? for aught intents?
How Janry owns the jest was poor as hence
These naked wastes look dead, likeas to scale.
O yes, they market florals ere March tour,
Cuz stylish girls must be the first to do
Um, April Fools a proper notice. We're
All shivring in wool rollnecks now, but you
Just want mair golden hours to cull what'd stir
That keener sense Spring shall anon debut.
28Jan18a
Feb 10, 2018
Feb 10, 2018 at 9:59 PM UTC
Shake-speares sonnets back in the day...
(sonnet #MMMMMMCCLXIV)
Oh me! I never knew sich weary hours a sense
Of being half sick owns, whilst naught does avail,
This fevered longing mine as clouds' thin veil
Shows fragile blue skies, and warm notes from hence
Akin to daffodils' gay yellows thence
Abob to vagrant winds, where ne exhale
But haunts like to a ghost in sheer betrayl,
Nor moves the baby leaves hung in suspense.
Pink mists frame naked boughs as buds now tour
Those blackened skeletons of trees I do
'Non cherish in their wanting state, rain fer
All that a moistened kiss mair fit to woo
Than ist Baroque strains I sip coffee's cure
To? Andrew, I swear oh, how I love you.
13Apr17b
Apr 15, 2017
Apr 15, 2017 at 1:13 AM UTC
Kick me? Kiss me.
(sonnet #MMMMMMCCLIII)
As greyish twilight's pink clouds on the pale
East haunt lo, the first note of dawn, blue thence
Mair ghostly oh! I think "how calm tis hence--"
Like ninety-mile winds had been here, the frail
Peace breathless nor but waiting to avail.
And where the golden shafts draw fir trees' dense
Forms on dead houses' silence, know that sense
Is odd, cuz our electric'ty ne'er went stale.
Oh Andrew! My heart's on the West coast, poor
Though just friends augurs, where th'uprooted crew
Of ancient trees and battered houses that your
Eyes know too keenly mar the waking view.
And your heart grieves to note all, whiles mine fer
Just having you okay, gives thanks oer you.
08Apr17a
Apr 15, 2017
Apr 15, 2017 at 1:07 AM UTC
Why on earth did Sunday AM's cosmetic ad tout "erasing dark circles with concealer" when that was what the mirror answered I needed done? Talk about coincidence, or what?
(sonnet #MMMMMMMV)
O! Watch that greyish lace called firs' detail
Upon the blacktop gently shift from thence
To playful winds, where pavement is fr'intents
Likeas some chalkboard smudged t'effect and pale
In afternoon's more lazy eye, in frail
Excuse, myself dead tired cuz coffee's sense
I maunt resist last night did punish, whence
"Erase dark circles with concealer!"'d hail.
Who gives a hoot that I look nice as twere
Eh? None but older men, ungodly too
Seek me. Old scruples were mair strict in tour
But faithful as the LORD Whose Word is true.
Blue skies are warmly clean of clouds; winds stir
These naked boughs to nodding; and what's new?
11Mar18a
Mar 17, 2018
Mar 17, 2018 at 8:35 PM UTC
I really wanted to make a more secure case comparing the cardinal to those redcoats of yore, but, ah....
(sonnet #MMMMMMCxxVii)
I have a scarlet lover who, ere pale
First hints of dawn, begins to court, til thence
Smiles and soft laughter thus ensue fr'intents.
His perky voice and deep red coat avail
Long-cherished loves, as I think Brits to scale
So perfect; aye, put on the kettle hence
Tae brew a *** of rosy lea to fence
My porridge, while my cardnal'd sweetly hail.
Wee sparrows are my playmates as they stir
Such happiness as only lovers do.
If Tyler swears he loves me, Shakespeare fer
All that gives me perspective as he'd woo.
Perchance I shall be independent: your
Wish, Baby. But then I will not need you.
30Apr18a
May 2, 2018
May 2, 2018 at 11:46 PM UTC
...he asked to see this...like he so often does.
(sonnet #MMMMMMMCCCXIII)
O how mists clothe the valley like a veil
Which swallows aught in dawn's first light! trees hence
Peer vaguely through that ghostly whiteness, whence
My soul thrills to its haunting touch' detail
In waking; nary voice to stir, winds stale
As Maple leaves hang limply in suspense
Mair keen cuz yonder is quite buried, dense
Naught owns an eye we feel in sheer betrayl.
Did I search out the distant hours as twere,
Or grapple for a vision past this view,
We cannot but acknowledge, lo in tour
Tis hid from our mair "owly eyes" anew.
Fog on the heels of night as darkness stir
To light's tread, how I long anon for YOU.
03Aug18a
Aug 6, 2018
Aug 6, 2018 at 11:25 PM UTC
...whomever wants it.
(sonnet #MMMMMMMCXLIX)
How leaden racks hone caller airs' detail
As rain comes marching grandly through. Leaves thence
All whisper soto voce as I hence
What? listen to an airplane's voice, the pale
Hours fraught beyond their import in betrayl,
Cuz love and romance weren't my cuppa sense
According to his measures, no. Fr'intents
"Goodbye." now echoes hollowly sans bail.
Let's know that dreams were only what we stir
To frustrate colder truth's keen tooth. I knew
That when I tweeted "dream come true" twas poor
Cuz he'll not be mair than a dream. What do
We, eh? Nor can aught choclate salve me fer
All that. The Scriptures comfort. Let that do.
12May18a
May 12, 2018
May 12, 2018 at 6:07 PM UTC
...don'tcha know?
(sonnet #MMMMMMMMMDCCXXIX)
I prayed for hours; then made my plans t'avail
Us of a party, that late crashed ere thence
It got in full swing, where I'm struggling hence
With facing yes, the loss of that detail,
As if this mercy granted's poor? Bewail
Sans aught recure as if twas mere pretense
To ask for hours, or what? The cost of whence
Is mair than I had bargained, in betrayl.
Behold the fields in early Autumn fer
A spell, and learn to be half thankful? Blue
Skies melting in the romance of as twere
Day's end, come, had we been lost watching through
These hours the flicks I'd wanted I'd missed pure
Sweet vistas that I cherish. I thank You.
10Sep25c
Sep 16, 2025
Sep 16, 2025 at 9:56 PM UTC
I am certain they DID bury me with Mum.
(sonnet #MMMMMMMCLXXVI)
Memor'al weekend's here, and summer thence
In tow as wont: my stockings in betrayl
Hang limply, needing to be washed, and stale
Cuz warmth is now a constant, with those scents
I had forgot: that sour note haunting sense,
As to perspire is what we'll do sans bail
The next four months, erm straight, t'exhale
Nor think of sweaters, chill our sweet defense.
Watch golden shafts, while Maple leaves half stir
To fragile whispers, tricking shadows to
Shift vaguely 'cross grass' carpet, skies deep blue
And moody, clouds mair grey, light ghastly, poor
As listning to the kitchen sounds in tour,
The music gone, how static mocks which cue?
26May18b
May 27, 2018
May 27, 2018 at 8:35 PM UTC
...oh, I dunno, a variety of intros could suffice, whence, none might as well, no?
(sonnet #MMMMMMMCCCXLIII)
I caught the ghost of mists likeas a veil
Down in the valley where trees clustered thence
'Hind shifting white's detail, rain waltzing hence
Without a voice as't tiptoes 'cross the tale
Of weedy blacktop; firs mair silent, frail
Calm hanging 'til winds ply the Maples' dense
Green, and the distance lost to that suspense,
Whiles I chid rain for being light; to exhale.
You listen to--is't my complaints? and YOUR
Response of "you're amazing" fails me too.
So I wish to just kiss and tease you fer
All that to...chase me--which you say you'll do.
Right now seems but a pipe dream, mists in poor
'Scuse on what lies 'fore: I belong to YOU.
20Aug18a
Aug 26, 2018
Aug 26, 2018 at 3:08 PM UTC
...past my waist as her-- "to my foot's glee--"
(sonnet #MMMMMMMDVIII)
I wanted coffee, with auld sonnets thence
As erst wont, Missus Browning's sweet detail
From lo, "the Portuguese," as I sipped stale
Last ounces from four nights 'go like's good sense,
With mair than I'd known ere for all intents,
And laden praps as Roscoe was't? thought, frail
Erm, as my seeing more clearly to avail
Just how much we've in common is't? from hence.
One friend some years back said I'd be as her--
Was't cuz I begged for romance? or through
These diary pages shewed I had as twere
That lonely life Miss Barrett ere me knew?
Where now, since losing Mum I feel in poor
'Scuse kinship like my friend claimed, sold to YOU?
09Nov18d
Nov 11, 2018
Nov 11, 2018 at 5:13 PM UTC
...say--whatever, nor how to say "ghastly" with another word.
(sonnet #MMMMMMMCDXCVII)
O how the gutter drools in morning's pale
And ghastly eye, leaves fluttring down from hence
In lonely ones or twos, so yellow, whence
Look how November lays a carpet, hale
Aye golden, thick and musty, whose detail
Glows dimly under grey racks' twilight, dense
Calm is't? mair bitter than our souls fr'intents
Like, while Death stares us in the face sans bail.
Trees' naked boughs stretch upward as winds stir
The fallen with a careless hand. We do
Not look, but with faint shivring as it were,
Pull sweaters closer, hang up lights to woo
Warm feelings as the strands blink through this poor
Light, and rain weeps sans consolation, blue.
06Nov18a
Nov 8, 2018
Nov 8, 2018 at 5:29 PM UTC
Tuesday in a nutshell, the week, for that matter.
(sonnet #MMMMMMMCMXXIV)
Rain dances on vast puddles with a sense
Of that delicious wetness, where in pale
Excuse I maunt find one spare minute's bail
To steal a chance out where it'd whisper thence
Fair secrets to the listning few. Note hence
That lightning flashes, thunder's deep exhale
In tow, and how my schedule shan't avail
Me of a chance to breathe for aught intents.
No, run, run, run, mair thankful thus in poor
Reply that lo, Thy mercies are e'er new.
And further, that "man does not live [in tour]
By bread alone--" but by Thy Word, while too
Besieged by what would drown me, 'cept for Your
Great lovingkindness...cept, LORD, cuz of You.
30Apr19b
May 2, 2019
May 2, 2019 at 11:30 PM UTC
...for in Thee do I trust--"
(sonnet #MMMMMMMDCXLV)
Ah, dismal hours in black and white! the pale
Eye of this languid dawn admits fr'intents
Ne colour on that scale, the cold from hence
Mair bitter cuz which note cries in betrayl?
The blacktop scraped in shovling to avail
Our passage looks the colder with a sense
We feel within our bones, to want from thence
Morn's *** of tea to hearten souls like's bail.
And yet we have Thy Scriptures, LORD. This tour
Of snowy vistas to remind anew
That our souls shall be "white as snow--" more pure
Than my heart's yearnings as I think now too
Of three years ere when Mum's death was as twere
Made all the more stark by this icy view.
14Jan19a
Jan 19, 2019
Jan 19, 2019 at 9:27 PM UTC
Just leer at me and put your finger on my lips as I slip into the mists.
(sonnet #MMMMMMDCCCXLIX)
Tis New Year's Eve and one hour left t'avail,
The blueish shadows, tire tracks winding thence
From here to out of sight, and white snow dense
Upon the landscape are all buried, pale
Within night's blacker shroud, as no detail
Save distant, muffled shots is't? own a sense
Of what we thought to know, yea, that pretense
Mair hollow as the Scriptures tip the scale.
Ya, Revelation and the end in tour
Of Babylon sets all our fete as due
Now on its ear, the festive note we stir
Less than its vaunted echo, listed to
Effect as burned up in a moment, poor
As freighted joys. And what is left to do?
31Dec17a
Jan 15, 2018
Jan 15, 2018 at 11:32 PM UTC
Ya.
(sonnet #MMMMMMMDCCXLVII)
Blue heavns with clouds as fiberfill gone stale
Jist floating lazly in morn's vague suspense,
Where coffee scents the air with half a sense
Of yonder whilst mine owly eyes in pale
Excuse take note of aught reply t'avail
As wont, sans words to roll oer fer intents
My tongue, and silence shifts as twere from hence
Without a voice as I leave that detail.
So later, from the kichen window fer
Mair than whatever, watch a wolf chase to
Effect some shapeless form, which as it were
Is caught just as his mouth decays in blue
Seas no, erm, Jolly Roger haunts in tour,
And wonder if that signifies aught too.
05Mar19a
Mar 9, 2019
Mar 9, 2019 at 9:58 PM UTC
I was, too.
(sonnet #MMMMMMMDCCCIX)
Let's see...rain draws up silver puddles' tale
Of being upon the blacktop, where suspense
Is fast asleep cuz Sunday augured thence
Mair calm than it could e'er endure, the pale
Eye of uncertain hours with half a frail
Thought dawn played hooky for all that, a sense
None can e'en yawn worn out as sheer pretense
Was quite arraigned in morn's half light: sans bail.
I roll words 'cross my tongue at lunch as twere,
And sparrows take the chance to gaily cue
Fond smiles til conversation rules in tour.
Now's time to put on rice to boil anew,
Warm refried beans for dinner, lo, bestir
Me fin'lly to jot down a note...where to?
24Mar19a
Mar 28, 2019
Mar 28, 2019 at 12:43 AM UTC