Twas only when he turned eighteen,
That Ben was quite oft to be seen,
In the Star and the Vic,
And the Strugs and the Wig,
And a number of pubs in between.
20 June 2009
18
18 June 2009
As I walked out to the Morning Star
As I walked out to the Morning Star
The Cathedral cast its mark,
Its lowering shadows enveloped the pub
And the sky grew unusually dark.
The Church, the beacon, was not yet lit
Too soon to call it night,
Though its luminous power would later shine forth
By the trick of electric light.
A Farmhouse, By Tom Davies
Little children come out to play,
In the meadow as bright as day.
The stream runs by all the while,
It’s Chipping Norton’s River Nile.
Derek the duck swims along,
Whilst the blackbird sings his joyful song.
Derek is an agile swimmer,
Then a farmer shoots him for his dinner.
He takes him back to Mrs Farmer,
Who looks distinctly like a llama.
She puts it in the boiling pot,
The sun is shining, she’s really hot.
She openeth the window and looks at the grass,
Whilst Farmer Giles slaps her ass.
Who works the field pulling carts by day,
And sleepeth at night, betwixt horse and hay.
15 June 2009
The totty
It was nine o’clock monday night
and thinking about getting dark.
There they were, tottering outside the station,
dressed to the nines and heels so high
leading to instability in light winds.
A token bloke in tow,
what was he thinking of?
I couldn’t make out
if they were on their way out
or on their way in
or what indeed they were doing there.
Tom alighted from the train and
we left them to their evening.
11 June 2009
Westgate Stores
the Burton Road Strip
Can we stop off
On the way home
From school for sweets?
We can stop off
On the way
To the pub for fags!
(If takeaways aren’t on
Tonight’s menu)
Load up on the way home
From a libation
@ the Strugs or the Vic.
31 May 2009
The green wall of summer
The green wall of summer,
Birds in evening chorus in the park,
New growth ripples along the hedge,
The light remains,
Though sense says it should be dark.
Rays filter through the canopy,
A rose commends its lovely presence,
Its colour in delicate harmony,
Without the wall,
Pink beauty conferred with deep fragrance.
28 May 2009
When was the last time you used a phonebox?
When was the last time you used a phonebox?
Freedom is going out without
your mobile phone alone.
When was the last time you used a phonebox?
Only the strongest constitution
can take this liberation.
When was the last time you used a phonebox?
Blow a raspberry to the Blackberry,
real men don’t need email on the move.
When was the last time you used a phonebox?
The text message
The phone goes ping, ping. Someone’s poking me.
Oooh, a text. Who can this be ?
A thought, a plan, or maybe just a wave, which
I save, because it has enriched
My day. Then I send back my reply, and try
To be witty, and clever, but mostly it’s meant
To return their compliment.
27 May 2009
The Burton Road Strip Launch
This is an advance notice of a local arts project being launched on Burton Road. It is entitled “The Burton Road Strip” and is centred around a series of poems and photographs published on this website on the subject of some of the shops, eateries and pubs on Burton Road.
The work is being displayed at the Gainsborough Festival on Saturday 6th June and is being showed at local studio No10 Burton Road the following weekend on Saturday 13th June.
The Lincoln event will be announced/covered on the Rod Whiting Breakfast Show on Radio Lincolnshire on Friday 12th June.
On Saturday the Studio at No10 Burton Road will be open from 1pm showing “The Burton Road Strip” together with other work by local writer and poet Tref. At 4pm on this day we are planning some readings together with a glass of wine which you are very welcome to attend.
23 May 2009
Nothing exists outside these four walls
Nothing exists outside these four walls,
The light is reflected on the windows and
All is black beyond the glass.
My access to the external world
Is a mobile phone which is used
To send text messages,
And Facebook.
It is a virtual world.
I finish a bottle of red wine
And have nothing but my thoughts
And the tick of the clock on the kitchen wall.
The kitchen
A sirloin steak, rare, 2 minutes on the first side and 1 minute on the second, coated in crushed black pepper.
A simple salad , lettuce, vine tomatoes and spring onions with olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar dressing.
Caramelised red onions and whole button mushrooms cooked in their own juices.
Salt, pepper and Dijon mustard.
Wolf Blass, Yellow Label, South Australia, Cabernet Sauvignon 2007.
Crusty white bread with butter.
Blackness outside.
Silence.
17 May 2009
Random Symmetry
I see a random symmetry
As the drops hit the puddle
And concentric circles grow
Until they collide and are consumed.
Cares vanish as the rings fade,
Geometric self-hypnosis,
Walking in the gentle rain.
Shell garage
Food on the go,
For people on the move.
Snap your fingers
To the rhythm of a
Pork pie and a pint of milk.
Hit on a coffee
For those wide awake moments.
Mars bars and Lucozade
For that morning after
Energy lift.
Body fuel by Shell.
photo by Andy Benn
16 May 2009
Old Bakery Restaurant
If awards are your scene,
This is a must
For Mediterranean cuisine
If atmosphere is your thing
Come on in.
Family run fine dining
At its best
At your behest.
