POEMS - With Tongue In Cheek

[Marian]

Yes, probably the Photo Gallery would be best Keith. However Terence has posted lots of lovely photos of Dame Shirley here on the forum in the past. Maybe he would be the one to ask.

[keithgood838]

Forgive my long absence from the forum.
Following portracted phone discussions with BT,
and the installation of a replacement hub,
it transpired that my computer
had developed a defective broadband socket.
The two long weekends in quick succession
contrived to delay my reconnection to the internet.
However, I'm delighted to be back at last.
I wrote this verse in the hope of including it
in the run-up to the royal wedding; I hope forum
friends will find it of interest, even after the happy event:

THE INVIDIOUS INTRUDER
(The Lord Chamberlain is commanded
by the Queen to invite ... To the marriage
of His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales, K.G
with
Miss Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey)

The preposition, that pest on the linguistic landscape,
had done it again,
this time causing controversial consternation
having wormed his way in
to the royal wedding invitation.

At the risk of being a contrarian
by taking issue with tradition,
and the palace's grammarian,
I respectfully contend
that one gets married 'to';
'with' could be taken to mean attend
or, even fancifully, ride
as an escort to William's wedding
with his winsomely slender bride.

But let not the textual trouble-maker
mar the sunshine celebrations;
sorely needed spiritual uplift
for by-big-banks clouded-over nations.

Keith Good

[mariana44]

Good to see you back, Keith--on form as usual !!

It is tough not being able to connect to the outside world--I hate it when anything goes wrong !!

[Marian]

You should have sent a copy to the Palace Keith!
Good to see you back, we missed you.

[Lena & Harry Smith]

Good to see you back Keith. We missed you !!!

[keithgood838]

Thanks for your welcomes back, L&H, Marian
and Marian(a). I must say I missed reading the forum
posts and I was beginning to become really frustrated
about not being able to contribute.

COMPUTER TREK

Computerland is an alien world to me,
wherein they speak English but not as I know it.
They talk of menus that have no connection to cuisine;
surfing unrelated to the sea;
and hardware that has nothing to do with ironmongery.
(Im left perplexed by my voyage round the cyberspace galaxy.)
I guess I'm not cut out to explore the galactic internet scene.

[Lena & Harry Smith]

We know the feeling Keith, and no wizardry with us either

[Marian]

It can be a somewhat sticky web Keith!!

[keithgood838]

My interest was captured by Michele's report
on her contact with Ed Harrod's surviving family.
I miss his humorous daily emails and his readiness
to act as a sounding board for my verses.
My interest was also captured by a classical music-defining
discussion on the BBC Breakfast show today.
(Isn't Steven Fry prone to tongue-tiedness?)
Later I wondered as to how I would try to define poetry.
John Betjeman nailed it when he wrote:
Verse seems to me the shortest way
Of saying what one has to say,
A memorable means of dealing
With mood or person, place or feeling ...
It is a music of its own.
With Milton it had organ power
As loud as bells in Radcliffe tower;
It falls like winter crisp and light
On Cowper's Buckinghamshire night.
It can be gentle as a lake
Where Wordsworth's oars a ripple make
Or rest with Tennyson at ease
In sibilance of summer seas,
Or languorous as lilies grow
When Dowson's lamp is burning low ...

I was moved to write the following
quatrain having kept my regular date
with Bill and Sian:

VIRTUOUS VERSE

Poetry is a most meaningful art;
a personal, intimate literature
because it is progeny of the heart,
the sincerity comes firewall secure

Keith Good

[ROBERT M.]

That was nice Keith

[keithgood838]

Thanks Robert, it's reassuring to feel that my poetic
posts are well received; I sometimes wonder whether
they are a good idea because verse isn't everyone's
cup of tea. Also I plead guilty to posting spontaneous
verses, often composing stuff as I type it onto the forum.
I'm sure it shows. Recently, following an exchange
of pleasantries with my newsagent, I posted an irreverent
piece entitled, WIN-WIN, which I later realised had the potential
to become a proper poem. Imagine my surprise when it was
accepted for publication by the West Cork magazine
to which I contribute.
I suppose the poem could be read as a reply to doubters
who queried where God was during the recent spate
of world disasters: Haiti, Christchurch, Japan, and
latterly, Alabama:

POETIC JUSTICE

'It's better now, thank God,'
is what we say,
as in token appreciation
He gets the nod,
the gratitude bouquet.

'What the devil's that?'
we instinctively cry
when hit by sudden dislocation,
then at him we let fly
the anger-stoked brickbat.

Keith Good

[keithgood838]

DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT

Amid pressing commitments of the day,
one thought compels a pause,
which is representatives who hold sway
and enact civil laws
are foremost among miscreants who break
the hard-won legal instruments they make.

Keith Good

[keithgood838]

RIFTS RECONCILED

'You are welcome as the flowers in May',
in smile-accessoried green;
for too long you have been away
from the formerly fraught scene.

Old fueds now consigned to the past;
family no longer riven;
the matriarch is here at last,
to clasped bosom, all forgiven.

Keith Good

[keithgood838]

HERO WORSHIP

First melody held me in thrall
to the voice of Matt Monro,
then time revealed more of the man
I slowly got to know,
till respect moved my status
as a loyal fan
and love sold me not just the voice,
but the whole man.

Keith Good

[Lena & Harry Smith]

Very nice, both of them Keith.