Submissions by Jenny1959
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
I Went To Iceland
Today i went to Iceland
The supermarket not the place
Trying to find a short queue
Turns into a race
Elderly lady at the back
Tries to jump the queue
Those further forward voice their anger
“Hey, we were here before you”
The lady shrugs her shoulders
With two trifles in her hand
Standing ages just for that
Wasn’t what she had planned
Trolley at the front of the queue
Contains enough food to feed an army
Woman says “Most of it will get thrown away”
Queue looks at her as if she’s barmy
Small...
The supermarket not the place
Trying to find a short queue
Turns into a race
Elderly lady at the back
Tries to jump the queue
Those further forward voice their anger
“Hey, we were here before you”
The lady shrugs her shoulders
With two trifles in her hand
Standing ages just for that
Wasn’t what she had planned
Trolley at the front of the queue
Contains enough food to feed an army
Woman says “Most of it will get thrown away”
Queue looks at her as if she’s barmy
Small...
565 reads
4 Comments
Granda's Tree House
I'm sitting in the garden
With my small son on my knee
He looks up at me with big brown eyes
And says “Tell me about Granda's tree”
My father planted a tree
In nineteen forty two
He nurtured it and hadn’t bargained
On just how big it grew
When I was just seven years old
I had a love of climbing trees
Many times mum put plasters
On my bloodied and skinned knees
I can remember one day
Wearing my new party dress
Peering in through the window
A grubby bedraggled mess
I’d climbed as high as I...
With my small son on my knee
He looks up at me with big brown eyes
And says “Tell me about Granda's tree”
My father planted a tree
In nineteen forty two
He nurtured it and hadn’t bargained
On just how big it grew
When I was just seven years old
I had a love of climbing trees
Many times mum put plasters
On my bloodied and skinned knees
I can remember one day
Wearing my new party dress
Peering in through the window
A grubby bedraggled mess
I’d climbed as high as I...
587 reads
3 Comments
Tommy's Wartime Memories
Old Tommy Owens O.B.E
Fought in the war they said
Came back to his hometown
With shrapnel in his head
I was in town the other day
And bumped into his wife
She said “Why not come for tea one day?
And ask Tommy about his life”
I told her that I knew
He used to own a hardware store
She said “I meant that you should ask him
About his life during the war”
A couple of days ago
I had some time to spare
I went to visit Tommy Owens
He was sat in an old armchair
He said “Do I know you?
What...
Fought in the war they said
Came back to his hometown
With shrapnel in his head
I was in town the other day
And bumped into his wife
She said “Why not come for tea one day?
And ask Tommy about his life”
I told her that I knew
He used to own a hardware store
She said “I meant that you should ask him
About his life during the war”
A couple of days ago
I had some time to spare
I went to visit Tommy Owens
He was sat in an old armchair
He said “Do I know you?
What...
598 reads
1 Comment
I Am What I Am-Ode To My Son
This is a poem from me, your mam
When will you accept me for who I am?
I've always treated you well and your sister too
I’ve never played favourites with either of you
I've noticed that as you’ve got older
You have a huge chip on your shoulder
Don't be ashamed of me, you know you are
Just because I don’t have a flash car
My house is a home, no money I owe
Everything’s paid for, no H.P. you know
Respect my partner and respect me too
I’ve never tried to dictate to you
You’ve made your choices and I’ve made mine ...
When will you accept me for who I am?
I've always treated you well and your sister too
I’ve never played favourites with either of you
I've noticed that as you’ve got older
You have a huge chip on your shoulder
Don't be ashamed of me, you know you are
Just because I don’t have a flash car
My house is a home, no money I owe
Everything’s paid for, no H.P. you know
Respect my partner and respect me too
I’ve never tried to dictate to you
You’ve made your choices and I’ve made mine ...
453 reads
1 Comment
Mmm Cake
I'm shopping in the town near my favourite cake shop
I need a sugar fix so I’ll really have to stop
I’m having friends to tea, so I think it’s only fair
To buy my friend Patricia, a nice chocolate eclair
Connie loves a cake and it’s always lots of fun
Watching her dissect a pink-coated iced bun
Alice will be coming and she’ll bring her sister Pam
They both like nothing better, than a doughnut filled with jam
A Battenberg of pink and yellow is one of Carol's favourite cakes
She divides the squares into four, oh what a mess she makes ...
I need a sugar fix so I’ll really have to stop
I’m having friends to tea, so I think it’s only fair
To buy my friend Patricia, a nice chocolate eclair
Connie loves a cake and it’s always lots of fun
Watching her dissect a pink-coated iced bun
Alice will be coming and she’ll bring her sister Pam
They both like nothing better, than a doughnut filled with jam
A Battenberg of pink and yellow is one of Carol's favourite cakes
She divides the squares into four, oh what a mess she makes ...
526 reads
1 Comment
The Cupboard Under The Stairs
If the cupboard under the stairs could talk
I wonder what it would say
Would it tell me of those who hid in it
When there was rent to pay
What about the poor frightened child
Back in nineteen forty
Locked inside it for hours at a time
Just for being naughty
It could tell of the granda who sheltered inside
When bombs landed on Spion Kop
Crouched inside, hands over his ears
So that he couldn’t hear the bombs drop
Does the cupboard remember the numerous times
When gran hid boxes of chocolates in there
She...
I wonder what it would say
Would it tell me of those who hid in it
When there was rent to pay
What about the poor frightened child
Back in nineteen forty
Locked inside it for hours at a time
Just for being naughty
It could tell of the granda who sheltered inside
When bombs landed on Spion Kop
Crouched inside, hands over his ears
So that he couldn’t hear the bombs drop
Does the cupboard remember the numerous times
When gran hid boxes of chocolates in there
She...
582 reads
3 Comments
She is a missing person
Callie is a missing person
That no-one cares about
Pregnant at fifteen
So her parents threw her out
Too young to get a council house
So she's living on the streets
Sleeping in a doorway
Wrapped in filthy sheets
Everything was going fine
Till her new stepdad moved in
He had her mother at his beck and call
Much to her chagrin
Callie had tried her level best
To get on well with him
James Thomas Harrison
Known to his friends as Jim
In mum’s eyes he could do no wrong
And Callie could do no...
That no-one cares about
Pregnant at fifteen
So her parents threw her out
Too young to get a council house
So she's living on the streets
Sleeping in a doorway
Wrapped in filthy sheets
Everything was going fine
Till her new stepdad moved in
He had her mother at his beck and call
Much to her chagrin
Callie had tried her level best
To get on well with him
James Thomas Harrison
Known to his friends as Jim
In mum’s eyes he could do no wrong
And Callie could do no...
563 reads
2 Comments
The Reflection In The Mirror
I look into the mirror
And who is that I see?
Someone I don't recognise
Is looking back at me
The lines upon the forehead
That are called ‘worry lines'
Are caused by getting stressed
Far too many times
A line next to the right eyebrow
It’s the liver that's to blame
Due to excess alcohol
Or so the doctors claim
The line next to the left eyebrow
Is connected to the spleen
So much for thinking the body
Is like a finely-tuned machine
At the corner of both eyes
Are very deep crow’s feet ...
And who is that I see?
Someone I don't recognise
Is looking back at me
The lines upon the forehead
That are called ‘worry lines'
Are caused by getting stressed
Far too many times
A line next to the right eyebrow
It’s the liver that's to blame
Due to excess alcohol
Or so the doctors claim
The line next to the left eyebrow
Is connected to the spleen
So much for thinking the body
Is like a finely-tuned machine
At the corner of both eyes
Are very deep crow’s feet ...
603 reads
2 Comments
Half Term Blues
Half-term holidays are here again
Two weeks of not going to school
Uniforms are in the washing machine
Even though the kids think they're uncool
After two days they'll be fighting
And I bet this will strike a chord
In a week you will be hearing
Those three little words “Mum, I’m bored”
Holiday companies charge more
Than they do during term-time
But you can't take them away then
You'll get fined because it’s a crime
None of the kids will read a book
They're on the console playing games
They won't take turns...
Two weeks of not going to school
Uniforms are in the washing machine
Even though the kids think they're uncool
After two days they'll be fighting
And I bet this will strike a chord
In a week you will be hearing
Those three little words “Mum, I’m bored”
Holiday companies charge more
Than they do during term-time
But you can't take them away then
You'll get fined because it’s a crime
None of the kids will read a book
They're on the console playing games
They won't take turns...
604 reads
0 Comments
Day Centre Day
Sally sits in her bay window
Watching folks go by
“No-one ever visits me”
She murmurs with a sigh
She got up at seven
Had her usual breakfast at eight
Bacon, an egg and a slice of fried bread
On her usual Royal Doulton plate
About ten 'o' clock
The mini-bus will arrive
To take her to the Day Centre
She'll be back home by five
Her coat is hanging in the hallway
It’s looking quite well-worn
With a button hanging by a thread
And the right-hand pocket torn
She puts on her coat ...
Watching folks go by
“No-one ever visits me”
She murmurs with a sigh
She got up at seven
Had her usual breakfast at eight
Bacon, an egg and a slice of fried bread
On her usual Royal Doulton plate
About ten 'o' clock
The mini-bus will arrive
To take her to the Day Centre
She'll be back home by five
Her coat is hanging in the hallway
It’s looking quite well-worn
With a button hanging by a thread
And the right-hand pocket torn
She puts on her coat ...
511 reads
1 Comment
My Wordy Wedding Cake
Today it is the day
To choose my wedding cake
I love anything to do with words
So my decision was easy to make
I went off to the baker’s
And they had lots of styles
But I had my heart set on a cake
Adorned with Scrabble tiles
It was to be iced with red fondant
And the letters would be white
With the number of points on the corner
It had to be just right
There would be a message
On tiers one and two
‘Words can not describe
Just how much I love you'
Our initials on the top
On individual...
To choose my wedding cake
I love anything to do with words
So my decision was easy to make
I went off to the baker’s
And they had lots of styles
But I had my heart set on a cake
Adorned with Scrabble tiles
It was to be iced with red fondant
And the letters would be white
With the number of points on the corner
It had to be just right
There would be a message
On tiers one and two
‘Words can not describe
Just how much I love you'
Our initials on the top
On individual...
576 reads
0 Comments
Sam the dog and Pearl the cat
Sam the dog and Pearl the cat
Were sitting on the wall
They do it every day
So it isn't strange at all
They have little conversations
Which only they can understand
They talk about their little quirks
And none of them are planned
Pearl goes first of course
And Sam lets her have her say
He knows better than to interrupt
He learnt his lesson the other day
“I scratch my scratching post
And I chase my clockwork mouse
I leave my loving mistress
Little gifts all around the house
I eat all of my...
Were sitting on the wall
They do it every day
So it isn't strange at all
They have little conversations
Which only they can understand
They talk about their little quirks
And none of them are planned
Pearl goes first of course
And Sam lets her have her say
He knows better than to interrupt
He learnt his lesson the other day
“I scratch my scratching post
And I chase my clockwork mouse
I leave my loving mistress
Little gifts all around the house
I eat all of my...
697 reads
1 Comment
DU Poetry : Submissions by Jenny1959