On the substitution bench

[Bench]

Very nervous about joining such auspicious company, but here goes...

1) Beauty regime
2) Match-day Mass
3) Flora Day
4) Memory Random
5) Life on Mars?
6) Monkey Business
7) Stanley Richards (1)
8) (2)
9) (3)
10) (4)
11) Untitled
12) Mr Nice
13) Bringing out the Big Guns
14) Law Abiding
15) Analysing
16) (5)
17) Answered Prayer
18) (Unfinished)
19) Night-Shift
20) Cheap Date
21) (6)
22) The Beast of Carnon Downs
23) Ode to a Cornish Hedge
24) Flight Path
25) Windblown
26) Home Time
27) Lionheart

[Bench]

Beauty Regime

He stared at his half-shaven face, bemused--
His razor, like a farrow, tore his youth
In gouged flesh lines from his cheeks and his throat,
At once dissolving it in pinkish foam,
Its ticket punched for one-way down the drain.
He wondered how her perfect mocha skin
Defied all sense, as if she could shame clocks
To stop their deathly tocks when she passed by.
He wondered if her secret lay within
The demijohns of lurid vinegars
And creams that grew unlabelled in their fridge.
His rational mind dismissed these childish thoughts.
He looked at his Gray image in the glass
And saw a monstrous painting in the loft.

[merelynn]

He wondered if her secret lay within
The demijohns of lurid vinegars
And creams that grew unlabelled in their fridge.

In particular, I like 'demijohns of lurid vinegars'.

Happy NaPoMo!

Happy NaPoMo!

[Bench]

Thanks merelynn! Trepidatious is not the word for this, due to muse transience. Best of luck!

[anenome]

super sonnety stuff bench, I like the shift from his to her skins and that the internal rhyme is as subtle as the blank rhyme ends, I'd say your muse is anything but, happy NaPo!

[Bench]

Thanks anenome, much appreciated. I hate to jinx games, and never really gamble on outcomes, but Liverpool Spurs is in an hour and it occurred to me a win would drown any ideas, so best get something in now...

Match-day Mass

Since Nietzsche killed our only God,
The stands became our church;
The Holy Ground where Shankly trod
Leaves Catholics in the lurch.
The Jewish Sabbath, all but gone
If Liverpool beat Spurs by 1,
Because who cares about the soul
When Danny Sturridge scores a goal?

[PClem]

Love both of these. Nicely played.

[avalanche]

Indeed. Just as an aside, it wasn't Nietzsche who did the killing, but us...in those very same churches.
But carry on, this is enjoyable.

[Dani B]

there is a reverence at footy games that borders on religious, nicely woven -d

[anenome]

I quite enjoyed match day mass, the pacing of the initial lines of meter as much as the religious approach and contrast!

[Bench]

Clem, Dani, Anenome and Avalanche thanks for your kind words. Ended a 1-1 draw, since you asked. Avalanche, forgive my ignorance on the teachings of Nietzsche, I'd have argued with him about it if he wasn't (obviously) in hell.

Flora Day

When I was young, and danced the Floral Dance,
I jump-hop-shuffled with ribbons of kids,
in starched-white clothes through the Helston streets.

We’d practiced round the football pitch for weeks,
to learn the steps, and how to hold girls’ hands
while keeping creeping redness from our cheeks.

So when the throbbing pounding of the drum
and pompous tuba echoed off the glassy
granite shops and bluebell doorway pubs

disgorging drunken men, we’d learned enough
of skip and hop to earn those knowing smiles
that flashed among the folk that hemmed the roads.

***

I visit nowadays to show my teeth
to the white-washed windows of Eddie’s Toys,
graffiti covered sterling-boarded Wooly's,

Trim, the grocer, selling mobile phones
and pubs with fewer punters than they've pumps,
and wonder at the smiles between their jumps.

[anenome]

The contrast between now and then is well defined, love the lively nostalgia and innocence depicted through dance, Helston rings a bell too!

[Mike M]

These are all fun - I like the Dorian Gray sonnet best so far.

[Bench]

Anenome, Mike, thanks for reading. Fluffing is a new thing to me and I'm increasingly appreciating the effort made by everyone. Short on depth today:



Memory Random

Grandpa was a warrior
Then wore a cap of flies.
Grandma was a worrier,
Who missed his fishy lies.

[Janet]

Memory Random is my fav so far. The word play/rhyming made me smile. Nice appeal for it's nostalgic and relatable simplicity too- I grew up listening to fish tales.