National Poetry Day

I love National Poetry Day, listening to everyone's contributions on the radio.

Here is mine, I entered it into the Creative Futures competition this year, the theme "Impossible Things" but alack and alas it failed to meet with the judges approval .

I love to dance but with my 8" arms and no hand grip I go through life frustrated in my passion and dream of  a partner who can choreograph twirls and lifts while keeping me unbroken.

So here is my fantasy poem.

Rhythm Impossible

I really want to be on Strictly Come Dancing

Knowing the experience would be life enhancing

Watching I choreograph all my own moves

No trouble for me twirling in a pair of high shoes

My fantasies are filled with Anton du Beke

One leg on the floor one leg round his neck

Some issues keep me waiting forlorn in the wings

Practically and physically impossible things 

I am not too old but have reached an age

When some of my muscles might fail to engage

For the six long hours  every day training

My pelvic floor may become unsustaining

There's a slight lack in the length of my arms

I won't wear prosthetics and hide all my charms

With ribbon extensions tied to my wrists

They can twirl me away and I won't go adrift

This artistic interpretation of the usual frame

A ten from Len in my dreams he proclaims

My partner challenged by my hands with no grip

Would cling to me tightly in case of a slip

The lifts would require a large leap of faith

The rise and fall  lead to judgment disgrace

Finally relevantly and sadly for me

I am not a celebrity at the great BBC

Sue Kent 2015  

Incomplete Triathlete

I'm asking myself every day why
I agreed to do this disabled Paratri?

Just because I was asked I did not need to say yes

I don't care what people think I don't need to impress

So why attempt to be a triathlete

With a body that is a bit incomplete? 

I climbed up Ben Nevis and was feeling quite smug

I said no problem and a hole myself dug

Looking on the plus side, I had put on some lard

And trying to loose it was proving quite hard

Outdoor training under sun summer skies

Might be a good way to drop a dress size 

To get in the lake for 750 meters swim

To complete that distance I need to wear fins

Worrying what if I get kicked in the face

Before getting started I'd sink without trace

Or I could lead up and down Dorney lake

Leaving the competition behind in my wake

I've practiced transition without any assistance

Half an hour of fighting with Lycra resistance

This is why there is a need for disability Tri

Inclusively competing with help on our side

I can cycle all of the 20 Kilometres ride

The cake shop at the end fills up my insides

The bit I find difficult is the bitch 5 k run

My muscles fast twitch endurance no fun

When I'm running my little arms flick left to right
By-passers find me an interesting sight

I have to admit that it causes me stress
When I hear the old ladies whisper "Ahh Bless

I must set an example, put on a brave face

I know this won't happen on the day of the race
But I am still asking myself every day why

I agreed to take part in the August ParaTri?

Living Legends @ Soulsville

Sadly the Main Man is no longer alive so the title should change but he still lives on in my head. Many of the great musicians leave the world too early, 

This was written as a practice piece to develop reality into fantasy, I post this now as I am lucky enough to be going to see Roy Ayes perform in Bristol in July  Please enjoy and I hope you get the references if you are a fan of any of these musicians.

If I could have fitted Earth Wind and Fire and Lonnie Liston Smith into this poem I would have. to make the dream complete.

All I need is a musician and maybe there is a song here! ...in my dreams  

Living Legends  @ Soulsville 

My friend said I'll introduce you to someone I know you'll like

he took me backstage and to my delight

Standing some way away at the back of the room

The man he described was looking at me

We chatted for a while and then said our goodbyes

I thought that will be that but the look in his eyes

said we part to meet again as I left the room

I knew he was looking at me

I got an invite to a gig on the other side of town

The hippest chicest place for many miles around

I walked up to the bar and ordered a drink

When I turned he was looking at me

He was sat at the piano this time with a beard

I have a thing for them I was shafted  I feared

He caught my attention with a nod and a smile

Then stayed  looking at me

Filling the room with his vibraphone smooth

The man Roy Ayres the crowd in his groove

The soul man played with him relaxed and on track

But always looking at me

Nile Rogers appeared  all in white and took up his guitar

Fender in his hands the coolest shoes  by far

But Mr Hayes still kept his gaze

Locked on and looking at me

In the heat of the night the crowd in the mood

Mercury rising Jazz trumpeting Dude

Quincy Jones brought it right home

Isaac  was looked at me

The greatest love of all completed the masquerade

 After hours Mr George Benson came on  stage

And all the time this genius played

The man with the beard was looking at me

The gods of funk of Jazz and of Superfly

Injecting the audiences with their rhythmical highs

End their performance  then start to play

Isaac Hayes was looking at me

Disco Funk Album Covers from the 1970's & 1980's

Copyright Sue Kent

Desperate Housewife

Desperate housewife

 

I have given up looking at women's magazines

Showing big houses all tidy and clean

My Husband keeps buying them in the hope that I'll see

How the other half lives and how our live should be

My intentions are good when I start in the morning

However to be honest I find housework so boring

 

I’d rather write poems and garden all day

Than do all the chores for no thanks and no pay

The dirt I find when I pull out the bed

Makes me ashamed, my face goes quite red

I knows that my husband does not like a mess

Needs the house tidy and likes to impress

 

But life is so full of more interesting things

And I am a butterfly with very large wings

My greenhouse a siren in spring daylight hours

Nurturing seedlings and potting on flowers

Then seagulls call round and tempt me astray

Skipping down to the beach to watch them at play

 

In the rain one would think I could get some things done

Be responsible, organised and stop having fun

I should do some laundry and perhaps a bit more

But time runs away at the internet store

I must be on Facebook with far flung relations

Its rude not to answer the odd communication

 

My man homeward comes and kisses my lips

His heart next to mine his hands on my hips

I feel I have failed him in measurable ways

As he walks through the house with an air of dismay

One day I will be perfect I promise him madly

The truth we both know is different quite sadly

By Sue Kent

 

Remembrance - ThinkOfAPoem

The Theme of National Poetry day this year 2014 is remembrance 

I remember my Father in this poem. I still have his jumper resting over the back of my desk chair. I would have worn it out by now but I cant wear it as his arms were normal length and mine are 8" and I cannot bear to cut the sleeves off - the pointlessness of cutting up clothes poem

So it will go on resting on my chair, its scent slowly diminishing.

Dead Man's Clothes

 

I am sniffing a dead man's clothes
nine months after

Musty smell
he smelt musty
slowly musty took over
Breathe deeply
past the weary worn-out
Hidden in the fibres
woven in the wool
I can find it
scent of family
the comfort and the sadness
knitting together

wrap round
the inadequate

 

Sue Kent

Eddystone adventure

As a rowing cox who cannot row due to disability I cannot take part in the sea rowing Eddystone Challenge as the cox needs to be able to row as part of the team, as the distance to be rowed is quite a challenge. So as I cant encourage the Mumbles Rowing Teams on the water, this is my pre event motivational contribution.

Eddystone adventure

Good luck to all you challengers
And learn by old mistakes
Dont have Guinness and a curry
It gives you sickness and the shakes

For those of you who are loved up
Don't indulge the night before
It will leave you week and feeble
Save your passions for the oars

Take your time and pace yourselves
You have a long long way to go
May the salty sea be flat and calm
And the winds forget to blow

And as you round the Eddystone
Please shout hello from me
I cannot cox and row like you
But I'll be I your  head you'll see

For when you think you are all in
And really on your uppers
A voice inside your head will shout
Mumbles row you Fuc*ers


Sue Kent 27 June 2014

The Eddystone challenge - more info can be found at http://mayfloweroffshorerowingclub.org/node/219



http://mayfloweroffshorerowingclub.org/node/219

Frayed Pink Ribbon - Breast Cancer Ribbon

A No-makeup selfies campaign has generated over £2m windfall for cancer research.

I was nominated by a friend , but due to my arm length I can only capture my chest in a selfie which although relevant, is not appropriate so instead here is my poem, written for a great friend I lost to breast cancer. 

My Mum had breast cancer twice and survived.

Text BEAT to 70099 to donate £3 in aid of cancer research/treatment.and nominate two more friends

share on twitter #nomakeupselfie 

Frayed Pink Ribbon

What can I say when my old friend calls and says she is dying

I try to be supportive but she can hear my silent crying

What can I say when she says the cancers spread

I look at her with love, at the wig upon her head

What can I say when she is so selfless and so strong

She’s only a young mother, the way of this is wrong

What can I say when she tells me of her desire

Just to see her children through the horrible teenage mire

What can I say when the cancers at her throat

Pain twisting round it, like the hangman with his rope

What can I say when she shares her fear of leaving

Her husband , her three children in their constant state of grieving

What can I say when she is too ill to speak

She tried to send a message, too late, she is too weak

What will I say at the funeral of my friend

Bright pink ribbons could not help to free you in the end

10/4/2010 – Sue Kent

Further information @ http://www.theguardian.com/

@ http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/