Its that time of month.....

So... the 29th.. and the last but one poem of my one a day... its been an interesting experiment... I don't think I could do it every month, but its been valuable... and has given me plenty of stuff to work on... te idea of using Brewers was inspired... the titles and themes it gave me were nothing like anything I could have chosen... Cacoethes, Ptolemy, Below the Belt.... Master of the Kings Music... all sorts of stuff, and in line with my admiration of Tori Amos, most had something to do with that three letter word beginning with s... as Miss Amos says, that is, when we get down to it, possibly the thing that all else revolves around... after all, none of us would be here if not for that one thing! but I digress.... although I am reminded of a poem my mother taught me.. not sure of the author, but here goes...

Out of all the alphabet,
I love the letter X...
It stands for kiss
And naughty films,
And is one third of sex.

but there we go.. other than that, everything else seems to be looking up....our scouts came third and fourth in the district night hike.... well done lads! On top of winning the District quiz, this has boosted us no end... we must be doing something right...this weekend sees a survival skills camp.... skinning rabbits, plucking pigeons, building shelters... should be fun... then bank holiday monday.. not sure what's going on then... but I'm sure something will happen.... and I'm a step closer to getting my van... which is nice... but again I digress... until we all survive our own skills, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 21.....

So, day 21 of my challenge, and so far, despite such joyful subjects as The fatal raven, Schoolmen, and the Blue Ensign, I have managed one poem a day so far... phew! And on the advice of nearly everyone (as mentioned last entry) I am now enrolled on a dating site.... was a bit scary going on first toime, but most people there seem fairly friendly, and no ones actually old me where to go yet.... but for saying I've been a member for just over a week, things seem to be going well.. and I can say it was definitely worth the joining fee so far.... but there we are.... so, whta has gone down this week...??? well, St Georges Day parade on sunday went well, one of my embarassing pics of a fellow leader being used to great effect in the service... sorry, Spoon.... I've made a rosary for a friend, and I'm hoping I can get it blessed by a priest.... and I've been told i'm wasted as a Scout Leader, and should have been a Brown Owl... but unfortunately I'd have struggled in that role.. choosing between skirt and culottes would be difficult... especially with my legs..... I've also ordered some length of service badges for my scout uniform.... its afunny thing, but we seem to a bit slow in some things... for instance, I received my certificate for 5 years service after nine years,.. but got my ten year on eleven months later... but I digress... before i sign off, though, big up (as those who are down wiv the kidz say) to James Muller, Beaver, Cub, Scout, Young Leader, Assistant Scout Leader and Friend... who skived off St Georges day fro no better reason than that he was present at Windsor Castle with the Chief Scout and Queen (or her representative) and the Duke of Kent to parade with all the years awardees of the highly coveted Queens scout Award... well done Jim... out of all the Scouts I've known, you deserved it most.... mark this well, future employers... you will be very lucky if you can get this man to work for you.... but there we are... until all can be as much a family as our Scouts, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!

not miuch.. but some...

So here i am listening to Tori and a Neil Young tribute patting myself on the back.. managed over a week of a poem a day, and still going... subjects such as Cyrano de Bergerac, the shepherds sundial and cacoethes have not phased me, and i may even have manageed my entry for the BBc wildlife poet of the year, with a version of one of the afore mentioned... the idea of using Brewers for inspiration was inspired in itself, having conjured up things that i would never have thought of.... soon I hope to overtake the azgoths of kreer.... and Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings... but i digress.... until they seek us here, there and everywhere, wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still going ok.....

Well, we're onto day four of national poetry month, and my plan to do one a day is still going according to plan... yesterday me had "Minuteman" as our theme, and today was "Royal and Ancient." Who knows, one day you may even see them.. the birthday poem I wrote for a certain young lady was well received, although she was convinced initially that I had somehow stolen it off the internet.. a prophet is not without honour etc... they've al gone down in neat in one of my red hardback A5 notebooks, ready to sit on my shelf unread.. but in fact I have determined that this year I will be entering some competitions.. my attempt to become BBC wildlife poet of the year is progressing, with me still unsure about weasels crossing roads, or pigeons breaking windscreens... but I digress.... basically an ok day.. off to the peaks on sunday all being well.. and people keep mentioning dating agencies to me... i'm sure i'm being set up... the idea was even posited by a guide at a campfire last night.. now, where's the libre paginarum fulvarium....??? till all your pages yellow, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

second day....

into the second day of my attempt to write a poem a day.. and boy its a biggie... brewers has given the subject of bowing down in the house of rimmon, which just goes to show....yesterdays living will went ok.. not brilliant, admittedly, but there we go... i can probably work on it later... todays was written in a 7.5 ton truck near beacon hill.. which speaks volumes.... so, untill all your hills are beacons, wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April.. nthe cruellest month???

So, is april the cruellest month, or was TS Eliot just talking out of his american hat?? who knows... personally I find nearly every month cruel in some ways, but then I am an incurable optimist...but i digress.. as you may or may not know, this is national poetry month, and in celebration of such i have decided, unoriginally admittedly to try to write a poem a day.. but where to start.. inspiration, then perspiration.. well, as for the inspiration.. I 've decided to fall back on good old Brewers.... flicking through randomly has given me today the subject of Living Will.. so leyts see what I can do... saw an old friend today, who came all the way from hinckley to visit our scouts, and managed to get himself a lot of cake... which was nice...but there we are... also found out that barracuda often smells of sick... but more of that another day.. until we all smell of curry.. wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spelling and sheds....

Well, the shed is up, thanks to help from my lady friend's next door but one neighbour... who came up wiyh two handds and some long anodised screws... and a very good shed it is too... bit warped, but never before erected (ooh err) and an absolute bargain at free.... the felt only just fit, but never mind... and that brings me onto the subject of spelling.. someone mentioned that my speklling on here is atrocious, and put it down to my 60 words per minute being non too accurate.. and recommended the use of the spellchecker, something I have always mistrusted after discovering that I am a spelling mistake... but I digress.. there are no spelling mistakes at all on this site... alll apparent errors are in fact the makings of an avant garde poem that I have been working on for many years.... find them all, take the letters to the left and right, transpose them with their equivalents based on a bacckwards alphabet, find the rigt order to put them in (and the clues are all on here.....) and lo and behold..... anyway, until all poetery becomes as opaque as it is transparent, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here we are again, happy as can be...

Having just spent six hours(!!!!) clearing out a twelve year old's bedroom, I can certainly say I achieved something with my day.... whether it was worthwhile is another thing.... I'm pretty sure that in two days' time the place will be just as bad as before... but there we are... which brings us to painting the Forth Bridge, or rolling that stone up the hill... some jobs are neverending... others just seem so.... but as usual, I digress.... I'm writing poetry again, which puts me some of the way towards the ambition I mentioned the other day... not far along the road, but getting there.... when it comes to poetry I often feel like Taran, the Assistant Pig Keeper inLloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles....(and NOT, I hasten to add, in the dire Disney film "the Black Cauldron...") .... if any of you out there have ever read the books, you may remember that in the fourth, "Taran Wanderer" our young hero sets out to find out who he is.... during that time, he learns easily how to plant a field, weave a cloak, and forge a sword.... but the one skill he comes to desire most, the shaping of clay, seems to escape him, until finally, after much hard work, he throws a wine bowl that the master potter declares to be passable.... and he realises that to become as good as he wishes, he would need to spend his whole life at the potters wheel.... but due to his commitments to others, and his duty, he cannot.... he cannot be selfish, and let his friends suffer for his desire.... so in the end he leaves.... sadder, but wiser..... and happy for the memories.... well, as I say, that's how poetry feels to me.... like Taran, I occasionally, after a lot of hard work, turn out something I feel is passable... not great literature naybe, but fit for its purpose according to the "sale of poetry act 1964"..... I think all of us, if we know ourselves well enough, have something the same inside us.... as Ricky Pym said, "Dreams... dreams are like the Stars.... we may never reach them... but, OH! how we profit from their presence!"... so to all you dreamers and poets, and would-be clay-shapers, Wisebeard salutes you!!

Ambition... such a dreadful thing to have.....

Within the next year I intend to do my best to realise one of my longest held ambitions... to get some of my poetry in print.... and not just on the net.... I mean in a book.... I've had short stories published, and a couple of non-fiction articles.... but my poems have so far managed to escape the page.... I'll keep you posted...

But isn't ambition a terrible thing.... suppose, instead of simple things, like having poetry published, and running my own light haulage business, my ambitions encompassed world domination, or the destruction of mine enemies.... wouldn't that just suck... first, if I did achieve it, I'm sure, like alexander, I would weep... but more terrible still, under my current circumstances, I would probably not be able to realise them... 2000 years ago it would have been easy... regardless of wealth or social status, a man like myself, wise AND bearded, would simply be able to journey to neighbouring villages, drum up support, gather a rag tag army and take over the province.... get a few legions on my side, march on Rome or Peking or Walsall or wherever and emerge as Emperor.... then neighbouring empires would fall... gosh, wasn't it easier back then.... problem is, I'd try to be a good ruler, and therefore would fail dismally... people don't want good rulers.... they're usually happier under bad rulers, and better off under indifferent ones.... and I personally think that channelled indifference is the way forward.... I mean, look at what such a thinghas achieved in Leicester.... acknowledged as one of the most racially harmonious cities in Europe, if not the world, why does Leicester have fewer problems with so-called ethnicity than say, Bradford??? Well, not because of any great effort on behalf of the Council, or the traders, or even the people.... looking at it objectively, its because we really couldn't give a s**t who our next door neighbours are as long as they don't cause us any bother.... round here, most of us couldn't care less what racial group owns the shop, as long as it sells fags and cornflakes.... and we sure aren't going to brick the windows.... otherwise, where do we buy the milk tomorrow.... under the present climate in leicester, I really couldn't see us having race riots like they had in Bradford a while back... because we really are indifferent to race.... it just doesn't matter to us whether someone is Indian, Caribbean, Bengali, Polish, Scottish, or whether they mix or don't.... we don't worry about integration or segregation, and just let everyone get on with life.... but if ever we do start worrying about it, we'll probably have trouble.... so to all those who can constructively channel their indifference, Wisebeard salutes you!!!!