Have a Nice Day by Spike Milligan

Obviously the poem -  Have a Nice Day- is still in copyright, so instead of posting it here are a number of links,

video https://vimeo.com/96133058
Poetry site http://allpoetry.com/Have-A-Nice-day

Have a Nice Day starts...
'Help, help, ' said a man. 'I'm drowning.'
'Hang on, ' said a man from the shore.
'Help, help, ' said the man. 'I'm not clowning.'
'Yes, I know, I heard you before...
...

Spike Milligan

Spike Milligan is one of the people in this world who was happy to turn his hand to anything, television, writing, poetry, all with an endearing gusto and often biting black humour. He had severe bipolar disorder,

"I have got so low that I have asked to be hospitalised and for deep narcosis (sleep). I cannot stand being awake. The pain is too much ... Something has happened to me, this vital spark has stopped burning – I go to a dinner table now and I don't say a word, just sit there like a dodo. Normally I am the centre of attention, keep the conversation going – so that is depressing in itself. It's like another person taking over, very strange. The most important thing I say is 'good evening' and then I go quiet.^"

 ^{Why I chose this poem even though I couldn't actually post it..}

Even without Spike Milligan's history it's pretty obvious the absent Dr Browning is no bit-player in this poem - but in the face of death and disaster the protagonist says he's had a very nice day. The stiff upper lip, ubiquitous phrases that permeate modern (and not so modern) life, "have a nice day" "how are you/I'm well" "good evening" where nobody says it like it is. So yes, I really enjoyed it, as it hit the spot on the complain-o-meter without actually complaining ;)

So that's it for this week, a total cheat, and remember not to have maybe not a nice day, but a fantastic week! Hopefully will be up for a poem by then.

A.J.

This week - working toward Waste Not

This week, I'm working on a new piece - Waste Not - although I admit several other titles did jump to mind. WastE NotE being one of them. Too much. Yes, obviously. But you know...too much waste is kind of the problem.

There have certainly been some interesting advances, discoveries when it comes to recycling.

People are looking at obtaining gold and precious metals from sewerage, and of course drinking water is a precious resource that many cities have been recycling for years.


Turning food waste into glass is newish, although banana skins and sugar cane have long had the fiber within used as a strengthening agent instead of fiberglass because of the weight savings. And to be honest to me it seems an interesting experiment, but possibly not the best use possible for food scraps.

It's interesting that waste and energy are two of our biggest problems, so it will be equally interesting to see how (and if) the advances in each field will compliment the other. It seems some countries are even importing waste for that purpose!

The video? Bill Gates swigging down some recycled water  :)

So yes, apologies, but poems at this time of the year are slow...

(Links)
Gold/precious metals: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/mar/23/gold-in-faeces-worth-millions-save-environment
Glass: http://ceramics.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Cover-Story_Aug14.pdf
Water etc: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/jan/20/turning-human-waste-into-drinking-water
Energy: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jun/14/norway-waste-energy

Port of Poems: for pirates, smugglers and other rogues

Given the popularity of the Portal to Fairy Tale Poetry, I thought, why not pirates and the like!
With links to my poetry, some great poets, and some I've just found. If you find some more, I'd love for you to leave a comment, or for my shy friends, (you know who you are:) ), talk to me and I'll add them.

In the meantime, 
Enjoy!
(poems are in alphabetical order)

A Ballad of John Silver by John Masefield

We were schooner-rigged and rakish, with a long and lissome hull,
And we flew the pretty colours of the cross-bones and the skull;  

read aloud or read the words yourself

 

A Smuggler's Song by Rudyard Kipling

An amazing poem...if you don't remember, it starts like this...
If you wake at midnight, and hear a horse's feet,
Don't go drawing back the blind, or looking in the street,
Them that ask no questions isn't told a lie.
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by.

Articles of Faith

Part 1: Pirate's life & Part 2: How Doth the Deinosuchus

Part 3 Dancing Pirates by A.J.Ponder

The use of pirates as a metaphor for

Cargoes by Poet Laureate John Masefield

Nice contrast of the exotic against industrial Britain. And in the juxtaposition lies the tragedy. The poem is featured by both Helen McKinlay and Helen Lowe on their Tuesday Poem blogs.

Here be Dragons by A.J. Ponder

Yo ho
and there's a map to
where the skeletons lie,
sunning themselves
on the sand and
Spanish gold...

 

Murdering Poetry by A.J. Ponder

I would kill... 

Timothy The Pirate by Charles M. Moore

 "...Timothy the pirate
he didn't like the sea..."

Piracy by A.J. Ponder

I still quite like this, it's space pirates (so insane) and the pace gathers momentum as the tragedy unfolds. :)

Pirate Story by Robert Louis Stevenson

I'm not sure how anyone can resist the cute version of kids playing pirate on the lawn.

And so, there we have them all. The pirates we love to love, and love to hate, have a great week! And if you haven't yet had enough poetry, there are always more fabulous poems on the Tuesday Poem Hub, or on my blog,

 

A.J.

Find my stories and support my writing on ko-fi 

And tell me which poems you'd like to see in my upcoming poetry book—2024? https://ko-fi.com/ajponder

The Pirates in England by Rudyard Kipling

When Rome was rotten-ripe to her fall,
  And the sceptre passed from her hand,
The pestilent Picts leaped over the wall
  To harry the English land.

The little dark men of the mountain and waste,
  So quick to laughter and tears,
They came panting with hate and haste
  For the loot of five hundred years.

They killed the trader, they sacked the shops,
  They ruined temple and town-
They swept like wolves through the standing crops
  Crying that Rome was down.

They wiped out all that they could find
  Of beauty and strength and worth,
But they could not wipe out the Viking's Wind
  That brings the ships from the North.

They could not wipe out the North-East gales
  Nor what those gales set free-
The pirate ships with their close-reefed sails,
  Leaping from sea to sea.

They had forgotten the shield-hung hull
  Seen nearer and more plain,
Dipping into the troughs like a gull,
  And gull-like rising again-

The painted eyes that glare and frown
  In the high snake-headed stem,
Searching the beach while her sail comes down,
  They had forgotten them!

There was no Count of the Saxon Shore
  To meet her hand to hand,
As she took the beach with a grind and a roar,
  And the pirates rushed inland!


Rudyard Kipling (Saxon Invasion, A.D. 400-600)

First published in Three Poems (1911) The Pirates in England was originally called The Pirates of England. It's quite different to his, A Pict Song here, whatever anyone else may say. Because Rudyard Kipling is so awesome ...and out of copyright...other Rudyard Kipling Poems on this website are The Vampire and, my favourite, A Smuggler's Song.

Enjoy your week!

A.J.  
P.S. Next Week's Pirate Portal...(and various other vagabonds - it depends what I find)...should end my obsession with pirates for a while.

 

Articles of Faith: Part 3 Dancing Pirates

Articles of Faith: Part 3 Dancing Pirates

Harden up, and pay me my money down
jibe-ho, harden up to the wind
For there at the port, is a lass who is waiting
jibe-ho, harden up to the wind

it's a hard life,
and we can hard-tack it
it's a free life
so you can unpack it-

Say I can't understand
why you sing the sea ditties
you know that the ocean
will steal all your pretties-

If the pursers' hand's in the pot-
feel free to cut the man down

Harden up, and pay me my money down
jibe-ho, harden up to the wind
But there at the port, the Jollies are waiting
jibe-ho, tack away from the shore

yeah it's a free life,
and we can free-wheel it
it's a short life
and we can die dancing
you take the cutlass
and I'll take the claymore
with a sword in the gut
and at least we'll die free

Harden up, and pay me my money down
jibe-ho, harden up to the wind
For there at the port, is a noose that is waiting-
yeah it's a free life
as free as the rope hangs 
it's a good life
albeit a short one
it's a hard life,
and it's better than starving

jibe-ho, I'm not much for dancing,
but I'm hard now, harder than sin,
jibe-ho, we paid down our money
to dance on the head of a pin.

A.J.Ponder

Alright, as promised, Dancing Pirates.  I'm wondering if I should give a glossary...

 Everything you could possibly need to know about pirates, except a lot less.

Many pirate ships had a code of conduct, known as articles of agreement, often romanticised as the pirate code, harden up is turn toward the wind, sail closer to the wind, the phrase I'm really sad about not managing to shoehorn is is to splice the mainbrace which, surprisingly enough, is to issue the crew with a drink.  According to Mirriam Webster a jibe is: to change a vessel's course when sailing with the wind so that as the stern passes through the eye of the wind the boom swings to the opposite side, which explains why Jibe-ho is the warning that the boom is swinging across the centerline, when a ship is jibing (gybing).

I hope you  enjoyed the poem, and now, instead of the more traditional angels, I'll hope you'll ask the burning question - how many pirates can dance on the head of a pin?

have a great week!
A.J. 

P.S. Articles of Faith PArt 1 and 2 are here http://anafflictionofpoetry.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/articles-of-faith-part-1-pirates-life.html 

Find my stories and support my writing on ko-fi 

And tell me which poems you'd like to see in my upcoming poetry book—2024? https://ko-fi.com/ajponder

 

Articles of Faith: Part 1: Pirate's life & Part 2: How Doth the Deinosuchus

Articles of Faith

Part 1: Pirate's life

Hey Jollies,
it's a pirate's life we wanted,
with ne'er enough rum
to splice the mainbrace,
although our articles
were a work of faith,
when the land
was ruled by golden sharks.

Hey Jollies
it's a pirates life we live,
with never enough rum
to splice the mainbrace,
as our articles,
are pitched,
and long broken,
against a tide of green


while we dance silent and
barefoot amongst the flotsam,

and the gaping jaws of monsters
bellowing loud enough to break the heart...

Part 2: How Doth the Deinosuchus

How doth the Deinosuchus
Improve his shiny tail
And poor the waters of denial
On every platinum scale

How sadly doth he sympathise
How neatly spreads his claws
And welcomes all the foolish in
With gently smiling jaws.

A.J. Ponder

More pirates next week. Dancing Pirates. I hope. The last part of Articles of Faith - which is about right, because it's an act of faith, given all I have right now are notes, despite having had this one on the back-burner for a while.

Moreover, I hope you enjoyed the reference to Charles Dodgson's work. I've always taken by How doth the Little Crocodile. So much so, I think it was the first poem I ever learned by heart. Although I suspect that the main consideration was the length, the warning of lurking danger in apparent beauty never gets old. Watch out little fish, and have a good week!

A.J. 

P.S. Articles of Faith Part 3 is here at http://anafflictionofpoetry.blogspot.co.nz/2015/05/articles-of-faith-part-3-dancing-pirates.html

It's been a while

WW1 ambulance "staff" Picture taken by P. Sirvid

It's been a while
since we remembered,
the shattered streets
and shattered lives
a world away from
our quiet suburban lives

Lest we forget
we're living on a world
that never stops shaking,
let us take time to celebrate 
the men and women
on the front lines
willing to give up
a piece of their lives
to help others

WW1 ambulance Picture taken by P. Sirvid

It's been a bit of a roller coaster of a week, ANZAC celebrations...cough...I mean commemorations always leave me a little sixes and sevens, it's important for us to remember the loss and sacrifice of a generation of young men, but sometimes it doesn't feel...right. Quick - nobody smile - I'm the joy police! Maybe I want to hear about how the CO's stood by their principles even to the death, and how most soldiers respected that stance, far more than the public at home. Yes, there is a time to fight, I'm sure, but you don't need to fight to be a hero.

Some of ours are off in Nepal right now...
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/new-zealand-search-and-rescue-team-hit-ground-running-in-nepal-6301819

To donate: The New Zealand Red Cross is probably as good a charity as any, if you have other suggestions please leave a comment. https://www.redcross.org.nz/donate/nepal-earthquake-appeal/

Overseas: http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-25/how-help-nepal-7-vetted-charities-doing-relief-work-following-earthquake

Best wishes for the week,

A.J.

(P.S. I normally post late on a Tuesday, but because the magnitude of this tragedy is so great, and I decided to post early in the hope of encouraging people to donate.)