Bard's life

I revisited Belfast recently and took a stroll down Newtownards Road, a staunchly working class area in that increasingly affluent city, to admire and photograph some of the amazing murals that adorn the gable-ends of many of the buildings. The area is adjacent to Harland and Wolff shipyard, the birthplace of the Titanic, surely the most well - known vessel in maritime history. Titanic Belfast , named the world’s leading tourist attraction at the prestigious World Travel Awards in 2016, is a state-of-the-art visitor centre that tells the story of the great ship, from her conception in Belfast in the early 1900s, through her construction and launch, to her maiden voyage and subsequent place in history. The good people of Northern Ireland are justifiably proud of their association with the famous liner and, when the occasional puzzled visitor enquires why they celebrate a ship that had such a brief and ill-starred existence, will generally reply: Sure, she was fine when she left here...

An eclectic new collection that deals with themes of love and death, old and new gods, nostalgia for a vanished age and the challenges of life in the 21st Century.   Price £6.99   ISBN: 978-0-9928791-5-0 Paperback. 64 pages Published by Blue Ormer Publishing   CLICK TO BUY Please join with me to c elebrate, albeit belatedly, the birth of one of the Twentieth Century's greatest poets and one of my literary heroes, Chilean - born writer and statesman , Pablo Neruda . POTTER  by Pablo Neruda Your whole body has a fullness or a gentleness destined for me. When I move my hand up I find in each place a dove that was seeking me, as if they had, love, made you of clay for my own potter's hands. Your knees, your breasts, your waist are missing parts of me like the hollow of a thirsty earth from which they broke off a form, and together we are complete like a single river, like a single grain of sand.

The Bard has returned from a thrilling visit to the magnificent open-air arena at Verona to see Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly . This was followed by a week of sunshine and relaxation at Lake Garda , then a lavish family wedding in Northern Ireland. A sojourn in the country of my birth is always an occasion for nostalgia, when every landmark recalls an episode from my younger life.  Here's a prize-winning poem I wrote nearly twenty-five years ago that's linked to childhood and youth : The Hidden Traveller . I featured it on the blog some time ago but it's always worth a re-run.  THE HIDDEN TRAVELLER I remember the over-furnished room, cold as a cave, where they had laid him between the aspidistra and a spotted mirror; the sunbeams, slanting by the window, shoaled with dust; the silent street beyond, devoid of passers-by. Immaculate in laundered shirt and suit so rarely worn in life; in death he looked more like a character from a story than himself. I remember my...

The Bard is taking a short break so, in my absence, here’s a lengthy gangster tale in verse to keep you going. It’s influenced by the B-Movies of my younger days, with a nod to the cliches of the genre. THREE BLIND MICE 1. BETTY MAE’S DREAM 

 She had a dream. Mice in a maze.
 Blind. Trapped like lost souls in the Pit. 
It haunted her for days, she says.
 I tell her that dreams don’t mean shit. 2. WES
                                      
 I meet this bozo in a bar.
 He says: You Wes? I say: Who says?
 He says: I know you from the scar. 
Ok, I say. I guess I’m Wes.
 He says: We need you drive a car:
 word is you’re outa work these days.
 He offers me a big cigar.
 I like his style: admire finesse.
 He says: The job won’t take an hour. 
C’mon, consider my request. 
Just grab the dough then au revoir: 
no stress. He...

The final poem of Dog Days week is dedicated to Holly, our little Border terrier, and was written during the last years of her life when her longevity and devotion had earned her the right to occasionally snooze on our bed. HOLLY Waking, my hand falls on warm fur: a small rib cage rising, falling, as breath goes on doing its work. We are connected, she to me, by synchronous breathing. By love, on my part: on hers, obedience. Now fifteen years, I hold her close, gently as when she was a pup, skin-and-bones, promising nothing. A good dog, demanding only a clean, warm bed, small kindnesses. Fortune, grant her sleep, untroubled. During Dog Days week I'll be donating 10% of online book sales to Guernsey's local animal support organisat ion, the GSPCA CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOK     CLICK HERE FOR GSPCA  

There are plenty of open spaces to take your dog in Guernsey and quite a number of beaches where they can run free.  Indoors is a different matte r and, sadly, we do not emulate our French neighbours in their willingness to welcome animals into shops and restaurants . For a list of dog-friendly pubs, h o tels and bars on the island , click here . The short poem below is of a type known as a Double Tetractys, a form invented by Ray Stebbing, that consists of five lines of 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 syllables (total of 20) followed by an inverted syllable count of   10, 4, 3, 2, 1 . RUN Run old dog, run against the ripe sea wind: celebrate your body like a young dog. Oh how my heart fills up with tears to see you, who was so  carelessly youthful once.  During Dog Days week I'll be donating 10% of online book sales to Guernsey's local animal support organisat ion, the GSPCA CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOK     CLICK HERE FOR GSPCA    

Master McGrath ( Pronounced McGraw ) was a famous greyhound born in Ireland in 1866.  One of a litter of seven he was an undersized, delicate pup but despite his unpromising beginnings, he went on to become the most celebrated and successful racing dog of his time. MASTER McGRATH Canine perfection, symmetry, embodied in an agile frame, sleek body like a comet’s flame ablaze with pride and majesty. Those elements that made you fast, heart, muscle, sinew, blood and bone, ensured a legend set in stone, all rivals beaten and outclassed. During Dog Days week I'll be donating 10% of online book sales to Guernsey's local animal support organisat ion, the GSPCA CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOK     CLICK HERE FOR GSPCA