THE TREE
The brain of the tree
is in the grain of the bark
Spring green leaves fall brown
12022024
www.sewina.blogspot.com Marian Bironski aka Ian Biro All work Copyright Andy Sewina (c) 2006 - 2024
THE TREE
The brain of the tree
is in the grain of the bark
Spring green leaves fall brown
12022024
TO THE KING OF KINGS
Wise men from the East Astrologers at least come to feast their eyes upon the King bringing gold frankincense and myrrh to the City of David at the centre of the earth where a virgin blessed by God has given birth to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the Saviour for all sinners who believe for He proclaimed that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life for God did not send his Son into this world to condemn the world but to save the world through him Wise men from the east Astrologers at least come to feast their eyes upon the King bringing gold frankincense and myrrh to the City of David at the centre of the Earth where a virgin blessed by God has given birth to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the Saviour for all sinners who believe
24122023/1/150
CHRISTMAS EVE
Can you believe
it's Christmas Eve today
Mush mush and
Such and such
Slush slush
Slush slush and
Such and such
Mush mush
I don't know much about
Reindeers and snow
but I suppose that they're
out there somewhere
It's Christmas Eve today
can you believe?
24122023
ON THE CYCLICAL SCALE
Compliments of the season to one and all
Maid Marion, Robin Hood (and his merry men)
They tell me that Christmas is for Kings
donkeys wise men shepherds and sheep
others say that Christmas is for puddings
turkeys with or without all the trimmings
One man said it's for feeding the homeless
another said you're either ruthless or roofless
these days, and no one really cares that much
how cynical is that on the cyclical scale
We won't be giving many presents this year
there'll be one or two and they'll cost a packet
you'll know it's yours if the carrier bag rattles
if it doesn't it'll be leftovers for the microwave
Maid Marion, Robin Hood (and his merry men)
compliments of the season to one and all
19122023
DREAM NINE
Something I wrote in 2018...
PURPLE HAZE
He beats and bangs her drums until she comes
And flaps his wings and flies around the room
His winkle-pickers tapping to the tune
He introduces her to rock 'n' roll
He strips and bares his soul and starts to sing
Some people do seem to have such strange ways
When she begins to weep his guitar plays
Some people say this world is just a maze
He tells her that there's nothing much to do
And we're all living in a purple haze
Friday like any other Friday but
It's Friday the thirteenth and that means that
Strange things happen even stranger things are
Forecast ask Hitchcock and Castro et al
Don't listen to the things that people say
And all the Different Ones born on that day
He beats and bangs her drums until she comes
Backflips and flaps his wings and flies away
130418
Dublin collection
BOTH BANKS OF THE LIFFEY
Dublin at first glance the same as last time
and the time before that that I was there
kicking myself now that we didn't go
to see the Molly Malone sculpture this trip
but made up for it by discovering
a new Oscar Wilde figure plonked on a bench
outside Kennedys pub at Trinity College
We walked along both banks of the Liffey
crossing bridges several times in the heat
oh yes it was September but it was warm
I perhaps almost nearly forgot
to mention that the weather was extra hot
In sight of the Phoenix Park Obelisk
the Wellington Monument we turned back
Christ Church Cathedral Dublin Castle and
Saint Patrick's where Jonathan Swift is buried
The GPO on O'Connell Street and James Joyce
looking tired standing in the shadow of the Spire
Full Irish Breakfast at The Boxty House
Guinness straight from the river Liffey
Oyster Stout at the Temple Bar Porterhouse
More churches than the Vatican
more distilleries than Cognac in France
More singers dancers thinkers and drinkers
more writers than a library full of books
More trinkets than Las Vegas Bonanza
more poets musicians and song writers
More pubs than Greene King
07092023/Dublin
Paris collection
THE TRAFFIC FLOWS
The Eiffel Tower mellows magnificently
lit up in red and golden yellows
Above the rooftops in every arrondissement
her searchlight sweeps the Parisian night
Clockwise
and counter clockwise all day long
relentless
the traffic flows on the Peripherique
likewise on Rive Gauche and Rive Droite
the cars go hell for leather hammer and tongs
The Sacre Coeur Basilica whiter than white
appears ivory when lit up at night
The Bateaux Mouches cruise up and down insane
from Pont de L'Alma on the river Seine
And Paris sleeps but doesn't sleep at all
Croissants Brioche Baguettes and Pain de 'Epi
all need to be made to feed the morning crowd
Yawning we head for the Metro - Airport bound
30082023/Paris collection
Here's something I first wrote in 2009, but this is a slightly different version...
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/Conclusion
Amazingly we've reached yet another end to the napowrimo challenge of thirty poems in thirty days. As usual may I take this opportunity to congratulate each and everyone of you who completed it this time.
We had a little distraction mid way through the project as I had to go to Poland for a few days. Fortunately I was still able to write something each day and post it from there which reinforces not only the power of the internet, but the global appeal of napowrimo these days too.
The next setback for me was that after returning from Poland my wife came down with Covid and I followed her two days later. I'm still suffering with the dreaded lurgy as I write this, but somehow, all these possible disasters, only ever seem to give me more material to work from.
Finally, here's a little something to conclude this years challenge and to set myself up for what lies ahead.
STORMS
Streams of consciousness
Violent storms and sunny days
Bursting off the page
01052023
Thank you for reading this, and congratulations again for taking the challenge this year.
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 30 The last day.
THE LOVING KIND
The way that I feel about you
is still the same as yesterday true
Stay hands up down town
I'm coming up I'm coming up
I'm coming up down town
I want you to stay
with your hands in the air
and your mind on mine
cause you're the loving kind
There ain't no confusion
or two bit illusion
the way that I feel about you
is still the same as yesterday true
Stay hands up down town
I'm coming up I'm coming up
I'm coming up down town
There ain't no confusion
or two bit illusion
30042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 29
THE LONGEST NIGHT
They said that it must have been the morphine talking
when I told different people what had happened that night
in the hospital after my operation
but you couldn't make these things up I know what I saw
and I'm sticking to it that seems like a long time ago now
but I remember it as being a very long night
forcing myself to keep awake convinced that they would kill me next
if I even fell asleep for a few minutes
In the distance I could hear a woman screaming in the corridor
and what sounded like steel trays being bashed about her bonce
it was impossible for me to move I had to lie flat on my back
with a drip in my arm
I also had two young nurses sitting at my bedside
studying a computer screen
that may or may not have been monitoring my brain
Of course the problem didn't start until the young nurses
were asked if they wanted to stay to watch the filming
or if they would like to take a break they chose to take a break
and I never saw them again the filming was absolutely mad
the rest of the staff on the ward having dressed up in outrageous costumes
in various states of dress or undress were now filming each other doing mad things
I'm sure they were taking credit card customers requests over the internet
Anyway that night was nothing compared to last night
which truly was the longest night I can remember
I had come down with the dreaded lurgy a few days previously
and had been shivering and coughing and overheating then shivering again
but last night I came down with the whole thing and I was delirious
and sweating like a pig I started to imagine that I was going completely mad
I kept on seeing a video of a disaster playing in my head
And try as I might I couldn't let it go I woke up sweating
went back to sleep wringing wet woke up again
and couldn't get the disaster movie out of my head
I was absolutely totally confused about my situation
I felt like I should call a doctor for help but that's impossible
these days as the phone rings out three or four times and then rings off
anyway I had the advantage of knowing that I had the virus
And that despite me being completely flummoxed by it
there would actually have been nothing much that a doctor could have done
so I had gone to bed at nine pm which is really really early for me
as I often don't retire until way past midnight
of course after I went to bed the bad dreams turned into chaotic nightmares
and I began sweating and shivering and tossing and turning
until I became a gibbering wreck I can't say too much more about this experience
apart from the fact that it was the longest night of my life
29042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 28
THE DREADED VIRUS
Had the lurgy last year
but nothing as bad as this
sweating like a troglodytes uncle
overheating then shivering like a bin dog
lots of fluids no alcoholic drinks
until further notice
sneezing like an alley cat
nose blocked up to buglery
eyes watering continually
throat like a bag of nails
coughing up united all over the shop
feeling rotten
I'd forgotten what it was like
but this time it's much much worse
the dreaded virus chapter and verse
28042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 27
IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW
You can't get it twice can you I asked my specialist desperately
You can only get it twice if you've already had it previously
Came the swift reply from one of Britain's finest virologists
My online guru said lightening never strikes in the same place twice
Shivering and flu like symptoms don't mean you've got the virus
So the sore throat lurgy that you dread might only be in your head
What do they know about my feelings and the two and eight of things
Avian flu is doing the rounds and free range eggs are laid in barns
And there's no such thing as a free lunch the horror scope bunch tell me
We all try to beat the system or eggs sometimes for omelettes if we can
Like the Joker with an Ace up his sleeve or on his face book status
He'll love you until his house falls down flat like a stack of cards
If I know my audience you know you know that I'm talking to you
If the world is a stage like Shakespeare said then some are spectators too
Fanatics sometimes I don't know how you feel but we are all players
27042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 26
LOVE BIKES
I love bicycles but I don't ride them much these days
I have a shed full of the two wheeled machines
eighteen or more in different states of disrepair
and a room full of tools and bits and bobs out there
Love like lovers comes and goes
you won't need a guru or a demi god to tell you that
And I've got an Indonesian rickshaw that I really like
which I was going to turn into a cargo trike
Don't you just love bikes I know that I do
but only pre nineteen eighties or there a bouts
the ones that have cotter pins to attach the pedal shanks
I really dislike those new fangled cranks
Of course I wouldn't say no to an electric assist
especially when I live on the edge of Dartmoor now
I had the privilege of testing one once at Coalville
they must've thought I was Action Man at Bardon Hill
26042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 25
INTERNETINTENTIONALLY
Tables are like people sometimes
wooden or perhaps more like horses
sometimes pigs if they don't have wheels
I've not seen many three legged pigs
Who are you talking to I asked her
I'm not talking she replied I'm listening
Who are you listening to I asked
Myself she answered staring into her phone
If anybody needs a selfie stick that girl does
digital creator influencer call her what you will
she'll love you if you like her and follow her
not literally of course but internetintentionally
25042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 24
THE SANDS OF TIME
I
Snookered but not necessarily on green baize
can't see wood for trees springs to mind
not unlike crocodiles and piranha fish
but don't bite my hand off for telling you
II
The secrets of the inner mind unwrapped
they say nobody knows how these things work
lost beneath the sands of time somewhere
no escape from the fictional brain
III
You wouldn't want to complain about things
all's fair in love and cricket said the silly mid on
as the bowler chucked a maiden over
before the wicket keeper caught the last man out
24042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 23
SANDS OF TIME AND TIMBUKTU
Another few dollars for another days work
when she wakes up it's all said and done
Sleeping for England in a four poster bed
she thinks about the weather
imagines that it's raining
turns over and goes back to sleep
Like false teeth chattering on a marble slab
the aeroplane hits the tarmac hard then
relief as it straightens up and comes to a halt
the chattering turns to clapping and cheers
Holidays and holiday makers
making for the sands of time and Timbuktu
business trips planned and unplanned
happy as Lazarus up from the grave
When she wakes up it's all said and done
another few dollars for another days work
23042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 22
THEIR TABLETS OF STONE
They think that hosing it down
won't make it wet but
they've been wet behind the ears
for a long time now
They're more naïve than an optimist
facing a firing squad
it's a dead certainty that something
is going to go terribly wrong
They take the subway train because
they think it's safer than walking
they hate buses don't like overcrowding
shopping in Oxford Street isn't their thing
They say the electricity won't go down
like it did in nineteen seventy four but it will
then all their computers and mobile things
and even their tablets of stone will be silent
22042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 21
BREAKING NEWS
Right in the midst of the thick of things
stuck in a bubble
trouble like you wouldn't believe
she shouts at the other characters on the page
they too can only communicate
through speech bubbles
and she calls out to anyone
who will listen to her
Callouts shouts think bubbles
thought bubbles sometimes too
you'd have to be mad clever
to imagine them as being normal
Ordinary they are not and the faint hearted
fall by the wayside
the comic strip takes a particular skill set
the comic book another
Any publication is a compilation of minds
and mindsets can differ from day to day
from place to place
and from one funny to another
never mind the editor the owner the workers
and the sleeping partner
You can paint the page in pastel shades
but if the content doesn't stack up
the dollars will turn to cents and roll away
like money down the drain
Superman and Batman and Robin
icons of the front cover are back in the news
Spiderman too but Catwoman The Joker
and other also rans
are relegated to the inside back page
Like the day job it's here today and gone tomorrow
zero hours contract minimum wage
and no amount of rhetoric will change that
you like me are in the pocket
of the powers that be
breaking news smashing
21042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 20
THE DECORATION WAS DIFFERENT
Nothing much has changed but why would it
why indeed should it have
different people come and go
although if they come here they often stay
until they die
We had to take him out in a wooden overcoat
is the accepted response
when asking about an old friend
The decoration was different
but not noticeably apart from the fact that
the ceiling had been painted bright orange
although the manager reliably informed me that
it was actually a subtle shade of tangerine
The bar looked much the same as it always did
although I could tell that it had been refurbished
recently to accommodate several new fangled
beer pumps that were now sitting in pride of place
The decoration was different
but not noticeably
apart from the gigantic TV screens
hanging off each and every wall showing
different sports all night and day
I don't even know why that united pretender
is even playing for England
one of the screen watchers screamed
although no one else really noticed
He might have scored a cracking goal
against that Roy of the Rovers team
a couple of years ago in the mickey mouse cup
but he hasn't done a lot since
and certainly not at this level of football
the irate TV watcher continued
looking away from the big screen in disbelief
How many goals has he gifted the opposition with
over the years and why the Eccles cakes
does this manager stick with him
and pick him for the team every time
moan moan moan mister moaner moaned
The decoration was different
but not noticeably to the casual observer
the ash trays had gone off the tables and
had been replaced by an outdoor smoking hovel
choke yourself to death why don't you
I gave up seventeen years ago
the best move I ever made
as for the beer I can take it or leave it
each to his own poison though and may
whatever turns you on make you happy
The decoration was different
but not noticeably
until I got talking to an octogenarian
he was sipping green tea
and self medicating with cannabis oil
good snuff I quipped trying to make a joke
try some of this united he said to me
it's got antioxidants in it
I think I'll stick to the beer I replied
The decoration was different
but not noticeably
apart from the cocktail bar
and the uniformed bar staff
they were all dressed in tartan waistcoats
white shirts and black Dickie Bow ties
I asked for a whisky and they gave me a menu
we have one hundred and sixty eight
different whiskies they told me
as I perused the stock list
do you not have Irish Whiskey I asked
Oh yes sir of course we do sir three bags full sir
they're on a different menu with the American
Japanese and Canadian Whiskeys sir
Phew this was hard work I only came in for
a quick pint of bitter and a whisky chaser
and here I was with my reading binoculars on
trying to decipher the small print on this daft list
I finally chose a single malt
and then made the mistake of asking for a double
sorry sir said the barman we don't do doubles
you can have a large one if you like
what's the difference I asked tentatively
about seventeen and a half pence he replied
what's that in old money I enquired
hoping to catch the youngster out
three and six sir he retorted without hesitation
okay I said give me two singles
and quickly added in the same glass please
The bottom line is
nothing was different apart from the decoration
20042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 19
ALL THE RAGE
Even when the early bird wakes us up
we don't know what time it is until the clock strikes
Guilty of going somewhere
without really knowing where
why do people think that mistakes
only happen to someone else
The bigger the plan
the further the plot fails
rhythm and rhyme don't cut it
but if you don't know now you never will
From time to time someone will come along
you'll think that you can't resist her
however she's just the cash cow cutting in
she wants your dough all your bread and honey
money isn't everything it's less than half the truth
there's more to life than buying the next best thing
window shopping used to be fashionable
charity shops and bargain stores are all the rage now
We don't know what time it is until the clock strikes
even when the early bird wakes us up
19042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 18
SHADES OF BLUE
Like it's the language of love
she talks about being Italian
She raves about vintage stores
and mid century furniture
paints her chipboard kitchen floor
in different shades of blue
Hangs all the utensils up
so the animals can't spoil them
dreads that the bread bin has
ever been used for anything else
Much like a vampire
she shies away from garlic
but loves a Greek style salad
soup is permanently off the menu
Loves anything Parisian
drives a Deux Chevaux
tells me she's a Francophile
but can't speak the lingo
She talks about being Italian
like it's the language of love
18042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 17
IMAGINATION
Sinking further and further into the mire
deeper and deeper into the same old swamp
no one really wants to go there but a philosopher
I met told me that not only were we all born in sin
and therefore fall short of the glory of God but
that we have been sent to this earth as a punishment
for something bad that we did elsewhere
So it doesn't matter what you think if you think you
are what you think then you are what you think and
nothing is going to change that in the short or long term
but there is of course another realm that you can access
when you mix thought with imagination he told me
Laughter happiness and imagination are the three best
things in life but the greatest of these is imagination
wherever your imagination goes you can go too the
imagination in the mind of man knows no bounds it frees
us from the limitations that are otherwise pressing us down
17042023/DN
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 16
YOU CAN'T BEAT EGGS
Natural as a plastic doll she paints the barn
slaps on the lippy and heads for the hotel bar
nobody actually said she was a basket case
but they were certainly thinking it all right
She wasn't going to set the world alight
but if she stands too close to the fire in
that colourful cellulose dress she might well do
herself a nasty injury and shock the customers too
At the bar she orders vegan everything and sulks
when she's told that eggnog isn't even vegetarian
I thought eggs were vegan she tells the barman
only if they come from corn fed chickens he replies
There's a yoke in there somewhere but finding it
that's another conundrum you can't beat eggs can you
as my younger brother always used to say at Easter
a bit like having your cake and eating it I suppose
16042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 15
TOWERS OF ECSTASY
Headless chickens running around
chasing non existent tails
but the story doesn't end there
doesn't even start on the farmyard
How naïve it would be to believe
that chickens don't have heads and tails
and that perhaps ducks don't quack
and puppy dogs and kittens don't count
Bin dogs and alley cats we've spoke about
them before but they keep on hitting back
like the mess that graffiti makes everywhere
and all those sewer rats that bite down there
Manchester is building towers of ecstasy
there's more than four quarters in gay Paris
and many more green spaces in London
than people give that city credit for
15042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 14
TOP DOG
The dog that
usually comes to stay
belongs to the owner of the cat
top that top cat, top dog too
But the new dog that came yesterday
looks like a Cavapoo or a Shih Tzu
he's actually a King Charles Spaniel
Kris will be the one to look after him
feed and water him pamper him
walk him in the forest twice a day
Chodź tu mała, Kris beckons to the dog
WoW! Does he understand Polish? I ask
Yes replies Kris and Latvian too
14042023
Napowrimo 2023/my15th year/day 13
DREAMING ABOUT
What goes on
between the sheets
Whispering sweet nothings
in her ear
Somersaults and
press ups if you can
Dreaming about
the South coast of France
Eating biscuits
like there's no tomorrow
Sucking on sweets
till the cows come home
Watching movies
Korean or not
Dreaming about
that lottery win
As boring as
thinking of England
Somersaults and
press ups if you can
Whispering sweet nothings
in her ear
What goes on
between the sheets
stays between the sheets
13042023