Word Police

I noticed that Collins have decided to make words redundant

Without asking you and me

And I am somewhat surprised by their inconsistency

For it appears that aerodrome is to be no more

As now they are seen to be what airports are for

But imagine a propeller powered passenger plane

Descending from the skies carrying fifties filmstars

And adoring waiting fans sighs

And then it will become apparent what all of us have known- for such a flight,

Only an aerodrome is home.

And the charabanc too is being consigned to the dustbin

As if such simple pleasures didn’t exist or had never been.

Even dustbins themselves are on the way out

For bins are no longer to put rubbish in and keep places clean

Instead they are multi - purpose receptacles for re-cy-cling

The joys of a trip an outing a journey with you and us

Can  never be adequately described by the humble term  “ bus”

So why expunge such glorious, older terms, and phrases

Whose perfunctory exile is determined on the flimsiest of cases

And the meaning of modern words is also being lost

Their original meanings tossed – aside.

Consider the word shopping it’s a little bit highfalutin

When popular culture has downgraded it and calls it simply looting

And how about “room”?

 For it simply is no more

The area that sits above the floor

Is now called a space

No longer defined by drawing room or sitting room or bed.

Space, a word that for me is simply not so cool

Whatever happened to the trusty vestibule

So what will go next? Almost certainly the book

Rectangular and weighty with a satisfying look

Which when dropped in the bath when reading,

Immersed and dripping wet, can have its dripping paper

Saved by a radiator,

Which when spread across the top, open and arched

Can be dried and resuscitated, pleasingly parched

- Unlike a kindle

 A “Badger” too will be no more, soon to be forgot

Blasted to oblivion by farmers with buckshot

Like “fish” who used to swim in the sea, caught by nets that sagged

That are doomed very soon to catch only plastic bags

But all that we need to do to save words form half remembered confusion

Is to nurture them ,to cherish them, but most of all to use them

Atlantic Crossing

The quayside terminus belched steam and passengers

Parallel rails yielding to a dipping sea

A black iron cliff rose, majestic

Pockmarked with perfect rivets

Covered gangways swayed

A mysterious Rubicon

Corridors splayed in labyrinthine luxury

The Purser prowling imperious as

White jacketed stewards scurried, in service

The band bade godspeed as we slipped horizon bound

Lips mouthing, hands, hats scarves waving

Streamers billowed from cheering crowds

Tugs screamed to wrench the Leviathan

From its moorings to Solent water

Fire hoses arced in wind tossed spray

Remorselessly, the prow cleft the surging swell

Aft the frothy maddened wake

Lay momentarily, trace of our passing

Quoits rasped over polished decks

Grey shadows surfaced then sank

Eternity  stretched endlessly

For five days no object checked our passage

The moon, stars and sun our celestial waypoints

Watched by whispering crests

The solid line on a misty horizon

Defined  our destination as surely as

Brooklyn Bridge

The cradle of the oceans arms released

Her thankful charges

Into the Manhattan cacophony

Three funnels smoke

Rising above the teeming waterfront

Sketched a fleeting farewell

Fading Fun

Mary Mack, jumping jack
Not too rough Blind Mans bluff
Ball tag fracture the flag

Hide and seek every week
Hide your face for kiss chase
Hopscotch fun for everyone

I spy with my little eye
The playground echoes to cries and call
Resounding sounds of paddle ball

Make them up , do what you are able
Splayed fingers rocking the cat’s cradle

Chinese whispers friend’s eldest sisters
Laughing, cheating , ever bolder
Essential skills for when we are older

Oh the games we play

The Olde Tavern

In the bowels

Of the growelry

The brabble

Ebbed and flowed

As barmaids foozled

Offering frothy pints

In swoopstake abandon

Elbows bowed

Trio

Small Ads

For sale:
Size ten
Wedding dress
Strapless off white,
Sequin detail to the bust and waist area,
Also comes with hoop required for dress.
Why?
Never worn.

Polemic on Freedom

Man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains,

So I read,

That  Rousseau said ,

And he is still right,

Tonight,

As freedom becomes twisted to make and sate

Whatever self centred hybrid  that we can create

For ourselves, but not- for each other

And so freedom for the people of Gaza

Means imprisonment behind their own border

And a nation state is free to deprive the sick of medicine

To protect their own order

And oppress others

Which is no freedom at all

But the mentality of those who think small

Whilst in Brussels we talk of free trade

Of what money can be made

But the children of Somalia want to be freed

 from the greed

Of warlords who would rather buy guns for themselves than water for the thirsty,

To purchase death rather than save life

Where oppression and strife,

 Reigns,

But  no new rain eases the scorched earth of destruction

Yet it is not just far away

That our feeble minds have strayed

From what is right and is wrong, for so long. 

Old freedoms lie in the balance

At the mercy of corporate dalliance

And careless staff do the rounds

In homes  to be sold off or closed down

Of men and women who fought for freedom

Not this.

And they will have you believe that Gordon Taylor from the players football association

For having a meaningless telephone conversation

Hacked

Is due compensation

Of £900,000

While the elderly cannot get around

Because the money cannot be found

In whom can we be trusting

When our liberties lie rusting

In such specious, spun words

Ringing hollow and absurd.

So saying what you do mean, is mea

Or demeaning?

Or is it the mean of what you mean that is meant?

What was the meaning? 

Was it what you thought, but did not say,

Or what you said but did not mean?

Or was it just that we did not glean

From what you said

What we should have seen?

Were your words pristine?

Or not what they might have been?

Is it that on which you were not keen?

And if you now say you did not mean what was said

What was read -And you said it,

Well what did you mean?

What should we, the team, glean?

That you say what you mean?

Or that what you said you didn’t mean?

But it should not have been seen.

And although what you say, you do not always mean

As the words can refer to another scene that was seen,

You do now,

(From what I can glean)

Think that we should trust you and hold you in the highest esteem.

But not what you say.

Well not always.

Not what you said yesterday, anyway.

Just what you say ,today. Ok?

You think that we should believe you, that what you say is true

Maybe some of the words,  perhaps just a few?

But  when some talk of freedom be wary of such claims

Test what is said carefully, and listen for those chains.

Garden Control

Its reptilian jaw chomped

Bony shell barely visible

Amidst swaying blades

Nimble teeth nibbled

Mesh and floppy ears

Casting eerie shadows

Mournfully munching

Grey wisps fluttered

Billy goats gruff

Swift hooves  danced

Lithe legs poised for flight

Daring to graze

Janet rested

Glass in hand

Lawnmower redundant