House of Sticks

From the mouths of babes
they took the food
an evil thing
and rather rude if you
stop to consider the
subsidised dinner,
breakfast,
lunch
and tea

All aboard the gravy train of slow cooked selfishness
and flambéed greed

Pan seared entitlement served
on a bed of home-grown smugness
for the Common people;
swell bellied and chortling
to the sound of chinny chin chin fizz
before voting on the next motion
or not

The big, bad wolf huffs
sugar-coated promises
puffed into soft peaks up the chimney well clear of the cooking pot

And somewhere down the lane
Little Tommy Tucker sings
Jack sits in the corner and
Miss Muffet fades away
All are wondering

"What's for tea?"

© Bex Tate

Campaign to end subsidised food and alcohol in Parliament reignited following free school meal snub

Bex usually writes to try and make sense of things, to try and capture magic, or to tell a story and sometimes to raise a lyrical fist at what she sees as not right.

Meltdown

Meltdown

Nerves of steel

liquefied-

the drip drip drip

of strong and stable

glugging down the drain

un-galvanized

sans mettle

© Bex Tate

What went wrong at British Steel?

Haiku

Haiku

Faced with extinction

tiny bees drink salty tears

to drown their sorrows

© Bex Tate

Doctors discover four live bees feeding on tears inside woman's eye

Mercury Rising ♀

Stitched up 

by

a fast 

fashion 

fabrication 

of someone else’s 

40 wink dream-

Not 6

not 7 

not 8

not 9

saved 

in time

but

14 to 

16 hours

a day 

staring through the eye of a needle-

Many hands

make

winged feet 

destined to fly

to different shores-

Meet 

Sunita

caught 

in the

drenching rain 

of the 

sports shoe

sweat shop;

while 

like Mercury rising

we soar 

head in the clouds

over and above 

the land of

Just Do It

trailing poison

through the

very stars in 

our wake-

Let's talk about

solidarity

© Bex Tate

Sweatshops in Bangladesh | War on Want

Bex, frustrated with the data driven education system, left her teaching job behind and is still wondering what to do next. Writing poetry helps her to try and make sense of the world, as well as giving her the chance to rant a bit!

POEMS FOR THE PLANET - Changing Places

Changing Places

“A change is 

as good as a rest”

they say-

a one click ticket to paradise

“ohhhh sooo verrry nice”-

a change of scene

a break 

with the routine-

a dreams DO come true trip

going for a snip

of the price-

“a slice of real life”

five star

or four,

forget the wolf

at the door

for one week 

or two

until there are none-

no wolves

no bears

no foxes

no hares

but

meanwhile in paradise

who really cares?

© Bex Tate

IN PICS: Eight of Spain's most endangered species - The Local

The story of César, an imperial eagle released back into Madrid’s skies

Bex, frustrated with the data driven education system, left her teaching job behind and is still wondering what to do next. Writing poetry helps her to try and make sense of the world, as well as giving her the chance to rant a bit!

LOVE is in the NEWS! - Poecilozonites Bermudensis

Poecilozonites Bermudensis

If home is where 

the heart is

this tale of snails

tells of mega-annum romance

spiralling outwards-

Brought back

from the  dark alley,

let's  (metaphorically 

speaking) pray,

that they put their best 

gastropod foot forward

and that love will

find a way❤

© Bex Tate

4000 Endemic Bermuda Land Snails Repatriated

Bex, frustrated with the data driven education system, left her teaching job behind and is still wondering what to do next. Writing poetry helps her to try and make sense of the world, as well as giving her the chance to rant a bit!

Not Cool Daddy

Not Cool Daddy

Amidst the moans and all the rants
this news popped up about freezing pants-

The neighbourhood is warmed with glee
by marching pants for all to see-

But alas, alack, there are burning cheeks,
red with shame ‘cos Dad’s a freak-

Two daughters long for warmer days
when freezing pants no longer raise
a toot and titter from the band

“It's got to stop, Dad's out of hand!!”

© Bex Tate

Minnesota Neighborhood Pranked by Frozen Pants

No News Is Good News

No News Is Good News

The news

is no use 

as a muse

all this news

it just gives 

me the blues

© Bex Tate

Negative media headlines are fuelling racism in football

What Gives with the Negative Meghan Markle Reports?

Carpetright losses widen as 'negative headlines' hit sales

Foul

Foul

And the winner is Ms. Hegerberg

“Do you know how to twerk?”
And the loser is you mate
She plays football
You jerk!!

© Bex Tate

First women’s Ballon d’Or marred as winner Ada Hegerberg is asked to twerk

Universal Discredit

Universal Discredit

Universally
crippling
drip
by

drippling
trickling
dignity
down
the
drain

© Bex Tate

UK austerity has inflicted 'great misery' on citizens, UN says

Fifth

5th-
the person
or thing
that comes immediately
after the fourth
and before
all the others

Pink rosetted and rosy cheeked
we stand proud on the podium
of green and pleasant economic
boomity, boom boom:
190 “others" stand behind “us”

One fifth-
one of five equal parts
living unequally in poverty

Time to take off
the rose tinted-
This is Britain
Boom bang a bang!

© Bex Tate

UK austerity has inflicted 'great misery' on citizens, UN says

Bex, frustrated with the data driven education system, left her teaching job behind and is still wondering what to do next. Writing poetry helps her to try and make sense of the world, as well as giving her the chance to rant a bit!

Class 2A

It’s Monday morning, half past eight
There’s chitter chatter at the gate
The bell rings loud at ten to nine
Children straggle into line
Sleepy Monday morning faces
Amble in to find their places

Miss Parker takes a long, hard look
At what's written in her planning book
Then she looks at class 2A
Just about to start their day

Mary, Mary away with the fairies
Can’t pay attention it seems
She’s designing new dresses for Arctic princesses
Bedecked with gold stars and moonbeams

Olivia Santz has ants in her pants
Miss Parker wants her glued to the seat
But she needs to wriggle and wiggle and jiggle
Who cares if her writing is neat?

Her wriggly body is composing a song
That she hears in in her brain, heart and feet
But it’s time to sit still and listen in class
And Miss wants her glued to the seat

Kitty Kahoon
Heads off to the moon
Leaving her desk far behind
Intergalactic calculation
Is her motivation
Doing sums bores her out of her mind

Then there’s
Billy who daydreams
He got three out of ten
On last Friday's spelling test
But out in the woods he knows the song of each bird
And he'll show you where nightingales nest

Scatter-brain Zain
Finds lessons a pain
As his head floats among clouds in the blue
Looking down from above
He sees a world lacking love
And wonders what we need to do

Miss Parker
Takes another look
At what's written
In her planning book
And decides the curriculum can wait
She invites Olivia to sing
Lets Kitty do her thing
And asks Zain to lead them in debate

Mary shares a dress for an Inuit princess
Billy trills the song of a thrush
The bell rings at four
2A line up at the door
But today
they don’t leave
in a rush.

© Bex Tate

MSPs defeat government to call for 'halt' to P1 assessments

Government unveils controversial plans for testing four-year-olds

Bex Tate is frustrated with the data driven education system, left behind her teaching job. She now spends her time writing, pondering life and wonderińg what to do next. Writing poetry helps her to try and make sense of the world as well as giving her the chance to rant a bit!!

Dry wipe board

Does the GOAT,
Dickensian like,
speak of the
best of times
and of the
worst of times blud?

when
“uneducated" ???
roadmen,
chests and jackets puffa’d up and out
beef-ting fam,
whipping up a
Stormzy
from Croydon- not forecast

and the Feds
swear down
the whole truth and nothing but ...
wagwanning
as they slap down
an ASBO here and there

© Bex Tate

Police hope this embarrassing ‘slang dictionary’ will help them engage with young people

Bex Tate is frustrated with the data driven education system, left behind her teaching job. She now spends her time writing, pondering life and wonderińg what to do next. Writing poetry helps her to try and make sense of the world as well as giving her the chance to rant a bit!!

A tale of five squirrels

A tale of five squirrels

Twisted and tangled
And all in a knot
Five little squirrels
In a pickle
Had got

🐿🐿🐿🐿🐿

© Bex Tate

A tale of five squirrels: vets untangle 'Gordian Knot' of rodents

The Great Escape

We made a plan
We fixed the date
We escaped straight through the garden gate
We caught the bus, the number three
Two old codgers, Klaus and me
We’d read the papers and we’d seen
The Metal Fest
We both were keen
We made a plan
We fixed the date
The number three was running late
But we arrived eventually
And sneaked in past security
I cast aside my zimmer frame
Klaus, my pal he did the same
We banged our heads and got on down
Two old geezers on the town
And like magic we were 23
Klaus my mate and his mate me
The music stopped we cried encore
"Judas Priest man we want more"
Then through the crowd our carers came
The bubble burst but all the same
I’ll have that memory until I die
Judas Priest and Klaus and I

© Bex Tate

Elderly men escape nursing home to go to heavy metal festival

Bex Tate is frustrated with the data driven education system, left behind her teaching job. She now spends her time writing, pondering life and wonderińg what to do next. Writing poetry helps her to try and make sense of the world as well as giving her the chance to rant a bit!!

Baby- Eichhörnchen 🐿

Baby- Eichhörnchen 🐿

A squirrelette who'd lost her mum
Got Friedrich von Bloggs on the run
The little mite
Caused such a fright
The Police were called to put things right

© Bex Tate

Police in Germany rescue man being chased by baby squirrel

Strictly Speaking

Strictly Speaking

Strictly Come Dancing
will strictly adhere
To strictly mixed couples
in spite of the year
In two thousand and eighteen
I find this surprising-
Strictly ‘s ratings may drop
And Mr. Cowell’s
may start rising!

© Bex Tate

Strictly mixed couples: dance show won't allow same-sex partners

Rhetorical Questions

Night falls
and with it
a stargazer’s telescope
pulls sharp focus
on all that is not well with the
world-
What seemed far
Is now close enough to touch
to reach out and grab
the drowning man
bobbing in
salty brine
glottal stopping,
breath taking
in and out
and out
and
out
of time-
So close
you can wipe the spittle from
your face
to face with his
So close you can
beat your hearts
together
look him in the eye and ask
“You after my job?”
“My house?”
“My wife, my kids?”
So close you can
suck up his last breath
as you wait for his answer

© Bex Tate

Deaths at sea expose flaws of Italy-Libya migration pact

Bex, frustrated with the data driven education system, left behind her teaching job. She now spends her time writing, pondering life and wonderińg what to do next. Writing poetry helps her to try and make sense of the world as well as giving her the chance to rant a bit!!

Trump's in Town

Courtesy of Private Eye cartoonist, Rob Bullen

Swallow

Allow this man

and others of his kind

to visit this land of yours and mine

if that’s what they really want

When they arrive

we shall carry our children and grandchildren

aloft upon our shoulders so they can see for themselves

that these people look deceptively like us

generally human in appearance

And when they speak

our offspring will hear the sound snakes make

to sanitise their decisions and the steps they take

in the name of narcissistic whim or profit

regardless of impact on people or planet

Our precious ones

will this way learn

whom to avoid

whom to distrust

whom they must

not allow themselves to become

Allowing

the vile to be here for a while

putting their poisonous ideas on trial

should not increase their following

but will teach us that

when the venom is spat

the secret is not swallowing

© Peter A Kelly

Note: 'Swallow' first appeared in I am not a silent poet and appears here by kind permission. (Ed)

Peter A Kelly sometimes draws or photographs but usually writes instead. Occasionally published, one poetry prize, but best rewarded when his work affects others.

Go Home, Fascist

Extremely egotistical,
mindlessly misogynistic,
narcissistic nincompoop,
crass climate change denier,
blustering, bigoted buffoon,
rampantly racist cager of children,
petty, petulant president.
Please - go home.

© Jenni Wyn Hyatt

Donald Trump protest news: Thousands march in Edinburgh as president relaxes on golf course in Turnberry

Jenni Wyn Hyatt was born in Wales in 1942. She now lives in Derbyshire, and started writing poetry in her late sixties. Jenni published her first collection, 'Perhaps One Day' in 2017.

Die Blondinen

Sales of hydrogen peroxide
soar
as Golden Don
and Boris Adonis
pledge to take over the world-

New law
dictates that blondes have more fun:
redheads, brunettes and mousey brown
there’s nowhere to run
'cos the boys are back in town

So head straight down to Boots
there is nowhere to hide
those tell tale roots
if you don’t keep them dyed

Die blondinen
are the superior race as we know
the lessons from pages of history
show
that it starts with a crazy
guy raising his arm
but he’s just a nutter-
no cause for alarm
bells ringing in your head-
the crazy guy has gone now
the crazy guy is dead

And
The Sun
shines down
on our flaxen haired gods
as they tousle their egos
two peas in a pod

© Bex Tate

Donald Trump believes Boris Johnson would 'make a great Prime Minister'

Bex Tate, frustrated with the data driven education system, recently left behind her job as a Kindergarten teacher to spend time writing and pondering life. Writing poetry helps her to try and make sense of the world...as well as giving her the chance to rant a bit!!

A President’s Lot Is Not A Happy One!

When the President’s enduring a State visit
Or maturing his fascistic little plan (little plan)
His capacity for humour is diminished (is diminished)
He’ll sulk, and skulk, and whinge like any man (any man

A dinner with a Queen just don’t excite him
But Presidential duties must go on (must go on)
He’s wondering if she’ll stoop to serving burgers,
Oh a President’s lot is not a happy one. (happy one)
OH A PRESIDENT’S LOT IS NOT A HAPPY ONE. (HAPPY ONE)

When our enterprising President’s cutting taxes
When he’s stealing little children off their folks
He longs for Mar-a Lago and his golf balls
And party girls that laugh at all his jokes (all his jokes)

The lying media’s making up more stories
Though he’s building walls and keeping hombres out
now Brits are floating b'lloons with him in diapers
A stoopid hairdo and a massive pout.

He has to take the hand of their old PM

(Those fancy dinners leave him feeling bad)
She’s still after a trade deal with her Brexit
But Had to say 'Theresa you've been had!'

One day he’ll tell em ‘take this job and shove it’

It’s hard to think he ever stood for this
He’s doing all they voted for, and extra
Yet all they ever do is take the piss

But a President’s life is no such happy one. (happy one)
OH A PRESIDENT’S LOT IS NOT A HAPPY ONE. (HAPPY ONE)

© S.O. Fasrus

Latest on Trump's Visit to the UK

S.O. Fasrus: Social Justice Campaigner & Social Research Interviewer. Her verse and poems; some comic; satirical; and serious; can be found online. Recent poems are in New Verse News, Culture Matters, and Poems for Grenfell Tower.


Trump's tresses

Trump went to dinner with May
His hair got out of the car before he did;
I'm not sure any dignitary's tresses
Have been discussed
As much as Trump's is
(Asides from a certain Korean chap).

There's a beauty in comparing
Trump's hair to spun sugar
Catching the eve's light,
Alongside Melania's dress
Resembling a six foot yellow gladioli.

He's avoiding certain parts of Britain;
Mainly areas with protesters
And some bloke with a placard to free
Tommy Robinson.
He will be attending Windsor Castle
But may avoid Buckingham-
Trumpety, Trump, Trump.

© Amanda Derry

Donald Trump arrived for dinner with Theresa May, and his hair got out of the car before he did

Amanda Derry joined a Creative Writing class, following a breakdown, which played a significant role in her recovery. She now embeds literacy skills into classes that she teaches. Amanda also runs the Facebook Group, I Love Writing.


A Special Relationship

The general consensus seems to be
that the Brits dislike Donald Trump.
They think he is as rude as can be,
that he's not a chum but a chump.

Across the country men will protest,
(though many say the gesture is limp)
and acting more in earnest than jest,
they'll fly a twenty-foot-tall baby blimp.

As he expressed admiration for Boris
saying that he would be a good PM
his opponents criticised him in chorus
and jeered him for uttering this 'gem'.

He claims that the Brits like him a lot
yet many thousand say he is a jerk.
He thinks the EU are hatching a plot
and a deal with them will not work.

To be contentious for him is the norm;
he says things at which people scoff
and he flies into a diplomatic storm
when he declares that a US deal is off.

© Luigi Pagano

Donald Trump UK visit: President meets the Queen after declaring post-Brexit trade deal back on thanks to 'higher level of special relationship'

Luigi Pagano has published three collections of poems: ‘Idle Thoughts’, ’Reflections’ and ‘Poetry On Tap’. His work has been featured in ABCTales’ magazines, UKAuthors’ anthologies, Poetry24 and several other publications.

Conversations With My Sister

Over the rim of her glass
my sister said -
Why don’t they share the good news too?

Browsing
I found the teacher -
bags packed, dearly departed

Before she left
she asked others to do the same -
pack bags

No flowers
just seeds -

I’ll share this with my sister

© Bex Tate

Teacher's final wish granted with backpacks

Bex Tate, frustrated with the data driven education system, recently left behind her job as a Kindergarten teacher to spend time writing and pondering life. Writing poetry helps her to try and make sense of the world...as well as giving her the chance to rant a bit!!