Never Contrite

The problem with writing
So far in advance
Is the tine to catch up
Or not with a chance

And the capture of moments
Which by the time that they see
The cold light of day
Is a vague memory

But it’s a very small problem
To have so I’ll cope
And keep publishing them here
Knowing well that you’ll cope

As to you they are fresh
And as I hope quite inspiring
A snapshot of life
From someone not retiring

Someone who as me
Will continue to write
Albeit in advance
And never contrite

©Jemverse

Photo – Jem of Jemverse doing what he does

Tactile

I’m not sure where it came from
but the book that I have now
The one I write ideas in
gives lots of joy somehow
It’s a bit about the binding
and the tactile feel it brings
with the strip of leather used to tie
pages and other things
upon which I will daily write
or keep for inspiration
ideas for my poetry
there in preparation
And it’s a bit about the knowledge
that with so many pages
I will know this special joy
for absolutely ages

©Jemverse

Photo – my new poetry ideas book, started 1st May 2020 – Jempics

Lockdown writing II

The comfort I find
at this time of contagion
is the knowledge that here
and of likewise persuasion
other poets like me
have taken to paper
with words that will capture
the gist of this caper

The tragedy yes
but the happiness too
as good human nature
with hope battles through
and comes to the fore
across every land
as poets together
are making a stand

Our words will be steadfast
and wholesome and true
as we live by the hope
that will carry us through
and they’ll capture the essence
of what life’s about
some with a whisper
and some with a shout

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

Lockdown writing I

There’s no doubt I am writing more
(I’m about a week ahead)
as lockdown keeps me here at home I
take up my pen instead
I’m mostly in my garden
out the back or in the front
which gets sunshine in the evening
for the choice to be quite blunt

Sometimes like today I’m
just sitting in the sun
but other days I’m gardening
which I’m finding rather fun
But whatever I am doing
there is pen and paper near
as you never know when words will come
and new poems will appear

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

About a book from Venice II

This time last year I wrote about
a little book I’d bought
in Venice which I’d fully used
for poems as I ought
It was a lovely book so
when going back last year
I purchased two new volumes
to keep handy very near
For I am looking forward
to using them once more
and writing daily in them
which of course is what they’re for

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

[About a book from Venice was published on Jemverse on 29 March 2019]

Humbling pride and cheer

Someone I have never met
humbled me today
posted comment on my blog
with what they had to say

Tears they trickled as I read
with joy and pleasure there
And the tugging of my heartstrings
was way beyond compare

For these were words straight from the heart
with feeling posted there
Did my heart proud and brought to me
a bucketload of cheer

©Jemverse

Magnificent II revisited

5 of 12 in the Jemverse ‘October’ series

Long shadows with October
the days dawn cold and bright
and the sunshine in the eastern sky
provides a gorgeous sight
Glinting on the water
and magnificently gold
Rising over Shoreham beach
to the river in the cold

And it really would be nothing
short of a crime for me
not to stop and take a photograph
for you good folk to see
My words don’t do it justice
but a picture never lies
So here you have it, golden
right there before your eyes

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics

‘Magnificent II‘ was originally posted to Jemverse on 12 October 2016

Stone Henge

No. 12 of 12 in “The Bucket List” series from Jemverse

The oldest on our bucket list
by some margin I’d suggest
So it’s fitting that to Wiltshire
we should some time invest
A place I must be honest
many times when just a boy
I came to with my parents
to explore and to enjoy

But then as we grew older
and its history we consumed
it was added to our bucket list
and the visiting resumed
By then of course the monument
was more protected than the past
and though the stones were out of bounds
we all still had a blast

An early bucket list tick ticked
and regaled to you in rhyme
concluding here the series
with a little snip in time
But our bucket list continues
as more travels are in store
For the world has many places
we would still like to explore

But for now this little series
ends here I’m sad to say
until another bucket list
of places comes your way
Jemverse of course continues
with each day a little rhyme
to capture life in moments
as a snapshot caught in time

©Jemverse

Photo – Stone Henge, Wiltshire, UK, April 2001 – Jempics

“The Bucket List’ series features the following:
[1] Pompeii (190904)
[2] Paris (190905)
[3] The Parthenon (Athens) (190906)
[4] Rhodes (190907)
[5] Santorini (190908)
[6] Minack Theatre, Cornwall, UK (190909)
[7] Jublains (France) (190910)
[8] Venice (190911)
[9] Lands End, Cornwall, UK (190912)
[10] Korcula (Croatia) (190913)
[11] Parc Guell (Barcelona) (190914), and
[12] Stone Henge, Wiltshire, UK (190915)

Korcula (aka ‘Korcula revisited’)

10 of 12 in “The Bucket List” series from Jemverse

To Korcula by tender
Inside the city wall
I climbed the tower of St Marks
some thirty metres tall

The view across the rooftops
full of terracotta red
took my breath away, although
the drop filled me with dread

But I made it back down safely
to walk streets of ancient stone
on this island in Croatia
Marco Polo once called home

©Jemverse

Photo – Korcula island – Dalmation coast – Croatia – August 2018 – Jempics

[Jemverse originally posted “Korcula” on 6 September 2018 as a part of the ‘Venetian Vistas’ series]

“The Bucket List’ series features the following:
[1] Pompeii (190904)
[2] Paris (190905)
[3] The Parthenon (Athens) (190906)
[4] Rhodes (190907)
[5] Santorini (190908)
[6] Minack Theatre, Cornwall, UK (190909)
[7] Jublains (France) (190910)
[8] Venice (190911)
[9] Lands End, Cornwall, UK (190912)
[10] Korcula (Croatia) (190913)
[11] Parc Guell (Barcelona) (190914), and
[12] Stone Henge, Wiltshire, UK (190915)

Lands End

9 of 12 in “The Bucket List” series from Jemverse

A cold day in February
two thousand and seven
when we finally got to Lands End
on the southernmost tip
of the fine Cornish coast
awaiting us just like a friend

John O’Groats signposted
a long way to the north
we’ve yet to get there but here
Its southernmost relation
was waiting to bring
each of us plenty of cheer

©Jemverse

Photo – Jempics [Lands End had long been a top UK ‘bucket list’ item]

“The Bucket List’ series features the following:
[1] Pompeii (190904)
[2] Paris (190905)
[3] The Parthenon (Athens) (190906)
[4] Rhodes (190907)
[5] Santorini (190908)
[6] Minack Theatre, Cornwall, UK (190909)
[7] Jublains (France) (190910)
[8] Venice (190911)
[9] Lands End, Cornwall, UK (190912)
[10] Korcula (Croatia) (190913)
[11] Parc Guell (Barcelona) (190914), and
[12] Stone Henge, Wiltshire, UK (190915)