Liverpool Skyline

Liverpool skyline
Five thirty A.M.
and I’m in a hotel
on my travels again
Radio City at St Johns
lights up the sky
up there just off Lime Street
ever so high
And it’s peaceful up here
with the lights all aglow
with the Liverpool skyline
to start a day slow

©Jemverse

Photo – Liverpool from the 11th floor of the Novotel on Hanover Street looking towards the Radio City Tower at St Johns – Jempics

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Birmingham

Part 1 of 6 in the Jemverse ‘At home’ series

At home on a Sunday
is where I’d rather be
But I’m travelling to Birmingham
a long way from the sea
Five hours on a railway train
to reach my destination
with a good book and some music
to ease my consternation
Not a choice I’d welcome
though I did have plenty warning
As I need to be in Birmingham
for early Monday morning

©Jemverse

Today marks the start of another Jemverse mini-series. Six poems collectively making up the ‘At Home’ series. Photo – reflections of the street captured in the New Street station canopy in Birmingham – Jempics.

Three Fortresses

Part 19 of 20 in ‘The Aegean Shores’ series

Corfu and three fortresses
to complete our holiday
The sea one and the land one
in the old town on the bay
And then through cobbled streets
to the new one on the wall
(The amount of steps I’ve climbed today
I’d rather not recall)
But the climbs were really worth it
as, rewarded with a view
Such as to take your breath away
‘neath Aegean skies of blue

©Jemverse

Photo – the view from the New Fortress across Corfu Town, Corfu, Greece to the mount of the Old Fortress on the coast – Jempics

[This is part 19 of a 20-part series charting a seven-day cruise with Tui from 11-18 August 2017, travelling from London to Corfu, then Kalamata (Greece), Santorini, Rhodes, Crete, Piraeus (Greece), Kefalonia, Corfu and London, some 3,870 nautical miles]

Leaving Rhodes

Part 10 of 20 in “The Aegean Shores’ series

Another first not seen before
Leaving Rhodes tonight
A big red tug at either end
exerting all their might

Moved the ship out from the berth
into open water
Allowed us to get underway
and moving as we ‘oughta’

Heading westward now we go
Two hundred nautical miles
where the island, Crete, awaits us
with Greek bank holiday smiles

©Jemverse

Photo – The Thomson Dream under towage, Rhodes, Greece, 14 August 2017 – Jempics

[This is part 10 of a 20-part series charting a seven-day cruise with Tui from 11-18 August 2017, travelling from London to Corfu, then Kalamata (Greece), Santorini, Rhodes, Crete, Piraeus (Greece), Kefalonia, Corfu and London, some 3,870 nautical miles]

A decade, a shirt and an island

Part 9 of 20 in “The Aegean Shores’ series

It’s ten years gone since last I walked
on this ancient cobbled stone
Yet familiarity presides
and it feels like coming home
I even wore the shirt I bought
all those years ago
For I could find another one
I might, you never know

The sun’s the same, the city too
though I’m a little older
But revisiting has its benefits
as my stride is somewhat bolder

©Jemverse

Photo – Street of the Knights leading up to the Palace of the Grand Master, Rhodes – Jempics

[This is part 9 of a 20-part series charting a seven-day cruise with Tui from 11-18 August 2017, travelling from London to Corfu, then Kalamata (Greece), Santorini, Rhodes, Crete, Piraeus (Greece), Kefalonia, Corfu and London, some 3,870 nautical miles]

Santorini

‘Santorini’ – part 5 of 20 in ‘The Aegean Shores’ series

Into the caldera at dawn
Golden tinge to the sky
Santorini all around
with Thira way up high

Anchors weighed, we drift
The tenders to the sea
Ferries to the waiting land
Sheltered in the lee

©Jemverse

Photo – the caldera of Santorini, looking towards the ‘volcano’ from the walls of Thira (aka ‘Fira’) – Jempics

[This is part 5 of a 20-part series charting a seven-day cruise with Tui from 11-15 August 2017, travelling from London to Corfu, then Kalamata (Greece), Santorini, Rhodes, Crete, Piraeus (Greece), Kefalonia, Corfu and London, some 3,870 nautical miles]

 

Kalamata Castle

‘Kalamata Castle’ – 4 of 20 in ‘The Aegean Shores’ series

From Kalamata castle
having climbed for just a mile
Several ageing fir trees there
gave respite for a while

The heat was almost tangible
but we were not complaining
As the sun shines here ‘most all the time
But at home it’s probably raining

©Jemverse

Photo – the climb to Kalamata Castle on the Peloponnese peninsula, Southern Greece, 12 August 2017 – Jempics

[This is part 4 of a 20-part series charting a seven-day cruise with Tui from 11-15 August 2017, travelling from London to Corfu, then Kalamata (Greece), Santorini, Rhodes, Crete, Piraeus (Greece), Kefalonia, Corfu and London, some 3,870 nautical miles]