My Poems

Posts that contain my poems

Revolution (in the way we view creation)

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Revolution

James Ussher (1) calculated the starting point.
About 4004 years before the birth of Christ,
apparently at 9:00am on a Monday morning
in late October.

Thomas Guy (2) then annotated his holy bibles
enforcing this fact within the Church and for
years the populace believed his added words.
Then Darwin learnt that truth lies in geometry
and that a circle has no start or finish.

But if you believe in the ‘Big Bang’ theory
then everything is gradually losing energy.
Being in my latter years this is understandable,
my circulation not being what it once was.

However, we do have plenty of time up our sleeves
for our best scientists have predicted it will take
several billion years before the Sun expands and
drags the Earth within its heated arms.

So there may come a day when everything stops.
Perhaps at 11:15pm on a Saturday in September –
after the late night news.

T S Eliot plaque East Coker church

in my beginning is my end … in my end is my beginning
T. S. Eliot’s Memorial Plaque – East Coker Church, Somerset

Footnotes
1 James Ussher (4 January 1581 – 21 March 1656) was the Irish Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between1625 and 1656. He was a prolific scholar and church leader, famous for his chronology that sought to establish the time and date of the creation.
2 Thomas Guy (1644–1724) was a British bookseller, speculator and official publisher of bibles and from his wealth became the de facto founder of Guys Hospital in London.

It is unbelievable that the populace believed in such things for so many years. I wonder if the same is true for something in life today!

Growing Poetry – Oranges and Lemons?

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OrangesAndLemons

Growing the Poetry

1 Oranges and lemons
Say the bells of St Clement’s

Poetry is a rather difficult fruit to grow.
First things first, you must be very mindful
of the nutrients needed for germination.
Then, of course, you have to wait.

It’s no good rushing into things. When
the ground breaks be prepared to spend
time nurturing. Pruning is often needed.
Letting light into the branches is essential
to ensure the whole tree benefits.

Eventually fruit will start to form.
It is up to you to taste first. Then you
might feel like sharing with a friend.

At harvest time you could market
hoping to find others who appreciate
what you have to offer. But beware
not everybody loves lemons!

1 When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.

Richard Scutter

Footnote –

1 Traditional English Nursery Song

I think you allways need to be a little thick-skinned because whatever fruit you produce will not be to everybodies taste – that does not matter – oranges and lemons.

The Weather Dictates? – and from New Zealand …

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How much of poetry is dictated by the weather. Put another way how much does weather dictate poetry. I came across the following in a Hotel in New Zealand …

RainPoem

Here are the words from the above image …

Remember when it always used to rain. Fifty years ago a visitor to Hokitika (a town on the west coast of South Island) wrote the following after receiving a week of unseasonable weather.

It rained and rained and rained –
the average fall was well maintained.
and when the tracks were simply bogs
it started raining Cats and Dogs.
After a drought of half and hour,
we had a most refreshing shower,
and then the most curious thing of all
a gentle rain began to fall.
Next day was also fairly dry,
save for a deluge from the sky,
which wetted the party to the skin,
and after that the rain set in.

Well what do you  do when confined by the weather and nothing to do – this person vented his frustration in the above words – which probably forced a non-poet into such expression.

Here is a New Zealand poem written after walking on the cliffs at Cape Foulwind, Westport, South Island – and as the name suggests a most unhospitable place. However, the view of the seals playing on the rocks at the foot of cliffs was well worth the discomfort of the walk in the wet.

CapeFoulwindWalk

Cape Foulwind Walk

on a summer day winter crowds-in to submerge
the sky and sea sweep together enclosing thoughts
no imagination is needed for this foul named place
this country continually perforated by wind driven rain

the weather deepens impregnating every footstep
the old gortex has had its day and dampens from the inside
but the path is set along the cliffs to the promised sight of seals
as wekas scout around before darting to their rabbit hole existence

then that point is reached when saturated by the wet
there is a resigned acceptance absorbed to the conditions
but when wailing gutteral sounds waft up in the squall
thoughts turn inside out to the rocks far below

oblivious of any impending storm, with thick skin immunity,
at home, on vacant rock spaces, in waterhole pools,
and indolent in the continual spray of the Tasman chunder,
the seals slub around regardless, in elemental play

Seal

Richard Scutter 15 March 2010

Weka – Flightless New Zealand bird about the size of a chicken

OMG Just Imagine – Easter Sunday

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RisenSun

A well and truly risen sun – Murramarang National Park, NSW South Coast

OMG Just Imagine
(Easter Sunday)

OMG Just imagine life without Easter.
We need Easter, holidays might disappear!
Not to mention those rabbit-eared children
running sweet-toothed through our classrooms.
OK it may be egg-centred commercialisation
but there’s no harm in a bit of gaiety!

Even if Easter is a little chocolate coated
Christ always seems to be hanging around,
whether in the background or foreground
depending of course on your point of view!
But without Easter life is a momentary firing
a captivating firework display none the less
but perhaps a series of confused sparks
dying in a sea of perpetual darkness?

Richard Scutter

… and some more Easter Words    … Enjoy your Easter! – Celebrate Life

Autumn is always afternoon

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Autumn is always afternoon

Autumn is always afternoon
that time after lunch in the garden
the plates scattered to one side
but still some wine in the glass

the children at play in the background
the old swing objecting strongly
while discussion leads to friends they’ve known

far-off the low moan from the motorway
and the sun still gives some comfort
as shadows stretch into the lawn
soon it will be time to call the children to task
but now they talk and laugh oblivious

a gust of wind detracts and for a moment
she looks down to the end of the garden
where the children are at play
her fingers feel her woollen jacket on the chair

And if you could hold time in a photograph
it would be caught in this moment forever
in a picture of complete happiness

Richard Scutter

The Latest Forecast – Predicting Life

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The Goat

The Latest Forecast

today will be fine with
temperatures in the low twenties
at 9:00am cloud will build up but
the sun will break through by 10:00am
to a full rich blue sky

just after mid-day clouds from the south
will enter with the chance of just a little rain
expect about 3-4mm in the form of light drizzle
if you live in suburbs to the west of Main Street
expect only a touch of moisture

the skies will be totally clear again by 3:00pm
the mild temperatures will continue …

early this morning Mr R G
who always takes his dog for a walk first-thing
was seen walking back home along Ocean Road
accompanied by a well-endowed billy goat
currently there is no explanation …

Richard Scutter 16 December 2014

We will never be able to predict what will happen to us in life.

In the day after the ‘Sydney Seize’ I pray that we will always have the resources within to deal with any situation that befalls us.

Life After Death – Pindar – Remembrance Day

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Life after Death

For them the sun shines ever in full might
Throughout our earthly night;
There, reddening with the rose, their paradise,
A fair green pleasance, lies,
Cool beneath shade of incense-bearing trees,
And rich with golden fruit:
And there they take their pleasure as they will,
In chariot-race, or young-limbed exercise
In wrestling, at the game of tables these,
And those with harp or lute:
And blissful where they dwell, beside them still
Dwells at full bloom perfect felicity:
And spreading delicately
Over the lovely region everywhere
Fragrance in the air
Floats from high altars where the fire is dense
With perfumed frankincense
Burned for the glory of Heaven continually.

Pindar – Greek lyric poet (c. 522 – c. 443 BC)

Translated by Walter Headlam – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_George_Headlam

It is Remembrance Day today and we remember the many that suffered in the first World War. You may think this poem  is an unusual choice for this day. However, I intend reading my poem ‘The Fragrance at Flanders’ at a special University of the Third Age event to mark Remembrance Day followed by the above where ‘fragrance’  is also featured. It’s just that I think it would be nice (or poetic) if those that suffer greatly in life – those that never really have a life – have some sort of justice in an after-life – that is if of course there is an after-life.

And the first two lines of the poem remind me of those well known words … ‘they do not grow old as we that are left go old’.

I am, of course, using Pindar’s words thinking of war heroes but they were written in relation to the great sporting heroes of his day …

From Wikipedia … Almost all Pindar’s victory  odes are celebrations of triumphs gained by competitors in Panhellenic festivals such as the Olympian Games. The establishment of these athletic and musical festivals was among the greatest achievements of the Greek aristocracies. Even in the 5th century, when there was an increased tendency towards professionalism, they were predominantly aristocratic assemblies, reflecting the expense and leisure needed to attend such events either as a competitor or spectator. Attendance was an opportunity for display and self-promotion, and the prestige of victory, requiring commitment in time and/or wealth, went far beyond anything that accrues to athletic victories today, even in spite of the modern preoccupation with sport

Incidentally, Samuel Johnson (1709 – 1784) who started to compile a dictionary of English usage many years ago had a wonderful definition of ‘Justice’ – ‘the virtue by which we give every man what is his due’. Of course there is no such thing as justice in this life – but the after-life is another matter.

Even if you don’t believe in God or a creator with affinity for humanity it’s nice to create one in the mind, especially one capable of giving some form of justice to those that have suffered unduly.

Link – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pindar#Values_and_beliefs

And here is a bugle playing of The Last Post’ courtesy of You-Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McCDWYgVyps