poems – Page 3 – Rhythm of the Ink

Aug 27, 2017 Markey Mark Symmonds Blog, Blogger, death, flash fiction, poem, Poetry, Uncategorized

Killing Machines

Motors quietly spring into life, propelling the killing machines like clockwork scythes, wreaking havoc and trouble and strife, knowing no value of human life. Robotic motions showing no emotion, just forward motion to the enemy they march, through water and mud and railway arches the machines come alive to dominate the world they strive.

Chopping and flailing, and shooting at will, humans cut down like butter, blood oozing through the gutter, yet not a word do they utter, not a murmur or stutter, just bodies adding to the carnage of death and clutter. Those machines of death marauding in a land of weak feeble tribes.

Metal networks of destruction; death of a race, unrelenting, uncaring, unfeeling, charge of the death machines. Hour upon hour the country they scour more bodies pile up by the hour. East to west, North to South, machines push on to continue their rout. Then, as if they had finished with the earth, they all disappear into the sea, leaving a sneak preview of what the world would soon be.

Aug 22, 2017 Markey Mark Symmonds Blog, Blogger, flash fiction, poem, Poetry, Uncategorized

Empty Vessel

Inside this tin shell, there is no heaven or hell, just a void, a dark space inside, where my soul goes to hide, it feels so long ago that this inside died, leaving no trace, only ice, in this dark place. I looked long ago for life in this deserted cell, but, found only my heart, cold as ice, cryogenic island hanging in the vastness of this empty shell, no stories will it tell.

Before the wasteland; came the anger, the hurt, the torment that had nowhere to venture, but ripped the inside as it sat and cried. Made the mojo go, feelings come and go like a yo-yo. Slowly drifting, running out, leaking feelings, all over the place, until there are no more to seep onto the floor, just a heart to seize and freeze.

Contemplate a thaw, to open that door and let those demons and feelings return to this tin shell start to burn and swell, to thaw my heart making a fresh start, new blood racing to my heart. Yet deep within, it knows not how to fill the void, can’t let go of how life has always been. Deep inside, where darkness and claustrophobia reside, there will always be a space so wide, full of darkness, for me to hide.

Aug 16, 2017 Markey Mark Symmonds Blog, Blogger, doubt, flash fiction, poem, Poetry, Uncategorized, words

Absurd Words

Give a poet a word, something quite absurd like lemon curd, OK that’s two words. What can be done with lemon curd, that uses and twists and turns words, that makes them rhyme in perfect time. Poets can play with its use, turning it to radioactive slime; using it as a cleaning product to get rid of dirt and grime. Letting it run through their hands like alien sticky slime, but, then there is a favorite of mine, slap it on hot buttered toast and eat them one at a time.

Give a poet a word or a phrase and they will play for days and days, fitting it in poems, different ways, but sometimes their mind will go blank and at the paper they will stare, until a new idea comes to bare, something abstract they might dare to write, with flare that will ignite passion, no word ration.

Then one day someone will say, bet they can’t write one about this. The poet will writhe and twist and turn and discern, using everything they have learned. Oh, how they wish they had never started, when will it end, it will drive them round the bend. Suddenly, the penny drops and out of nowhere an idea flops. Ink drops start to flow as the poem starts to grow and grow, it just ebbs and flows, this heady prose, where it stops no one knows.

Aug 15, 2017 Markey Mark Symmonds Blog, Blogger, flash fiction, poem, Poetry, Uncategorized

The Bored Bard

The bored bard tried hard to write a shard of prose about his toes, why he wanted to write about his toes I guess only he knows. The bored bard, found it hard to write anew every day, in an exciting way, so, he wrote often a load of rot and then sometimes it was not, but then just occasionally he would spill the lot.

The bored bard found it hard to write on a summers day, he watched the birds and the butterflies at play, frittering away the day. The bored bard tried playing cards, being inspired by kings and Queens, but, he became the joker as the smile left his face when he couldn’t write and ace and stormed around the house like a jumping jack.

Oh, this bored bard found it hard to be inspired and write a piece that everyone admired, no imagination fired, just a brain weary and tired, he thought that maybe he should retire. So, out came his quill and he wrote of his own free will, until he made himself ill, and went to bed with a bottle of pills. The bored bard slept hard and had many dreams, when he awoke he picked up his quill and wrote reams about his dreams, on all sorts of ridiculous themes. He is still a bored bard although to imagine that is hard, cos when he dreams he becomes an insatiable bard, yes you wouldn’t know it but he becomes an incredible poet.

Aug 13, 2017 Markey Mark Symmonds Blog, Blogger, flash fiction, poem, Poetry, short story, Uncategorized

Chip Shop

The smell of chips permeates the air, rushing down streets assaulting the noses of everyone it meets, the fish and chip shop deposits it’s message everywhere, in alleyways and streets. The smell that makes your hunger swell, that draws you in to that hot pungent food cell. Battered cod and haddock and rock, cooked perfectly to the clock. Hot chips sit in the warmer, as others crackle and spit in vegetable fat.

Steaming hot, wrapped in paper, open or not, blow them softly as they are very hot. The salt and vinegar locks into the chips finishing off that divine taste, that will put calories on your waist for time in memorial. Jumbo and battered Sausage and Saveloy, Pineapple fritter; my favourite when I was a boy. Pies and pasties and onions too, pickled eggs and gherkins and onions in big jars on the counter, waiting for their chip shop encounter.

Fizzy pop in cans or bottles, sit on the shelves in the fridge, waiting to wash down those glorious tastes, that are eaten slowly and savored every minute as though not to waste. Queues of people young and old snaking from the shop and into the cold, warming their hands on their precious gold, which, in their mouths they behold.

Jul 28, 2017 Markey Mark Symmonds Blog, Blogger, death, flash fiction, lost, poem, Poetry, short story, Uncategorized

Sea Float

Floating in the sea, head and body calm legs scurrying, hurrying, kicking, keeping me afloat, waves lift my weightless waterlogged load. Free floating bobbing in harmony with the waves, salty moisture penetrating my lips cold numbness of the sea extracting heat from my head to my feet, sun warming my face, life moving at a slow pace. No panic no fear just floating here.

I spy no land and swim to nowhere, just treading water in the tranquility of mystic mire, in the middle of somewhere, daylight fading, sun setting on distant horizon. Night is still with the rush of the sea, moon glistening light show, just for me. Night makes me weary, I try to stay awake, keeping my head from going below the wake. Soon, I drift into disturbed sleep, waking at the cold of waves from the deep, hitting my face in this tranquil place.

Day light breaks early, painting its yellow glow on the sea below, warming the air on the horizon as its warmth rises. Body numb with cold, shivering out of control. I start to slide under every large wave, cool relief from the sun’s burn. I slowly go lower and lower no panic no regret just cold and wet. Head right under in deep dark yonder, what will be I wonder. From each wave, I re-emerge, sunlight glistening on Sea surge. Then finally one more wave takes me down to a dark murky grave. No breathing no heaving, just gentle glide to the depths of the sea where my body can hide, until one day its washes up on a beach on a morning tide.

Jul 25, 2017 Markey Mark Symmonds Blog, Blogger, flash fiction, poem, Poetry, short story, Uncategorized, words

A Poet’s About

I can manipulate words into shapes make them dance on the page like mighty apes. I can send love and caress, whisper sweet words about butterflies and birds. I can talk about the absurd, tell you the gossip I have overheard. I can tell of oceans washing over your body, of cleansing rains or even booked drains. I can set it on the plains, or flying high in airplanes.

I can cut you disrupt you, I can savage and beat you, make you cry, spin you a lie. I can be a spy, a bomber dropping words from a high, sending them like guided missiles right into where you lie. I can bring you to your knees, tell tales of your pleas. I can bring Satan to ride through your mind scaring you with visions of every kind.

I can make you laugh until you cry leave you feeling on a high, I can have fun and be daft, writing again and again, draft after draft until I get a laugh. I can talk of autumnal leaves or sunshine and rainbows and the gold to which they lead. I can get a message across and make you look at life, I’m the boss, no rules to follow just jewels to swallow and let me wallow. Cos, I am a poet not everyone knows it. But I am a rhymer, perfect timer. I write short, I write long rhyming like the chorus of a song. I am a danger a word arranger, fact or fiction I can make it stranger. Mess with the poet and they will let you know it.

Jul 24, 2017 Markey Mark Symmonds Blog, Blogger, flash fiction, pig, Poetry, short story, Uncategorized, underground

Mice

A little mouse lived in a hole in a little old house, yes, Barrister the mouse, being a typical mouse loved cheese, of which he had plenty, it came up to his knees. Now barrister the mouse who lived in the hole in the little old house, met a lady mouse called Alice. Alice came from the other side of town and declared the hole her home palace, but she had to confess with no Malice, that she hated cheese, and in order to please she would have to be served cake. So there they were two mice in a hole in the small house, filled with cheese and cake.

A year or so past after they married, when three baby mice hurried and scurried, little white mice not once, twice but thrice. Now, those little mice didn’t like cheese or cake, but drank tea and one took coffee. Soon aunty Jennifer mouse came to stay, she tidied all the stuff away now Jennifer mouse didn’t care for cheese or cake or tea or coffee, but she adored spam, in a can, she brought loads, in a pram.

Then, uncle John came to stay, he brought enough luggage for more than a day, He brought jars of pickles and chutney too, the smell of them made everyone go phew! Then one day there was a knock at the door, surely there could not be anymore. It was cousin Dean from Milton Keynes, how could they fit him into the den with all of them? Now, Dean did not know how long he would stay, was it a week or a day? The mice emptied the hole; of cheese and cake, tea and coffee and spam in the pram, even uncle’s pickles were gone so that Dean could stay for long. Now, Dean was a modern mouse, at no cheese he did not grouse, for now the only thing they eat in the house is beans on toast.

Jul 23, 2017 Markey Mark Symmonds Blog, Blogger, flash fiction, lost, Mental Health, poem, Poetry, short story, Uncategorized

Your Choice

All alone, nowhere to call home, sofa surfing, nomadic loafer. Anger rises no surprises, hounded by your past, how long will it last? Used by all, scarred as you fall, free for all society maul. Making bad calls.

History shaped you; pounded you and raped you, brought you to your knees, just wanted to please, now life of sleaze that disagrees. Once again on your knees, not praying to a god. but, struggling so on you plod. No job, not the type to rob. Life taken and shaken, future forsaken. Life of drugs replaces the hugs. Anger smashes love crushing olive branches from a dove.

Advice not taken, path mistaken, lonely walk to who knows where, flitting from place to place as people care until you scare, then you are not welcome there. No money to hold your flat, selling this and that, surviving the only way, you know how, living in the here and now, no routes just any old how.

Take your chances on the streets, soon if not now. You can beat this turn it around pick your life up off the ground. Only you can live this life and only you can change your mind. Recognise when people are being kind and don’t upset with your constant whine. It’s up to you to put that life behind.

Jul 22, 2017 Markey Mark Symmonds Blog, Blogger, flash fiction, poem, Poetry

Green

Green scene of grass and trees, a sight for the eyes to please, Pollen rising making sufferers sneeze, children with green stains on their knees from rolling in the grass and climbing trees. Green utopia swaying in the breeze.

Pink and white intersperse the green of the hedge, flowering berries line the edge, green of the box hedge deterring witches, cut like a ledge. Green of spring and summer too, grows with morning dew. Motors of grass cutters green, levelling the grass to improve the scene, clip back the bushes, blow away the leaves, clearing up with electrical breeze.

Then comes the rain, fine at first then building to a big outburst, satisfying the greenery, quenching its thirst. Water drops hang off the leaves and the stems of grass, like pure beads of glass glistening in the midday sun, light rays forming rainbows having some fun. Damp feel of saturated grass consuming its elixir that overflows, drinking its fill before it goes.