Screamin’ like a banshee
cacklin’ on Cockle Row,
the Minister and Miss Price
sweat and sway in the sweet shop.
While witnesses on the cobbled streets
snigger, and sneer
at the lustful sounds
behind the pear drops.
The shop closed early that day.
Paul Dyson
Bios and links
Paul Dyson is from Swinton, on the outskirts of Rotherham, in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He says – “We all have a basic urge to be creative whether it’s art, poetry, music . . . or just putting together flat pack furniture, being creative keeps us alive and feeling human” Paul gave up his 9 to 5 to make his fortune writing poetry, making music and to spend more time with his family and his dog. Dabbling in the Arts, Paul hopes to reach out to others and touch the hearts of those who discover his work.
A monotetra was developed by Michael Walker. Here are the basic rules:
Comprised of quatrains (four-line stanzas) in tetrameter (four metrical feet) for a total of 8 syllables per line.
Each quatrain consists of mono-rhymed lines (so each line in the first stanza has the same type of rhyme, as does each line in the second stanza, etc.)
The final line of each stanza repeats the same four syllables.
This poem can be as short as one quatrain and as long as a poet wishes. A bonus is the flexibility of this form in terms of how long or short the poem can be.
Thank God
Thank God that life’s such a terrible thing.
I’m not one to moan
But he created it, after all
It’s down to him alone
All things dull and ugly
Each short and painful life
All unthinking brutality
All the fruitless strife
Than you God that I am here
Living day by day
Whilst you are up in heaven
A long long way away
Mike O’Brien
Reverend Jenks
I know you’re in there Reverend Jenks
I saw you go inside.
I’ve just a few questions to ask of you
What have you got to hide?
You owe it to your parishioners
To tell me what you know
About the things it’s said you did
All those years ago
Surely as a man of God
You know it would be best
To come outside and talk to me
And get it off your chest
You have to come out sometime
What are you waiting for?
Come on man, I’m imploring you
Please open the door
Mike O’Brien
See the drug receptor?
Embedded. Protected.
Within a cell membrane.
A drug will latch on soon.
Stephen Paul Wren
Bios and links
Stephen Paul Wren
is a poet-chemist and chemist-poet.
stargazy
we kept lockets of our hair
in Davy Jones locker.
our nights were always wet.
salt was our tongue,
and vinegar kisses.
on cobbled lanes
we walked home slow,
woozy, slowly, now,
boozily. sang full
fathomed. misquoted Dylan,
Ariel, The Mousehole Cat.
those were the pearl nights.
your eyes stargazy.
Ivor Daniel
Milky Wood
Woody was a milkman
Down our way
Come rain or shine
Delivered every day
Cheery whistle
Bottles clink
Sometimes a nod
And sometimes a wink
How are you doing
Milky Wood?
I’m not too bad
And not too good
I’m feeling my age
A bit of of back pain
But other than that
I can’t complain.
Mike O’Brien
Bios and Links
Ivor Daniel
lives in Gloucestershire, UK. His poems have appeared in @litscihub, Steel Jackdaw, iamb, Fevers of the Mind, Roi Fainéant, Ice Floe Press, The Dawntreader, After…, Alien Buddha, @TopTweetTuesday, Wombwell Rainbow, Black Nore Review, Lit.202, Sidhe Press, Black Bough Poems…
Twitter: @IvorDaniel Instagram: ivor.daniel.165 Bluesky: @ivordaniel.bsky.social
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