Getting from place to place is not always as easy as a hop, a skip, and a jump... getting what is in your mind on to a piece of paper is sometimes not as easy as it sounds... getting what you want in life is not always want is meant to happen... getting an idea is sometimes the first step of many that you need to take to get the final rocket launch of a final product off the ground... getting help when you need it is not always guaranteed - however people can surprise you, especially strangers who can see that you might benefit from a helping hand of their assistance... getting reassurance from others about what someone is doing is essential for some people who rely on constructive opinions, not criticism, of their actions to fine-tune their art... getting somewhere when the sun is shining is always much easier to do than attempting to get somewhere when it is slippery, or wet - but however you find your way through what you have to go through to make it to where you need to be if the end result is worth it then you will risk being completely decimated, disintegrated, reborn, and reconstituted like a proverbial paper-bag in the rain.
rain
My Poem “Rain Brain”
I’m not sure what
this says about me,
but I have always enjoyed
walking in the rain…
ever since I was a child
I have always found it
thrilling and cathartic
to walk through puddles
and to watch streams
of rain water disappearing
down metals drains.
There is so much poetry to see
when you walk across
a wet pasture of grass
or when you walk through
a cathedral of tall green trees,
because you get to experience
and to immerse yourself in nature
at it’s most fertile
and at it’s most lush…
there is so much art to be found
when putting one foot in front of the other,
while making contact with the ground –
whether it is within the resplendent
colours of a flower dappled
with glistening rain droplets,
or accidentally when a droplet of oil
from a car engine falls onto the road
and explodes into a rainbow.
I know that getting wet
for seemingly no reason
isn’t for everybody –
but to me walking, seeing, listening,
and learning about the world
and the way that everybody
is connected to everything
and how everything is connected
to everybody is just as
essential as breathing;
and no matter where I am,
or whatever I am doing,
the poetic heart beating within me
will always see and feel
time after time how amazing
it is to welcome both
the shining rays of the sun
as well as the return of the rain –
as long as the price to be paid
from them does not result
in the rising of pools
of sadness and pain
from the deluge of thoughts
and emotions within our brain.
My Poem “Walk On Water”
Today, pretty much everybody
here in the UK, is literally
having to “walk on water”…
let’s just say that the weather
could be a lot better than it is
and if you are “caught short”,
and you are not at least
carrying an umbrella,
then it goes without saying
that you are going to have to
either stay undercover
for as long as you can,
or, if you do need to go somewhere
in particular, you may have to
go “hell for leather” and run
as fast as you can –
as if you were some kind of
soaking-wet cheetah.
We here in the UK could talk adnorsism
about our eccentric and ever-changing
weather – in fact it is favourite
subject of small-talk…
we here in the UK can see
both the beauty of a summer’s day
as well as, on occasion, the water-droplets of a rain storm –
however, most stiff-upper-lip British
people would much rather observe
rain falling while looking out of the window,
perhaps from the comfort of their own homes,
instead of having to walk out of their front-door
and immediately have to find their footing,
while trying to keep calm, carry on,
and simultaneously having to
follow the example of the Messiah
and walk on water.
My Poem “Raining June”
It’s Summer now…
It’s the month of June…
Usually at this time of the year
when you look up at the sky
all that you can see is bright blue
and there isn’t a cloud to be found –
however, this year, today,
here in the U.K especially,
all that you can see is grey clouds
and all that you can feel
when you are out and about
walking around
is the wet droplets of rain water
assuring all concerned
that this Summer there won’t be a hosepipe ban.
Every year it’s a different story…
In years gone by you could
set your watch to the knowledge
that May to September
the weather was going to be nice
and dry and perfect for all those
activities that you necessarily
could not do while you were
inside your house –
but, like most things,
steadily the climate of the world
has changed and it has become
a lot more unpredictable.
Right now, people should be
wiping their brow of sweat
and complaining about how hot it is –
however, instead, people are
complaining that they are getting
soaked by the deluge of rain
from above and from the splash
of the puddles when cars
race past them at high-speed…
Right now, it should be as hot as hell –
however, at the moment,
there is a constant stream of droplets
from this mass outside shower –
during which the soles of shoes
are slipping,
people are sliding,
and cars are hydroplaning –
and instead of it being flaming
this June looks to be one
when almost every day
it is going to be raining.
My Poem “Good Omens”
The sun was shining
when I woke up this morning,
but as time went by
the clouds began to gather
and the raindrops started to fall…
it had been raining for days –
but I actually believed
that today would be the day
when spring would finally begin
and everybody could once again
enjoy the experience of walking tall
under the light of the sun
that has always been somewhat
of a universal draw…
just as I and everybody
had come to the conclusion
that the end of time was upon us
and that it was potentially
going to rain for another
forty days and forty nights, or more,
spontaneously a bright burst of sunlight
parted the dark clouds
and shined down from above –
like witnessing a miracle happening,
or like watching a thought,
an idea, or a dreaming coming true…
as soon as everybody saw the sun shining
and usher in a bright blue sky almost immediately,
I instantly saw smiles appear on people’s faces
and the clouds above people’s heads lift –
as if the sunlight that everybody had witnessed
inspired a feeling of hope and optimism,
and a definitive change in the collective mood…
it’s amazing what the gift of sunlight can do…
it’s incredible to watch wet paths
and deep puddles of water evaporate
before your eyes and make
even the most shy of people
want to laugh and sing…
it is breathtaking to see something –
that may seem random to someone else –
and to interpret it as if it were
a sign of a higher power
and a reminder to always expect the unexpected…
even when all that you hear
and all that you see makes your mind
wander to all the things in the world
that make people dwell upon
the fear of the doom and gloom
that seeks to cast a shadow over the world –
like when the sun is obscured by the moon –
it is always important to think,
to hope for, and to look for all
the positive lights that are there to be found,
even on a morning of dark clouds and raindrops
you can find small, but significant, good omens.
My Poem ‘The Purple Flame’
The Purple flame, the purple prince,
the purple reign, the purple spirit,
the purple light, the purple love,
the purple sight, the purple angel
who now flies free like a dove…
the purple revolutionary,
the soul, the purple poet, the purple poetry,
the purple energy flow,
the purple art, the purple artist,
the purple icon, the purple tempest…
we are all going to be basking in your glow
today and for all of the days of tomorrow…
I am imagining you right now
racing down a highway in heaven
with David Bowie and John Lennon
in a little red Corvette
against the backdrop of a purple sunset,
wearing a raspberry-coloured beret,
on your way to a place
where there is an ocean of inspiration
that is constantly being remade
by the diamond and pearl-like
droplets of purple rain.
You have left us,
but you are still here…
you have blessed us,
and we will remember you
every second that we hear
your transcendent music,
as we shed a tear…
you may be far away now,
but your message of love
still echoes all around the world…
you must be looking back at us now
through the clouds
and smiling to yourself
because you know that the magical gift of music
that you were a master of
is one of the universe’s must powerful cures.
The purple bird…
the purple fire…
the purple star…
the purple flower…
the purple dust…
the purple pulse that will always
flow back and forth through our veins
from our feet to our brains…
the purple night…
the purple day…
the purple life that we will always cherish
and we will always be in-awe of…
of the one of a kind prince of the purple flame.
My Poem ‘The Umbrella’
The greatest escape on a rainy day,
the best cover to tie you over
from the lightning and the thunder;
whenever, wherever, you are
something akin to the sun of a Summer’s day;
a perfect oasis and the most serene place
of peace of mind and spirit;
that which when you hear it playing
is literally music to your ears,
that is personal –
but can also be shared in a different way
with people that you are in constant contact with,
that both stimulates all kinds of emotions and tears –
the thing that is so intrinsic to you
it is almost a part of your soul;
the coat of protection
that helps you brave the winter’s cold.
Like the roots of a tree,
like the canopy of a forest,
like the ground beneath all of our feet,
like the constituents of a bird’s nest,
we all have things above us, below us,
and around us, that ground us,
and that inspire us and amaze us
over and over, and without them
we would not be who we want to be,
and we would not be blessed with life’s
invisible, natural, but always present, poetry.
When the rain stops falling,
when the clouds part
and the sun shines again,
when life emerges from where it has been hiding,
as the writers continue to drive
the swirls and the course
of the ink of their pens,
when the Earth settles
and a brand new set of ripple effects
echo throughout the world,
like raindrops falling on the water of a pond,
when new experiences and new thoughts
accentuate and strengthen already deep-seated bonds,
when you need a shelter to wait for a break in the weather…
take out, unveil, open again,
that which has always served to be your refuge
and your constant umbrella.
My Poem ‘The Rain Over Queen Victoria’
It’s raining today.
It’s not raining too hard, or too fast,
as I walk across Victoria Square in Birmingham,
and I step up the seven rain-soaked steps
at the foot of the pedestal atop of which
a teal coloured statue of Queen Victoria
stands looking out regally.
I am on my way to my favourite cafe,
when for a few seconds I stop myself:
I take a step back, and I look at the world.
It always amazes me how some people think
and remember to bring an umbrella with them
when they leave their homes;
I, myself, never carry an umbrella,
and probably never will –
I do, however, buy umbrellas as gifts for people,
but I never think to buy one for myself…
perhaps I enjoy getting wet so much
I do not want to, nor would I ever, use an umbrella,
even if I were bought one.
I eventually reach my favourite cafe.
I order my favourite drink.
I choose my intended dining table as I wait in line,
and I buy for my lunch something to eat
that I have never had or tried before:
I pick out a “Jambalaya Chicken” wrap,
that from the description consists of
“A flavour of the American South East
tender roast chicken, in a spicy Jambalaya sauce
with red peppers, white rice, coriander, and spinach
in a tomato tortilla”, and even in the few seconds that I had
to read what it was and what the mix of ingredients
of my potential lunch were made up of,
my taste-buds were already rocketing into overdrive,
and my stomach was already rumbling,
like an oncoming express train over the American mid-west.
When I sat down at my already chosen table and chair,
I unpacked my spicy lunch from its packaging,
I took a sip of my hot drink,
I placed my mobile phone on the table in front of me to my left,
and then I took out my notebook and my pen
and I placed them right in front of me.
After a few minutes of settling myself,
and taking in the atmosphere of where I was,
and then looking out of the door
at a Victoria Square that was now being
pummeled by heavy rain,
I took a bite out of my tortilla lunch,
and almost immediately I felt heat,
I tasted spices, my mouth was already salivating with pleasure,
and I was for a few minutes, and long after,
satisfied, happy, and filled with thoughts,
sensations, and inspiration,
and all the more intensified than usual –
I am not sure if it was the Jambalaya in my tortilla,
my latte coffee, the sound all around me,
or the sight of the wet weather getting worse
outside the cafe’s window, as I sat dry and content.
Within no time, I was writing a new poem about everything
that I was thinking and feeling – this poem, if fact;
and then within minutes of finishing my written down
feelings and musings, it was time for me to leave
the warm and comfortable place where I was,
pack away my belongings, put on my coat,
and return to the outside world in which the pour from above
was far from over, and the rain was still falling
over Queen Victoria.
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