Martin Parker: Folio Fire
Artily-tartily
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Smartened up buildings
In old Glasgow Town.
His Tea-rooms survived
But his Art Nouveau Library
Improvidentially
Burned to the ground.
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Tracy Davidson: Messy Pup
My mistress says I've made a mess,
but when she's gone I get so sad.
I hate to see her in distress,
my mistress says I've made a mess.
I make my eyes go big . . . success!
My cuteness stops her being mad.
My mistress says I've made a mess,
but when she's gone I get so sad.
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Anne Eyries: Profiler
I scrutinise the photos, applications,
create a spreadsheet listing occupations,
ages (false), interests, family situations,
then weigh and rank with cryptic annotations
to score a date, potential mate. Foundations
for the future or AI simulations?
I guess it works for younger generations
but I’m too old for online intimations .
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Steven Kent: On Mistakenly Assuming
That All Green Teas Are Caffeine-free
At half-past ten
I wondered when
I'd sleep again.
At midnight, wired:
My senses fired
(But still not tired).
Believe you me:
Not much to see
At half-past three.
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Alan Millichip: A Tyrant
Right from might, it's the only way,
As long as your bank's getting fat;
Keep up the pressure every day,
Right from might, it's the only way;
Don't listen to what people say,
There's nothing wrong with autocrat;
Right from might, it's the only way,
As long as your bank's getting fat.
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Steven Knepper: Smooth Surfaces
I’m by a lake, both soul and water clear,
but in my lap there floats an orb of fear.
When I lean into it my being churns.
When I lean back again the peace returns.
“It is your smartphone screen,” she says next day.
“Your soul agrees with me. Put it away.”
I laugh, concede her point, but am not sure.
It could indeed be that. It could be more.
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Ross Carne: Cloud Eight
In English,
we land on Cloud Nine,
our happy and excited place.
In German,
it’s Wolke sieben
that floats us round this joyful space.
And Cloud Eight?
What happens there?
Maybe the space for the odd-sock race?
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Don Nigroni: Stage Fright
When Punch and Judy had a fight
that happened late one dreary night,
it left poor Judy in a fright
while Punch was such a sorry sight.
Dawn broke, and with it came some light
when both decided they were right.
As all know, right is made by might,
and so began another fight!
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Marshall Begel: Elvis Has Left . . . His Mark
(In Madison, Wisconsin, in the early morning hours of 24 June
1977, Elvis Presley broke up a fight between two young men
and a teenager. The incident is memorialized with a plaque at
the site where it occurred.)
In Madison Wisconsin, there's an unexpected sight:
a little granite plaque relates how Elvis stopped a fight.
When witnessing a beating while he traveled past this spot, he
exploded from his limousine and showed off his karate.
and when they recognized the star, they let their victim go,
then Elvis Presley called a truce, and headed for his show.
A warning to the hooligans who traumatize or pester –
remember, heroes might wear capes of rhinestoned polyester.
