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The Cartography of Life

January 23, 2026January 23, 2026humanist55

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;

From The Song of Wandering Aengus
By William Butler Yeats

Happy the man who dreams his purpose
plots his course to achieve that very goal
marches to the beat of his own drum
and pity one forced to follow roads
laid down by parents’ aspirations
but I drifted into adulthood
with no pressure and no direction
and took many turns along the way
slowly grew into the man I am
Though I am old with wandering

Love life is the companion to work
the superficial couplings of youth
conducted with more vigour than sense
reaching the sunny uplands mid-life
settling into a career I thought
would last a lifetime, a love to match
but people carry pasts within them
like hidden rocks in a calm ocean
and accidents deflect one’s passage
Through hollow lands and hilly lands

To know another is a life’s work
the unity of coupledom is
illusion, we travel parallel
at best, learning the geography
of roads built across bogs of trauma
always ready to gently subside
and mire a person in buried past
and paths are hard to find in a slough
of despond and she has lost her way
I will find out where she has gone

Looking back at the path I followed
there is more coherence than I thought
skills grown and transferred in work and life
and love too, so much surer than in youth
and all the scars and breaks accreted
are the medals of experience
and trying not to look toward the end
but focus on the roadside flowers
the next generations we began
And kiss her lips and take her hands…

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Björn Rudberg (brudberg) in FormForAll, Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft, invites us to writa a Glosa, a Spanish poetry form in which four lines borrowed from a poem by another – the cabreza, are expanded upon over 4 ten-line stanzas… I chose lines from WB Yeats, who I have loved since studying him at school, and whose poems still resonate with me today. In 1995, I went to live in Sligo, Ireland, where Yeats is from, and is buried beneath nearby Ben Bulben mountain. I was a signwriter and painted a sign and mural of Yeats and his work, for The Winding Stair bookshop there – you can see me working on it in this news clip…

Colours of the Day

January 16, 2026January 16, 2026humanist55

The light filtering through the shutters
picks up a little of their blue
on its predawn passage
into the white-walled
beige, marbled floor bedroom
sun rises swifter than at home
not quite the tropics
but tantalisingly close to Africa

The sun rises scarlet and
all-consuming of the sky
– silhouetting the island
dark purple across the bay
Red sky in the morning
doesn’t translate to Crete
where most days in this lockdown Winter
that is not like our Winter
begin with a red curtain raiser.
Soon blinding light floods the sky, the Bay
the mountains delicately bluing their shadows
and highlighting their tops
before the rising heat filters
everything with glimmering heat haze.

We sit in the shade of the terrace
beneath the deep green leaves
of the carob tree and count
the millipedes that have climbed
the delicately off-white walls
in the night dash, reaching for
who knows what insectile heaven…
A fallen comrade
dark brown in desiccation
is moving sideways
in unlikely reanimation
until we see that his body
is being carried back to the nest
by a tiny black ant a tenth his size
we sit astounded by this feat
but don’t forget to film it
for posterity or a rainy day reminder
when we are one day returned to England.

I walk down to town for market day
mixing with brightly dressed
younger women and black wrapped
older ones in widows weeds
with only an occasional male
to keep me company.
The azure sea is only feet away

The couple who live on the yacht
just out in the bay
are here, and we chat in the shade
of a vegetable stall loaded with
piles of black glossy aubergines
and ripe red tomatoes next to
bunches of wild greens, picked
from among the hundred or so
Crete proffers – if you know
what you are looking for.
Cyrille’s once blonde hair
is salt and pepper
tied back in a ponytail
their clothes too, faded with
exposure to sun and saltwater.

I spend some time chatting
with the banana man
who sells nothing else
and whose English is good
enough for a conversation.
I am English and so not averse
to discuss the weather –
he talks of the recent
thunderstorms whose hailstones
devastated his neighbours’ crops
but divinely spared his
while Barbara and I had been
enjoying the night of sturm und drang
from the safety of our covered balcony
the crackle and crash of it
ricocheting and rambling around
the mountains and – the ultraviolet
flashes turned into dark sound.

Walking back up the long hill
to the village, I pass the
white and ochre, black and grey
patchwork trunks of the group of gum trees
foreigners too – all the way from Australia
these strangers who fit in so well
people believe them to be native.

Home again in the cool of the flat
and after a siesta
I pick a bright yellow lemon
from the tree within reach of our balcony
and squeeze it into dark green olive oil
to dress the salad of tomatoes
and cucumbers I hauled up
from the market – dot it with
tiny Cretan olives – mostly grown for oil
and look out on the bonfires
ranged around in the olive groves
as farmers burn the prunings
of their trees.

Night falls quickly
colours fade to black…

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, lillian in OpenLinkNight invites us to submit a poem of our choice for Open Link Night…

11th January: Ten Things of Thankful

January 11, 2026January 11, 2026humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – The Jasmine seems to be holding its own against some quite sharp frosts…

2 – Indoors, we have been enjoying the scent from this lovely basket of bulbs – a Christmas present…

3 – I sent off for a tapestry circle so that I could begin the Hooking Kit my sister Helen sent for Christmas – it is, as it says on the tin, most therapeutic…

4 – The named storm passed us by this week and we have had no snow this year…

5 – We were pet sitting young Winnie, our daughter’s Border Collie for a few hours yesterday, she is now old enough to travel in the footwell of the car calmly…

6 – Hereabouts, each Yorkshire stone quarry marks its dressed stone with a different marking – ours has simple parallel lines of dashes – photographed in yesterday’s welcome sun…

7 – The Poets Pub has started prompting again after the Christmas break – I typed up a poem from my writing group about “a time I was in danger” – a sailing story in which I wisely turned back – else I might not be here to tell the tale (for which I am grateful)…

8 – Grateful for the TTOF – especially on a dark, dank day like today…

9 – Grateful that I will be having my bi-weekly chat with my sister in Nova Scotia and trusting that even if Trump invades Canada, she will be safely remote there…

10 – Grateful that the tide of opinion seems to be turning against Trump and his dictatorship and crossing my fingers that the American people will find the right action to take to restore democracy and rebuild the damage at home and abroad…

Ars Poetica Abecedarium

January 9, 2026January 10, 2026humanist55

A poet is a person whose language
Becomes a special form of
Communication, a message –
Directed words with meaning for
Everyman in their world of “things”
Flinging out new ideas for the times,
Gestating a better way to grasp for
Hope that births a movement from
Individual to friends, to groups that
Jump to join a movement with
Kinetic energy that enjoins all to
Love, not hate, the poet sings
Metaphor, alliteration and rhythm and
No style or form is unsuitable to carry
Out the mission sacred, the
Poet’s role from print to poetry slam
Questioning, commenting, highlighting
Rights denied, inequity amplified
So the message – at first a pretence
Trickles, seeps, runs like a stream
Underground, which nobody can dam
Violence cannot hold back the flow of
Waves of awareness, rejection of the
Xenophobic in favour of the xenogogue
Young and old align in the new
Zeitgeist and the poet seeks new inspiration.

Over at dVerse, Laura Bloomsbury in Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft, invites us to write an Abecadarium Acrostic poem for the start of the year…

The Outing

January 7, 2026January 11, 2026humanist55

Danger is not always found in dark places
and on a sunny, sparkling water day
I nearly lost my life sailing a dinghy
a day after the storm swept the Mediterranean
the only sign of its passing, the
long lazy undulating swell that
swished almost silently up the slipway
where my friends helped me position
the tiny boat with its single sail brought
on a roof rack, their part played, they
departed for our rendezvous down the coast

Out round the headland and turn right
was my plan, it seemed feasible
mast stepped and rigged, I pushed off
down the concrete slipway, which, slippery
with slime, shot me downwards into
the clear water of the corner of the coast
the cliffs stretching out to the headland
on my right, and behind me to the left
a rocky stretch, broken only by the slipway
enclosed between concrete walls where nobody
watched my sudden progress into deep water

I pushed the daggerboard down into
it’s slot, tightened the sail, and
gripped the tiller to set my course
– a series of alternating tacks left to open sea
and right, towards the cliffs, then
a couple of tacks into the wind should do it
I thought, then around the headland
and a straight run down the coast
the wind behind me and a peaceful glide
to the rendezvous beach
but soon I realised that every tack
away from the cliffs – broadside on to
the greasy swells, rolled me strongly, spilling
the wind from my sail, slowing my progress and
each tack into the wind, was not making
the progress I hoped, and each time
I found myself back at the cliff, faster
than seemed right, and then
I saw the cave beneath the headland
a lazy wave suddenly smashing
tons of water into its maw and
I realised my efforts were only
bringing me closer to being sucked
into that awful mouth and crunched
and nobody would ever know
what became of me and so
discretion, the better part of valour
I turned around and with the wind
behind me, I headed back to the slipway

But danger was not yet passed
as I remembered the slippery slope
I would have to negotiate, and speed
seemed the only way to reach the
top and with no regard to the
bottom of the boat, I urged it on
pulling up the dagger board at the
last minute and trusting my aim
I shot up the slime, sail still straining
and tumbled out near enough
to the safe ground to make it up
with just one slip and
pulled the dinghy after me
before a following swell should
pluck it back…

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Dora in Poetics, invites us to write in the manner of Elizabeth Bishop, paying particular attention to consciously incorporating accuracy (detail), spontaneity (immediacy), and mystery (revelation) in writing the poem.

4th January: Ten Things of Thankful

January 4, 2026January 4, 2026humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this first week of 2026…

1 – Christmas Day was spent at my daughter’s house and I was grateful that I was not responsible for the cooking, beyond two large chickens one of which I took over for the carnivores amongst us. The other one was part of a buffet at ours on Boxing Day and of course, I made bought too much food so we will be compromising our diet for weeks to come…

Four of my six grandsons on Christmas Day with Barbara, their Nan, in the middle…

2 – I promised to show you the present I bought for Barbara – I was on safe ground here – unlike choosing clothes – because Barbara is the Immelda Marcos of handbags and this one was one of her favourite colours – mission successful!

3 – Barbara bought me a set of Sabatier chef’s knives – the top three in the picture below. The fourth down was a present from my parents when I wen t to university and I have used it almost every day since and through two food businesses. It is a carbon steel knife which means if it is not cleaned and dried immediately after use it will rust… Despite this care, it has worn away as it used to be the length of the fifth knife – which was a gift from an old schoo; friend, who lives in France and collected tokens from his supermarket, exchanged for this knife which he gifted as a replacement, having seen the diminished status of my first Sabatier! The new set come with self-sharpening cases which they need, as they are very sharp indeed and you wouldn’t want to brush against them unguarded…

4 – Jake, the grandson who was travelling with his Doctor girlfriend this Summer, gave me a set of spices from Morroco – I wonder if you can guess what they are?

My sister in Canada has made me a hooker! I confess that I opened it early as I had no clue what to get for her – I decided to send her a Needle-felting kit, so we now we shall both be quietly crafting…

5 – The low Winter sun reaches parts of the house not usually illuminated, here striking the top of the stairs through the upstairs windows… For the builders among you, the doors were all made from reclaimed wood so they will never shrink!

6 – I am participating (along with 20,000 others) in a drug trial of an oral version of Semaglutide. I had an interview with the project after 3 months of the run-in doses and will now be randomised for real or placebo. I hope I am on the real ones since the object of the drug is to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Semaglutides in higher doses are the injectable weight-loss drugs and whilst this one seems to be having a beneficial effect on blood sugar and blood pressure, it will likely not cause much weight loss. I shall be watching my test results carefully to see whether I think I am on real or placebo… The trial is over 5 years…

7 – I had lunch in Harrogate (about 45 minutes drive) with Tricia, my American, second cousin once removed and her husband Jack and their two sons, wife, girlfriend and one grandchild. From left to right, me, Tricia, Jack, Min (Korean), Tusk, Palmer, Eda (Turkish) and Josiah. I had not met Palmer, Min and Tusk before so ot is great to now know the whole family!

Myself holding forth at the lunch table. We had Blackeye Beans and Tomato which is a typical Southern dish and I took some of my Persimmon Cake which is also a Southern treat…

8 – I have finally made a start on writing the pages for the A to Z for April and have completed the Theme Reveal, and the A and B pages. If I can get all the posts prepared in advance, I will have more time for reading and commenting on other people’s posts…

9 – After as deep a dive into the back end of computing as I have done since working with Windows 95, all to no avail, and with resorting to top-level help from BlueHost, I got my picture uploading problem solved -only to find it has returned this morning – will it load into Linkzy – I shall soon see…

10 – Grateful to be part of this community of gratitude – Happy New Year to you all!

29th December: Ten Things of Thankful

December 29, 2025December 29, 2025humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

I am still having difficulty loading images so this will be an all-text post!

1 – Grateful to have got through Christmas and to be enjoying a further complete week off work.

2 – Nobody fell out – lol, the food was well received even though I overshopped for Boxing Day at ours and we will be eating various naughty items for the foreseeable future…

3 – We finished binge-watching Ted Lasso (that’s not the gratitude) which was such a well-done, human, feel-good series and I heartily recommend it to all and sundry. Interesting inflexion points between American and UK culture…

4 – I received, amongst other things, a new dressing-gown, some Moleskine notebooks for writing poetry in (or, quite frankly, anything), a book, “The World According to David Hockney” – he is a local hero, being from Bradford and having a permanent exhibition (N.B. not an Exhibit (which is an item IN an Exhibition)) in nearby World Heritage site Salts Mill, Saltaire.

5 – Finally, I have made a start on the writing part of my A to Z Challenge for April – the Theme Reveal and I have elevated constituent fibres to the title which now reads “What We Wear – Fabrics and Fibres!” Onwards and upwards…

6 – Got my car fixed just before Christmas – I had been driving around with 3 out of 4 wheelnuts on one front wheel – now had a new hub and tracking done!

7 – I have embarked on a 12 short stories in 12 months challenge, starting on 7th January – the idea is that working to deadlines improves your writing and since my long-term novel is languishing a bit, I thought it couldn’t hurt to stoke the furnaces with some short stories…

8 – The basic level Helpline couldn’t solve my image uploading problem but they have escalated it to the next level (wait 24 hours with bated breath) – watch this space…

9 – I bought a secondhand Melodica – a small keyboard that you play by blowing through a tube – as if being breathalysed and playing the organ had a baby…

10 – This year, an “Annus Horribilis” in so many ways (as Queen Elizabeth II was wont to say), is nearly over and the many troubles in the world must surely come a little closer to resolution Putin and Trump may implode and Israel get the message that they need to do things differently – let’s hope…

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year!

21st December: Ten Things of Thankful

December 21, 2025December 21, 2025humanist55

Ten things for which I give thanks this week…

1 – I am thankful that, although I still can’t post pictures from my computer, directly, I have found a workaround and so I am back in time to wish you all a Merry Christmas…

2 – We have had a few great sunrises the last few weeks and in this part of the world – “Red sky at night – shepherd’s delight, Red sky in the morning – shepherd’s warning!”

3 – In other weather phenomena – here is a rainbow that greeted me on my arrival at work and also to be seen, the local mosque – evidence of how multi-cultural Bradford is…

4 – And inside work, we have a new cleaner who has brought in some greenery to brighten the windowsill…

5 – And still at work – I managed to catch out some colleagues with the following photo – I told them I had been on a quick trip to the Arctic Circle to see the Northern Lights and snapped this from the plane – in fact, it is a photo of the ice build-up in our gelato freezer, turned upside down lol…

6 – Last week, there were still a few apples on this roadside tree – looking for all the world like Christmas baubles – oh and I picked up a few windfalls which have grown and ripened since last time I harvested some – talk about a late harvest…

and here is our own Christmas Tree ready to rock and roll!

7 – The Winter Jasmine is flowering – tiny flowers with a delicate scent…

8 – Most of the food shopping for the twelve of us who will be here on Boxing Day is done…

9 – presents are all bought and wrapping is under way and one especially for Clark ” What type of music do sana’s Elves listen to at work?
Rap!”

10 – Here in England, if you are lucky enough to have a local branch, Christmas begins when you hear the Salvation Army Brass Band playing Christmas Carols…

Have a Very Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas Tableau

December 12, 2025December 12, 2025humanist55

Rowland Hilder trees
pepper the landscape
and last week’s snow drifts
still lie in the shade
of the drystone walls
of the Yorkshire Dales

Farmers bring out feed
for the hungry sheep
kids complain now schools
have reopened
but coming Christmas
buzz is in the air

Householders spaff light
in competition
to claim the prize for
showiest display
of unnecessary
Xmas symbolism

and “Once upon a
midnight clear” is lost
to light pollution
and so for Twelve Days
each village will glow
with Christmas fever…

How should we weigh up
cultural tradition
against the cost to
the environment
– consumerism
out of all control

Let’s strip it all back
to the heart of things
remember that love
is of the essence
and all we need to
light up our landscape…

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, Laura Bloomsbury in Meeting the Bar: Critique and Craft, invites us to paint a poetic tableau using a fixed poetry style entitled The Tableau – created by Emily Romano in October of 2008

Poetry Style:

5 beats/syllables per line

1 or more verses

6 lines per verse

A Tapestry of Trouble…

December 12, 2025December 12, 2025humanist55

Two crowds of demonstrators
facing off across double lines
of harassed, interfacing riot police
each crowd spouting the bias
of whichever media feed dogs
have been pushing their buttons
there is much darning (and worse)
as the police struggle to keep
them hemmed in whilst a journo
darts in and tries to buttonhole
some talking heads for the news
needles his victims to say something
outrageous but the crowd gathers
round and rips into the man with
the microphone, who wishes he
was home this Saturday afternoon
taking a nap instead of mining
this admittedly rich seam of
newsworthy division – newsworthy
though hardly novel – politicians
of both sides have been dog-whistling
immigration to whip up votes
for decades – a pattern that no amount
of careful work with a seam picker
– will undo and ease the tensions…

Over at dVerse Poets Pub, lillian in Poetics, invites us to use a list of words from the world of sewing, albeit with a different meanings…