Everyday Poetry

Never have we wished so long and so hard For a new year to take the old one's place Never have we hoped so fervently For the new year to bring us some grace.  We'll roll up the old year and pack it away Consigned to the 'could do better' pile It can stay there forgotten til the good times are back And the bad times have been absent a while.  My new years resolution will be patience To see us through the first months of the year Until its our turn at last for the vaccine And we can get on with our lives without fear.  So here's to next year and all that it brings Take care of yourself and your own I wish you good health,  the best gift of all,  And a happier twenty twenty one.  © Copyright 2020. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved

  Alliterative Christmas Eve Horrible hated housework Rushing round rooms,  Slipping, on soaked floorboards: Shocking splits, Knocked knee. Calming coffee, Finally seeing the funny side - Clean Christmas contentment. © Copyright 2020. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved

Our poetry group has set the theme of hope for our next zoom meeting and there something very apt about searching for hope in these times of increasing anxiety.  Looking through all my poetry books I found lots of inspiration from other poets,  which set off this one in my head, forcing me out of bed to write it down before it disappeared.  Hope shines like a distant pinprick of light Showing you a path through dense forest trunks. Hope dangles like a hand stretched down Pulling you up from a pool of unshed tears. Hope is the promise of a vaccine,   The start of a downward curve. Hope is the sound of a word, full of possibility That gets you out of your chair, to start something new.  © Copyright 2020. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved

 "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." William Morris. My umbrella hangs on its hook, under the weight of coats, A thing of hidden beauty - the busy Strawberry Thief  Repeating on each ribbed panel. Bought on an impulse In upmarket Bath, it now lacks its case Discarded in a showery rush, location since forgotten.  It waits for the moment it can fulfil its purpose: On a still warm day when showers may arise But are not certain, with no chance of gusts to turn it inside out; My preference on a rainy day always for a hooded coat Pulled snugly to shield me from raindrops. © Copyright 2020. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved

Today's prompt was 'cheese' and i was astonished to realise, that for something that is such a big part of my diet,  I've never written a poem about it!  I could be vegan were it not for cheese I've tried it and enjoyed it, felt better for it But sooner or later I'm brought to my knees.  The non dairy alternatives promise to please But I'm unwilling to suffer, they're too close to rubber,  When creamy cheddar, brie, Stilton exert such a tease.  I told myself it's unhealthy, too many calories,  And a vain attempt to fix, saw me "vegan before six" But the good stuff crept in by degrees.  So I'm doomed to suffer with clogged arteries My stomach rules my head, no more to be said I'm a die hard vegetarian, with dependencies.  © Copyright 2020. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved

I'm always fascinated at the reality created in a dream, and how it can take several moments to shake it off when you wake.  Sometimes you wish you could linger, but this morning I was relieved to be free of the tasks I had been set in the dreamworld.   Midway between dream and reality I wake, fretting about tasks I've not completed For people I do not know in the waking realm.  Uncomprehending, still tethered to the depths, I float slowly upwards to the soft morning light  And the smell of good morning coffee at my bedside.  Kicking away the thoughts that bind me  I take my grateful leave from pretend cares Rejoining the reality of the everyday.  © Copyright 2020. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved

Today's word is 'distorted'. As it happens I've just had a conversation with my son about his divorce, so I'm not surprised I've interpreted it in this way.  She holds up your past in a hall of mirrors Telling you it didn't happen that way, She remembers it differently to you.  From a logical point of view it is possible There could be such divergent perspectives But she is rewriting history to fit her present, To place the blame on your shoulders.  You are too close to the mirror she's holding Step back and stand outside her distortion.  © Copyright 2020. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved

I've set myself the task of writing a new poem whenever I haven't got one ready made for the "word of the day" challenge in my Facebook group.  To be fair,  it's been going since the spring so I'm running out of poems anyway! Today's word is 'spiral' and this is what i came up with.  A fern's new branch unfurling A hedgehog's slow uncurling A flower's fresh green calyx DNA's mysterious helix A Chelsea bun's tight coiling A shell's chambers whorling A staircase upwards winding -  Hide secret hearts worth finding.  All these things and more Remind and reassure  When anxious thoughts spiral Obsessed with all things viral.  © Copyright 2020. Chris Auger. All Rights Reserved