i cud swear

tich backhouse hiz thorts

i cud swear

jest caint 'member wot peoplez call 'm such
    on tip o' me
damn    beyond gettin at
    aint seen heerd
outta touch lately
    don' blame me cos ize senile
muss be summat don' matter much    'cept
    sunpun cute 'n cuddly-like
naw thin 'n scraggly like unto skinflintz beard
    neider wun close t'
un-comp-promisin big wurd serry-ee-bral
    'normous round zero wid halo
yus    like oh forever
    no buts more importink
most importink
    gosh    oughta luke this up
on everwunz tongue seems like
    seems like luminates wotz sed
'n dont    soz    i lose track

oh sorry nurse    beggin yr pardin
    jest thunkin out loud
talkin to missen    silly ord duffer   yus
   'bout wotz ober me haid
summat t' do wid rite 'n wrung
    i wert clebber wuncet
seems capital letters allus were wot i tuke me hat orf t'
    not outta respeck cos twere axpected
same az    don' go    i'd nearly got it    s'trooth
    thatz it     wurd   i fergit
supper up yit?


 dec mmx

Old man, old man

old man old man
    where do you go
over t'hill my dear
    to be laid low

old man old man
    how long i wonder
six feet my dear
    and ditto under

old man old man
    i wonder why
reasons like seasons
    come and go by

old man old man
    shall i be told
too soon you'll be wiser
    oh you too shall grow old


 aug mmxiv while laid up with sore hip

hey hey

Hey hey     ize a sick ol man

     ain no use to pout n frown

whan ize daid to frum ize cum

   then hey hey tiz ho nonny none

ho nonny none      whan ize feelin sore

     hurtin bad n wurse in store

taint az if ize young no more

     hey hey tiz whoz t' care

hey nonny no wotz up soonz down

     skinny az rope an wun end gone

cheeks sucked in an teeth undun

     then hey ize fettle as a skeleton

hey di ho meanz summatz up

     sky is fallin vexed wi snow

summerz went n autumn flew

     and hey tiz next t stars cum thru

whan hey hey me toes turn up

     t'aint mort o' matter whar ize dug

spent me gains on booze n fun

     herez t hey ho n hey nonny none

wid hey ho     then upend me mug

feb mmxiv

slang who's who

There's not a god-fearing bone in his body

    yes    ever-ready to embark on a lark

take up a dare come fire and brimstone

hurled    tackle his corner of the world

straight on    bold to go to    never shy    never shirk

    succeed or fall short    tis all one

come sun dance march stumble

wale like trough of sea    wash of storm

falling to lee      beached      blunder on

eyes blinded    bloody hurt    hop to it

here mate hold yer end up    cain't drop

oppo in slough    enough ain't never

till you're through this remember what's what

find how when where duty dandy does

when well-met again chum    did he though

snuff it    tis bye bye    one last call    cheers

so reads his epitaph    so reads his years

mmxiv

Can i be what i am

Can i be what i am
an old man
and relinquish
the weight of the world

neither here nor there
station stars themselves?
so with this perplexed dodderer
insisting he is what he was

bent age has its niche
not in line of fire
'cept nodding off
snug by cosy chimney corner
and hearth's reward

yeah     haha     damn your clichéd
quote from minor poet
who with six good men and true
was lowered out of this question
which seeks with verse erratic
to square armchair with dump of
clogging white wet gleaming teeming
whad y know wintry snow
through benefit of window's charity

clarity belongs as i do
between neither nor of argy-bargy
feet up neglecting felt duty
household ministrations
recline holding comfort of pen
dabbing at blank paper
to no resolution
beside the point
to hell with agitating
vexed brow

sup your tea     lad
as snow goes
so do you

mmxiii

Apropos sue's crab: sadly expired anon

The more i'm aware

    the less i'm sure

that what's extempore

     can by apriori

conniving endure

     in form bewildering

beyond my powers

     interpretive and rare

neither through insight

     nor imagining how

metaphor can pull us

     through this nameless      to wit:

we ineluctably expire

     and interpenetrate

another sphere

     like potential drawn

from what's not there

    and certainly conserve our ego

by repair through unfathomed elements

     from here to

oh where      o where

dec 10th mmxiii

** reference: christopher marlowe

"dr faustus" act v scene ii lines 1926-82

"all beasts are happy, for when they die,

their soules are soone dissov'd in elements"

pleasure at eight-six

feet up   enjoyin nix
        no effort   no advice
depends aint in it
        jest lie back   let irksome
must   wave bye bye
        muscles wunce taut  past tense
why shape up
daisical duz it

afore me droopin eyez
        white-crowned sparrer an younker
retrieve seeds let fall
        by fumblebum chickadees
bickerin at feeder over haid

swych effort
        calls fer doze . . .
        wotz dis   brazen sun
        evades shiftless shadow
        ruffles me stilliness
        competes wid impertinent
        heat   fer equipose   mine
        wot comfit were aint

        hey sum booby move me lounge chair
           thinks i   wurld dont care
        tis hanomally o dotard yearz
                wharz respeck?

        move self arguably indoorz
           fallz into wheelchair
         . . . ZZzzzzz


july mmxiii

I have lived

not lost   found
in cross hairs
deja vue glimpses
what i lived
from   through
no matter importance
then   no reasoning ties
exceptions   my eyes
open on   passed not by
here culls of reflection
recollection rather as happens
another flashback
to my life being
nearly done   how
exquisite these intents
thereby of now
in this parvue
summed-up fragments
connect thankful
twas what is i
am   source of being
unfolds with sufficiency
i have lived


july mmxiii

No slackening

falterin' steps of age

        hop skip and stumble

leaning on cane which bows to gravity

        grave deterioration

this lack of resolve

        stiffed by pain . . .

oh come off it

        you sorry twit

tis not terra firmer you eye

        look up with level head

staunch and no slackening

        a . . . ten . . shun! eyes front, shoulders back!

let apes shamble

        yes plod on no sweat

so i am worn as loose chinstrap

        cheer up!   calls robin on top of form

wise is his song

to listen   brokendown and sore

        i can chortle   haw haw

sky through plane tree leaves peering

        generous beatitude   fortunate apertures

bidding lift spirits   humane gesture

        no denying

july mmxiii

july mmxiii

Should I lament

Oh should i lament
    when lived to play outdoors
breathed content
    apron-strings fell off
should i now with pen poised
    deny what happened
may duly and let unruly
    fast as young legs can carry me
backwards and fall
    helplessly laughing
into glassworks' field
    among wild headhigh grass
thronged with huge michaelmas daisies
    turn beckon to my best pal
    “gie us a hand up!”
wander together along familiar ditch
    source of frogs and merriment
dare each other
    leaping across bank to
slip     and darn! one shoe wet
    leave sock on rock to dry

days of youth yes animated with fun
    and excruciatingly bygone
dwelling in some folds of aged brain
    these still-eternal years
and i gathering wrinkles
    instead of child's play
unbegrudged and yes as if erased
    with catch in laugh no-one can hear


december's dying year mmxii

hey hey ize a sick ol man

hey hey ize a sick ol man
ain no use t poutn frown
whan ize deed tiz frum i'm cum
hey hey tiz ho nonny nonne

hey hey whan ize feelin sore
hurtin bad n wurse in store
taint az if ize like afore
tiz hey ho an let it go

hey hey wotz up cumz darn
skinny az rope an wun end gone
slobberin lips n teeth undone
hey hey tiz ho nonny nonne

hey hey whan sun had played
sky thru leaves az newly made
spring haz went and summerz blew
hey hey aint here t stay

hey hey dis'n my turn too
hey hey twere well-a-day
wot wunce were close now far away
nobuddy scapes nut me nut you

hey nonny nonne n lost fer wurds
write yer owen obit tiz fun fer free
fill it wi trills like singin birdz
hey nonny now tiz orl frum me


laurie ashton aug mmx+i

Ize abidin

Ize abidin me presence other presences abidin
near t mindin goinz on abidin wherezever
soz awoken scarce dozin   cummin in on o morn
cummin on o dawn   cummin on wotz sartin
wid dis unsartinty dwellin
n damped darn frum up awellin
cos ize marrit t wurry
cos ize orl fun unsartin
how wot be about in me wurld awillin
might n might wid eventful dun
might nut
cum arushin cum acrushin yrz untruly unwishin
dozy darn path o morn agrumblin
hurry like unto whirlwind
unto whirlwind arumblin
wurldwind in me path hurled
whilez wot i wot not
cumz about aint nuthin aint so
whoz worthy t be abornin
tis good they be glad
spite n trubblez away unto sky blowen
    clouds dottin light frum sunz gotten
ariz be uz don az wurld twirlin by
     may twentieth abornin    two thousan n leven

body aint what it were

  He didn't ask
  what state
  how low
    he felt
  not himself
    snake-bitten
  no escape
    his body's travail
  wasted
    on mundane labour
  slumps in chair
    sees hand
  between thumb and forefinger
    map like vellum
  translucent
    where veins and skin
  in perspective
    recognize
  terrain of age
    state he fell in
  poor sod
    his body
  distressed by pain
    demands recognition
  and yes
    briefly mended
  he'll disregard
    again
  and suffer
    humiliation
  known as
    old duffer


mmxi

Kitchen rigs' hop

Crotchetty fridge's
    clackety-clack
catchy hook
    as if on track
with radio's jazz
    trumpet solo
floating by
    sweetlier made
in liquid notes
    to splashing faucet's
funky metre
    plop plop plop per…
lop
oh yeah
    premiere performance
this once only
    my kitchen rigs' hop
man     if I can jive
    wonky joints in rhythm
at eighty-two
    and still get with 'm
ah yes     I'm alive

mmviii

*Upon getting a spanking new fridge that turned out defective.

We pay a price

We pay a price for living
is the price too dear?
oh no! fear
is too near the bone
to place a value upon
“turn again Whittington!”

    time marches
in quick step
or slow
just so
the paean and the pang

    one arrow to the bow
many to the quiver
armed by providence
against what accident
may deliver


mmv

To be a child again

To be a child again!
    whittling a ship shaped from a stick
    walking homeward with a skip
being holiday-wise
    or seeing life from the teeter-
    totter tipsy view
    askew or upside-down for fun
and summer’s done through a hoop
    with a holler
wheedling a dollar for the theatre
    or grubbing in dear dirty earth
shelling peas to thieve the culls
these carrots onions turnips
    eaten raw or else disdained
health maintained precariously
    on a diet of
    crust     mouth full sticky with honey
    busting to be gone
    call on favourite pal
britches torn reaching for thrush’s nest
    in hedgerow
feet wet from leaping ditches—
    not quite
    socks soaking in sun to dry
provoking fights with kid brother
concluding nights
    out like a light

oh if i had my druthers
    to live life again…
what a chance to change
    nothing! but zip! happily
    range the gamut of joys and losses
owing no debt to fate
    except a taste i cannot sate
    and a lively heart like a ship that tosses

mmi

Hesitation

Who hesitates at death – I'm one
    what hinders crossing over?
burden of ownership
once shed … gone!


mcmlx

If i say kissing someone

If I say kissing someone
suits my fancy,     do you know
whose lips I mean?    or if I say
love's will be done    do you care
whose eyes return my stare
unrewarded?
this heart has guarded forty-one
done-to-a-turn     sizzled    frazzled
seasons    those long hot summers
dazzled by the sun
that turned out bummers!
so if I say    kissing someone
come what may will repay
my fancy    do you care
my eyelids stare    fold over
like errant balls
lost in neighbours' gardens
with forty-one summers
beyond recall?
do you care    do you care
do you unreward my stare
debonair one whose lips
I mean    I mean to own?

mmlx, amended mmvii

I know it's Fall

I know it's Fall
    cos my knees are cold
They'll get used to it
    as i will
    this reformed Thyrsus of mine
    but warmer dressed
A storm in a huff
    precipitates hailstones
    drumming its heels on the roof
    so i look out, startled
    and a zealous wind
    fall's janitor
    is thrashing the cedars and cherries
    until they writhe
    . . .  leaving behind
    this seamless layer of cloud
    like the underside of a massive broadloom
    barefaced as a tart at a wake

"Stay in!" you counsel
    "It will clear later"
But this is the seasonal cusp
    when dozing waterfowl
    open the other eye
    and recall timely invitations
    to greet the sun elsewhere
Probability is
    it won't let up tomorrow
Dash it! Mustn't get broody
    turn on the heater
    choose an easy chair and book:
    that mystery set in sultry Baetica
           switch to a brighter station
          rummaging as thought will
        to a destination
A poem, celebrating
    the shorter rotation of the sun
    after the Equinox:

O Fall, Thou Fell Antagonist
            and Usurper
    Who dids't Maternal Summer
        swipe with barbarous hand
    Anent Thine own o'erhasty accession ...

Sorry, can't continue. I feel old
    Maundering!
I see my own countenance
    in Summer's decline
    and Fall's succession
    A matching parody
Can't get broody
    A cup of tangy Ceylon tea
    my compatible chair
    the book and Thou, my Dearest
    always in my thoughts

Oh, Fall, welcome!
    But wipe Thy nose!
Unruly gusts, white-rimed frosts
    and scouring rains
    you summon;
    and if your temper suits
    that peerless antithesis:
    Indian Summer
Lucky i am to salute Thee
    in my seventy-first year


mcmxcvii

The time has run

The time has run on both our lives
has run on sweet
has run on tart
and sweet somehow survives
has run on god knows how
and sweet survives
has run on god knows how
together and apart
and sweet survives

mcmxcix