Corrosion

This redundancy assessment
is so much bile
it seems unseemly
for them to take such
pleasure in it

Reading it
corrodes the spirit
Glad I've finally
plucked up the courage
to make my measured appeal

As Brian says
I'm better off away
from such vituperative
falsehood
what does it do to them?

And the irony is,
as I see at 1am,
that none of this
was necessary,
could have been avoided

a calm, skills-based assessment
would not have warranted
any appeal to clear my name,
had they but known enough
about their staff, their skills
.

LMC 18-Dec-10

Friends

20 years ago
I was made redundant
David gave me a signalling course,
I gleaned all I could
from Brian's railway nouse
and walked into a shining new
career in railway engineering

Now it's happening again
and every day my friends
keep me positive
keep looking out for
more work for me
and reminding me
of their good opinion

a few words and I stride out
smiling, buoyed up
with hope. and even the stupid
Metro horoscope signalled
new doors opening,
and staying positive
my friends, you sustain my heart

lmc 13-11-10

Full tilt

Full tilt
I'm shot from the cannon,
at risk, at great risk of redundancy
and now I can't stop: apply,
upload cv, check job sites, apply
work my list of contacts
panic mode, don't stop and think

For far too long
I applied my Wily Coyote
principle of the universe
don't look down; all will be well,
now my head is forced tilt down
and I react like Wily
pedalling frantically to avoid the drop

lmc 11-11-2010

Freda

I can't work, just remembering,
Freda, stiff backed, disapproving,
but dancing at my graduation
telling my mother not to laugh,
so pleased to be included
in academic celebrations.
You have to use words like indomitable
for her rise from Smith St to the direction
of the city's maternity unit,
for her conquest, for so long,
of heart complaints from
childhood Sydenham's chorea,
until defeated by her final operation.
Did her role require silence
on her early life or was it
a protection from remembered pain?
In any case I wish her beloved
poppies were in season
for her funeral.

lmc 15-10-2010

That Conversation

Of all the art centres in all England
I happened to walk into the one
where a man whose hair
would grow like a dandelion clock
whose care I could not imagine
was cooking a vegetarian dinner
and over the washing up
we talked of hitching to Australia
and how you get over the wet bits
Strange, how much we tried
with those first impressions
for he was a traveller on a micro scale
months and years won't be enough
for him to know France or Italy well
but it's rare I can persuade him
onto an aeroplane to travel further
and me? I've never been much of one
for washing up

LMC 21 June 2010

Silk Road of my Life

I try to paint the silk road
of my lfe
Miyajima's red torii
and peonies for my father
how can I paint my mother's songs?
no clouds, this is to target the beauty.
I'd add in Abbeydale
if I could paint it, build up
the layers of petals like the
factory painters, overlay the gold.
A swirl of Gobi should follow,
for those Edwardian Misses,
the real silk road explorers.
All China's glory leading to Kashgar's
sunday market, Kansu street's jade sellers
All the way to Venice
Burano's jewel houses
glass glinting, silver gondola prows
slide out from between palacios
and paintings everywhere
to steal your breath away.
if I take it further (as I always have)
then this silk road fascination
led to all my explorations
Paris, Havana, Santorini, Vietnam
Angkor Wat and the Taj Mahal
(pause for heart stopping, stunning beauty)
and to that travelling conversation
in that long ago arts centre
Turn for home to Pennine moors
endless beach of Druridge bay
or Lyminge forest bluebells
for coming down through vineyards
of a red-gold evening
hand in hand

LMC 21 June 2010

Take one small child

Take one small child,

Shake thoroughly,

Or enough to rearrange at least

Her natural trust

And there you have created

One woman who'll always look

For what might go wrong.

LMC June 2010