Today's poet

[N-dubya]

Christmas is almost upon us

One of my favourite christmas poems by Sir John Betjeman


The bells of waiting Advent ring,
The Tortoise stove is lit again
And lamp-oil light across the night
Has caught the streaks of winter rain
In many a stained-glass window sheen
From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.

The holly in the windy hedge
And round the Manor House the yew
Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,
The altar, font and arch and pew,
So that the villagers can say
'The church looks nice' on Christmas Day.

Provincial Public Houses blaze,
Corporation tramcars clang,
On lighted tenements I gaze,
Where paper decorations hang,
And bunting in the red Town Hall
Says 'Merry Christmas to you all'.

And London shops on Christmas Eve
Are strung with silver bells and flowers
As hurrying clerks the City leave
To pigeon-haunted classic towers,
And marbled clouds go scudding by
The many-steepled London sky.

And girls in slacks remember Dad,
And oafish louts remember Mum,
And sleepless children's hearts are glad.
And Christmas-morning bells say 'Come!'
Even to shining ones who dwell
Safe in the Dorchester Hotel.

And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall ?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?

And is it true ? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.

[freckle]

Christmas is almost upon us

One of my favourite christmas poems by Sir John Betjeman


The bells of waiting Advent ring,
The Tortoise stove is lit again
And lamp-oil light across the night
Has caught the streaks of winter rain
In many a stained-glass window sheen
From Crimson Lake to Hookers Green.

The holly in the windy hedge
And round the Manor House the yew
Will soon be stripped to deck the ledge,
The altar, font and arch and pew,
So that the villagers can say
'The church looks nice' on Christmas Day.

Provincial Public Houses blaze,
Corporation tramcars clang,
On lighted tenements I gaze,
Where paper decorations hang,
And bunting in the red Town Hall
Says 'Merry Christmas to you all'.

And London shops on Christmas Eve
Are strung with silver bells and flowers
As hurrying clerks the City leave
To pigeon-haunted classic towers,
And marbled clouds go scudding by
The many-steepled London sky.

And girls in slacks remember Dad,
And oafish louts remember Mum,
And sleepless children's hearts are glad.
And Christmas-morning bells say 'Come!'
Even to shining ones who dwell
Safe in the Dorchester Hotel.

And is it true,
This most tremendous tale of all,
Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,
A Baby in an ox's stall ?
The Maker of the stars and sea
Become a Child on earth for me ?

And is it true ? For if it is,
No loving fingers tying strings
Around those tissued fripperies,
The sweet and silly Christmas things,
Bath salts and inexpensive scent
And hideous tie so kindly meant,

No love that in a family dwells,
No carolling in frosty air,
Nor all the steeple-shaking bells
Can with this single Truth compare -
That God was man in Palestine
And lives today in Bread and Wine.

Lovely choices Neil....i really like Betjeman's style of poetry, have you read "In a Bath Tea Shop" that's gorgeous....i posted it here a while back.....I wonder how many forumites will get a hideous tie this year?....Merry I really liked you little you tube poem...inspiring stuff...especially concerning turning failures into successes!.........right off to persue some contemporary poetry that someone has just passed me, oh as well as all the other usual stuff!......thanks guys for some lovely words

[N-dubya]

A bit more simon armitage this goes out to one forum user in particular

Kid
Batman, big shot, when you gave the order
to grow up, then let me loose to wander
leeward, freely through the wild blue yonder
as you liked to say, or ditched me, rather,
in the gutter ... well, I turned the corner.
Now I've scotched that 'he was like a father
to me' rumour, sacked it, blown the cover
on that 'he was like an elder brother'
story, let the cat out on that caper
with the married woman, how you took her
downtown on expenses in the motor.
Holy robin-redbreast-nest-egg-shocker!
Holy roll-me-over-in the-clover,
I'm not playing ball boy any longer
Batman, now I've doffed that off-the-shoulder
Sherwood-Forest-green and scarlet number
for a pair of jeans and crew-neck jumper;
now I'm taller, harder, stronger, older.
Batman, it makes a marvellous picture:
you without a shadow, stewing over
chicken giblets in the pressure cooker,
next to nothing in the walk-in larder,
punching the palm of your hand all winter,
you baby, now I'm the real boy wonder

[freckle]

A bit more simon armitage this goes out to one forum user in particular

Kid
Batman, big shot, when you gave the order
to grow up, then let me loose to wander
leeward, freely through the wild blue yonder
as you liked to say, or ditched me, rather,
in the gutter ... well, I turned the corner.
Now I've scotched that 'he was like a father
to me' rumour, sacked it, blown the cover
on that 'he was like an elder brother'
story, let the cat out on that caper
with the married woman, how you took her
downtown on expenses in the motor.
Holy robin-redbreast-nest-egg-shocker!
Holy roll-me-over-in the-clover,
I'm not playing ball boy any longer
Batman, now I've doffed that off-the-shoulder
Sherwood-Forest-green and scarlet number
for a pair of jeans and crew-neck jumper;
now I'm taller, harder, stronger, older.
Batman, it makes a marvellous picture:
you without a shadow, stewing over
chicken giblets in the pressure cooker,
next to nothing in the walk-in larder,
punching the palm of your hand all winter,
you baby, now I'm the real boy wonder

This is just class Neil, really great! thank you for introducing me to armitage....by the way there are some really good sales on poetry books at borders forumites (including armitage), 70% off now....

[N-dubya]

Lovely choices Neil....i really like Betjeman's style of poetry, have you read "In a Bath Tea Shop" that's gorgeous....i posted it here a while back.....I wonder how many forumites will get a hideous tie this year?....Merry I really liked you little you tube poem...inspiring stuff...especially concerning turning failures into successes!.........right off to persue some contemporary poetry that someone has just passed me, oh as well as all the other usual stuff!......thanks guys for some lovely words

Agree with you Freckle, he is able to use amazing rhyme and meter without losing the image or context of the poem. where some seem to rhyme for rhyming sake.

[freckle]

Agree with you Freckle, he is able to use amazing rhyme and meter without losing the image or context of the poem. where some seem to rhyme for rhyming sake.

Neil I have just re read that armitage poem, its just soooooo good its blown me away...he is so angry in it..I love it...

[N-dubya]

This is just class Neil, really great! thank you for introducing me to armitage....by the way there are some really good sales on poetry books at borders forumites (including armitage), 70% off now....

Thanks for that Freckle, pity I live in a provincial backwater where the only borders are county ones

[N-dubya]

this is a great short film of Simon Armitage

There is not a wated word, more truth and inegrity than anything i've ever read

[N-dubya]

this is a great short film of Simon Armitage

There is not a wated word, more truth and inegrity than anything i've ever read

Doh ! heres the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU5MmSdQppQ

[freckle]

Doh ! heres the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU5MmSdQppQ

Thanks for this link Neill i am going to save it for later, with a glass of vino when the kids have gone to bed so i can really enjoy it....

as you can imagine i have been buying other people a lot of poetry this xmas! (selfish sod that I am!!!!!) I bought charles bukowski's "what matters most is how well you walk through the fire" today as a gift for someone....here is a poem from there which I really like....

Lifedance

the area dividing the brain and the soul
is affected in many ways by
experience –
some lose all mind and become soul:
insane.
some lose all soul and become mind:
intellectual.
some lose both and become:
accepted.