Stats - Day 27

poems written = 45
poems written per day = 1.6667
poems remaining = 5

required poems per day = 1.6667



finally back on schedule.

50PowriMo - XLV

comfort food



prematurely wintry
the encroach of the outside world
seems barely held back
by the double glazing
our sleepy huddle
a comforting defiance
our televisual anaesthetic
lends a timeless filter
as the conversation turns
to dinner
i'm reminiscing
about the meal that
in my recollections
was the repeated absolute
of every saturday tea-time
of my childhood
when its hot, filling,
(nutritionally questionable)
embrace sustained my familial lethargy.
as you prepare it for me
i realise i am playing
a different role
in the remake
of the same scene
you made my food
but you were my comfort

50PoWriMo - XLIV

it's my party and i'll sneak off to write a poem about it if i want to



please don't get mad at
my socially inadequate
ways
i'll be the one who stays
on the periphery
conversing vicariously
in introverted analytical silence
allowing the cadence
of the chatter to flow
til i know
that my patient
wait for a vacant
space for a poignant
statement
is over and i'll shoot in
drop something astute in
just enough to make you think i'm contributing
and go back to being the one who lingers
on the fringes

Stats - Day 26

poems written = 43
poems written per day = 1.6538
poems remaining = 7

required poems per day = 1.75

50PoWriMo - XLIII

tidying



there is a chasm
between the way
you are prepared
to live and the way
you are prepared
to let others think
you are prepared
to live which is
bridged by that
special rapid tidy
you perform in those
last few hours
before your guests
are expected - telling
a social lie - like
all the other
pretending
that you're fine

50PoWriMo - XLII

friends don't let friends get "friends" haircuts



it's not selling out
to be more mainstream
than you ever thought you'd end up
when you were seventeen
but if you're not racked with self doubt
when a previously cool head
of hair gets the conformist chop
a part of you is dead





bonus coolpoints for anyone who knows where i stole the title from (most of them taken away if you googled it)

Stats - Day 25

poems written = 41
poems written per day = 1.64

poems remaining = 9
required poems per day = 1.8

50PoWriMo - XLI

why don't you?



being a teacher
the best few hours of my week
but i can't do more

mentors should be wise
skillful, calm and confident
that's not who i am

50PoWriMo - XL

the same joke i make every year




whenever
anyone asks me
what i'm thankful for
i tell them
i'm thankful
that i'm not
american

Stats - Day 24

poems written = 39

poems written per day = 1.6250
poems remaining = 11

required poems per day = 1.8333

50PoWriMo - XXXIX

attest



i sometimes wonder if i should hide
that ten-year-old boy inside
that will always set my heart
racing in the hours before the start
of a test series
but as each one looms i fear his
influence will never fade. we go
deaf to all but the radio
tms soundtracks my every summer day
and somehow away
series elicit a more illicit thrill
finding myself still
awake and duvet-wrapped and half past three
hanging on every ball of commentary
transporting
me to sporting
contests in venues too far to ever visit
no matter how hard the child inside may wish it

50PoWriMo - XXXVIII

i get a little upset when people i don't like seem to like me



we work hard
at letting you know who we are
so that you know that who we are
is not like who you are
and we like to know who you are
so that we know that who you are
is not like who we are
if we don't like who you are
we know that you don't like who we are
right?

Stats - Day 23

poems written = 37

poems written per day = 1.6087
poems remaining = 13

required poems per day = 1.8571

50PoWriMo - XXXVII

meta



just because a poem is slight
a few compact lines
doesn't mean it can't hold some great insight
sadly not the case this time

50PoWriMo - XXXVI

one hundred thousand pounds




thirty-five point six tonnes of pennies
it's hard to picture than many
piled up into a shiny wall
over seven hundred days
(not quite two man-years) at minimum wage
six times the national
debt per head of population
or adjusting for inflation
two grand in 1939
could a man raise ten to the fifth quid if he
suddenly needed extra liquidity
not by selling anything of mine



thanks to @sallonoroff on the twitter for the title (i need all the help i can get)

Stats - Day 22

poems written = 35

poems written per day = 1.5909
poems remaining = 15

required poems per day = 1.875

50PoWriMo - XXXV

twenty years ago today




i remember hearing
a quiet collective cheering
when we heard that she'd withdrawn
and within days she'd be gone
for the first time in my lifetime
i'd live under a new prime
minister although
i'd just assumed she'd never go
we're doing our best to forget her
we knew things could only get better
(though evidently only a tiny bit)

50PoWriMo - XXXIV

to the incredibly loud and annoying girl who won't shut up




trust me darling, you are not
as funny as you clearly reckon
nor for that matter as hot
as you make out with all that make up
(though that battered vintage homburg
and insufficient skirt's a bold fashion
statement) i'm so tired from work
so shut up, grow up - you might wake up

Stats - Day 21

poems written = 33

poems written per day = 1.5714
poems remaining = 17

required poems per day = 1.8889

50PoWriMo - XXXIII

making promises to my son



i can't promise to be someone you're proud of
but i promise to be proud of you
whenever you deserve it
(and to believe that's always)
i can't promise to be a model man
but i promise to be a solid base
from which you can build your own manhood
i can't promise to know what you need
but i promise to teach what i know 
i can't promise to protect you from all harm
but i promise to always be there
to help you pick up the pieces
i can't promise you'll always like me
but i promise i'll never
stop loving you