Sunday 30 October 2011

Strange Week

Any of you who know me will be aware that I am not 'into' fiction. I am a firm believer that truth is stranger. If my family want me to watch a film they always tell me that it is 'a true story'. I was half way through the Matrix before it dawned on me that it wasn't fact based!

So why am I telling you this? I have had a very strange week and I have a feeling my life is going to get a lot stranger.

It started with a tweet.....

I - reluctantly - joined Twitter a whlie ago. I joined Facebook after being persuaded by some friends at college and quite enjoyed it for a while. But then I got a bit bored with it when I realised that I was spending a lot of time there, time that I should have been spending on something more productive. I gave up to social networking eventually just 'popping on' occasionally to see if anything new was happening.I kept hearing about Twitter and Tweets and eventually decided to have a look. After I joined, my Twitter page was abandoned for quite some time until I discovered a few college friends again on the site.That was the beginning of a new form of time-wasting (Sorry Twiiter friends, it's nothing personal!) I started tweeting and then I decided to start this blog - another new experience.Once more I seem to find myself in cyberspace almost as much as I am in the real world.

I got a little bit excited about Twitter when I discovered that famous people used it and I started to follow some of my favourite people, mainly comedians because I like a good laugh. I follow Steve Martin, Eddie Izzard and paul Merton to name a few but I soon discovered that famous people don't talk to mere mortals such as me.

In April 2009 I noticed a tweet from Paul Merton inviting people to join The Land of Grimney. I had a look and decided to join but being the technophobe that I am I couldn't work out how to navigate the site. I tried, again unsuccessfully to upload some poems to the site quite recently and emailed the admin team to ask for help. I received no reply and once again the site was abandoned.

This brings you up to date with my background in social networking so what happened to make this week so strange?

Firstly, I received an email from a wizard - I kid you not! Out of the blue I received an email from someone by the name of 'Word Wizard.' The email was to advise me that my email to them had 'slipped through the net' - I don't think there was any pun intended. I won't bore you with the details but I have spent most of this week in the Land of Grimney having conversations with all sorts of strange beings. I have a friend called Philomena who is a mermaid and works behind the bar at Holmes tavern, which is where I've spent most of my time - as you would expect. Philomena took me for a ride on her Kelpie to a lake where I met an ugly monster by the name of the Gwump.

Back in the real world I am receiving emails from my wizard, friend who is advising me about my character in Grimney! For someone who has never had any interest in fantasy, fairies, witches, monsters and so on, I have quite enjoyed my visits to this strange land. Maybe I'm discovering my lost childhood or maybe I'm finally losing the plot, big time, I don't know but I'm enjoying a completely new experience - and gradually slipping away from Twitter land.

Since 2006 my life has been constantly throwing up new adventures, the first of which was deciding to enroll on a degree course at my local college.

If you had told me ten years ago that I would one day have an English degree, that I would spend half of my time in Cyberspace, that I would be writing (or at least attempting to write) poetry and finally that I would be having an adventure in a fantasy land, I would have assured you that you had got me confused with somebody else!

I have no suitable poem to accompany this week's blog but I am going to attempt to create one. If no poem appears at the end - it means I failed.

Thanks for reading and see you next week - unless I end up in outer space or something, I never know these days!



At a Tavern in Grimney
Meadow Goblinglitter stays
In a nearby magic forest
She whiles away her days

She loves to sit and gaze beneath
The purple snoozle tree
At the comings and the goings
Of that strange community

 There are witches, there are wizards
There are toads and mermaids too
If you like mystery and adventure
You should visit Grimney too.

Oh, alright it's probably not the best poem you've ever read but I only had half an hour......










Monday 24 October 2011


                                                             Death of a Dictator
So Colonel Gaddafi's dead and there are mass celebrations taking place across Libya. Freedom at last for people who have been ruled with an iron fist for forty years. So will Libya be transformed overnight into a flourishing democracy? I doubt it. Judging by the scenes surrounding the tyrant's final moments, I doubt it very much.
Whatever Gaddafi did when he was alive, by meting out the same horrific, barbaric treatment to him when he was lying helpless and injured, the mob showed that they had no more capacity for compassion than their fallen leader .It doesn't bode well for the emerging Libya to see scenes of a blood-soaked body being kicked and beaten to a chorus of  jubilant rejoicing, reminiscent of howling packs of hounds ripping a fox apart.

As long as we subscribe to the notion that someone 'deserves' to die like that there is no hope for a peaceful existence on this planet.

Time and time again I am reminded of my favourite quote:

                                           An Eye for an Eye makes the Whole World Blind.

Instead of one of my own poems, this week I have decided to share some beautiful  lyrics from a King Crimson song which are appropriate in view of the subject:


Peace - an End
 
Peace is a word
Of the sea and the wind.
Peace is a bird who sings
As you smile.
Peace is the love
Of a foe as a friend;
Peace is the love you bring
To a child

Searching for me
You look everywhere,
Except beside you.
Searching for you
You look everywhere,
But not inside you.

Peace is a stream
From the heart of a man;
Peace is a man, whose breadth
Is the dawn.
Peace is a dawn
On a day without end;
Peace is the end, like death
Of the war.

Monday 17 October 2011

Would you really want £101 million?

I've been reading about the latest Euro Millions winners who won the obscene amount of £101 million last week. It got me thinking. What a ridiculous amount of money that is to offer as a prize. I can put my hand on my heart and honestly say I wouldn't want that amount of money and, by the way, if I did win an amount like that I would definitely not be going public! What are those people thinking? They say they'd rather get it out in the open so they can 'enjoy' the money! I wonder if they're enjoying having their names dragged through the murky tabloids?

I keep telling people that if I won the lottery it wouldn't change me. They always laugh and say 'You don't know how it would change you until it happens.' I WISH I could win the lottery - if only to prove to people that I hadn't changed! I LOVE my little house - and little, it is. I feel safe and secure where I live. I have everything I need - which isn't much! These people who win always talk about buying a big house, a new car - the current winners are buying a new diamond engagement ring. They bought a ring when they got engaged but now want to replace it with a diamond one. What happened to sentimental value?

I do enter the lottery but if I ever win I have a plan which I'm dying to put into action. I won't be buying a flashy car or a mansion, I'm happy with what I've got. I'm not saying for one minute that I won't have a spending spree. It would be lovely to go out and buy whatever takes your fancy  without checking the bank balance first. However I have never had access to one million pounds, let alone a hundred and one so  I think having too much money would be nearly as bad as not having enough, not quite as bad I should stress but it would bring a new set of pressures.

So if I won £101 million I think I'd keep a million so that I could make my life easier and the lives of my family too. The other £100 million would go to making a whole lot of other people's lives better, after all the old saying, 'You can't take it with you.' is very true. Oh and naturally I will be looking after everyone who follows my blog - especially those who comment!!!!!

On that note, this week's poem is a 'tongue-in-cheek prayer that I wrote some time ago.
See you next week.


Dear Lord,


Do you think that you could fix it for me
To win on the National lottery?
I wouldn’t ask for this normally
But my cash is depleting quite rapidly

I won’t waste it on irrelevant things
Like designer labels or lots of bling
Or a mansion with furniture fit for a king
I’m just fed up of tightening my purse strings

I might splash out a bit, surely I can’t be blamed
Because all of my life, Lord I’ve had to abstain
And to tell you the truth it’s becoming a bane
If I don’t get some cash soon I might go insane

If I’m totally honest I don’t think it’s fair
How some folk just seem to have more than their share
And you say of material things, we shouldn’t care
But it’s not easy, Lord when the cupboards are bare

I know I’ve not always been good, but I’ve tried
So I’d like you to put misdemeanors aside
And just for once give me an easy ride
That’s the end of my prayer, I’ll leave you to decide.

Following that post, have a read of this: http://www.lovemoney.com/news/family-finance/family-finance/13130/it-sucks-to-win-the-lottery?source=1000557

Monday 10 October 2011

New Start

Right this is how it works. From today this has become a weekly blog. I've just decided that! I made an executive decision. It's MY blog, I'm in charge, I make all the decisions, ok? It's developing into a blog about poetry and that was definitely not my intention. I am therefore going to make a conscious effort not to talk about poetry. My two loyal readers are going to get the impression that I'm a poetry geek - and I'm not. In fact I'm not any sort of geek, there it's official. Talking about poetry.......this is the last time I'll mention it - promise, I am going to end each blog with one of my poems. That way I get to talk about random stuff plus I get a chance to showcase some of my poems. I welcome feedback if only to confirm that I'm not talking to myself.....

I didn't realise it was National chocolate week this week until I saw it trending on Twitter. Tell you the truth I didn't even realise there was such a thing as chocolate week until today. I'm all in favour of it though, apparently chocolate week runs from the 11th to the 17th of October. Is there any week that isn't a 'something' week these days?  There was a story on the local news tonight about a twelve year old school boy who had been suspended for setting up a tuck shop  and selling chocolate to his school friends Apparently he had made a profit of £1000 in two weeks! People were asked for their opinions on the story. 'Should he have been suspended or congratulated for being an entrepeneur'  Dragon, Duncan Bannatyne tweeted the programme saying  'No! He should get a bleedin' medal, sack the head teacher.'

For some reason I'm fancying a bar of chocolate now........

Until next week I'll leave you with this:


PIANO

In a winter white room
Stands a Grand piano
Silent,
Untouched by human hands
Un-played and silent
Composed
That piano stands

In dark shadows of a jail cell
Sits a man
Silent
Untouched by emotion
Unloved and silent
Decomposing
Sits that man

In the winter white room
And the shadowy cell
A ghostly voice
Is often heard
Echoing through the walls


[1] ‘Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too’


[1] Extract from Imagine by John Lennon

I thought this was appropriate as yesterday would have been John Lennon's 71st birthday

Saturday 8 October 2011

Poetry




MYFANWY


Kind o’er the kinderbank leans my Myfanwy,
White o’er the playpen the sheen of her dress,
Fresh from the bathroom and soft in the nursery
Soap scented fingers I long to caress.

Were you a prefect and head of your dormit'ry?
Were you a hockey girl, tennis or gym?
Who was your favourite? Who had a crush on you?
Which were the baths where they taught you to swim?

Smooth down the Avenue glitters the bicycle,
Black-stockinged legs under navy blue serge,
Home and Colonial, Star, International,
Balancing bicycle leant on the verge.

Trace me your wheel-tracks, you fortunate bicycle,
Out of the shopping and into the dark,
Back down the avenue, back to the potting shed,
Back to the house on the fringe of the park.

Golden the light on the locks of Myfanwy,
Golden the light on the book on her knee,
Finger marked pages of Rackham's Hans Anderson,
Time for the children to come down to tea.

Oh! Fullers angel-cake, Robertson’s marmalade,
Liberty lampshade, come shine on us all,
My! what a spread for the friends of Myfanwy,
Some in the alcove and some in the hall.

Then what sardines in half-lighted passages!
Locking of fingers in long hide-and-seek.
You will protect me, my silken Myfanwy,
Ring leader, tom-boy, and chum to the weak.

John Betjeman

Friday 7 October 2011

I'm back!

Hello again
It seems like only yesterday that I was setting up this blog - oh, yes it was yesterday. I have decided that I will try to write something on here every day to keep my two followers entertained. You may be wondering why I chose the name 'Compaholic Barbara'. Well, basically it's because I'm a compaholic. But what's that got to do with poetry? I hear you ask (Or am I hearing voices now? - worrying) Well, when I set the blog up I was going to write about how easy it is to get hooked on entering competitions - especially when you start winning. Then I decided that I would showcase my poems here - I have written over a hundred now. I believe this is called - a lack of forward planning. I just jumped in feet first. I'm a bit like that you see. I'm like the wild horse I rode when I was 9! - that poem which some of you are already familiar with, will appear in a later blog. I'm tweaking it you see - being the perfectionist that I am! - albeit an unbroken perfectionist. I won't be posting poems every day - otherwise my blog will die in 100 days, but for now I have decided to offer for your consumption a little ditty I wrote one day after I had been a bit hard on myself. Hope you enjoy it and keep the feedback coming in. I'm overwhelmed by the one comment I've had so far.........


SOMETIMES

Sometimes
You are getting nowhere
So why do you insist
It’ll all work out
Fine in the end
As long as you persist

Sometimes
It might be better
If you just admit defeat
Throw in the towel
Let out a howl
Accept that you are beat

Sometimes
You shouldn’t be afraid
To lose once in a while
Let down the stubborn barricade
Just shrug it off
And smile

Sometimes
It’s ok to admit
You made a big mistake
Went in the wrong direction
Stop aiming for perfection
Give yourself a break

Thursday 6 October 2011

Introductions

Well, here it is, my first blog ever. It's never too late to start something new, I should get a T shirt made with that slogan on it. I've been meaning to start a blog for ages but....well, the truth is I'm the definition of technophobe. I was just reading a writing website and it mentioned 'Blogger' I was attracted to this site because it said 'Easy to use' I've heard that one before. I'll see how it goes. I don't know about anybody else but whenever I sign up to a new site, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger....and am asked to write a profile, I freeze. I wonder if this is normal. I have decided to leave it for now until something interesting pops into my head - it could be a while!

I like writing poetry so I think I might use this blog to showcase some of my efforts. I would appreciate your feedback.


SNOW JOKE – a Lancashire tale

Bill the grumpy man next door  
Often gave my mum what for
Her little cherubs he complained
Were running wild and unrestrained

Chance came for sweet revenge one day
As she beckoned us to come and play
In snow that had fallen two feet deep
While we’d been drifting off to sleep

What possessed him we don’t know
But Bill had been and cleared our snow
Perhaps the path was his device
To end the feud and break the ice

But mummy’s angels had been wronged
And for this moment she had longed
A chance to air her deep frustration
Off she stormed for a confrontation

Face to frosty face she came
With the perpetrator of her pain
Hands on hips she pursed her lips
Warrave yer done wi’ our snow? she quipped

Bill was taken quite aback
By this incredulous attack
I’ve cleared a path for you he mumbled
Put that snow back, it’s ours she grumbled

Bill’s jaw dropped in disbelief
Lost for words that slippery thief
The poor old wretch had met his match
When he ventured on to mummy’s patch

So off he trundled with his spade
Quite disgruntled and dismayed
To re-instate our stolen snow
Truth or fiction?  No - one knows