A NEW DIARY

Last year I kept a mundane diary and I’m glad it’s done; it was pretty boring, except for a few exciting bits, like my granddaughter rushed to hospital with Meningitis and a grandson kidnapped by his useless father and taken to live in Birmingham.

     So, when my daughter gave me another diary for Christmas I nearly had a fit. It’s okay, it’s not full page days. I’ve taken on the task of filling this book with a poem for each day (or just a scribble in poetic form)…and without further ado, I present to you, the first few days of 2010:

1^st

Ooh the yearly eating and drinking

not driving home but staying overnight

at someone’s pleasure is becoming stale –

next year I might forgo the alcoholic part

and drive back to my controlled space

where I depend only on myself, and the patience

of Npower regarding old, multiplying bills.

Already, the change is upon me; it sifts possibilities

I feel pregnant with it all.

 

2^nd

Editing, so that someone can sit in judgement

announce me writerly enough for full membership

of their community – makes me want to sit up

pay attention to the change that’s coming.

I am not the same as I was.

 

3^rd

Ooh the last of five days off – it hovers

and drips away. A new year waits in the corners

normality will assume its position and settle

around my shoulders like a boa constrictor.

 

4^th

The first alarm of the year sounds itself

too early in this snow-laden gloom

I wish it to Hell and gone, wish for solid riches

to pay bills, to shoulder the burden

of my existence while I play with words.

Come hither, First Novel

end your days with me.

Let me type those two words, The End

on your gravestone

for this is the year of your birth.

 

5^th

The white world of 2010 stretches our patience –

this is not Norway; we didn’t sign-up for this ice

and our cars are a constant worry. God

give us the power to stay on our feet

and not break bones or skid off roundabouts.

Let the raindrops fall and we’ll never complain

again. We want to feel the warmth of soft

Scottish rain on our hair, see it carry away

the snow, slush and ice…and wash our cars.