Back Wynd of the Mind and Other Poems

By mark p

 

  • 503 reads
Cherry

Skronk

By mark p on Thu, 11 Feb 2021

An odd word describing sounds sputtering then squalling then blasting from the bell of a bass clarinet that tight drum sound that sounds like someone...
Poem
Certificate U

Birth of a Rebel Poet

By mark p on Fri, 27 Nov 2020

I started verse in '85, and thought I was the thing, Drink it was my influence, the wild soak's rambling, Inspired by the lowlife image of Tom Waits...
Poem
Certificate 12
1 likes
Cherry

Noise

By mark p on Thu, 05 Nov 2020

the music, the noise and the heartbeat of time the clinking of glasses, filled up with wine the rumble of traffic , a distant roll call, the roar of...
Poem
Certificate 12

In the Year of the Virus

By mark p on Thu, 23 Apr 2020

We stayed indoors and watched box sets We all stayed in with family pets Twenty twenty, we won’t forget The year of the Virus. We wore our masks out...
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

The Pace of Life (2010)

By mark p on Thu, 23 Apr 2020

Where predatory consumers Live for shopping seven days a week Spend-spend-spending Until the plastic runs out Union Street ,manners have gone from...
Poem
Certificate U

The Pace of Life -2020

By mark p on Thu, 23 Apr 2020

The Pace of Life-2020 The pace is slowing down, stopping dead And most folk shop online instead Spend-spend-spending as much as they can Forgetting...
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

The One String Woman

By mark p on Wed, 01 Apr 2020

East European woman strums one string guitar repeated discordant droning atonal hoping to improvise jam with the street noise maybe not. Avant garde...
Poem
Certificate U

1999

By mark p on Thu, 02 Jan 2020

A symbol tells us that we should party as this is the year it is Lou tells us that this day is 'perfect' and that he's glad that he's spent it with...
Poem
Certificate U

After Hours

By mark p on Sun, 17 Nov 2019

deserted office terminal screens stationery flaps at flies flying figure eight formations lazy fans blow coolness pens fall from desks missing...
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

The Voice of the People ( After Jack Micheline)

By mark p on Sun, 17 Nov 2019

I walk west from the Castlegate I am the voice of the people Walking west I am the poet of the streets. Walking slow I am the voice of the City...
Poem
Certificate U

Hunters and Collectors

By mark p on Sun, 17 Nov 2019

Peacock proud and dressed to thrill Strut the night streets , bold as brass. Trip through light on heels fantastic, tiredly queueing -all clubbed out...
Poem
Certificate U

When I was a poet (After David Meltzer)

By mark p on Thu, 14 Nov 2019

When I was a poet I thought I was accepted But ended up rejected. When I was a poet I thought I had it all But discovered I had nothing. When I was a...
Poem
Certificate U

Memory's Playground

By mark p on Wed, 13 Nov 2019

The rusted swings hang chained up, still, The playground gleams with broken glass A wilderness of weeds- the path Where once I walked to go to school...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Madeleine Peyroux

By mark p on Wed, 13 Nov 2019

Not Ella nor Sarah Maybe like Billie Your voice caresses Lyrical phrases Swings with Dylan Waltzes with Cohen As you sit in the alley Lost and Alone
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

Cassandra Wilson

By mark p on Wed, 13 Nov 2019

Her dark voice like velvet curling round cornet phrases unfurling in sepia-washed places miles away.
Unclassified
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Resolution

By mark p on Wed, 30 Oct 2019

In the well trod landscape of the mind Of Hogmanays of days gone by I find my thoughts alight upon Dimmed recallings of Back Wynd Decades back , when...
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

Back Wynd of the Mind

By mark p on Wed, 30 Oct 2019

Chip papers jostle for attention on a windy wynd And taxicabs are few and farther between. We watch the gravestones in St Nicholas Floodlit angels in...
Poem
Certificate U

Shameless Plug

By mark p on Thu, 25 Jul 2019

Penderecki, Pere Ubu Yo La Tengo Husker Du Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Dr John and Georgie Fame Captain Beefheart Philip Glass John Foxx singing...
Poem
Certificate 12

Sunbed City

By mark p on Thu, 25 Jul 2019

Walnut skinned in Sunbed City career consumers all fake tan Z-list celebs- famed for shopping, spend-spend-spending all they can. Shopping malling...
Poem
Certificate 12
1 likes
Cherry

Transients

By mark p on Thu, 25 Jul 2019

Dead-eyed , drifting, homeless, rolling, streetwise kids , and bedroll beggars, Buckfast couraged, words declaiming, Shopdoor slurring , slumped and...
Poem
Certificate 12
1 likes

Bowie / Nelson / Walker

By mark p on Mon, 22 Jul 2019

Bowie /Nelson/ Walker Vinyl plays in a flat like yours Cheap racked hi-fi sounding poor David Bowie’s cavernous croon Reverberates around the room...
Poem
Certificate 12

Gran's House

By mark p on Sat, 14 Nov 2020

Cold cracked windowsill Plastic flowers stand waterless In swimming swan vase.
Poem
Certificate U

Training Ground?

By mark p on Sat, 14 Nov 2020

Make believe you're superhuman, Jump downstairs in wild abandon, Fearing nothing's really something, Ignorance a different thing. Jackets used as...
Poem
Certificate U

Friend Reunited?

By mark p on Wed, 23 Jun 2010

Early morning halflight I look for clues scour halfread books listen for whispers in favourite music tangible riffs tangled in memory. I look for clues hints of mindset
Autobiography
Poem
Certificate U

The Plagiarist

By mark p on Wed, 23 Jun 2010

I plucked a fern from Dylan's hill, cut the 'H' from Ginsberg's 'Howl', nicked some lines from R McGough, regurgitated them wholesale. I robbed a phrase from Mr Hughes,
Autobiography
Poem
Certificate U

1978

By mark p on Fri, 25 Jun 2010

In the washed out pre-shrunk days of seventy eight Just after punk before we got drunk and learned to smoke On the cusp our teenage minds not yet corrupt Floyd full volume
Autobiography
Poem
Certificate U

At the Open Mic

By mark p on Sat, 03 Nov 2018

At the Open Mic I felt like Leonard Cohen, An old guy at the feast An old and ancient rhymer, A preacher and a priest. These are the new bohemians...
Poem
Certificate U

Versions of Our Fathers

By mark p on Sat, 03 Nov 2018

Poem
Certificate U

Saplings ( Westburn Park, Aberdeen 1976)

By mark p on Sun, 04 Nov 2018

Saplings (Westburn Park -1976) Stretching skyward Stick thin saplings Chickenwire covered Spiky as punk. Used as goalposts Makeshift coat hooks As we...
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

Remembrance

By mark p on Sun, 11 Nov 2018

Remembrance Poppies pinned onto our cassocks we choirboys stood in solemn silence for two long minutes , recall the fallen who died back when our...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes
Gold cherry

Spirit Flickers

By mark p on Mon, 05 Nov 2018

Spirit Flickers Spirit flickers behind blurry eyes skin slack, features sharp you gesture with arthritic hands blessing the air , a saint long gone...
Poem
Certificate U

Following Suit

By mark p on Mon, 05 Nov 2018

Following Suit Angry old man Edges blunted No longer the hunter Now the hunted Middle aged spread Has gone to his head Hair falling out Teeth follow...
Poem
Certificate U

Road Movie

By mark p on Mon, 05 Nov 2018

Road Movie Night dark with clichés Clouded with ashes Soundscapes with headlights Guided by voices Poetry distorted Past recognition Cats eyeing...
Poem
Certificate U

Tenement

By mark p on Sun, 04 Nov 2018

Tenement Silence Then Incessant peep Broken smoke alarm Relentless ring Unanswered phone Soft thud Morning mail Settling dust When You Are Out.
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

Westburn Road (1974)

By mark p on Wed, 21 Nov 2018

Winter sprays its frosty swirls, Twists and turns on single glazing. Icy kingdom: our back garden, Downy flakes on dying roses. Created and creative...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes
Cherry

Shopping to Excess

By mark p on Wed, 21 Nov 2018

Sunday , almost Advent urban urchins, Doric divas, Rudolph idlers, Facebook fiends, from tenements and tower blocks all descend on the city: - to...
Poem
Certificate U

The Race of Life (1968)

By mark p on Tue, 20 Nov 2018

Holding hands with some reluctance You and I aged four or five Going shopping with our mothers Hand in hand on Union Street Infant faces forcing...
Poem
Certificate U

Apple Skin

By mark p on Tue, 13 Nov 2018

Appleskin bitten back pulp exposed discoloured browning Skin smells fresh green tastes sour on tongue and teeth
Poem
Certificate U

Vitreous Humourless

By mark p on Mon, 26 Nov 2018

Vitreous Humourless Watching the telly When from my eye’s jelly Small specks obscure my view For a second or two. Vitreous Humour It is rumoured...
Poem
Certificate U

Dad's Advice

By mark p on Sat, 15 Dec 2018

Twelve years old, not worldly wise, Warmed by black seam’s smoky prize Gazing inside flickering golds Blazing flaming, fiery reds, Hearing the...
Poem
Certificate U

Personal

By mark p on Thu, 17 Jan 2019

Occasional poet seeks kind words to rhyme and metre regularly- good sense of rhythm required to set motion into poetry.
Poem
Certificate U

It Seems

By mark p on Tue, 15 Jan 2019

It seems like only yesterday I acted up in our school play. The audience applause was wild, I wish that I was still a child. Things were simpler for...
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

Old Men ( In Darkened Rooms)

By mark p on Mon, 14 Jan 2019

We are old men in darkened rooms Of the mind The shutters down The light shut out The life shut out Silent as a tomb An empty barren womb Lonely old...
Poem
Certificate U

Upperkirkgate, Sunday

By mark p on Wed, 08 Dec 2021

Evidently drunk on Life, the bottled kind, a streetcorner Pavarotti remixes arias, Oblivious to the masses, shopping blind, hands held high, his Ave...
Poem
Certificate 12

Stress

By mark p on Wed, 08 Dec 2021

The demon called stress skulks in the darkness of our minds behind the backlogs and bulk of unfinished work left and unsigned 'til the following day...
Poem
Certificate 12
1 likes

The Last Room

By mark p on Wed, 08 Dec 2021

Don't take room 217, they told me But that was the last one left 'First right, then wrong ', said the receptionist. 'Don't you mean left?' , I said...
Poem
Certificate 15

The Old Guy

By mark p on Thu, 16 Dec 2021

When did I become the old guy? When ambition has long gone And getting through the day my only goal No more the thrusting young buck of old, I’m...
Poem
Certificate U

Karmacoma

By mark p on Thu, 16 Dec 2021

Walking home, Zappa on my I-Pod As I’m thinking, Dad, that Frank shared a birthday and a cancer with you . Chilling with Massive Attack The heartbeat...
Poem
Certificate U
2 likes

Nae Idea Nadir

By mark p on Thu, 16 Dec 2021

I’ve nae idea I’ve nae idea fit I’ve nae idea fit tae I’ve nae idea fit tae write I’ve nae idea fit tae write onymair! ( This was an attempt to write...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Struggling

By mark p on Fri, 17 Dec 2021

In the Seventies I walked with you Down to school Struggling to keep up As I was small. In your Seventies I walked without you Up to the hospice...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Exercising Ghosts

By mark p on Fri, 17 Dec 2021

I. The city skyline spiked by spires The silence ripped by siren choirs Riding the Marches,walking the Mat Walking forward , walking back II...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Musical Choice

By mark p on Sun, 19 Dec 2021

After your wake I sought silent solace Home alone. Recalling Cwm Rhondda Sinatra or Doris Day Lead Us Heavenly Father Sung in your inimitable way. (...
Poem
Certificate U

Images from The Venue

By mark p on Sun, 19 Dec 2021

Stiff black suede From alkie spillage Crepe soles stick On beer soaked floor. Black clad denizens Obsessed by darkness Dance to the death To the...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Etymology and the Meaning of Hamlet

By mark p on Sun, 19 Dec 2021

Once the stone is thrown The ideas come like ripples Hamlet via Joyce via Shakespeare through Irish , Icelandic , Norse and Gaelic Musing on the...
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

Cutting It

By mark p on Fri, 04 Mar 2022

(Based on Adrian Mitchell’s ‘To Whom it May Concern’) I woke up in my head today It wasn’t the nicest place to play So fill my mouth with lager Tell...
Poem
Certificate U

Aberdeen Beach 1971

By mark p on Sat, 25 Jun 2022

Aberdeen Beach 1971 Kids on The Beach They play away Scattering sand Building castles Buckets Spades Adults buried Up to their necks Beachballs...
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

All Those Years Ago

By mark p on Wed, 02 Nov 2022

We sang the song of days gone by We didn't even have to try Our voices pure and clear and high All those years ago. When rockets flew up to the moon...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

A Time To Skive

By mark p on Sun, 13 Nov 2022

Retirement beckons, a time to skive, Or to be honest , for coming alive The end of the endless daily grind, Time to sit back and relax your mind. A...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Morning Glory

By mark p on Tue, 07 Feb 2023

birds chatter idly gossiping on rooftops filmic vistas backlit by sun. time's hammers sculpt the silence shafts of light through curtain gaps. silver...
Poem
Certificate U

Snapshot

By mark p on Sat, 19 Aug 2023

His snapshot:update Chandler shot through with sadness, an outsider's take on big city madness, sitting there with time to kill, it's a solipsistic...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes
Cherry

The Afterthought

By mark p on Sat, 23 Dec 2023

I am the poem at the back of the book hidden discreetly, where no one will look. The rejected fragment that somehow got in. the dull afterthought...
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

Internal Jukebox

By mark p on Wed, 31 Jan 2024

Stalking shadowed cranial corridors searing sounds from sonic youthdays revenants from times forgotten dislodged songs swim sleepstarved mind...
Poem
Certificate U

Funrunning (1986)

By mark p on Wed, 31 Jan 2024

Blindly running, vacant minds Oblivious to those running behind. Oblivious to cheering, jeering spectators. Sweaty, red-faced with Dire Straits...
Poem
Certificate U

Childhood

By mark p on Fri, 29 Mar 2024

I was told to be seen but never heard This was my pathway to the spoken word I painted word pictures in my mind Spoken word art invisible to the...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Metal Memories

By mark p on Fri, 29 Mar 2024

Music played in your caravan It wasn’t the Brotherhood of Man The kerranging guitars from Judas Priest, Screaming rock music unleashed from the East...
Poem
Certificate U

Haiku Forecast

By mark p on Tue, 02 Apr 2024

The Scottish weather Like four seasons in one day Is this the Springtime?
Poem
Certificate U
2 likes

Walking the Streets

By mark p on Wed, 03 Apr 2024

Walking the streets in Aberdeen You’ll never guess the things I’ve seen I’d no idea that I would find, My imagined Back Wynd of the Mind. Walking the...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Homeward Bound

By mark p on Fri, 12 Apr 2024

Twenty years back Staggering homeward Several pints down A session with Kenny Which was far too many Whisky flask in my jacket Thinking I could hack...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Aberdeen Voices

By mark p on Mon, 15 Apr 2024

(A Fictional History of Aberdeen in haiku-Part 1) Voice of the fire Sitting around it plan forward Shall we build a city? The Denburn Valley The...
Poem
Certificate U

Almost Invisible Cities

By mark p on Wed, 01 May 2024

Urban decay and dereliction, A footnote in the city’s fiction Repeated graffiti scrawled on granite Literary lines an unshakeable habit Lost...
Poem
Certificate U

Cancelled Comics?

By mark p on Mon, 13 May 2024

We never would have got the joke If childrens’ comics had been ‘woked’ Back in our rose-tinted childhood days When being old was far away. Dennis was...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Solstice Haiku

By mark p on Thu, 20 Jun 2024

The Summer Solstice Sky-blue, leaves-green, longest day, Positive sun vibes then?
Poem
Certificate U
Cherry

Picking at Poetry

By mark p on Tue, 02 Jul 2024

Picking at poetry, like picking at scabs rhyming couplets, yes please, they sound fab Half rhymes, internal rhymes, they really are the thing,...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Fixating on Fiction

By mark p on Fri, 05 Jul 2024

Fixated on fiction, my favoured writing choice, eclecticly reading when finding my voice. Stealing ideas, phrases, expressions, stylisticly shifting...
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Speaking Weird

By mark p on Fri, 26 Jul 2024

On the stage at Speaking Weird, there’s this guy with a wee grey beard stating his case of which he’s certain, before the pulls the final curtain. A...
Poem
Certificate U

Haiku of the Weather App.

By mark p on Mon, 05 Aug 2024

No dark clouds today Early August sky watching Hope springs eternal
Poem
Certificate U
2 likes

Zooming Along

By mark p on Thu, 08 Aug 2024

Everyone’s virtually meeting on Zoom In gardens, garages, conservatories, and rooms Gazing screenwards, when others are talking Falling asleep,...
Poem
Certificate U

Yet Another Weather App Haiku

By mark p on Thu, 08 Aug 2024

In the heart of town The rain streams down the window Where's the Summer gone?
Poem
Certificate U

Weather App. Haiku #13

By mark p on Wed, 28 Aug 2024

Later August days Sunlight filters through the blinds Summer's last gleamings
Poem
Certificate U
1 likes

Weather App. Haiku #16

By mark p on Sun, 20 Oct 2024

A break in the storm? Bright sunbursts through windblown cloud. Has Ashley moved on?
Poem
Certificate U