Heather Moulson

New Year at the Slagg’s Cafe

Happy New Year, Poetry Lovers

I have decided to celebrate this bittersweet occasion at the Slagg’s Cafe.

New Years Eve seems so limp the week after Christmas. The Christmas tree flagging and forgotten, like the solitary remains of Christmas pud. So who better to bring cheer than the Slaggs?!

Mrs Slagg has especially penned a New Year Triolet for us. Pay attention:

Another New Year

We have yet another New Years Eve

We’re busy ringing in a New Year

Would wishing for a better one be naïve?

We have yet another New Years Eve

Mr Slagg spills drink over his sleeve!

He’s now demanding another beer.

We have yet another New Years Eve

We’re busy ringing in a New Year

Tarantella Slagg 2022

Top poem, Mrs Slagg. A big round of applause for that one.

Now everyone order more pizza and pie and light up, and we’ll hear Mr Slagg’s mother do her enlightened New Year piece.

A new year is akin to a young shrub

Can I stop now and go down the pub?

Ring out the old, ring in the new

Is that enough? I need the loo

Mrs Slagg Senior 2022

So do I, Mrs Slagg snr. Lordy! It’s nearly 9.30 – time I was tucked up in bed. I’ll just pay the bill and….how much??!!

Happy New Year to you, PL’s. Thanks for tuning in. We’ll be back with more poetry action next year(!)

Dobby’s Advent …

Happy Christmas to all my lovely pals and followers from Dobby, Fish and Me …

Winter Triolet

Hello Poetry Lovers

Well, the countdown has truly begun and Christmas Day is in less than a week. I have a seasonal, if cynical triolet here.

I wrote about all four seasons recently but I’ll just feature the most relevant one. There’ll be one more post before Christmas, so watch this space. Read on if you dare;

Christmas Triolet

Christmas conflicts ring loud and bright

For numerous relatives and wives

Anticipating at least one family fight

Christmas conflicts ring loud and bright

stingy presents from aunts so tight

Who’ve been resentful all their lives

Christmas conflicts ring loud and bright

For numerous relatives and wives

H Moulson 2022

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s, and I hope you liked the piece. Eyes peeled for a Christmas Eve post……

Quality Street Poem ..

Hello Poetry Lovers

Today we feature a vital part of Yuletide – the tin of sweets, and the most superior of them all, namely Quality Street.

That tin by our sides that we tuck into while watching the King’s Christmas speech, and a crafty few before the turkey.

Hands up who can truthfully say they haven’t done such a thing! Or that they’ve even lasted before the Big Day.

Anyway, marvellous and clever poet Sharron Green aka rhymes_n_roses has summed this up so beautifully. I hope that I have sketched it justifiably.

Do read on, it’s a great poem…..

An Ode to Loads of Sweets

Quality Street are made to share,

it says so on the tin,

but in our house we race to tear

off every jewelled skin.

We start off trying to be fair

and queue up single file.

But very soon the tub looks bare

and wrappers start to pile.

Favourite fillings disappear

(for me that’s toffee fudge)

but creamy centres needn’t fear,

safe from the candy rush.

And then we share the highs and lows

that every sugar seeker knows.

@rhymes_n_roses

Wasn’t that just wonderful?! Thank you so much, Sharron. Your great poem has got us all reaching for the tin. Brilliant.

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more Yuletide action real soon…..

Alphabet Christmas

Hello Poetry Lovers

How are your Christmas plans going? (What do you mean, is it Christmas?!).

We rush about getting ready for what really is one day – Boxing Day now succumbed to early January sales – but do we really think about the day itself?

Lovely and talented poet Trisha Broomfield certainly has and has summed it up succinctly in this terrifically detailed piece.

An alphabet poem too – one of my favourite forms. Do read on, this could be uncomfortable reading for most of us. Fantastic piece;

Activities you don’t enjoy, or do?

Brussel sprouts, yum or yuk,

Cat attempts to climb the tree,

Dropping needles, broken lights.

Easy on the Bailey’s Gran!

Festooned rooms and red balloons,

Gargantuan portions, of above mentioned sprouts.

Heavy stomachs and sighs.

Incredible inedibles from pop up shops.

Jesus mentioned in passing.

Kisses, mistletoe or not

Love, written mainly on cards.

Most of us exhausted,

No one listening

Only The Lonely, by Roy.

Panic for just one day.

Quarrels inevitable,

Resultant huffy teens.

Snoring granddads.

Telly a trial, not just a bushtucker one.

Underwear wished for doesn’t fit.

Victory on the Monopoly board, (I’m the top hat).

Wishing it over, wishing it longer.

Xmas, hate that word.

Yearnings for loves lost since last year.

Z beds pulled out for nephews.

02/12/2022Trisha Broomfield

Wasn’t that just a terrific piece. So true and poignant – and I get the sneakiest feeling we wouldn’t change any of it.

Thank you so much Trisha, please keep them coming.

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. Any poems summing that big day are welcome. Answers on a postcard to the usual address….we’ll be back real soon.

Now you may think this is an unusual title but it really is a more commonplace term than you realise. Highlighting the most frustrating side of those Yuletide preparations, and clever poet Sharron Green has summed this up nicely in this beautiful piece.

Amusing and painfully relevant to us this coming advent, do read it. Super piece ;

Gift Gaffe

Sellotape and wrapping paper
One the glue the other draper
Send me on a merry caper
Every Christmas Eve

Sellotape is always hiding
Often stunted, never gliding
Won’t respond to threats or chiding
Highly prone to cleave

Wrapping paper does my head in
Sometimes gifts won’t be seen dead in
Shapes that gape they look unfed in
Shame you won’t believe

So it’s just as well this season
Poor performance isn’t treason
Saving paper is the reason
There’s wrapping reprieve.

@rhymes_n_roses

Wasn’t that just a wonderful piece?! Thank you so much, Sharron. Please keep them coming. This is Sharron’s website if you wanted to see more of her wonderful work;

.http://rhymesnroses.com

Thank you for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry delights real soon……

Christmas Corner….

Hello Poetry Lovers

Yes, Christmas is around the corner and I have thrown myself fully into Yuletide.

For a start, I have written a triolet on Christmas – the dark side of the season anyway. This can be a stagnant period of tension and many family rows occur over this season. I have tried to capture that. Followed by a Christmas alphabet poem which I had to struggle with.

Anyway, do read on:

Christmas Triolet

Christmas conflicts ring loud and bright

For numerous relatives and wives

Anticipating at least one family fight

Christmas conflicts ring loud and bright

Stingy presents from aunts so tight

Who’ve been resentful all their lives

Christmas conflicts ring loud and bright

For numerous relatives and wives

Christmas Alphabet

Angels/Blitzen/Comet/Dasher/Ecclesiastical/

Festive/Gabriel/Holly/Ivy/Jesus/Kindness/

Lights/Merry/Nativity/Occasion/Prancer/

Quality(Street)/Rudolph/Star/Tinsel/

Unwrapping/Vixen/Wise(Men)/Xmas/Yuletide/Zion

Thanks for looking in, PL’s. I have to say that last one was hard but I know some of you have really bang up versions of the above form, so answers on a postcard please to the usual address……

Return to Tenby

Hello Poetry Lovers

Yes, you heard right, I said return to Tenby. That magical place I discovered in May this year. I was honoured to be invited back by the magical Celine for the launch of Celine’s Salon Anthology volume 2.

So there I went on the train back to Pembrokeshire. This time the train wasn’t crowded with holidaymakers and Welsh speakers and I certainly missed the latter.

We found a lovely apartment in the centre of town. Bakery and M&Co in walking distance! What a coup!

I got off the train, put my case in the flat and legged it to the Tenby Museum for the launch. My heart warmed to see that lovely place once again.

Once there, I had the pleasure of meeting the marvellous Rachel D’arcy, a very talented singer and musician, plus I reunited with the enigmatic Kevin O’Dowd and the lovely LaLa Banana in her silvery jacket

Not to mention Suzie Wildsmith and the stunning Siobhan Lancaster, before meeting Tommy Mack and the talented musician Garin Lang from Breathe. Watch out for him, and speaking of talent, it was lovely seeing Ros Garret again and her stunning trio making such beautiful sounds. This all added to the vibrancy of the poetry read, and Celine’s Salon volume 2 anthology selling really well.

I’m not sure who this poet was, but she pushed in and read complete filth. Amazed the place wasn’t raided! Seriously, it was an enriching experience, all made possible by the ever resourceful Celine.

Thank you so much, Celine. I look forward to returning to this magical place with you next year.

Meanwhile Celine has her salon and Derry to look forward to in 2023 before we embrace our Welsh friends again.

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s, and reliving that triumphant experience with me. We’ll be back with more poetry action real soon…

Happy Thanksgiving

Hello Poetry Lovers

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I know this is not really our celebration but I would like to acknowledge and illustrate the occasion. I’ve always been a bit infatuated with this celebration and love seeing images of the food Americans serve up. So much food groaning on a table, served with love

So, I’ve written a couple of triolets about this particular holiday. Hope they’re not too slapdash…

Please come to our Thanksgiving meal

and sit at the table with us.

Food is the warm reflection we feel.

Please come to our Thanksgiving meal.

The food we serve is warm and real

but we don’t want a lot of fuss.

Please come to our Thanksgiving meal

and sit at the table with us.

A huge turkey on the table

that groans with rich food.

Pass me that oyster pie, Mabel.

A huge turkey on the table.

We’ll just eat what we’re able

otherwise it will seem rude.

A huge turkey on the table

that groans with rich food.

H Moulson 2022

I hope you liked those pieces, PL’s. I had to look up Oyster pie and cornbreads and hope that I’ve justified them. And as you can see, Dobby has her own Thanksgiving meal there.

Thanks for tuning in, Poetry Lovers. Happy Thanksgiving and we’ll be back with more poetry antics real soon….

Welcome back to Nostalgia Corner

Hello Poetry Lovers

Let me lead you once again to nostalgia corner. Talented poet Trisha Broomfield has written a follow-up to my recent piece on Talcum powder.

This particular, now overlooked, beauty item is playing on my mind, I think it’s because Christmas is approaching. Which as we know, is the ultimate nostalgic corner.