Saturday, January 1, 2011

Help at Hand!


FASCINATING BOOK COVERS
http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/

 HELP AT HAND!

Such a simple cover and yet it says it all!
We're certain that this pencil has been guilty of some scrawl.
We see the writer writing, then binning the result,
Lapsing into lachrymose, when he's longing to exult!
We see him grip the pencil hard, until it snaps in two;
No doubt he first attacked it with an agonising chew!
We see the eraser on the end! It's nearly worn away.
The wretched scribbler cannot find the perfect words to say! 
Is it an apology that occupies his mind?
Is it a guilty conscience that makes words  hard to find?
Is it a declaration of undying, endless love?
Is he requesting money? Is that what he's thinking of?
Is he intent on telling lies about some situation?
Is he involved in two-timing or some other complication?
Whatever occupies his mind this book will help him out.
He'll find the very words to write, of that I have no doubt.
'Words to the Rescue'! Yes, indeed! And he need search no more!
Inside the cover 'the answer' lies! Isn't that what books are for?
*
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PEOPLE-WATCHING!
Are you a People Watcher? It's one of my favourite hobbies.
I keep watching, waiting, wondering in streets and shops and lobbies.
I wonder 'Are they married?' or 'What did she see in him?'
Or 'I think she must be thirty' or 'He looks rather grim.'
I wonder where folk come from and where  they're going to.
I guess their nationalities and their marital status too.
Sitting idly at a bus stop I can have the greatest time;
Thinking rude, but private, thoughts has never been a crime.
I can pass a happy hour or two drinking just one cup of tea,
For in every local restaurant there's food for thought for me.
Should I overhear some chat I'm in a private state of bliss!
'Why is that one saying that and this one saying this?'
It isn't that I'm nosey! (Well, alright, I am, a bit)
It's just that life's a puzzle and I make the pieces fit.
*
'Take these three gentlemen above..... they seem to fit the bill!
A fascinating trio and they're all grist to my mill.
(I'm the lady in the corner... you can't see me but I'm there;
In my shawl and bonnet on a little wooden chair!
With eyes downcast demurely I look modest and polite
But I am People Watching in a frenzy of delight!)
'Did they all arrive together or have they met by chance?
It's rather hard to gauge it with a surreptitious glance.
The bearded one looks worried. Is the hatted one his brother?
And is the letter that he reads a worrying one from Mother?
I wonder what's the matter. Should they return post haste?
Is there some awful tragedy at home that must be faced?
Then there's that other fellow; the dark glasses mean he's blind.
And yet he reads the paper! That so excites my mind!
Does he know the seated brothers?  Have they all met here by chance?
No! I'm sure I overheard their destination! Paris! France!
Oh now the plot is thickening! The 'blind' one is a spy!
( I am a nice Victorian girl but I am inclined to pry!)
They're going to catch the packet! The letter is a clue!
Is it from their bosses telling them what to do?
Are they looking at the paper for news about their crime?
Oh! If it were a murder! Wouldn't that be just sublime!
And what about that Gladstone bag? It looks a mite suspicious!
There might be a skull inside it! That would be delicious!
*
The stage-coach has arrived you say! And they're not getting on!
Something exciting will happen
The minute that I've gone!'
*
People Watching! What a hobby! Even way back then.
I'm off to Watch some People!
 People Watching once again!
*

2 comments:

geraldgee said...

H.N.Y. BB. GEE XX

Margaret Gosden said...

It would seem that you do not have the problem of being tongue tied! As I do when the same holiday greetings are exchanged and I long to say something in a different way. Anyway, do hope you do not get so afflicted in the new year when we are both amazingly one year older! I think your poem about 'the moment', or was it 'the now' that I most enjoyed in 2010. I try to go with that thought.