Twenty One?

Fireworks brighten the night sky,
reason why? To honour you.
I believe that to be so,
my nan’s show, surely it’s true.

Simply the best should be yours,
without pause for thought or chance.
My nan is special, no doubt,
so I’ll shout aloud or dance.

On paper and ink in quill
a poem will say with style
my wish of happy birthday
with word play to bring a smile.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Ravaged Ice

In winter’s claws, all is white
from frost’s bite and the snow.
Set the fire, love, in the hearth,
warm the bath, and feel love’s glow.

Toast me crumpets on the grate,
my hunger sate, watching dreams.
In the flames my thoughts of love
drift above to our loft’s beams.

Damask quilt that keeps us warm,
fingers trace form in lust’s vice.
Your passion melts my cold heart.
My love’s art has ravaged ice.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Ever Turning Circle

In winter’s white, as angels cry
for early spring to warm the wind,
to bring to life with gentle sigh,
in love, the bitter frost has thinned.

For early spring to warm the wind,
at Valentine’s romantic calls,
in love, the bitter frost has thinned,
where dancers twirl amid stone walls.

At Valentine’s romantic calls,
rebirth of nature’s light divine,
where dancers twirl amid stone walls,
and blossoms pastel shades recline.

Rebirth of nature’s light divine,
when day equals the hours of night,
and blossoms pastel shades recline,
to hail the queen of May in light.

When day equals the hours of night,
a summer’s sun will come to play,
to hail the queen of May in light,
we chant and sing along the way.

A summer’s sun will come to play,
so life can grow as gods decreed,
we chant and sing along the way,
with warmth and light our hunger feed.

So life can grow as gods decreed,
the rays of sun on seeds we’ve sown,
with warmth and light our hunger feed,
the wealth of harvest is our own.

The rays of sun on seeds we’ve sown,
in autumn breeze that chills the heat,
the wealth of harvest is our own,
as gold and red belies our feet.

In autumn breeze that chills the heat,
a year that ends with blessed Samhain,
as gold and red belies our feet,
the call of Ancient’s name to reign.

A year that ends with blessed Samhain,
to bring to life with gentle sigh,
the call of Ancient’s name to reign,
in winter’s white, as angels cry.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Fire and Pride

Fiercely won in humility,
Independence of conceptual thought,
Remains the writer’s ambition
Evoked by words drifting to line and verse.

Ambiguous acts of governments
Nurtured contempt and fear of the quill
Demands for freedom lie silenced.

Personal battles fought with the pen
Rights wrestled from censors,
Inventive imaginations born in free creativity
Deviant poets voices will be heard
Evolving in openness to reveal artistic flow

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Coconut Bay

In sweetened shreds that hint of Shangri-La
I see the sky entice the naughty sea
and endless beaches acting so bourgeois,
as Coconut Bay wakes a mind that’s free.

Moist tender flesh is ensnared in darkness
bittersweet taste that melts hot on the tongue
sending senses swirling and I confess
passion for tropical heat all along.

She takes me from cold England’s wind and rain
in embraces where each moment is bliss,
in this paradise, she eases my pain,
O loving caress of Bounty’s sweet kiss.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Death Before Dying

As years swept past, old age arrived,
the grey replaced his jet-black hair.
His eyes of blue need lens to see
An aid in ear is placed with care.
The fatigue of time has no relief
the once vibrant mind is dull.
A stick of ebony helps him walk
the physical grief has taken its toll.
Why can’t he remember me?
He sees me and sees my mother.
his wife who passed so long ago,
each visit is slowly killing me
I want my dad, not his shadow.
I grieve for man he once was
as he knows nothing of me.
In his memory, he is still young,
a soldier fresh from war,
my mother by his side in white,
he’s lost to memory now
as he slips further she holds him closer
his bride wants him with her to stay.


© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Coming Alive

You breathe the life into my soul
one kiss I claim
to make me whole
in lover's flame.

My heart returned to love you so
with passion's ways
to make me glow
and seize the days.

Repaired the heart of broken toy
a simple gift
no longer coy
my darkness lift

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Citidel of Chaos

Mayhem
Reigns above hills,
Behind city walls lies
Fortified dreams in chaotic
Order.

Languish
In confusion
Of emperor’s torment
Levy madness, out of control
Refrains.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Shadows of Percy Bysshe

Sadness explodes with my breathing
and the tears flow with lonely words.
The images of love are leaving
like the flight of the birds.
Is anything in life so naive
as this life lost in lover’s lore?
The heart broken with no reprieve,
yet still I love you more

As the heavens embrace the earth
and forests that stand proud and tall,
the blossoms bring my soul no mirth
when you can’t stop my fall.
As sunlight kisses morning dew
and lunar light embraces night,
where is the love between us two
if not within our sight?

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Love In the Ink

Tattooist leave your mark beneath my skin
In ink, you trail your art of love to me.
Deep colours echo affection within
Hypnotic gun is buzzing like a bee.
My trust in art as pain releases the rush
A vibrant muse we lovers share for life
The hues of passion comes in artist’s flush
Your palettes of inks, the needles are your knife.
Tattooist pierce my skin, a love combined
Revel in beauty, lover, share the tales
Portray the magic twist within your mind
And find desire leaving shallow ink trails
Your ink in skin, your heart still holds my sky
Where clouds of dreams will dance as we fly.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Diamantes

Mystery
Cryptic, secret
Misleading, confusing, eluding
Hoodwink, confound; bamboozle, perplex
Puzzling, mystifying, posing
Inexplicable, veiling
enigma



Lies
hateful, scandalous
faking, deceiving, hiding
falsify, corrupt; reveal, declare
opening, trusting, accepting
dependable, reliable
truth

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Cajun Lady Blues

Release your voice dear saxophone,
Caress my soul with fingers of jazz.
Openness slurs on a trombone
In soft tones of shiraz.

New Orleans lady sing your song,
awaken rhythmic pulse in me.
Take me to places I belong
Entranced in music‘s spree.

Recall the days of Cajun bliss
of nights entwined with rifting slips.
The blues that played to love’s first kiss,
intense desire on lips

As bells proclaimed millennia
a passion burned in velvet hues.
In streets the crowds enticed mania
As lady sang me blues.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

AWAD: Paragoge

The lines that rhyme in poetry
are male and female like you and me.
To add a sound to feminize the end
a paragoge is the poet’s friend.

noun: The addition of a letter or syllable at the end of a word, either through natural development or to add emphasis. For example, height-th for height.

Pronunciation: par-uh-GO-jee

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

A.W.A.D.: Semasiology

Pronunciation: si-may-see-OL-uh-jee


Noun: The study of meanings in a language, especially the study of semantic change.

An -ology it must be medical
like in physiology and psychology.
Not in the case of changing word places
for that is the study called semasiology.

So next time dear poet you change things around
to fit the line the way it you want.
Its not meaningless twaddle, what ever the critics say
just look up and with respect chant

It’s semasiology!!!

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Alice's Wonderland

Sweet Alice she follows the white rabbit
whilst tripping through looking glass walkways
Not a sister but trapped in a habit
she is a lassie of the nightly days.

The queen of seduction plays with your heart
then chases the bunny to reach her high.
Innocent stories of a tasty tart
now reveal the dance in cocaine’s sky.

Visions of LSD play with the mind,
light sparkles into the mirage’s glow.
A trip of soul recreation in kind
entranced entrapped, she has no where to go.

Drink me, her mind succumbs to illusion
swallowed like a glass of purest water
Eat me, she finds the endless confusion
addiction’s victim of modern slaughter.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Boaters and School Ties (Shadow of Marie Marshall)

I meet the youth of maiden ways
and weep an aging tear.
The city lights and rushing days
in white and amber gear,
The whitewash walls meet Itchen shore
as cargo waits its ship,
in dreams of teens for love and more
my journal's ink lets slip.

The time has gone to denim skies
to see a wizened crone
as docks, silenced in grief's demise
the planes above now drone.
Where is the boater dressed in blue
that trailed common ground?
I bid farewell to things I knew
No tears it’s time I’m found.

© Jem Farmer 2008, all rights reserved.

Original poem: I see my childish yesterdays