80 Fantastic Poems

By Stan Mason

This anthology contains eighty fantastic poems, some of which won awards with national and international poetry competitions. They include poems of comedy, drama, history, love and romance, despair and joy, death, reflection as well as self-belief. It is an anthology of real treasure aimed at inducing the maximum pleasure for readers by a poetic master.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AUK Authors
• Release date: Jan 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781783335411

Book preview

coincidental.

Laugh

The comment wasn’t funny, it was in fact quite gross,

‘Twas the way the woman said it, with that wart upon her nose,

The reaction was remarkable, by the group to whom she talked,

Which rose in its intensity; her voice, the way it squawked.

It started with a smirk or two, advancing to some snickers

Accelerating quickly, when some person shouted: ‘Knickers!’,

As titter turned to guffaw, and snorts were heard all round,

The air was filled with laughter, ‘twas at best the only sound.

Peals that rippled echoed, they were good and they were free,

They hadn’t laughed so much in years, with such frivolity,

They tried to be more serious, but didn’t care a fig,

And roared with greater gusto, as old Robert lost his wig.

Some were paralytic, their breathing nearly stopped,

It got much worse soon after, when Harry’s trou- sers dropped,

Apparently his belt had snapped, pride came before a fall,

The garment fell between his knees, the beggar showed it all.

This increased the laughter gaily, as the ladies dearly cried,

But some could not contain themselves, and one she nearly died.

Con-vulsive in hysteria, the group could not revert,

They shook quite uncontrollably, until their stomachs hurt,

A great big foreign lady, soon observed herself in trouble,

Being stuck within an armchair, her body bent near double.

The screams and gales of laughter, continued at a pace,

And handkerchiefs were evident, as tears ran down each face,

Like a dose of nitrous oxide, joviality fast spread,

A tonic for each person, the best thing since sliced bread.

Eventually they simmered down, and heavy breathing came,

For all the pain and suffering, none did the speaker blame,

But then the wart upon her nose, produced a little wiggle,

And a shortish man right on the end, kick-started with giggle.

Contagious laughter burst once more, the joint was jumping now,

And people from the other rooms, came in to hear row,

Nigh soon the whole battalion, had lost their sense and wits,

For everyone was legless, as they fell in laughing fits.

In time the gales abated, although ending fun takes time,

To move from the ridiculous, to reach the cool sublime,

And even though the comment, was remarkably so droll,

The laughter so spontaneous, lay under firm control.

But came the crowning glory, in the woman’s own refrain,

She squawked: ‘What was so funny?’, and they started off again!

Suspicion

Suspicion is a two-edged sword, doubts always fill the mind,

Yet sometimes it’s a warning, if one’s not to be unkind,

For people must have safety, to protect them in this life,

From terrorists and evil ones, who kill with gun or knife.

There’s watching eyes in hundreds, wherever you may be,

Although we have democracy, man never can be free,

From shiftiness of strangers, whose actions tend to err,

Cause honest folk to fear them, as danger may occur,

Eyes stare behind the curtains, at events out in the street,

While hands are often shaken, with the strangers that we meet,

It’s worthwhile watching actions, no one can really tell,

If others come from Heaven, or intend to go to Hell.

Fear goes in darkened corners, sounds may turn our blood to ice,

Perhaps poison to our palate, when the taste seems not so nice,

Touching things in darkness, imagination goes too far,

Draughts may deeply scare you, when a door is left ajar.

In life the oddest functions, when spied the passing day,

Will force the honest citizen, to thank the Lord and pray,

As vicious deeds surprise us, which every person dreads,

Each day is but a bonus, to be not slaughtered in our beds.

An ill-parked car may stir the mind, its presence oft benign,

Or vagrants on street corners, could alert a warning sign,

A busker’s ploy in broad daylight, may seem most innocent,

Pockets picked lose gracefully, that’s where the money went.

The chill that runs along your spine, may indicate a clue,

As something strange will warn you, what can a person do,

Preserving life’s important, whenever there’s alarm,

The secret’s most imperative, to keep yourself from harm.

A mystery much unresolved, may cause a certain scare,

But it can be unravelled, if the victim has a care,

For doubts are doubts in any form, to ask where, who or why,

Horrifying actions, may cause some folk to die.

Much terror spread throughout the world, skulduggery and crime,

Are active all the whole day long, it happens all the time,

Some acts emerge from lunacy, men do things out of spite,

Rely on whim as darkness falls, of strangers in the night,

In countries free or shackled, where human nature plays,

Suspicion comes to plague us, in many different ways,

The world is steeped in mystery, and trust is hard to woo,

Except for just the two of us, but I’m not so sure of you!

Thank You!

The world is made so wonderful, by people of all kinds,

Some work with magic talents, the rest by brilliant minds.

By invention, entertainment, words, paint and history,

My profound appreciation, for these gifts, and being free.

Bless you Alexander Fleming, and Lister, Pasteur too,

Velasquez, Goya, Renoir, and the Incas of Peru.

I’m so grateful to the moguls, who gave me my employ,

My thanks for television, Logie Baird you give me joy.

My gratitude da Vinci, Orville Wright, and Graham Bell,

Fox-Talbot, William Caxton, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

Francis Drake and Marco Polo, and the hordes of Genghis Khan,

Michael Faraday and Solomon, the drivers at Le Mans.

I’m indebted to the Football League and Hovis bread and Heinz,

Film Director Alfred Hitchcock and the business Sun Alliance.

There’s a debt to many soldiers, who fought in each world war.

To Raleigh, Cook, Columbus and explorers by the score.

Thank you so much Mister Hoover, and Marconi so to speak,

Bless you also Archimedes for your theories in Greek,

I’m obliged to all the Beatles, as well as Johann Strauss,

I loved you Jimmy Cagney, Bogart, Dean and Mickey Mouse.

I cannot forget Pythagoras, Bertrand Russell, Shah Jehan,

Elizabeth the First and Wren, and also Thomas Mann.

The tuneful songs of Crosby, Frank Sinatra, really fine,

Cole Porter and George Gershwin, as well as Hart and Hammerstein.

I’m indebted Lizst and Mozart, Chopin, Elgar and Purcell,

Sir Isaac Newton, Einstein, Plank, you did so very well.

Brilliant Scott Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Maugham and James Joyce.

Mecedes-Benz and Henry Ford, and excellent Rolls-Royce.

To Glaxo-Wellcome, Louis Braille, and products of Gillette,

St. Francis of Assisi, Augustus John, and Bernadette.

The works of Shakespeare, Dickens, and the plays of G.B. Shaw,

The debt to Winston Churchill, William Glad- stone, many more.

I can’t fault the words of Homer, or Dumas, or H.G. Wells,

The monks who wrote the Gospel, known as The Book of Kells.

There are those who scribed the Bible, recording war and peace,

The builders of the Pyramids, the Parthenon in Greece.

Ben Franklyn, Thomas Edison, great inventors of our age,

While Blaise Pascal and Babbage, made comp- uters all the rage.

Edward Jenner and the Curies, and both Priestley and Mendel,

All worked so hard both day and night, to make the people well.

Philosophers like Bentham, Descartes, Kant and Cicero,

And Hobbes and Mills and Engels, Aristotle and Thoreau.

The engineer George Stephenson, Trevithick and James Watt,

Produced the first steam engines, for railways, thanks lot!

Thank you God for Venice; and sight, sound, touch and taste,

For Washington and Bonaparte, and men who battle faced.

The works of Lewis Carroll, Swift, Terence Rattigan,

Michaelangelo and Rembrandt, Bach, Chaikov- sky and Cezanne.

And every prize of Nobel, and the prospectors of gold,

The fit Olympic athletes, and the good brave knights of old.

The gentle lilt of Limericks, and those who climb the heights,

And all the legislators, who secured our human rights.

Thanks to leaders such as Gandhi, and Mandela and de Gaulle,

The farmers and the fishermen, who feed us from each trawl.

The doctors and the firemen, who tend our special needs,

And Samaritans and volunteers, performing selfless deeds.

There are scores of names to mention, as the list is very tall,

Those above are some which came to mind, I can’t remember all.

But, without a doubt, top of the list, ahead of any other,

The most important people....my father and my mother.

Miracles

I am overwhelmed by miracles, which take my breath away,

They always start at sunrise, to commence each brilliant day.

I scarce believed in anything, life ran its essence through,

No creed or cause I cared for, I was dead to all that’s true,

For thirty years I travelled, yet few wonders came to mind,

Then suddenly I woke to see, the treasures one can find.

Hence somehow I was singled out, to thrill as wonders thrive,

Tho’ nothing in my life has changed, I found myself alive.

Flocks of birds in flying fashion, rise to meet the autumn sun,

Flying to their destination, landing when the day is done.

In the garden revelation, busy bees the flowers groom,

All their petals open widely, pretty pretty bright they bloom.

Wafting gently on the breeze, comes the sound of music playing,

Deep within the old cathedral, oft is heard the people praying.

Nodding to an old man walking, thrilled to see a smile appear,

Nearby children jumping hop-scotch, laughing or with tender tear.

Echoes reaching from the midwife, at a new-born baby’s cry,

Life just starts and keeps on going, that no parent can deny.

Happiness is all around us, cheerful people laugh and sing,

Glowing friendship so rewarding, love is what they tend to bring.

In a field I saw a racehorse, prancing hoofs in graceful style.

Sleek and fit and full of running, cantering at least a mile.

Passing through a sloping valley, beauty constant days and nights.

Grassy slopes reach out