Sharing: Poems: Lyrical, Thoughtful & Humorous

By Michael Braham Gerstein

“This volume is a broad mixture of subjects, in lyrical, thoughtful and humorous moods.
From a feeling, [ not from the news ] like a surf wave, powerful or gentle, I flow through the work
If it’s a strong feeling, writing is fast. Most times it’s slow, laborious editing.
I sometimes make notes.

I don’t appreciate modern poetry.
This is my own work. I copy no one. I love writing!

Several poems are short stories. They contain a variety of windows into the imagination and fantasy. The thoughtful ones may arouse talking points.”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Jul 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9781984590879

Michael Braham Gerstein

“I am from a business family. But I am an artist and writer. [ Comedy, short stories, plays and song lyrics ] Ex teacher / Graphic Designer. I am emotional, sensitive and practical, in a business like way. I find all the poetry and songs about love too much. And it’s a multi layered feeling, not just one dimensional I write on relationship, but enjoy covering a wider range of subjects. There’s so much more out there. What excites me? The Arts, Film musicals, Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, jazz rhythm, rhyming, Marc Chagall, Chopin and the Quintette du Hot Club de France.”

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 by Michael Braham Gerstein.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 07/29/2019

Xlibris

800-056-3182

www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

798872

CONTENTS

RELATIONSHIPS

TO A BEST FRIEND

BEING THERE, BEING YOU

YOU

HEARTS AND HOPES

HOPE

MORE PLEASURE PLEASE

GARDEN AT DAWN

FRIENDSHIP

SHARING

EMPTY HANDS

FOR ALL THE SEAS IN CHINA

HEART MEMORIES

TWO HEARTS

FALLING OUT OF LOVE

THROUGH GARDEN GATES

VALENTINE POEM

YOU’RE DELICIOUS

AFTER THE WEDDING

PARIS WEEKEND

WHERE DOES LOVE LIVE?

THE TRIANGLE AND THE PYRAMID

HUMOUR

I DIDN’T ORDER THIS

AFFIRMATIONS

LIKE A LIMERICK - A MEDLEY

THE CUTS ARE COMING’

NAME DROPPING

DIY; WHY TRY?

‘EASY’ DOES IT’

GUILT FREE, NATURALLY

HELLO GOD

HOUSE OF COMMONS

IMMORTALITY

LIKE A LIMERICK - A MIX

GET BUSY

LONG SLEEP

SHOCK HORROR

‘TECHNO STUFF [GOOD OR BAD?]

LIKE A LIMERICK - TRENDING POLITICAL

CELEBRITIES / SHOW BUSINESS

FRED AND JUDY

IRVING BERLIN

THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE

THE GREATEST ENTERTAINER

CHRIS TARRENT, HEIR APPARENT

DANIEL CRAIG

ON HEARING NEW MUSIC

‘JUDY’ [JUDY GARLAND]

RICK STEIN [CELEBRITY CHEF]

THE FILM I LOVE

DJANGO REINHARDT

MUSIC

WHAT MUSIC DOES

MY PHOTO IN A FRAME

MUSICAL NOTES

MUSIC THAT ‘DOES IT’

MUSIC I LOVE

MORE NICE SOUNDS PLEASE

‘MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU’ [BING CROSBY]

SEVENTH HEAVEN

CHOPIN

NEUTRALISED

A MIXED BAG OF ISSUES

STATUS QUO

SOMEHOW

ALL BY OUR LITTLE SELVES?

CLARITY NOT CONFUSION

BRUNCH OR LUNCH

LIKE A LIMERICK - ACCIDENTS AND THE LIKE

CAN OF WORMS

EMOTIVE RUSSIANS

HA, HANDSHAKES, WHAT FOR!

LAW OF THE JUNGLE [ALL CLICHES]

RESIGNED TO LIFE

PRAYER, SUPERMARKETS AND CARNIVALS

FOOTPRINT MEMORIES

THE POETRY BOAT

‘READING & WRITING’

PERSONAL

TRANSPARENT GAMES

BE SABOTEUR FREE

CHOSES QUE J’AIME [THINGS I LOVE]

MY INSPIRATIONS

A WINTER’S WALK

ALL THESE AND MUCH MORE

ARE YOU CRAZY?

CATHEDRAL CITY

MEETING OF DREAMERS

DREAM ON

DREAMING HEARTS

DROWNED DREAMS [LIFE ITSELF]

EMOTIONAL MELANGE

FLAWED, BUT NOT FLOORED

EMOTIVE POETIC

‘GEMSTONE SHINE’ [THE SAPPHIRE SHEEN]

FLOOD THE SKIES WITH SONG

HEART PROMPTS

I DESERVE A STATUE!

HEART WALL FALL

IF IT’S ANOTHER POEM, I’M GOIN’

INVISIBILITY

IT’S STILL WORTHWHILE

KEEP IT REAL

I NEED SPACE!

LIFTING FOG

SILENT CRIES

TEAM OF STARS

NOT YET MY OWN VOICE

OFF THE CHEST

‘OUCH’ [‘OOOO, EEE, AAAAAH’]

SOFT SWINGS THE NIGHT

THE PEACE I WANT

SPRING CLEAN

A SONG OF THE HEART

ARTS, CULTURE, TOURS

TIME TRAVEL TO EUROPE

INTRODUCTION TO A POETRY READING

THE NECKLACE

THE MODERN ARTS.

MAGICAL THINGS

THE LUSTROUS AND THE DOWNBEAT

MODIGLIANI

CHAGALL

EUROPEAN TOUR

1950 HOLIDAY

ANOTHER CELEBRITY TOUR

UPLIFTS AND DOWNFALLS

AD NAUSEAM

CONCLUDING MISCELLANY

WISE WORDS?

UNNATURAL & SUPERNATURAL

UNBEATABLE SUPPORT

VANITIES

VALUE OF IMAGINATION

LOOKING ACROSS THE HEATH

‘BEING WHOLESOME’

THE BREAKTHROUGH

ALL ABOUT SLEEP

THE THRILLING JOY OF LIFE

I’LL GET YOU!

Dedicated to Amelia

RELATIONSHIPS

22. 03. 11

TO A BEST FRIEND

You are here; the stars shine brighter.

You are real, for sure;

the sky is bluer, the snow whiter

When you cheer us

the days are more rapturous.

The wonder of you is you are so ordinary;

that’s what makes you so extraordinary.

All the things you do; the smiles, the care;

the friendship, the hugs;

the common sense; the little heart string tugs.

You are down to earth, reliable and loyal;

warm and helpful through all the turmoil.

You are a miracle to be so wonderful.

How often have I told you

that you’re magical right through!

You are my flagship, my friend, my shining star.

My love, my gratitude are with you wherever you are.

If this world were filled with people like you

it would outshine the starry heavens,

and there would God be too.

So, how lucky that I’ve known you for a while.

To my warm hearted friend, with love and a smile.

The stars may fill the space of embrace in my heart.

A dazzling Hawaiian sunset may blaze there too.

The heights of Nirvana may radiate like High Art.

But nothing can compare with the wonder of you.

The night sky, shining stars saturate.

Beautiful sunsets our spirits elevate.

Confusion wise men can end.

But loyalty and wisdom in one,

that can only be my very best friend!!

1995

BEING THERE, BEING YOU

Your being there, being you,

Is all I need to see me through.

Your magic love, your common sense,

Feed me, and starve out my own nonsense.

Those bright feelings which live in you,

Cross the waves and warm me through.

Your love, like singing birds, fills the numbing air,

And smiles around your golden hair.

So cross the waves, beloved one,

And swing in joy and bathe in fun.

Your love, it like a river flows,

On a journey to a sea, that no one knows.

1994

YOU

I get electric shock bolts

At the thought of losing you.

The insecure emptiness halts

Me, shuddering, in my tracks.

My hair droops down flatly

At the thought of you going away.

Don’t get ill, I need you so badly.

More than this world, I need you to stay.

You are the only one who has responded

To my being, my perfume, my person.

You are the only one who has opened

Me to feelings which I can rely on.

1995

HEARTS AND HOPES

In the closed hours of uncaring day,

When time’s reverie cloaks the still air,

I built, in my mind, dream castles there,

Then watched them fall and melt away.

While our pure hearts lie a flutter,

And a dreaming in their frame,

Problems come to shatter

Our hopes, in this crazy, earthly game.

When your heart loudly calls

Out, from beneath prison walls,

Inner light with flame,

To burn an escape through the dark and pain.

As tears from broken hearts begin to dry,

And winds of love breathe out a sigh,

Will the bringer of beauty bound along,

To heal our hearts with a ‘morphine’ song?

When a broken heart is hurt in pain,

From being ‘stitched up’ again and again,

Are the wounds healed and stitched up by the same Surgeon,

Who also made our hearts for love and searching?

And when the shimmering seas of love recede,

Are we left then, high and dry?

Or do our guardian angels take the lead,

And hold us, if we break down and cry?

And do our hearts need to be

Hidden from hurt, needlessly?

For how can we be open

To share love, if we hide our hearts from being broken?

But I know that, like the mirage of an oasis in the sand,

If you leave me, I’d be left, bereft, in some deserted land.

Yes, and like the illusion of a safe bridge, on which I stand,

If you leave, I would collapse into a maelstrom of un-being!

And if the knotted line grows tighter more,

Your hands might catch the only still pure

Seasoned, reckless, heart locking grace

Spilling out from across the moon laced, night space.

1995

HOPE

Sail, vast boat, across my dreams.

But oh how far the magic seems.

Is it the distance between a closed and open heart,

Which decides our great flowering start?

And are we groomed for our brainwashed roles,

At the expense of our starved and thirsty souls?

And yet……the sun is always on call.

It’s those clouds that prime us for a fall.

Can we feel the sky with an upward prayer?

Can we truly be ourselves up there?

Can the Butterfly wait to fly another day?

Are the answers in your kind and loving way?

Can we keep you and never part?

And always carry the sky in our heart?

Our pain tears our skies in two.

Help us make a fresh start, with you.

So close your ears to other sounds,

And when you’ve looked, and done the rounds,

Come back home, and once more meet,

The ‘you’ who’s there, and so complete.

Why can’t I float with you,

here on earth, in all that’s blue?

Come to us, and….

Repaint our rainbows.

Hold our heart in yours.

Swamp our heart with love.

Touch our tender hearts with patience.

Fill our skies with dreams.

Flood our tears with answers.

And paint our dreams with life!

2016

MORE PLEASURE PLEASE

In the garden, a joyous, flaming, rust, red tree

sheds russet leaves to a wide circle on the ground.

This singing, red fantasy, made more intense

by the surrounding tree greenery,

sways gently to a silent breeze.

There seems to be more things nasty than nice;

There is disparity.

Maybe, when beautiful things come, we appreciate them more,

due to their rarity;

like this stunning, brazen tree.

Or, like the iridescent colours on lime and ice crystal cave walls,

hollowed in cliffs at sea level;

bathed wet and glistening in morning sunlight,

and reflected in multi coloured love prisms

murmuring beneath the cave waters.

Silence between us can say more than words.

By your own admission, our close & shared moments,

sing a rich and deep vocabulary.

Silent, loving moments; magic moments between;

Like the exquisite, sparkling sunshine sings

on the translucent silver, blue dragonfly wings.

1994

GARDEN AT DAWN

Soft was the magic of dawn in that garden.

Deep felt the touch of divine in my heart.

A seed of immortality was sewn in pure poetry.

Soul soaring in silent perfumed stillness.

I savoured this dew dripped innocence.

Away, away beyond the cruelties of men,

into a gentle, laughing land when

to think was just a painful noise.

And my heart was full of wonder and joys.

Filled with exquisite charisma of deep felt shine,

that warmed the inner flowers which are mine.

You know the knowing contentment of blue sky.

You have felt the whisper of green forest mystery;

the flickering light, the whistle of wings;

the dancing beauty of heartfelt feelings.

The gentle touch, the caress of hand;

the pain of being far from our land.

I cried openly to he who knows,

to keep me here and not to close

the gate to this flower filled place;

to give time a rest and stop the outer chase.

I beckon to the comfort of the shining lights of all;

to the gods who bid us stand straight and tall,

to remind me of these elemental moments of peace,

often; in fact don’t let them ever cease.

24.7.2010.

FRIENDSHIP

Hey, you can’t make a new friend, and know him,

by sitting and writing a poem!

But I’ve been given this theme,

so I’m venting my spleen,

by writing this poem at home.

Friendship, a two sided thing;

a two faced coin with a false ring.

There are fair-weather friends who will let you down.

When something goes wrong they are out of town!.

Need a helping hand,

they’re in Greenland.

You’ll be laughing together and joking,

comes a problem, they’ve all moved to Woking!

Need a loan

they’re in Sierra Leone.

Gone bankrupt,

their emigration is abrupt.

Genuine, caring friends are best;

the ones who will rise to the test.

These are the friends to cultivate.

In your storms those guys won’t hesitate.

I’m a kind, helpful friend.

If you’re broke I’ll lend.

I’ll bend any rule to satisfy.

To help you out, I’ll even lie.

In car accidents

I’ll stand witness, even if I wasn’t there.

I’ll falsify evidence

to help win your case, I don’t care.

I’ll fake your injury.

I’ll take the blame to help your claim.

I’ll even bribe the jury!