Medley: Lyrical, Thoughtful & Humorous Poems

By Michael Braham Gerstein

A mix of subjects and moods, hence, ‘Medley’. Think great comedians and humourists; think hard hitting, no nonsense, inspirational speakers. And he has a clear take on solutions. This is poetry like you have never read before. Passionate and compassionate on personal and world affairs.
Lyrical and emotional, he takes it all on. You may take a fresh look at things. It may arouse talking points.
Some poems are short stories. They contain a variety of windows into the imagination.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Sep 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781984591630

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

Medley

Lyrical, Thoughtful & Humorous Poems

COLLECTED POEMS

Volume Three

MICHAEL BRAHAM GERSTEIN

Copyright © 2019 by Michael Braham Gerstein.

ISBN:       Softcover           978-1-9845-9164-7

                 eBook                 978-1-9845-9163-0

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: 08/31/2019

Xlibris

800-056-3182

www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk

798874

Dedicated

to Lesley, my most wonderful, loyal, and loving friend

Table of Contents

RELATIONSHIPS

Angel Power

A Geometric Love Triangle

Like A Limerick Nature In Love

A MIXED BAG OF ISSUES

Connecting Threads

African Issues

Graduation Speech

Emotionally Emotive

‘Two Faced

Nature And News

Change The Subject

Good And Bad News

Fix Your High Kicks!

It’s A Rap!

A Mixed Bag Of Issues

The Alchemist Game

‘Sometimes’

Statistical Analysis

Loss Of Innocence

Have A Heart!

Jerusalem

The Key

HUMOUR

Alternative History Of The Dance

Enchanted Creatures

‘History Of The Dance In Music’ [Alternative And

Inaccurate]

The Happy Feet Beat

Just Chess

Guilt Free Extra

Emphatically Bureaucratically

The Tourist Poem

PERSONAL

The Lightness Of Being

Flying Rage

From Ditch To Sky

Jump And Open Your Gates

Hit The Open Road

Scrap Heap

Outside In

Ambitions

The Way

Time To Leap Off

Art In The Heart

The Fine Line

Memories

Chopin

My Wall

Magical Life

Oscillations

The Walled Garden

Storms

Fighting For Light

The Porcupine Defined

Wintery Walk No 2

Dreaming Hearts No 2

More Walls

Summer!

Songs And Symphonies.

Recovery From Trauma

The Secret

CULTURE & ARTS

The Golden Age

Travel With Trips

CONCLUDING MISCELLANY

Natural Flow

Nature: Best List

The Art Of Resignation

The Songbird Of A Shining Life

Dreams

Conflict Journey

‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’

I Rose Into The Night

Middle East

‘I Want My Creative Garden Back’

Switching Off

My Cheer Leading Team Of Stars

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Relationships

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15. 09. 1999   Angel Power

In the sky blue joy of our heart,

Where the seeds of magic feelings flower,

And moments of exquisite passion start;

There, the taste of torment has no power.

In the blue peace of our hearts,

Where the fragrance of calm twilights lay;

There we love and never part,

And hopes are always riding high.

No seasonal ebb and flow,

With joy waiting in the wings.

There we truly know

Those outbursts when our being sings.

And that inner glow, the light of the mighty

Breathes out its happy, rainbow smile,

And fuels momentous, sun kissed energy.

And we feel thanks for a while.

At those times we can be aware

Of the healing, blue angels

On stairways of green light,

Working near,

Making our ways more clear.

Sometimes, we can sense a caring light

Play around our head;

And feel the slight

Whisper of wings;

The gentle touch, a wisp of wind;

Some loving breath, removing pain.

And filling us with hope again.

They could comfort the needy

And with the lonely play,

In empty, violent nights,

Or on hopeless, aching days.

Staying open and lucky,

And you may feel support dress you.

Now, this may be our own fighting spirit;

The survival instinct at work.

But then, is that spirit our inner healing angel,

Alive and well?

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2001   A GEOMETRIC LOVE TRIANGLE

I know a Rectangle

Who tangled

With a nicely shaped Triangle.

Her outline was fine,

And there wasn’t a sign

Of bulge in her equilateral angles.

She wore those new fangle

Bangles which jangle.

And strong shapes would freeze

When she blew in on the breeze

And let her isosceles dangle.

The Rectangle fell

Pell - mell into a hell

Of a three way love triangle.

He slid in so fast,

We knew it wouldn’t last.

Just another wrangle with a geometric angle.

The Triangle was one of my circle.

She was doing a degree at my university;

A degree in Macro - Ecology;

And was a happy go lucky person.

She was a popular girl;

Her life one mad social whirl.

She had one steady guy,

Who soon became small fry

When his dad was made a bankrupt Earl.

The Earl got to acquire

A seat in the House of Lords,

From being an aristocratic Squire.

But his feet came off the seat

When he lost the election,

And political connection.

And cash wise he went down pretty fast.

He is still an Earl,

But it makes your hair curl

To see how life’s dramas are cast.

So his son who was a Square

Did something rare

For a member of the upper class.

He got a job……

With a musical mob,

Playing bass in a rock band, bold as brass.

Despite the Earl’s misgivings,

The Square earned his own living.

He had long blonde hair

Did this bass playing Square;

Which is de rigueur

In a rock and roll band,

Playing gigs in England.

The Square met our Triangle

In the Uni Quadrangle,

Where his band was playing well.

He watched her dancing,

Her laughter entrancing,

And at once fell under her spell.

Now, going back to the Rectangle,

My poor, blind pal

A bit later on he met the Triangle gal

Came in from the wrong angle.

And to meet a triangle you need the right angle.

He would try, though shy

To attract her eye

But he got in a tongue tied tangle.

I could see, it was doomed to be

Another Romeo and Julie.

A case of three into two won’t go.

In love and war, all is fair.

That’s a quote from Shakespeare.

And he is someone who ought to know!

The Rectangle too was one of the Uni circle.

All flat broke, from middle class homes.

All Geometric shapes,

Enjoying brief escapes,

Before a life of repaying loans!

My student friends bend the rules

As much as possible.

By the way, this is all off the cuff;

I should know;

I’m the Cube guy who’s writing this stuff

We know how to circumvent

Payments, like rent.

But as we are always in debt

It must be kept a trade secret.

So, I’m a befriender

Of any rule bender.

Like students who cheat in exams.

Yes, I’m a befriender

Of girls who wear suspenders,

And vegetarians who eat spam!

Like Liberals who vote New Labour……..

Oh I could go on

But I happen to know this is going to be a very long poem!

Most schools use slide rules,

So it figures

That the geometric figure

Avoids rules with vigour; they are a painful deja vu.

Well, you would too, wouldn’t you!

Ovoids avoid

Rules the best.

If a rule needs bending,

Or a loan extending,

Ovoids will rise to the test.

As for me I’m a Cube geometric,

And just a bit thick.

Going off at a tangent

Is my innate bent.

So, let’s get back to student rents.

With our small grants

There isn’t much chance

Of making ends meet.

By the way,

If you ever want to meet us,

Uncurl your positional fetus,

And go out to the pubs,

Or the noisiest clubs.

That’s where we spend our money meagre

On unconscious drinking fever!

Yes, it’s true!

Students mostly study

The contents of their glass,

Not what’s in their class!

I’m a student, so I know.

It’s true, drinking helps our brains to grow.

So when to Student Bars we veer

We’re helping our career.

It takes business skill to re-route our money

Into pints of liquid honey!

My circle of friends

Are on the fringe of society.

Which may be why we circulate

And circumnavigate

From bar to bar

And from pint to jar.

We imbibe and sup

To such an extent

That us cubes blow up

like spheres at a tangent.

After the amount we put away

It’s hard to count

Which month, let alone which day.

After the rounds

Many rounds later,

The spheres are rounder

And the triangles more pyramidic.

We did not anticipate

This difference

In our circumference,

Till one square mate

Swelled up from an over filled cup,

And changed from square to ovoid;

An ovoid to large to avoid.

Another friend had a lucky escape

When it comes to changing shape.

We all thought that he

Had rectangularity.

Till he decided to ‘come out’.

Then we had no doubt.

He’d been a closet oblong

All along!

We start our pub crawls

Standing tall.

But by night fall

We can barely crawl.

It’s more than possible

That all of my school

Are sloshed geometricals,

With misshapen equilaterals!

Once again, there goes my tendency

To go off at a tangency.

A divergent resurgency.

So back to my friends, who,

You will recall are, the love sick Rectangle,

The Square, and adorable Triangle.

But I could tell,

That far from progression,

In his love quest possession,

There would be a rectangular recession.

He was heading for hell

Our Triangle already had the Square guy,

Though that love affair was about to die!

But the rectangle was crazy about her.

He loved her diameter.

But soon he saw

That in love and war

Forget about being fair!

So thought this sometimes

Shy, square rectangulare.

But being so smitten

Thawed his inhibition.

And he managed to wangle,

Not a menage a trois;

That’s a crowded triangular,

But a sort of shaky love triangle.

What did help him

Was her boyfriend,

The Square musician,

Was often away, at gigs, and out of position.

Then one Easter break

The Square and Triangle

Decided to take,

Ad hoc,

A trip to Bangkok.

She said, "I need to take stock

Of the state of Agronomy

In a state that is Easterly."

Well, my rectangle friend

Went right round the bend,

And begged to go with therm.

His course was Food and Catering.

But, of course, he was indicating

He just wanted to be with her.

I promise to keep out of your way,

I heard him say.

"I’m learning the economics

Of Far East gastronomics,

And I’d like to come with if I may.

Part of my course is

Taking stock of Eastern foodies.

I may open a Thai bistro one day.

So, I gotta put some stock in a wok,

And learn stir fry the Eastern way.

And when he told her,

I’ll take my old Skoda,

The Square and Triangle both agreed.

So the three of them drove there,

Right across Asia,

Sleeping rough and smoking weed.

The Rectangle told her,

"There’s good money in cuisine.

And soon I’ll have a

Hotel, restaurant and limousine.

At a zoo, a bit later,

They saw