Hi everyone

If you have your diary to hand, please make a note that on Tuesday 17th May from 6/7.30pm the place to be is Stanmore Library where I’ll be hosting an Open Mic Poetry Evening.

You’re shy? You don’t have to read your work, but I guarantee that after hearing other poets, you’ll not want to miss your turn. You don’t write? Bring a favourite poem and read it. You don’t have a favourite poem? Come along and listen to other Harrow residents read theirs. Have a few poems with you as I hope we willll go round the group several times.

Next month’s competition should be interesting as the subject is Talent. I would like your poems of no longer than twenty lines by 19th May.

Today’s paper is now out and you can see that Barbara Towell won our competition with her poem: ‘My Mother’s Gift One Christmas’

My father he loved gadgets,

Gadgets great and small.

The electric potato peeler

Was the craziest of them all.

Designed to make life easy,

A 60s housewife’s dream.

“It peels them quick. It peels them slick!”

Well, so the adverts deemed.

My mother she just stood and sighed,

Saw scrubbed potatoes placed

Inside the plastic “fish bowl”,

Made ready for their fate.

We watched them roll and tumble

And bounce against the sides.

Yet half an hour later

They were still more brown than white.

A further fifty minutes

When the job it should be done,

Instead of large potatoes

‘merged tiny skin-specked ones!

It was a pretty tough call as we had Vicki Maine with her poem:

GADGETS by Vicki Maine

When you’re feeling blue

Having trouble with a shoe

Which is tight because it’s new - get a gadget

If you’re feeling cross

‘Cos your path’s full of moss

You know you need, of course - to get a gadget

If you need to kneel

But do not like to feel

Your buttock on your heel - you need a gadget

If you want to brush your cat

‘Cos her fur gets on the mat

There’s a special one for that - yes, a gadget

For the kitchen there are lots

Special things for cleaning pots

Or for making sugar dots - they’re all gadgets

If this needs a further verse

I’d suggest you watch your purse

‘Cos for better or for worse - there’ll always be more gadgets!

and also previous winner Janet Byrne with her poem

Welcome to my kitchen, come and have a look
See all the useful gadgets I've bought to help me cook
Right over here's the mixer; It's very stylish retro
It's not been used yet though 'cos cakes are great from Tesco

In the corner is the bread maker purchased on a whim
But there's no way we'll eat bread now since enrolling at the gym
And this cute machine makes coffee but it's really not for me
It takes too long and tastes too strong and there's nothing like a cup of tea

This very large fridge freezer was essential for the family
But all its shelves are empty now as there's only him and me
I'm so glad you like the kitchen and I know it looks brand new
That's because it's never used; it's not worth cooking just for two.

Over the next week or so, I’ll bring you our poems by runners up Alan Hinson, Carole Chapman, J. M. Clarke, Neville Klein, Patricia J Tausz, Pattie Greenberg, Sally Fiber, Sukriti Bisht, and Win Wilkins.

Have a good Bank Holiday weekend.

Judy

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Readers who submit articles must agree to our terms of use. The content is the sole responsibility of the contributor and is unmoderated. But we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention. If you wish to complain about this article, contact us here