31st March 2018

Hi All

It was fun catching up with some of you at the recent Open Mic event at Gayton library.  Hope to meet more of you at the next Open Mic which has a theme of mental health which will be held at Kenton library on Thursday 10th May.

The subject for next month is Moving Home and as promised, I am posting my poem which I wrote for a friend when she and her husband downsized from the family home after their daughter grew up and married.

A NEW BROOM by Judy Karbritz

I’ve packed it all except the broom

To sweep one last time this old room

The floor our daughter used to crawl

Then toddle, laughing when she’d fall

The birthday parties we would hold

But years flash by, our home’s now sold

The day our daughter started school

Marks on the wall as she grew tall

Her best friends sleeping overnight

Soft giggling till the morning light

The tears until the cat was found

And then the boys came calling round

We stayed up when she came home late

And proudly watched her graduate

Her wedding day, a lovely bride

You hugged me as sweet tears we cried

She now has children of her own

We’re moving to a smaller home

A little flat – we don’t need more

As one last time I sweep the floor

This month, with the topic Winter Blues, as is so often the case, was a close call as to the winning entries for both the Harrow and Barnet Borough Times.  If you weren’t one of our winners, please keep on trying.

The Harrow Times winning poem is by Esther Royer:

BLUES AND GREYS by Esther Royer

Oh how I do wish the sun would come out to play today

even if it's just for a little while

Grey miserable sky you make me want to just lay here curled up in my not so cosy bed.

Spring season is here but still I see no flowers bloom.

grass covered in ice

heavy

Oh, I do get tired of these over-loaded bomber jackets weighing me down

when I want to be free like the bees picking pollen from the flowers

Leaves freshly grown green on tree kissed by the welcoming warming breeze of spring

Why oh why

do winter days have to drag on so long

singing the winter blues song

wailing jazzy blues and greys tunes

Oh how I do wish the sun would come out to play today

even if it's just for a little while.

 

The Barnet Borough Times winner poet is Marie-Géraldine Lauzier with her poem Colour me inside:

COLOUR ME INSIDE by Marie-Géraldine Lauzier

Outside's a dull grey

Inside is of a multitude of colours

It all depends on

Tiny details, massive events

When I catch a glimpse of

Fiery red autumn

I have a leaf fight with

Myself, I colour my pages

I ignore shorter days, lower temperatures,

When I catch the winter blues

I wrap up warm, close my eyes

Hibernate for a moment

When flowers are, on my mind

They blossom in all shades,

Tones of bliss,

I'm a spring child

When summer let's me

Roam around lightly, I feel

A shade brighter, a tone braver

    Some of our runners up were:

WINTER BLUES by Howard Lambe

 

The Winter Blues are here to stay

Until the snow has melted away

Icy cold mornings freezing hands and face

Makes us hurry to work with all due haste

 

The garden is cold empty and bare

Nothing to see at this time of the year

The plants and trees their leaves will lose

They too suffer the Winter Blues

 

Little children in their scarves and mittens

To protect them from becoming frost bitten

Their little feet in sturdy shoes

They wont get the Winter Blues

 

Mum at home keeps it warm and bright

For her family when they return at night

Looking forward to a meal of hot food

Keeping at bay those Winter Blues

 

At last the weather takes an upward turn

Making life easier to live and learn

Spring is coming the ice will thaw

And the Winter Blues will be no more

 

 

 

WINTER by Kusum Hars

Icy winds, heavy snow and endless rain
Wind chill comes knocking once again
Grey clouds with days dull and dreary
Enough to change our moods clearly
Bare trees and bushes stand cold and still
Covered with a white sheet of snowy chill
Nature sleeps, even animals follow the norm
Curling and resting in their burrows to keep warm
A few daffodils and crocuses defy the order
Pop up adding colour to the grassy borders.
To us it brings coughs, cold and the winter blues
Long cold nights I could sleep and sleep
Curling in my warm bed not wanting to leave
Stiff limbs hard to move, my heart resists
Nature calls but the mind reasons and insists
To make the effort  to drive the blues away
I try yoga and other things to keep busy
But lack of light and colour around makes my mind go dizzy.
I wonder if others feel the same or worse every year
There could be summer blues somewhere like the winter blues here.


 

WINTER BLUES - JEFF EDMUNDS

 

When the winter comes in, under a cold, white sun

I look for my woman to keep me warm

I get in my car, I scrape the ice

Need fire in my belly. Someone to treat me nice

 

I got the winter blues. I’m holding onto the things

I don’t wanna lose. In my heart I pray

I’m gonna get by through the cold, cold day

 

I see the snowdrop in the ground so cold

It speaks of survival into my soul

The snow and the frost are freezing my mind

I can’t get warm, the wind is so unkind

 

I got the winter blues. I’m holding onto the things

I don’t wanna lose. In my heart I pray

I’m gonna get by through the cold, cold day

 

The sunshine on my TV, so far, far away

A little bit of summer would brighten my day

Wish I had my woman but she’s down in LA

I’m stuck here in the winter in a cold, cold way

 

I got the winter blues. I’m holding onto the things

I don’t wanna lose. In my heart I pray

I’m gonna get by through the cold, cold day

 

 

BABS LEE - Winter Blues

You took us by surprise

From Siberia in disguise

Cascading sheets of white

Flurrying through the night

But with it came a sky of grey

A cold biting wind feeling its way

My feet frozen on the ground

The ice making a crunching sound

The temperature has dropped

Dare I walk to the shop

I'm frightened I'll fall

Who will hear my call?

I see it all on the news

With my cold winter blues

With shivering hands

I can't make plans.

My mood turns like the season itself

Soon winter will lie on a dark empty shelf

The sun will shine through the crisp morning dew

And bright yellow daffodils will bring in a season that's new.

WINTER BLUES by J R Simms

I was stuck in a moment of sun-lit slumbers,

With the whisper of waves crawling over some beach.

Sub-conscious senses weaved throughout my mind,

As the shivers of day-break beckoned chilled winter blues.

Coffee is percolating, while the Robin is watching,

Perched on a twig with icicles frozen in time.

Snow is weeping from the grey sky's above,

Yet the winter blue clouds cannot hide by-gone loves.

Star-gazing wonders ascend to another world,

Where I reach for the truth to an unknown answer.

The questions persist in the season of spring-time,

My own forces facing the doubt through cold air.

Eclipsed by voices in the distance coming closer,

Reminded that 'here & now' is the relative value.

I ruminate, remind, reflect and roll out the smiles,

As the beer disappears to while away winter blues.

WINTER BLUES by Ian Herne

In Bath, the snow piled as cosy pillows on the roadside,

The Met winter warnings like augurs of old,

But no beacon on the hills in modern times.

The past cannot come back; it's sold.

Old Man Brent, tired looking, aged and worn

Drains slowly into concrete walls,

While guileless boys pierce car windscreens

With dissent, called snowballs.

All gruesome winter is really in Caledonia.

You can't see the railway tracks.

Don't skate on ponds or rivers, pouts the sage;

This wisdom from a certain age.

Snow seems crystal to a young heart,

White and true.

The Beast from the East is the name of this killer

With its polar chill, brand new.

WRITING TO DISPEL WINTER BLUES by Patricia J Tausz

Frost sparkling on roof tiles

Sun peering through a brightening sky

Steam rising from ventilation shafts and vents

Today I feel my face broadening with smiles

As I hear the birds and them from the treetops fly

Precious jewels of dew in grass lie

Indoors the washing ready in white and coloured piles

I listen to the radio - refugees living in tents

The depressing news makes me sob and sigh

As more sad news will be placed in files.

Sunshine urges me to write once again

I'm observing the outside whilst remaining inside

The two are truly worlds apart

I feel relieved to be engaging with my brain

As from one situation to the next I glide

Briefly I can write my emotions I cannot hide

For the traumatised by war, I can feel their pain

I'm writing this out for a start

And now I feel satisfied

Hopefully the Winter Blues for me are over and I'll be able to write cheerfully once again.

 There were many other entries and I’m sorry that I can’t print them all.  However, try again next month and who knows, you could be a winner or at least feature in the blog.

As mentioned at the beginning of this blog, April’s subject is Moving Home.  Make what you will of it and I look forward to receiving your entries by Thursday 26th April.

Take care

Judy