DIY Poems

Illlustration: Ian Carrington

Homespun by John Humphreys

I want to be homespun,
Wrung from a deeper earth,
Something of worth.
Hand me down
My walking shoes,
Talking blues.
Lessons to live by…
And by
In the sweet,
Sunlit autumn,
Make me simple.
Reborn of joy,
Rewind from man to boy,
Stay forever,
An uncloudy day,
Lay my burden
Down by the riverside,
I want to unhide,
My deeper wells unsunk,
All my trials Lord
Soon to be undone,
Homespun.


From Green to Black by Frank McMahon

From your green country
to the Black Country,
to a factory with more people
than your home town
but with fewer Catholic steeples.
From forty shades of green

To forty shades of grey.
Black below and above the coal seam.
You were used to peat beneath your feet.
You did not follow your dream
But went to where the jobs were,
An Irishman feeling small in Willenhall.
 

Offload by Clare Stewart

What is this human need to
           offload our thoughts?
Other animals don’t, do they?

The blackbird on the TV aerial
           maybe is calling to prayer?
           An imam preaching from a minaret?
Whales singing philosophical debates?
Dolphins click-cracking jokes?
Bees dance-opining on the subject of honey?
Mice pleading for fairness and equality?
Dogs bark-bossing at dusk?
Sloths disseminating wisdom slowly?

And humans write poetry.

Adrenalin Tourists by Andy Szpuk

A selfie snapped from the eastern front
A bona fide firefight, not a poolside stunt
Sending postcards home is not so important
When adrenalin tourists wander out from their apartments

They don’t phone home to say, ‘wish you were here’
Khaki fatigues are their essential holiday gear
A bullet in the head, the final souvenir
Left behind, a half-finished, ice-cold beer.
 

Looking In by Lytisha

“Mummy, look!”
Here we go
“Look, the fishy!”
Here comes the banging
“Hey, I’m knocking for you.”
I’d better show myself or it’ll only get worse
“Look! Look, Mummy, look!
The fishy came out to play
I think he likes me
He always comes out when I knock!”
Yep, that’ll be it.

DIY Poets meet on the first Wednesday of the month at Broadway Cinema Mezz Bar at 8pm. Their next quarterly event is at The Maze on Thursday 14 May at 8pm, £3 entry.

DIY Poets' website