Recipe For Putting On A Show

Ingredients:

Selection of cast members
A director or two
Designer or design team
Make-up artist
Some backstage crew
A script
A venue
Several pencils
Lovely audiences

Method:

1. Take your cast members and place together with the directors in workshops for several weeks
2. Allow time to get creative
3. Watch the development of the script
4. When script is well developed, begin rehearsals, making good use of pencils as required
5. Add the designer
6. Allow more time for creativity, while continuing wearing down those pencils
7. As rehearsals continue, set aside scripts
8. Rehearse some more for healthy development
9. Get-in to your venue
10. Add the make-up artist and the back stage crew
11. Begin production week
    Please note: you are now at the most difficult part of the recipe
12. Hang in there
13. Once tech runs and dress runs are complete, be sure to get a good nights sleep
14. You are now ready for your audience
    Serve up and enjoy

It’s A Hard Life When You’re A Cat

Spending all day
Curled up asleep
On the comfiest chair
Or the softest bad
Taking the time
To stretch and yawn
Before returning
To the dream

At noon, perhaps
You take a wander
Call for your food
It must be fresh
Only the best
None of the cheap stuff
Perhaps some biscuits
A little milk

Then out and about
Checking the territory
Warding off
The young pretenders
A strenuous task
This walk around
Marking your ground
And taking the air

Occasionally
Just to be nice
You’ll bring back a gift
A sigh of affection
A mouse or a bird
As a token of love
They get iffy about this
Strange beings, humans

But mainly the day
Includes fussing and cuddling
Preening yourself
In your spot by the fire
And just when you’re settled
They want you to play
It’s such a hard life
When you’re a cat

My Life As An Omelette

To think of all
The times I spent
Shivering in my box
With my five companions
Worried that
I might be poached
Or scrambled
Fried
Beaten
Or boiled
Or worse yet
Cracked
Thinking of my days
As a young yolk
Fresh in my shell
Straight from the hen
All cosy
And warm
Nested in the hay
Till human hands
Plucked me away
Now here I am
Cooking in a pan
With two of my fellows
A bit of cheese
Some mushrooms
That have lost their stems
Poor things
And it doesn’t seem so bad
It’s a useful thing
To be food on a plate
Who knows who I might feed
And what they will do
For this world
All in all
A very honourable end
For an egg

Evening Thunder

Grey sky
Whispering thunder
Slithered with distant
Flashes of light
Distant storm
Creeping ever closer
The earth awaits
The first drop of rain
Drifting inwards
Building
Reaching
Chasing the shadows
With noise
And with light
Lightning dances
For natures own orchestra
Building a crescendo
Thunder
And rain
Drenching the earth
Watering
Life giving
Affirming
Rain
It passes
The air cooled
And earth swollen
Spectacle moves on
Natures own
Touring show
And grey sky
Whispering thunder
Slithered with distant
Flashes of light
Distant storm
Once again

The New Store

A new store’s opening
Across the town
And they’re promising
To keep prices down
Outside, with money
Soon to be spent
The crowd awaits
The main event
Big shiny doors open
And in they all rush
Observers swept in
Caught in the crush

Scrabbling for clothing
In heaps and in piles
All you could want
Massed in the aisles
“Pile it high
And sell it cheep”
Seems the buzz-word
Of the week
Kit out your wardrobe
For twenty-five quid
Lots for men and for women
And more for the kid

Wear it
Wash it
Wear it
Chuck it
Transient fashion
For a throw-away culture
New styles in next week
For the discerning vulture
Shoppers rush round
With a basket or two
Then stagger to join
The mile long queue

I find myself wondering
As I look at the scale
Is this the worlds biggest
Jumble Sale?

The Dream

I dreamt that my spirit was free,
And I floated weightless amongst the stars.
Beyond me the Earth shone like a beacon,
Reflective of the Sun’s great light.
As I drifted in the eternal starry black,
I felt at peace with the Universe.
Then I sensed its intelligence…

This is not the beginning.
But then, this is not the end.
To have an ending you must first have a beginning.
The beginning…
Oh but where is the beginning…?

I dreamt that my spirit was free,
And I floated weightless amongst the stars.
Beyond me the Earth shone like a beacon,
Reflective of the Sun’s great light.
As I drifted in the eternal starry black,
I felt at peace with the Universe.
Then I sensed its intelligence…
Then I sensed its pain…

This is not the end.
This is not the beginning.
This is a chapter in an eternal story,
As old as Time itself.
These are my hopes,
These are my fears,
These are my dreams,
This is me.

Words

Words come in the night
Awaken me from sleep
Bid me write them down
Safe on paper to keep

Top 5 Things I Learned This Week

Always carry something to write on and something to write with. The moments of inspiration are always the best, and far too easy to lose.

British Sign Language has 2 different signs for the word Bear. 1 sign for referring to bears in the wild, and another for referring to those in captivity.

Cats have magnetized brain cells, which allow them to navigate, like a built in compass.

Polystone, used for making small statues, is very easy to chip or break, so very fine parts, such as weapons or straps, are sometimes made out of plastic, and attached to the main model. If the workmanship is good, you should only be able to tell the difference by touch.

And my personal favourite: A cow can produce up to the equivalent of 400 litres of methane gas, every single day. That’s a lot of gas!

49 Balls In Their Merry Dance

Lottery fever
The rollover in triplicate
£20 million jackpot
And everyone wants it
15 thousand Pink Tickets
Bought every minute
Each with 6 numbers
For a chance to win it

It could be YOU
Or so the sign says
So I join the queue
All ready to play
And making my plans
With my little Pink Tickets
A new life in my hands
Just maybe
My fingers clenched tight
Please let it be me
Pay my money
Take my chance
As 49 balls
Do their merry dance

1 ball down
It doesn’t match
20 million’s not mine
Well, never mind
Wouldn’t want it anyway
Way too much money
But 5 numbers
Much better, 1 grand
Comfortable amount
Very nice in my account
But it doesn’t match
Not even close
Not too worry
Still 4 to go
Maybe a hundred
Would be a good run
Towards a holiday
That would be fun
But ball 3
Has been and gone
Number 42
I needed 41
1 number out
How ironic is that?
But still
There’s hope
3 numbers left
£10
Just to cover my costs
Fingers crossed
Alas
It’s not to be
Not even that…

By the bonus ball
I’m not even looking
Wondering how
I’m gonna do the cooking
‘Cause the budget’s all spent
Trying to be a millionaire
Looking for a life
To live without a care
Pink Tickets lying
There in the dustbin
And I decide
I’ll not do this again
Until I get caught
Up in the tide
Of the next big draw
The pull’s too strong to hide

Disillusionment fades
As I’m given the chance
To join 49 balls
In their merry
Little
Dance

Standing In The Grey

Me
Standing in the Grey
And surrounding me
Is Light
And Dark
And Light
And Dark
And me
Standing in the Grey
Wondering who I am
Wondering who I should be
Could be
Would be
Running from the Darkness
Afraid of it
And yet
Intrigued by it
Wondering if I should be
Could be
Would be
Feeling it whispering
Its claws
Scratching my skin
And I stumble
And slip
Back into the Grey
And surrounding me
Is Light
And Dark
And Light
And Dark
And me
Standing in the Grey
Striving for the Light
Yearning for it
And yet
Afraid
Wondering if I should be
Could be
Would be
Me
Standing in the Grey
Can I be in the Light?
Can anyone?
Because there was only one
And I am not Him
I am not that strong
Wondering if I should be
Could be
Would be
And I stumble
And slip
Back into the Grey
And surrounding me
Is Light
And Dark
And Light
And Dark
And me
Standing in the Grey
Wondering who I am
Wondering who I should be
Could be
Would be
Me
Standing in the Grey
Standing in the Grey