Category Archives: Events

Poems for special events and occasions

If Typists Were Poets

If Typists Were Poets

[Reissued for National Poetry Day 2019]

If typists were poets what would be the effect?
Not a single ‘typo’ would you ever detect
The spelling and syntax all perfect would be
And correct punctuation I am sure you would see

But there’s more to a poem than neatly typed letters
If its words are intended to make us feel better
The emotions expressed or the ideas portrayed
Are greater than ciphers however displayed

So let’s never forget when to verse we resort
Lack of good grammar should not ever thwart
Our attempts to convey what comes from our heart
Our stumbling attempts to turn words into art

So if you aspire to be poet or a bard
Of course you will find it is often quite hard
To ensure that your words cause no great confusion
Or your readers bemuse by some obscure allusion

So as you reach for that keyboard have the spell-check to hand
And with your ideas your world will expand
But be careful to type well and present a clear case
And even take care as you choose a typeface

Ken Fisher

 

Climate Change

Climate Change

This is the challenge now we face
Suddenly it’s become a race
Against passing time and rising tide
The threat can no longer be denied

Young folks rise up in alarm
‘Gainst those who downplay the harm
Polar ice continues to melt
Effects around the world are felt

Island strands buffeted by tempests
Little defence against such impacts
Hurricanes wreak devastation
Carnage heaped upon these nations

Some delight in unaccustomed sunshine
But scorching heat is not benign
Forests burn ‘neath rays incessant
While we remain quite acquiescent

But perhaps some sign of hope we can discern
As in loud protest we hear concern
Expressed by thousands on parade
As their urgent warning is relayed

Ken Fisher

Time is of the Essence

Time is of the Essence

Time is of the essence in our contract law
You can’t ignore its steady beat
Or the buyer might withdraw

Time matters when we make a point
Words can inflame or calm
Words ill-timed doomed to disappoint

Time is the fourth dimension
Length, breadth and height the others
Yet time alone eludes our comprehension

Time of our life, our progress down the years
Because time is our life for sure
Present joys tinged with future fears?

‘Time for amendment of life’ as the Prayer Book pleads
Essence of our living captured in each moment
The score of that life the sum of all our deeds?

Ken

Unwillingly to School [August 2019]

Unwillingly to School 

 

“And creeping like a snail unwillingly to school”
[The Seven Ages of Man]
Shakespeare – As You Like It

Spare a thought for our kids today
As once more they join the fray
Wave adieu to days of freedom
As to learning they are ransomed

Knuckle down to discipline
To instruction they must listen
Co-operate with earnest teachers
Help to build a brighter future

Parents too will find relief
Saves them from a lot of grief
As they despatch their young offspring
Called to classes as bells ring

All designed minds to expand
The curriculum thus duly planned
Presented with unending tasks
Where will it lead? Our pupils ask

Who says all this is democratic
Our elders remain quite emphatic
On opening day it’s back you go!
The reason why you need not know

Ken Fisher

Moon Landing 50 Years Ago

Moon

[In celebration of 50 years since the Moon Landing in 1969]

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Moon
mysterious sphere
whose face remains inscrutable
your phases measuring each month
whose light a pale reflection of the sun
shines on us like a slowly turning beacon
on frosty nights your face is bright and clear
but cloud and rain obscure your steady glow
your gnarled face mottled like an ageing man
craters and dry seas form your rugged features
no wonder, your age near that of ancient parent
child formed by debris of your mother earth
but distance has not dimmed your power
to influence our life here on the earth
the tides from time immemorial
by gravity’s mighty force
mover of oceans
Moon

After 50 years I wonder when your visitors might return once more?

 

Ken Fisher

Summer Solstice 2019

Summer Solstice 2019

A glimpse of sunshine warms our heart
Flowers and leaves reflect the light
The gentle rays caress our brow
Our lips widen with a smile

For now the daytime stretches out
Filling each hour with gentle light
Dark days of winter long forgot
We rejoice in life outdoors

From this ‘crows nest’ of the year
We scan the horizon fore and aft
Behind, long hours of winter gloom
Then spring pregnant with promise

Ahead the prospect of summer warmth
And autumn’s gold and russet tints
But winter’s spectre lurks beyond
Vaguely threatening summer’s calm

Ken Fisher

Election Over

Election Over

 

The Euro Election has come and gone
Some are pleased, others forlorn
Brexit party fired a huge barrage
Launched by smiling Nigel Farage

From the EU, Brexit wants us out
We must stay in, the Lib Dems shout
SNP say yes to Europe,  but in UK don’t stay!
Most other parties in complete disarray

The Tories have wasted almost three years
Infighting among their peers
Labour simply prevaricate
And now they’ve left it much too late

The Greens have gained a high profile
Something sure to make them smile
The planet is what they want to save
From a perpetual heat wave

In Europe itself there has been change
Centrist parties hit across the range
Europe’s voters are making different choices
Not a fact in which everyone rejoices

So there we are, the election’s over
New MEP’s will now take over
Who knows how that might make us feel?
Only the future will all reveal

Ken Fisher

Vacancy at Number 10

Vacancy at Number 10

 

There’s a vacancy at Number Ten
Open to women and to men
No need for you to be a snob
Just a Tory, to get this job

The money isn’t really great
Far short of a CA’s rate
Or even of some City clerks
But there are some quite good perks

At the start you get to meet the Queen
This might make your pals turn green
With envy at your new high status
In charge of such power legislative

But you have to toe the party line
Normally that would be fine
But no-one is clear what that’s about
To Europe are we in or out?

Facing the rabble at PM’s question time
Might induce you to commit a crime
On every side the baying mob
Your peace of mind they’re sure to rob

The press are bound to wind you up
And delight if they can trip you up
To them politicians are fair game
Unconcerned whom they defame

Eventually you’ll have no defence
Facing a vote of no confidence
Your promising career evaporated
And at the end humiliated

Having said all this it’s some surprise
So many seem to want the prize
Of occupying Number 10
It truly is beyond my ken!

Ken Fisher

Election Fuddle

Election Fuddle

Does anyone know how I ought to vote?
Hold on while I quickly take a note
Confusion abounds causing me such trouble
Who will release me from this gigantic fuddle?

Our esteemed politicians have not helped one bit
‘For purpose’ they clearly are quite unfit
At one time we thought they might provide a lead
But sadly in that duty they have failed to succeed

Every media debate seems to end in a fight
And the last thing that happens is increasing light
On the issues that concern the whole population
We only feel ever-mounting frustration

For we cannot see a clear road ahead
And conflict and division is so widespread
The prospect of uniting in one common view
The political classes certainly seem to  eschew

If only we could come to any kind of consensus
Some basic core ideas, nothing pretentious
Then we might be able to see the way forward
By which our future affairs may then be ordered

At the heart of it all is that one basic question
If answered we might clear the congestion
Do we leave or stay on in the European Union?
Do we hang on in there or opt for exclusion

The half-way house seems to please very few
Demanding compromise which would surely ensue
So perhaps someone will show how we get out of this bind
And tell us it’s time that we all made up our mind!

So as you come to vote in the impending election
When you finally have to mark your selection
Try to make it clear to the powers that be
Thus from fuddle and fog we might at last be free!

Ken Fisher

 

 

Clocks Go Forward

Clocks Go Forward [Sunday 30 March 2019]

 

The days are getting longer, more light to bring us cheer
Threats of dark stormy winter nights, begin to disappear
Spring has come, our clocks must be advanced
At 2AM we lose an hour that our daylight be enhanced

The loss of that hour surely will be compensated
Afternoon pleasures not so readily truncated
Hobbies and pastimes in the great outdoors
Twilight no longer threatens, more leisure time is ours

As we follow the command that we all now Spring Forward
Just as in October we duly did Fall Backward
Let’s welcome the prospect of summer days ahead
And not regret the loss of one cosy hour in bed

The cycle of the year to our life brings order
Each season occupying its own allotted quarter
The changing of the clock part of that settled plan
Pity they don’t seem to tell our friend the Weatherman!

This year, despite the movement of the clocks Brexit has not advanced
And our politicians continue to wrangle and to rant
Will increased daylight from tomorrow shed more illumination?
And somehow bring consensus to this much fragmented nation

Ken Fisher

Happy 60th Birthday Barbie

Happy 60th Birthday Barbie

Barbie might now earn a pension
Although that she may not want to mention
For today’s the day to celebrate
At 60 she’s still looking great

Her boyfriend Ken is not so old
Much less glamour to behold
But Barbie’s fame stretches worldwide
Plaudits come from every side

Throughout the years she has evolved
To hold the limelight she resolved
Come change of fashion or of taste
No opportunity did she waste

Following trends where ‘ere they led
Barbie’s fame became widespread
Responding to the social mores
Her style part of the nation’s story

In dress Barbie sought to respect
A world not devoid of flaw or defect
Equal choices for the sexes
In working clothes were soon reflected

Barbie dolls have weathered every storm
Aware of what now is the norm
Through every challenge secured survival
Gaining success over every rival

So congratulations Barbie on this your day
Sixty years no one can gainsay
You’ve become a national treasure
In that success we all take pleasure

Ken Fisher