Category Archives: Uncategorized

Glasgow’s West End Charms

Glasgow’s West End Charms
[Look out for the West End Festival 3 – 26 June 2016]

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The centre of the universe where ‘life’ begins and ends
The hub, the focus, the vortex, on which true joy depends!
You can travel far and wide to the corners of the earth
And fail to find a home to match the West End’s worth

What is the fascination that this inner suburb brings?
Advocates would claim an extensive range of things
From its old world charms and faded housing stock
To pubs like the Curlers, the Aragon and the Rock

Restaurants and cafes abound on every lane and street
Friends and neighbours gather and each other greet
From early morn till late at night the coffee’s on the boil
Student baristas thereby finding useful toil

Others of a more sober thoughtful disposition
Revel in its Uni ‘s lofty learning mission
Religious devotees can find all Gods’ houses here
Seeking spiritual comfort without the need for beer

Many find that leisure abounds here in G12
Cinemas, the baths and libraries wherein to delve
Our public park is elevated to the status of Botanics
And you can follow any interest here even if you’re manic

So you can see why so many like Hillhead, Partick and Dowanhill
Living here in Glasgow’s terms is nothing short of ‘brill”
It’s got the lot for students, workers, e’en those on the pension
Its distractions are sure to relieve all your ills and tensions

So let us raise a cheer for all who promote this happy place
The Annual Festival which provides a great showcase
But above all let’s give thanks for this haven we call home
Our heart’s desire and trysting place no matter where we roam

Ken Fisher

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Spanning the Forth

Spanning the Forth [Three Bridges]

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[Artist’s impression of three bridges]

In a world where we hear of so much division and strife
It is good to reflect on what our world might unite
And rather than vague abstract causes and notions
Here’s a suggestion quite devoid of emotion

When in the physical world we discern a real need
To bring people closer so that trade might succeed
Or that friendship can grow to their mutual gain
And such blessings may know a wider domain

Then the river or valley that those peoples divide
Creating a gulf that is ever so wide
Demands a response from some ingenious man
That in due time that great chasm be spanned

The earlier means to unite both sides of the Forth
Found the ferries no doubt of considerable worth
And for decades this method met most of their needs
Progress was steady but of limited speed

But when the age of the railway took the nation by storm
The growth of new industry demanded reform
Thus the great iron horses would have ground to a halt
For lack of a bridge that great gap to assault

And in similar vein in much later decades
Motor transport supported our myriad trades
And the trunk road network that commuters so love
Spanning the Forth from suspension above

So first we had the rail bridge stretching more than a mile
From 1890 renowned for its iconic style
In 1964 the road bridge opened its (then) tollgates
Doing sterling service only just maintaining the weight

And soon we look forward to the new Queensferry Crossing
The concept of bridges thus clearly endorsing
And so long as we seek to bring improvement to travel
These engineering triumphs will still make us marvel

Ken Fisher

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[Panoramic photograph of three bridges]

Personality

Personality

Unknown

Introvert or Extrovert, Intuitive or Sensor
What type are we, as seen by those experts who us measure?
Thinker or Feeler, Judger or Perceiver
I hope the test ne’er proves to be a false deceiver

Personality typing is a tool with many uses
And cynically, I suppose, even some abuses
I am told it is a method of true self-discovery
Sometimes even helps us in self-recovery

Historically the main researchers in this field
To whose opinions we might humbly wish to yield
Were Jung then Briggs and the Myers tribe
And subsequently others who to their views subscribe

Myers-Briggs have defined sixteen different profiles
Each of these describes just one distinctive style
Each profile has a group of letters to avoid confusion
The group defines the type thus by allusion

So here we find the ISTJ known as “The Inspector”
The ISFJ – apparently “Protector”
Then there’s the ESTJ who’s a “Supervisor”
While ESFJ’s a kind and good “Provider”

The INFJ is known as a “Counsellor”
Better still, the INFP can often be a “Healer”
The ISTP is a handy “Artisan”
INTP “the Architect” another useful man

Many wish to be an ENFJ that is a “Teacher”
An ISFP “Composer” or ESFP a “Performer”
Then there is the ESTP known as a “Dynamo”
But can the ENTJ “Commander” him readily o’er throw?

We still need ISFP who’s a “Composer” of fine work
And ENFP the “Champion” – never known to shirk
Finally ENTP the “Visionary” in front and never left behind
But best of all there’s INTJ known to all as “Mastermind”

The jumbled letters range from narrow INTROVERSION
And at the other end, expansive EXTROVERSION
The letters also point to the humans’ wide dichotomies
Similarly wide-ranging in size and shape like their anatomy

So S stands for “Sensing” against N for ‘iNtuition”
J is “Judging” against P for “Perception”
And finally we set T for “Thinking” over against F for “Feeling”
Such categorization might not seem so appealing

Anyway this is my summary of personality typing theory
I have to say I am now getting somewhat weary
No doubt the experts in the detailed field of HR
Will apply the testing for employment near and far

But I have to wonder if putting us into a labelled box
And judging all we do against the ticking clock
Will really make us willing to put our best foot forward
Perhaps a smile, a kindly word, yield just as much reward.

Ken Fisher

[Acknowledging data from Myers Briggs and Jung Personality Tests websites]
http://www.humanmetrics.com           http://www.myersbriggs.org

Happiness

Happiness – published for the International Day of Happiness 20th March 2016

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In this mortal life we spend much time in seeking satisfaction
Chasing things we hope will bring much happiness and joy
And many a time these efforts bring no positive reaction
No bliss nor gain do we discern for all efforts we employ

In recent times the need for all to experience this felicity
Has come to be the battle cry of those who claim what’s best
And thus this need for untold joy’s been given much publicity
A new nostrum to lift our hearts and ensure that we are blessed

Politicians have on this matter long before pronounced
Jefferson in drawing up the US Constitution
Made clear to one and all when it was first announced
“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” their chosen resolution

The New World pioneers held not the slightest doubt
That it was man’s clear and inalienable right
At the heart of all we do, all that we are about
To Live life, be Free, seek Happiness with all your might

In modern times our rulers revisit that great vision
The government claims it’s time again our happiness to measure
To calibrate our state of joy once more becomes our mission
And in due time we’ll have to gauge our sadness and our pleasure

To count and measure the nation’s joy is said not to be woolly
But to grasp it all may stretch demands on any Excel spreadsheet
If each and every factor be identified quite fully
The recording and analyzing, a highly complex feat

But can the concept of happiness be something quite objective?
My views on what to me brings joy or lasting peace
Are subject to emotions often quite subjective
For you my choice prove no great gain, from any fear, release

The Bible, on happiness quite often does declare
Ecclesiastes says – to be happy, no better aim can be
To build a world where life is truth, and acts are just and fair
Should on the lips of worshippers be their own earnest plea

But the Good Book says of happiness for its dear sake alone
The Christian life demands we seek the good of every other
The nobler path to which we’re called, that we must try to take
Shows peace we gain, when life is lived in service to our brother

But perhaps all this for you and me, a little too high-minded
Too vague an aim, such lofty thoughts, perhaps too altruistic
Our vision of happiness too bright and thus our eyes are blinded
Our keen pursuit needs grounding in plans more realistic

Perchance like me you may find that in order to pursue
The prospect of a worthy life, but not too hedonistic
For a life which cares for self but gives others too their due
We need a plan, not lofty thoughts, but much more realistic

Thus it may seem the media hype broadcast of latter days
Happiness an Agenda and call to Action
For each of us prove gainful and some dividend might pay
As step-by-step each one of us decides our own reaction

By daily acts of kindliness and personal good deeds
By loving thought, supportive words, and little acts of grace
We might promote goodwill as we note others’ needs
Each friendly word, each happy smile, radiating from our face

Now perhaps this does not answer, give adequate reply
To those whose quest for happiness seeks answers universal
But this gentle, kind approach I hope you won’t deny
Might from our gloom, our fear, our woe, initiate reversal

Ken Fisher

 

See this link from the BBC: Happiness http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/z996cwx

I am H-A-P-P-Y (HAPPINESS DAY 20 MARCH 2016)

 

The International Day of Happiness 2016

 

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The old chorus says:
‘I am H A P P Y, I am H A P P Y
I know I am I’m sure I am,
I’m H A P P Y’

Sounds like an attempt at self-conviction
But are we happy? And if not
What can we do about it?
Indeed should we do anything about it?
Well, the joy-mongers of today are suggesting
That the road to Happiness is paved with
the building blocks of Connectedness

By this they seem to mean that we all need
To make the world a MORE CONNECTED PLACE

So today we should reach out and make new connections
We should do it in person,
We should do it on-line,
We should do it by letter or card,
By Facebook or Twitter,
By getting back in touch with one another
By re-building broken or lapsed contacts
And by simply finding a way to
Connectedness

They tell us the Ten Keys to happier living are:

Giving : do things for others
Relating: connect with people
Exercising: take care of your body
Appreciating: notice the world around
Trying Out: keep learning new things

So there you are then
BIG SMILE – NO PROBLEM!!

Ken Fisher
thebardofkelvindale.com

 

 

In or Out? Musings on the EU Referendum

In or Out?

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It will soon be decision time again

This routine is quite a bane

Once more we really must decide

Set aside our national pride

 

I was hoping for the settled life

A break from political strife

After a surfeit of elections

A time just for quiet reflection

 

We’ve endured the Scottish Referendum

The UK-wide General election

Soon we decide on our SNP’s

Will the EU poll bring us to our knees?

 

Perhaps the only ones who will be pleased

Are the school-kids thus from class released

No doubt the pollsters will be filled with joy

As their crystal balls they each employ

 

Anyway we should not complain

As protagonists join their campaign

Perhaps we should be sympathetic

And enjoy our life so democratic

 

Ken Fisher

The Anatomy of Poetry

The Anatomy of Poetry

[Free verse, Blank verse, and Rhyme]

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It has been said that my poetry might really be improved
If from the tyranny of rhyme it simply could be moved
Why must I always seek to find an ever ready rhyme
Unable to complete a verse that lacks a matching line?

Dispensing with demands that words be cloaked in rhyme
Would much reduce my efforts and doubtless save me time
Thought could float more freely, words less deliberate
Such freedom surely would my thinking liberate

So what is the choice if rhyme is lost and poetry is set free?
Apparently the principal alternatives amount to simply these
Free Verse is one – which truly lets us go where’er we choose
And Blank Verse is the other – still free but less loose

Free Verse is poetry which as such has no rhyme scheme
Thus it can shift as poetic thoughts drift as in a dream
In Blank Verse the words in every line display a steady beat
Though rhyme has gone the impression is still for us quite neat

Blank verse is commonly recognized by iambic pentameter
Ten syllables per line is best in this regulated meter
Free Verse knows no such rules or very tight constraints
Poetic metaphors are its best choice, its images to paint

So here we go – discard the rhymes and let’s make all things Free
Or even Blank, if that’s your choice, perhaps you will agree
That it takes a little time to get used to these modes of thought
I hope you feel there is some gain, or was it all for naught?

When poetry is free, thoughts can range both far
And wide, according to the whim, of writer
The reader then must be prepared
To cast aside all ideas of regular shape

Or form, and open up the mind
To concepts not previously considered
Thus finding a new stimulus from
An unfamiliar literary landscape

Blank verse presents its stanzas within an ordered frame
They need not rhyme but you might still discern its steady beat
It sounds as if the clock is marking every crafted line
And it all seems quite structured, a life that’s in control
Blank verse can be demanding, requiring tonal change
And freedom gained by loss of rhyme demands new artistry
Thus freed, the poet no longer needs to seek for obscure rhymes
Thus drama, raw emotion, philosophy, give colour to his palette

Ken Fisher

 

 

 

Sticking Plaster Solutions

Sticking Plaster Solutions

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When problems confront us in our daily life

Issues, concerns, can sometimes be rife

No matter how firm be our resolution

We sometimes resort to the easy solution

 

Some problems are simple and readily solved

The direction of travel quite quickly revolved

But many things in life are not easy to change

Unlike books on a shelf that we rearrange

 

Bad habits can sometimes become our stern master

Which we hide from ourselves by a ‘sticking plaster’

But such self-deception is simply a lie

Not quickly resolved the harder we try

 

It is better by far to get to the root

Of any issue before the pain gets acute

Not pretending its solved by a sticking plaster

Thus averting what might become a long-term disaster

 

Yet perhaps there are uses of Elastoplast

When by life’s little grazes we are harassed

But deeper wounds are not so easily healed

By leaving the blood till it has congealed

 

So this tale concerns more than First Aid

I hope your thoughts by it might be swayed

Being open and honest is the heart of the matter

Not hiding the truth beneath a cheap plaster

  

  Ken Fisher

 

thebardofkelvindale 2015 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,700 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 45 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Turkey Dinner [Not recommended for vegetarians!]

TURKEY DINNER

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It’s that time of year again when diets are discarded

When reasonable restraint seems no longer such a virtue

After all ‘tis the season to bring benevolence and charity

To all God’s creatures – except perhaps the fated fatted turkey!

 

It’s amazing how most of us neglect this flightless bird

Throughout all the other months of our culinary calendar

Then suddenly, as advent signals the season of “goodwill”

This benign breed now the object of desire

 

Who can ignore the flavour of that firm carved flesh?

And that savoury stuffing to complement the meat

No-one can resist those chipolatas and the veg

Ambivalent views of sprouts resolved among the piping gravy

 

And as our picture shows the Yorkshire puddings

Join together with the carrots red and peas so green

To present the diner with a mélange incomparable

A harmony to delight the palate and the senses

 

So we should indeed give a thought for the unselfish turkey

The crown and centre-piece of this delectable display

And give thanks that unlike us – the beneficiary of their goodness

They bring to us such pleasure and seek nothing in return

 

Ken Fisher

 

Saving the Planet

SAVING THE PLANET [comment on current international discussions – Dec 2015]

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It seems to me among the threats from which there’s no relief

is warming of the global kind which parches earth and leaf

A menace strong as solid granite

which promises a deadly blow to life throughout the planet

 

At first we simply turned away, pretending all was well,

but gradually increased the noise from nature’s warning bell

Awareness of this mounting vice

shown clearly in the rising tides and gently melting ice

 

Why worry at impending doom

this threat, if real, unlikely to be soon

Technology must have some appliance

Let’s get on and check the science

 

 All warnings dire of petrol fumes or dangerous emissions

are set aside by one and all as ignorant suspicions

We claim clean engines now, which never have been better

all problems solved forevermore by catalytic converter

 

Health experts seem overwrought on dangers of pollution

but others think it can’t be hard to find a good solution

Technocrats are sure to help and even us to save

by harnessing the power of wind, if need be, the waves

 

 We, in the West, too fond of having plenty

Club members of the great G20,

The good and great within its ranks

the chiefs of mighty Central Banks

 

 With power like that we can ensure

the pleadings of the needy poor

do not upset our life of ease

demanding we be kind to trees!

 

Or temper use of fossil fuels

Or other kinds of nature’s jewels

Resources of those poorer lands

grabbed by our great colonial hands

 

 After all, this is our life

achieved through years of work and strife

At all costs we must keep our gain

To do other, means much pain

 

 But all the nations rich or poor

must work together, seek a cure

And rich may need to learn to suffer

their ease may prove it all the tougher

 

And when it comes to issues global

problems become highly mobile

No nation stands completely safe

from tempest’s winds or ocean’s waves

 

 The rising tide and searing sun

challenge life for everyone

Disease and famine knock each door

No-one immune – the rich or poor

 

 Perhaps there is a glint of hope,

the need to find a way to cope

Each year is dawning somewhat clearer

as melt-down time seems ever nearer

 

 The leaders seem at last to grasp

before our breath becomes a gasp

That time is short if we’re to save

our children from an early grave

 

 On carbon footprints let’s step light

Gas guzzlers out – get on your bike!

On grow your own, why not be keen?

Your favourite colour should be green

 

 Recycle anything you can

Cut out all waste must be our plan

Turn off the power when not in use

Recycle glass if you must booze!

 

 And so in many little ways

Collective effort stems future blaze

Which global warming has in store

A fate we simply can’t ignore

 

 If citizens will do their bit

Our leaders then might well see fit

To echo modest aspirations

Giving a lead to all our nations

 

 This cannot be the final word

To say that would be quite absurd

The God who made this world at first

remains the One in whom we trust.

 

 Ken Fisher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anticipate

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What lies in Front? We do not know

No crystal ball that will us show
The way ahead remains obscure
What charms before us to allure
Or is the future filled with woe?
Places where we dare not go

 

So far the fates have been quite kind
On pleasant pastures we’ve reclined
Our journey’s not been fraught with trials
Not forcing frowns, but rather smiles
And the passing of the years
Brought comfort rather than much fear

 

Somehow our luck might soon run out
New Challenges could bring about
A change of fortune or of fate
Some burden felt in all its weight
Bring lowering of our cheerful mood
Our joy quite suddenly subdued

 

But why to such change and chance
Must we always look askance?
From what cause our hearts doth quickly leap
As if the wolf has scattered sheep
Emotions no longer in control
Startled by some evil troll

 

Why can’t our mind remain quite calm?
Finding help from inner balm
A kindly thought to reassure
Stem our response so immature
Thus weathering the gathered storm
Our thinking we might thus transform

 

If we could learn this gentle art
No matter what besiege our heart
We thus might cope with every threat
Without anxiety or fret
By taking time to simply wait
Thus composed, anticipate

Ken Fisher