Men In Fancy Dress

Men In Fancy Dress

Such clowns and crowd-pleasers

Posing calmly for the cameras

Neither shy nor reticent

To display their daily lives

Each gesture and posture

Behaviour and expression

Perfectly matched

As they sit side by side

And stare into each other’s eyes

Sleeping, eating, playing

In full view, unafraid

These slow, gentle creatures

Endearing and enduring

Such deliberate actions and attitudes

Oblivious to their keepers’ attentions

In these parkland pens

Symbols and souvenirs of their species

Precious panda merchandise

Raising vital funds for breeding research

Daily bamboo diet and long-term preservation

For sale now in the tourist shop

But these cannot be wild creatures

Rescued from their habitat

With heads and hands and feet

Large enough to get into

Their black and white costumes

The right size and shape

For men to live inside

And provide the daily show

For a thousand photographs

The actors, for actors they must be,

Practised in their antics

Always sitting in the right positions

For maximum exposure

This cannot be natural

For them to co-operate so well

The pandas, for pandas they cannot be

Must be but men in fancy dress

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2016

Jam

Jam

A man in a black shirt

Glances across through wet glass

To see what I’m doing

Drumming on the steering wheel

In time to the music

And the beat of the wipers

To the other side, a girl chats on her mobile

Oblivious to the pouring rain

And the two men watching her, envious

Lines of lights ahead and behind

A red sea that does not part

Three lanes aligned, facing forward

Inching along in the queue

Bumper to bumper

Blocked, jammed

Wheels and windows

Boxes of metal, plastic and glass

Each a singular environment

Separate worlds, personal spaces

Lives in a landscape

Of black wet tarmac

The matrix on the gantry

Flashes warning messages

Which say nothing helpful

Reflecting on a thousand shiny surfaces

Cars, coaches and cabs

Trucks and taxis

Caught in the same stasis

All time and space co-ordinates dead

Suspended sat-navs silently waiting

For onward progress to occur

And something meaningful to say

Activities suspended, action on hold

Hurrying home or toiling to the terminal

To catch a flight that will not wait

Marooned, late, tired, frustrated

Despairing in the dark

Looking forward to a future

That has no clear horizon

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2016

News From Bromham - Dateline Sunday 29th May 2016

Bulletin From Bromham: Dateline – Sunday 29^th May 2016

                                             

Here is our weekly round-up of events from Bromham:

1.       Twenty people were rescued from the mud on Thursday after the tractor they were travelling on capsized.  The Bromham Border Force said that the tractor was extremely old and very overloaded, and they criticised the “gang-masters” who exploited the poor refugees from outside Bromham who had risked everything to try and reach our wonderful village.

2.       The debate on the Bromham In/ Out Referendum intensified this week, with both sides  making increasingly strident claims. The Bremain camp accused the Brexiteers of economic naivety, whilst the Brexiteers accused the Bremainers of casual racism. Meanwhile the Browmuchlongeristhisgoingon Party and the Brimfedupwiththis Party retired to the Tap Room of The Wounded Ferret to try and drink their way through until after the referendum vote.

3.       For details of these and all other Bromham stories, don’t forget to listen to local radio station Carrot FM.

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2016

Screaming Tree

Screaming Tree

Within this forbidding forest

Among a cathedral of trees

It stands alone and silent

Biding its time, waiting

For them to come and stand before it

In this special place

An altar of sorts

A clearing amongst the greenwood

Huge amongst its brothers

A giant within the greenery

Old, brooding, silent, implacable

Sweet sap oozing deep within

Grounded on the surface of the Earth

Its massive roots like fierce, hard fingers

Grasp deep within the ground

Holding fast to the surface of the planet

Its gnarled and twisted trunk

Spiralling up into the canopy

Reaching through to the sky

A long, ancient finger pointing upward

It hears the howling and the shouting

The agony and the anger

The breast-beating of those who stand before it

Screaming inarticulate noises

Of inexpressible pain and passion

It feels their raw emotion

Absorbing their energy

Soaking up and staring back

Immobile, faceless and unflinching

Its knotted, woody aspect

Reflecting, projecting, transmitting

And conducting sound

Upwards for the heavens to hear

And provide an answer, if they will

 Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2016

Only Child

Only Child

What was it about me

That I should be treated this way?

That you should leave me all alone,

Single, singular and lonely?

Was it my monopoly upon your time,

All your sharing, your caring, your affection

For your one and only treasure?

What was it about me

That made you give up after only one?

Was I quite enough for you

So wonderful, so endearing

That I filled all your time

Took all your attention

So there could be no room for any another

And a second could never be as good?

What was it about me

That made you say “never again”?

Was I too much for you

That you could not bear to go through it all twice?

Was I just too much to cope with

My behaviour not good enough

A great disappointment

Or just not what you wanted?

What was it about me

That was the fault in my creation?

Was it the love or the sex when you made me?

You never explained it to me

Why I should remain unaccompanied

No playmates of my own, no brother or sister

But left to wonder

About larger families around me

What was it about me

Or did I do something wrong?

Was I too strange, too weird, too odd

An alien little boy

Too hard for you to cope with

Or was having a child

Just not what you’d expected?

And why did you both go from me

Leaving only questions, never any answers?

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2016

Dog And Man

Dog And Man

Above the muddy field, near the ridge

The track tracing along the skyline

Silhouettes two figures slowly wandering

Each waiting upon the other

Stopping to stare, to listen

Then ambling along untroubled

With no particular place to go

Nor anything to rush back for

The man, in mac and cap,

Well-wrapped against the cold and damp

Slightly stooped, leaning upon his stick

Coughs occasionally, pulls up his scarf,

A shambling gait making slow progress

Snaking through fields, along the paths

Towards the wood and the dripping trees

His canine companion

Unfettered by lead or collar

Walks steadily beside his master

Step for step, stop for stop

Shadowing his movements

Never more than a few yards away

With rheumy eyes, aching joints,

Matted coat and long-life tiredness

He too has known better days

But plods along the well-known route

A thousand times walked

Darting rabbits and hares provoke no reaction

Desiring only the love of his Man

Whose word or gentle gesture

Is enough to bring him to his side

And gently scan that weathered face

Seeking his usual reassurance

With their regard for one another

Hard-gained, long-deserved

And aches and pains ignored

They reach the gate, stare across the valley

And through murky mist can just make out

An oft-seen pair of ghosts -

The figures of a young man in shirtsleeves

Running alongside a bounding dog

Copyright Andy Fawthrop 2016

Apple, Oat & Banana Loaf

Recipe for: APPLE, OAT & BANANA LOAF

Ingredients:

·         3 large eggs, lightly beaten

·         200g olive oil

·         200g natural yoghurt

·         50g maple syrup

·         2 ripe bananas, peeled & mashed

·         1 red apple, grated

·         1 small carrot, peeled & grated

·         250g wholemeal spelt flour

·         3 tsp baking powder

·         ½ tsp salt

·         50g quick-cook porridge oats

·         75g soft brown sugar

·         ½ tsp grated nutmeg

·         ½ tsp ground cinnamon

·         100g raisins or sultanas

·         50g mixed seeds

·         50g chopped walnuts

Method:

1.       Heat oven to 190C/ fan 180C/ 375F/ gas 5

2.       Grease two one-litre loaf tins & line with greaseproof paper

3.       In a bowl, whisk eggs into olive oil

4.       Whisk in the yoghurt, maple syrup, banana, apple and carrot

5.       In another large bowl sift in the flour, baking powder & salt

6.       Add the oats, sugar, spices, raisins, seeds & nuts

7.       Fold in all the stuff from the wet bowl

8.       Spoon mixture into the tins so that they are two-thirds full

9.       Smooth the tops & scatter with extra seeds

10.    Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden, and a skewer comes out clean

11.    Leave in tins to cool for 5 minutes, then remove & transfer to wire rack

12.    (optionally) when cool, brush with a little extra maple syrup

What else you need to know:

1.       Best eaten within two days