A Poem – ‘Doing it for Free’

Doing it for Free

A recession bites    it makes long winter nights
even less tolerable    than they already are
Look – I’ve been very good!    Done everything I should
but years of saving    hasn’t got me very far
They bail out the banks    and we get no thanks
in a reckless bid    to get us out of a hole
They ask for ideas    confirming our worst fears
by putting millions    of us on the dole
As for me, I keep schtum    head down, looking glum
I’m like an iceberg    there’s so little to see
No government shall take    my life or my stake
I won’t bow down    or do anything for free

© copyright David Francis Barker

A New Poem

Ebbsfleet

So long ago, so near at hand,
such is our English past.

Something in our make up
makes us conspire to deny

our great achievements
hidden from our eye.

And when Hengist came to Ebbsfleet
whether asked or on daring raid,

he set in motion a dogged force
yet to be fully appraised

or to run its full course

© copyright David Francis Barker 2011

Merely to encapsulate my feelings about being English in the 21st century. We are a tolerant nation, we have a culture with a long history but our democratic rights are being denied.

‘Ull Ice Hockey – I wouldn’t have believed it!

Matt played footie yesterday (lost), then went to Whitley Bay to play for ‘Ull Uni at Ice Hockey (lost but one assist) and is now about to face Edinburgh (yes, that’s right) in ‘Ull for another battle at Ice Hockey. I was young once but it was never like this!!!

‘Ull is Never Dull!

Went to Hull yesterday to see Matthew, our son. He’s doing English and Creative Writing and generally enjoying it. Had a Prezzos and walked around town and what I like about Hull is its distinctiveness, its poetry associations (Larkin etc), its history and traditions. Yes, it may seem a little rough around the edges to some but it’s real, there’s no pretence. Just how we want these days.

Poems on the Way!

I also write poetry and should have a new collection coming out within the next few months. It will be a fairly wide-ranging collection, numbering about 60 poems in all.