Bin day tomorrow and people have put out their bins as the sun sinks at the top of the road. An early morning collection means they don’t have to get up with the dawn! But actually an urban scene like this has its own charms I think.
Photo copyright to Englepip©
Were they the quartet you waited for
Screamed for and danced for
They certainly were the famous four
In Liverpool town in sixty four.
The rebel Northern group four
Playing In a cellar down a backstreet for
One whole pound more than four
A pound less than a shop girl for
A forty hour week.
But nevertheless they sang,
All four, a quartet of
Love love me do and
You know I love you
And they really wanted
To hold your hand:
They were a very good band.
And do you want to know a secret?
Then get a ticket to ride
With a paperback writer
And I’ll tell you:
All you need is love.
In Penny Lane there was
A barber shop
Where perhaps they got that
Iconic hair crop?
And when the yellow submarine
Sailed with the walrus
Was it to a Norwegian Wood
Or was it back in the USSR?
And did they twist and shout
In the way they moved
And have a hard day’s night
These famous four?
And will they ever know
how much we loved them?
They said if you need somebody
They’d be there.
But now it’s too late to call
All four
That was yesterday
So let it be.
Words and photo copyright Englepip©
” Efficiency is the ratio of useful work to resources expended. In other words, the ratio of the output to the input of a given system.”
They say steam engines were
Really inefficient.
Yet they worked and so
Were icons of their time.
Their powerful engines hissed
As their gliding pistons swished
And the big wheels steadily turned
Upon the line.
Journeying far ‘cross country
Along parallel lines of track
Their smokestacks burning brightly
There and back.
Generations mourn their passing
And old engines they have rescued
Recombining, reassembling
All from the scrap.
They hammer and they chisel
Blacksmithing with a sizzle
Engineering perfect pieces
Of great size.
And when the engine’s finished
They admire her in her glory
Resurrected into power
To run once more.
Then the new steam comes a-fizzing,
From the smoke-stack wildly hissing
And along the lines it’s whizzing
Inefficient maybe yes.
But do we care?
For that old engine it is running
And faithfully it is pulling
Is it not a most amazing sight to see?
And to smell the soot and grime
Feel the rhythm of the line
Is a special thing for all,
Especially me.
Poem and photo copyright to Englepip©
Little bird, swift bird,
Migrating on the wing
Swooping in from southern climes
Our harbinger of Spring
Zooming ‘cross the pastures
While feeding in flight
Scooping up some insects
Then banking to get height.
Gathering up mud pellets
For nesting o’er the door
Feathering the inside
Laying white eggs; maybe four.
They are raising a brood
See the droppings on the floor
Sweeping in and swiftly feeding
Then back again with more.
And then the brood are ready
Tentatively they take flight
Til they too are flying
And we all take delight.
Scudding ‘cross the fields
And diving from aloft
Soaring to great heights
And through the clouds so soft.
But as Autumn approaches,
And evenings gather in
You’ll find them all chirping
From the wires such a din.
A flapping and a chatting
About the journey ahead
Taking the late sun’s rays
Upon their shiny heads
And then they take flight
Ascending in the air
To go thousands of miles
On a wing and a prayer.
Bon voyage little bird
By the sun you can steer
Travel safe if you can,
Hope to see you next year.
Poem and photo copyright Englepip©
When a familiar landscape becomes a foreign field
Populated with overlarge, cold, white hominoids
Of terrifying proportions; when missiles
Equally white, fly through the air – war of the juveniles
Descending slopes on their terrible toboggans
Squealing war cries of joy, fear and warning;
Alien world of crusty icing sugaredness
Powdery beneath the paws and scents and trails
Vanished beneath a cloak of icy invisibility.
Beautiful covering coming silently from the sky
Like white stars and hexagonal doilies.
Lickable and likeable in tongue meltingness.
Words and photo copyright to Englepip©
What power weaves strength through this face?
Of Idia, queen from Benin.
Authority conjured in ivory
Great noble who knows how to win.
Portuguese traders, her puppets
Bound up as clips in her hair
Deep marks of scarification
Assert influence and dominance there.
Only one look from this death mask
Will all opposition repress
Giving power throughout generations
A talisman for success.
There are several of these masks, one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Seattle Art Museum, another in the Linden Museum (Stuttgart) which I photographed in the British Museum (London),
“The Benin ivory mask is a miniature sculptural portrait in ivory of the powerful Queen Mother Idia of the 16th century Benin Empire, taking the form of an African traditional mask. The likeness was worn however, not as a mask, but as a pendant by her son Esigie, who owed his kingship as Oba of Benin to the Queen Mother’s military aid.” from Wikipedia
The fact that this was worn not as a mask but around the waist or possibly hung from the neck of her son Esigie in the 16th century, indicates it was probably a talisman of power. Wikipedia states, “The masks may have been used in ceremonies including the Ugie Iyoba commemoration of the Oba’s mother, as well the Emobo purification ceremony to expel bad spirits from the land.[7][18][19] Similar pendant masks are mainly used in contemporary Emobo ceremonies focused on bad spirits, though the traditions of Emobo may have changed throughout history.[18]”
Poem and photo copyright to Englepip©
My consciousness – invisible
My mind – invisible
My love – invisible
As are yours to me.
And yet our whole
Is and will be,
Until time ends.
And although we cannot see it
We are like scaffolding,
For where we link in love
We hold each others’ heart.
I to you am like a soldered joint
That builds a whole.
And linked we make chain mail.
Invincible, invisibly together.
Poem and photo copyright Englepip©
I am pleased to have been nominated for the Liebster award by Candice. Thank you!
If you have been nominated for The Liebster Award, and you choose to accept it, write a blog post about the Liebster award in which the rules are simple as follows:
Acknowledge the blog who nominated you.
Answer the 11 questions your nominator asked.
Nominate 11 other bloggers.
Ask them 11 questions.
Let them know you have nominated them.
1.When did you start your blog and why?
I started my blog last September – 2017, six months ago now. I have been improving my photography for a few years and putting shots on Flickr. I have always been interested in poetry as well and thought I would like to link the two interests. Thus I describe my blog, “Thoughts can put pictures in your head and pictures can put thoughts there. Pictures and words go together to reflect our lives, thoughts and feelings.
2. Where did you grow up?
I grew up in the UK mostly in Liverpool, a wonderful vibrant city with brilliant theatre music and poetry associations. The humour of Liverpudlians is amazing and words are important to everyone. There is a lot of repartee even on the buses and I am sure you all know of some famous names from Liverpool!
3. Who, living or dead, would you most like to meet/have met?
I would have liked to meet Shakespeare or if Shakespeare was really Marlowe, as so many stories suggest, then it would have to be him. Shakespeare invented words, created worlds on stage and had so much knowledge of the world and of how people’s minds work, he must have been a fascinating person to be with! Once you get used to the blank verse and stop worrying about whether you understand every word, he is amazing to get to grips with. I have seen some brilliant productions.
4. Who was the greatest influence on your life?
That’s a hard question because I have been influenced by lots of different people. I suppose when it comes down to it if you have had lovely parents as I have, then what you take from family life into your future stands you in good stead forever. So Mum and Dad.
5. If you could go back in time, when, and where would you go?
I used to think I would love to go back to Tudor times in England, because that was when Shakespeare was alive, but I honestly think it was also a very brutal time and that death was around the corner if you so much as disagreed with whichever king or queen was on the throne and as I would probably have been poor, I think my life would have been drab and hard and painful! So I’d rather just stay in modern times thank you.
6. If you could stay at any age, what would it be?
I suppose thirty is a good age. You are grown up enough to be more confident and you tend to know who you really are by that time. You’re at your peak in so many ways. However, I think to stay at one age is a bad thing. I always like to think there is a future, a change and a difference.
7. What is your favourite pastime?
At the minute I think my photography is my favourite thing to do. But I like to get out in the countryside with my camera, so walking is part of that and visiting special places where I can see and reflect on the beauty of nature.
8. Do you have a pet , or pets?
Sadly I have no pets at the moment but I have had fish and hamsters and cats. and a long time ago a dog. I think you need to be able to offer a very settled home environment to offer a home to a pet, and at the moment I can’t do that.
9. What is one highlight of your life?
I have spent some time in Africa and travelled quite widely there. I am very interested in wildlife and one experience that sticks with me was when we walked through the forests on the border of the Congo and Uganda and encountered a family of gorillas. Sadly my photos were very poor at that time. It was quite magical though and I was within a metre of a baby gorilla. The animals were so at home in their own environment and so peaceful, it was amazing.
10. What’s your favourite holiday?
Well if you have read my answer above, you will probably have guessed that to be out in the wilds of Africa and encounter animals is a big favourite with me, not a big posh safari camp, but a vehicle to camp from in the bush.
11.What’s your dream job?
Wildlife photographer/ writer but I know I could never get to the fitness level required to make these amazing programmes with David Attenborough! So sadly it will remain a dream.
I nominate the following to join the Liebster award if you would like to. Thank you.
11 Questions for my Nominees:
1. When and why did you start your blog?
2. Who has most influenced your life choices?
3. Where have you spent most of your life and what is good/ bad about living there?
4.What is your favourite food and what makes it so special for you?
5. If you could do something for the world what would it be?
6. What is your favourite film and who did you see it with?
7.What would be your favourite holiday?
8. If you could have your life again what is one thing you might you do differently?
9. If you could meet anyone from the present or from history, who would it be and why?
10.How much time a week do you reckon you spend using the internet? (Include time spent using internet at work, please.)
11. If you had three things to do or achieve, on a bucket list, what would they be and why?
Oh so many wrinkles
Skin marked by sun and experience
Smile lines, frown lines
Knowing lines
No longer a blank canvas
Marks of respect from life
Badges of honour
Even if you’re an elephant!
Words and photos copyright to Englepip©
Did I provoke you to use a gun
In school, just because I was young?
Did you see me along with my mates
When you burst in through the school gates?
Did you think it all was a game
That each one would rise up again
Like they do in the video games?
Maybe you thought this would help
You get back at the staff who tried
To put you on the right track.
Maybe you hated authority figures
Thought you could solve things
With your trigger.
Now look at what you have done
A community killed with a gun.
But the state says you may have one
It’s your citizen’s right in the law.
But what about innocents like me
A victim you never cared for or saw?
Did you think my life didn’t matter
You just fancied to see some blood spatter.
Should we really all carry a gun
So when we’re drunk, drugged or want to have fun
We can shoot from the hip
Spray bullets from our grip
From a weapon of death
Kill all before?
But the Second Amendment
States freedom, is to live with a gun
Should you want
But I ask you please to consider
If my death was my freedom
The freedom I want.
I have been shocked as have many around the world at the Florida school shooting. 17 lives ended and there is a big call from young people in particular, for a change in the law in the USA which allows people to own guns. I understand the culture in the USA is very different from in the UK and some people are frightened and feel the gun law cannot be dispensed with – but Australia did it!
The photo is a provocative piece of street art by Bambi, in London, supposedly of the Michael Brown killing in 2014, but I think the picture is relevant here too. It shows an innocent saying don’t shoot. Guns are weapons, whether in the hands of the law or of ordinary people.
I would be interested to know what you think about gun law in general or in your own country.
Words and photo copyright Englepip©
Englepip's World 