Larkin 25 - Ada The Braider By Brian Hodgins

Ada the braider from Hessle Road way Braided and braided, by night and by day. Nets hung from hooks, at terrace end wide Beneath Ada's pinny a child tries to hide From hooks on the wall Ada braided away The kids in the terrace, each one at their play. Hop scotch and skipping, and block made their day Their dads are all fishermen, and they're all away Now Ada the braider she braided away To braid the new nets, a pittance her pay. To feed her young children, for a widow was she The ship and her husband, claimed by the sea Her children she guided with love and with care Blue and red ribbons, to tie back their hair. Each morning she braided, with needle and spool As soon as the children had gone off to school But now no young fishermen in taxis do ride And no big trawlers are awaiting the tide. No nets now hand across terrace end wide And Ada the braider the poor lass has died But hush! If you listen, on the soft night air Ada the braider is still braiding there, She's braiding the nets of the finest spun gold For the fisher of men, his harvest to hold He trawls in the sea of all humanity, For people like Ada, like you and like me. So to Ada the braider as she's braiding above, We'll blow her a kiss, and send all our love.

Copyright © Brian Hodgins 2010

Poetry - Larkin 25 - After a Larkin Day By Julie Corbett

Where did that day go to? I left it ticked in blue. One firm stroke. And now I suddenly find another in its place. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - The Town Council By David Thompson

Twice monthly do the meetings fall, Held in the towns' historic hall, Where mayors of yesterday, look down Upon the dealings of the town. The twelve good men and women who Give free their time, good deeds to do, With minutes taken by the clerk Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - How Lovely By Helen Burke

How lovely for you to write - it must - give you something to do at bus-stops - it must be something you can do that guarantees you'll annoy people, it must be one way of looking inside your own head but from the wrong end Read more...

Poetry - Ye Shall Be Judged By Jody McKenna

Don't judge me on the gift I have. Don't judge me on the waste. Don't judge me on the life I lead Or the promises I break. Don't judge me for the Cannabis. Don't judge me for the past. Don't judge me just to make yourself Feel better. It won't last. Read more...

Poetry - I Went to the Hairdressers Today By Patricia Gray

I went to the hairdressers today, I'd booked a day in advance. When the stylist checked the condition, She looked at me askance. What was the date you were here last? I told her I couldn't remember. It could have been last August, Or it might have been September. Read more...

Poetry - Memories of Yester Year By David Bannister

Gone are the days of skipping ropes, Playing block, Sliding down slopes. Those days now seem to be gone, Money, well, we had none. Have the kids lost the art of having fun, Why do some of them now, carry a gun? Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Stopped Larking About By Gary Clark

It's easy to fall out of love Or in, as the case may be Lady Chatterley's lover With a Barry White LP. Remember cosy nights by the fire Snuggled on that old settee? Young at heart and oblivious Read more...

Poetry - Dóttir By Jan Peterson

She's spending a year in Iceland, a country I know nothing about. We exchange emails. She tells me the population has just reached 300,000, the light is magical, people smile at her and roads are diverted to placate elves. She loves Reykjavik - it's cosmopolitan but cosy, sends photos of tin houses painted red and yellow and, because it's named after Hallgrimur Pétursson, a church that looks like a lava mountain. She's found a great place for pizza Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Statuesque Larkinesque By David Thompson

The Interchange has had its share, Of criticism foul and fair, But would the critics look askance, If the concourse to enhance, A little culture for to try, On the people passing by, A man who made his home in Hull, Who never thought the place so dull, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Bark at the Moon By Brian Cotton

They tell me that I'm in here cos I ain't very well, If the medicine is working, don't think I can tell, I hope I ain't here long, cos I don't think its fair, So I sit on my bed and pull out my hair, Talk to strange people that are not really there. My wife keeps on phoning and says are you coming home soon, And I say to be honest, Read more...

Poetry - Free Association By Laurenceaux.

It was becoming a crime; my poetry wouldn't rhyme and I was wasting my time and there was nothing sublime and from my mind or my pen there is nothing of-ten (sorry!), but then sometimes Read more...

Poetry - Things Not So Good In The Hood: A Poem About Suburban Childhood By Ruth

Sometime during the day on Friday June 12, an unknown suspect used a ladder to climb into the open second floor bathroom window of a home in the 1800 block of Circle Road. Once inside, the suspect ransacked two bedrooms on the second floor. No property was taken. A lost dog found near Ruxton Road and Ellenham Avenue. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Larkin (Inspired by Times Lost) By Terry Ireland

Did Larkin ever walk down Hessle Road Top up in Rayners on cattle market day After hours in Whittington and Cat And for a laugh in the Earl de Grey Did he ever see the parrot Buy the girls a glass or two or three Convince them he wasn't buying as Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - If Poets Were Shops By Helen Burke

Who would they all be? Here's my guess. Coleridge would be Boots - no question - drugs, drugs and more drugs. And just a few drugs. Wordsworth would be Woolworths - with just the suggestion of cheap lipstick about him (one's always wondered) ... Lord Byron would be Harrods - of course, Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - Turds (Inspired by Toads ) By Joe Hakim

Why should I let the turd work Shit on my life? Can't I blag my way into life's perks And just toss it off? Sick and defeated we toil Ingesting economic poison - A little bit goes on bills, Rest spent without caution. Read more...

Poetry - Larkin 25 - The last Bomb (One Kingston Upon Hull Memorial) By Julie Corbett

Boyes Shop, Morrill Street corner, Holderness Road. You can read a wall plaque. Briefly: This was the site of Savoy Cinema. Then; on March 17th 1945 Twelve dead. (Queuing to see Chaplin'sRead more...

Poetry- Distance (with Audio) By Claire Massey
	She collected the distance between them in her pocket, she'd look at it later when she'd cooked and cleaned and put the screaming kids to bed and Read more...

Poetry Greed (with Audio) By Carla Scarano
	Take the shops take the streets the schools take all the houses, take whatever you wish to fill your empty heart. Take the shops take the streets the schools take all the houses, take Read more...

Poetry Tuning up By Christy Hall

The White Horse Pub, Beverley. Nell is sat in that corner again; the same corner of the room he always sits in. Half-hidden in the corridor. Pulsing with coal fire flames, lit by gaslight but dim. It's dark in there but he doesn't need light Read more...