Number Two By Laura Fry

That autumn day you brought bad tidings Daddy was never coming back I was so young, but understood it And my whole world had turned to black You didn't even let me say goodbye Because all this time you just thought of your dear little boy Do you still remember these summers of birthday five-a-side? And how I cringed at the sidelines with you so loudly singing his praises You pandered to each of his teenager's whims Because no-one could ever be better than him And my shadow grew ever so dim I'm number two

And I just had to go on playing second fiddle Just you, your golden boy, I wasn't even in the middle It didn't matter, all the things I did to try and please you You just overlooked all my achievements and all his failures I'm number two At the receiving end of your delusions A silent orphan living life in cold confusion And you even resent me for not being grey at thirty And for having the brass neck to speak out against you You, you never even gave me a second look So for you my telephone is off the hook

Has it never in all this time crossed your mind that you might have been hurting my feelings? If I'm not far too fat then I'm just far too thin It's against your religion to say I can sing With you I just can't ever win I'm number two Because he's a stud and I'm just the ugly sister You feign interest in me only when you're feeling guilty If you ever take him off that pedestal on which you've placed him You may see that in your sick warped mind you've actually disgraced him A runner-up

I'm giving up the silver plate life dealt me And with it all your words that have repelled me Because now I've got more than you ever reckoned I've found a man who always puts me first and never second Because at the end of the day blood is not as thick as water And I certainly never chose to be your daughter!

Copyright Laura Fry 2006

Poetry - Seven Come Eleven (after 9/11) By Del Abe Jones.

	On this day we remember That "day of infamy" And sadly we understand More than we want to see. A "sneak attack" on Freedom And the American way Read more...

Poetry - Dancing Angels By Andy Grant

	We round the bend to see your might, Your power raw and flames so bright, You singe and burn the naked skin, Begin to boil the blood within, Water on the battle cry, To fight the beast we fear inside, You attack again with steam and smoke, Read more...

Poetry - Summer Babe By Beth McGann.

	So you let me know, cheers, by the lake That we've capsized from our stolen state of grace. The water looks so glassy now, fragile seeming; curt somehow The leaves pass no judgement on the vast waste of your head Read More

Poetry - On the Netto Breadline By Beth McGann.

	The path I walk is worn to bare rock of ages pacing woods between sea and hills shafts of sunshine make wet stones glisten over stunted roadside roses. the sky abortion-red pressing thorns into my destiny Read More

Poetry - Today's Climate By Joe Hakim

As the fear pours out of every television speaker, congealing into the bitter ink on the headlines on the front of all the papers, we prepare ourselves for the hordes of paedophiles    Read more...

Poetry - Where Once Was Pain By Merle R. Stone

A hollow, empty shell of a man to whom living was a bother. Who would gratefully take his own life but for the shame it would bring his father. No easy way to carry on and play as though things were well. Read more...

Poetry - An Open Letter to the Head of ITV1 Scheduling and The Dog Ate My Lottery Ticket By Beth McGann.

	I've just come back from my nightly stroll, me and the dog, alone with one hundred billion fires the dark trees, black like an absence moving against the backdrop of the galactic dance, beauty on an unimaginable scale, Read More

Poetry - Hide and Seek By Maurice Fairfield
	So catch me if you can My good old playmate Death Let's play our game of hide and seek Till I run out of breath You counted ten some time ago Ready or not, you said Read more...

Poetry - Pie in The Sky By Shaun Heesom
	Where is the land of milk and honey My pie in the sky with chocolate money A bird in the hand a feather in the bush Where the tall green plants grow vast and lush The rivers flow full and deep red wine Where the pigs fly up from time to time Castles in the air Read more...

Poetry - Louder Than Words By Mike Watts
	'We have performed this very difficult task Out of love for our people. And we have suffered no damage To ourselves, to our souls, Or our characters .' Heinrich Himmler Read more...

Poetry - Lament for Hull By Laura Fry

I'm lying in the bed I made No longer angry, now resigned to fate For the follies of my twenties, I'll pay the high price And live on in this hell that I thought was paradise I gave not a thought when I jumped in head first That I'd married the man I Read more...

Poetry - The Sound of the Sea By Beth McGann.

	the sound of the sea an endless movement like the pull of a horse on the bridle, strong underneath rollers rattle the chalk pebbles smooth in a cupped hand Read more...

Poetry - Ashes To Ashes By Patrick Henry
	Down-under the dodgy digger is the flash tool to fool us all: Over here, the cobber to ditch the blather and strike the flaming ball, No wet Pom could hit for straight six, or toss-up a wrong-'un to skittle a side; Pull all POM sheilas hard-up for it: ten top thin models lined up in a bed; Read more...

Poetry - The Battle of Cable Street 4th Oct 1936 - 4th Oct 2006 By Patrick Henry
	A lifetime since when that ring of steel clashed down these streets. Boot-heels struck cobbles. Bin-lids for shields buckled in defence To batons, rocks, banner-shafts. Ears cocked to hear drum-rolls and fast heart-beats. Read more...

Poetry - Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Tits By Pam ('Chin') Aires
	Oh, I wish I'd looked after me dear old knockers, Not flashed them to boys behind the school lockers, Or let them get fondled by randy old dockers, Oh, I wish I'd looked after me tits. 'Cos now I'm much older and gravity's winning. It's Nature's revenge Read more...

Poetry - Albert Hoffman's Bicycle By Joe Hakim

Falling off, falling out, in my mind there is no doubt that everyone is truly alone when surrounded by the    Read more...

Poetry - The Merman's Song By The Doc

	I sing Of clouds freshly washed by rain Of the silver seas And the keys to your heart I sing Of Ishmael Of carved whale tooth memories Read more...

Poetry - The Spoon Player By Maurice Fairfield
	The name on the skin of the bass drum Was Blackshaw's Storyville Five And the board leaning up at the door of the pub Was promising jazz that was live A slight exaggeration for the Storyville Five were not In the class of the bands they copied Read more...

Poetry - A Poem For The Eternal Thinker By Shep

	I'm thinking of things like a bird on a branch And wandering, pondering lost in a trance Of wishes and dishes, fishes on land Planes in the sky and that man I can't stand On what colour Mac on my back I should wear And if Schmegal eats seagull with grizzly bear Of why we see spectres Read more...

Poetry - Hot Date (For Better For Worse) By Katherine Horrex
	Seated in the restaurant with a pleasant Window view, brown eye to blue And not really conversing, What with it all being covered already, But sort of rehearsing the motions: Work is a pain, I've a meeting tomorrow- Respectfully phatic Read more...

Poetry - Faith, Hope And Charity By Maurice Fairfield
	I loved a girl named Hope and she was pretty faithless I met another called Faith and she was pretty hopeless I got involved with Charity (she wasn't very kind) And what with all the three of them it really blew my mind Maintaining my tenacity but feeling broken hearted I met a bird named Chastity Read more...

Poetry - The Interview By Katherine Horrex
	So superficial in the supermarket interview room after arriving late, she asks what name I prefer to go by. "Katherine," I say, because I turn irate when abbreviated by people in suits, their faux matey-ness making me cringe. "Right then, Kath!" she says, Read more...

Poetry - November Bride By Laura Fry

I once was a girl who thought she knew best Until her true love was put to the test And what she'd thought to be great left her less than impressed Take me home I admit I was wrong, you were right all along And humble pie tastes much Read more...