On Struggle Street

Here I am on Struggle Street
I've no money to make ends meet
And ask myself what it all means
Nothing in life is what it seems

Could you spare a dime (or more)
I'll work hard til my hands are sore
Start early until clock chimes six
Tell the truth I'll not play tricks

Straight up honest by design
Dare not with wife and bub of mine
As for conduct I don't do crime
I'll be at work all the time

Probe all you like about my past
I want this job and it to last
I'll be there on site at first light
At your side I'll do things right

Okay, okay! The job is yours
Mind you, It's sack if you give cause
Thank you boss, I won't make a mess
Wife can now buy a new dress

Image found at  www.https://pixabay.com/photos/woman-happy-shopping-bags-1329790/

Job for you up north

"Job for you up north" Boss said, "Give you time to wind up here, find accommodation, expenses paid. Salary will be lifted two grades while you're there but we don't pay overtime. Talk it over with your wife, let me now tomorrow, Okay?"

Wife had already told me she was pregnant but I knew her answer "Yes, do it!" But could she cope with two kids already and me miles away? She said she could see the advantages and she had her sister living close who would help.

So I said "Yes". With a hirecar provided I worked 150 miles from home coming back most weekends reporting to the office. I chose a hotel, expenses paid to make it easy.

Up each morning to check the contractors on building sites, pouring concrete and constructing various structures in town as well as viisting other sites within a 100 mile radius.I spent time in the hotel each evening with locals and visitors like myself chatting at mealtimes or propping up the bar. Each morning before work I'd go for a run to keep fit.

One morning after my run the hotel owner's wife met me as I came back before work. "I'm glad you're back" she said "Your wife's gone to hospital to have the baby!"

I gulped with surprise, baby was coming far earlier than expected. I thanked her and rang my sister in law to check. "Everything is OK" she said, "Baby's being born now!"

I drove carefully back home letting others overtake me and arrived to see my wife and new baby girl in hospital. Both were well and were cleared to come home a few days later.

Image found at https://www.rms.gov.au/geared/your_driving_skills/driving_skills/driving_safely_at_dusk.html

My office window

I look from my office window
At faux charm of city below
Buses, buskers vendors galore
Doves fly down and dust floats up
In long summer's stifling damp heat

Sensing her perfume close to me
The winsome smile of the office girl
Her sighs viewing the street below
Wishing she was off shopping now
Browsing the view near to my seat

Heard her sing in the kitchen once
As I walked by one winter's day
Stopped and wriggled when she saw me
Looked like an orphan, 'til I smiled
How both her and my hearts did beat

Office affairs are hard to hide
We tried, we tried so very hard
I scarcely touched her yet some see
Our eyes betrayed us every day
But we married, lives now complete


Image found at https://www.tripadvisor.com

Winning wage and wife

Factory smoke is diminished
Hope win tender; wages not cut 
As foundry fires crackle with heat
Vigilant overseers observe
Machinery's relentless beat

While in office draftsmen plan
From the ideas of their boss
With computers they scan
With speedy mouse in hand
Their coffee now cold and bland

As metals are forged
Ingots are cut and formed
Are cut to assemble
Products worth millions
While overseers grumble

Works siren now wails
Workers now all grin
Then machines shut down
Our day now over
Soon be with lover

Open the gate
Welcomed at home
Sat down to rest
Happy; well fed
Wife's gone to bed

Image found at https://maryww.com/2013/04/25/do-you-fall-asleep-when-reading/.

Sun's shining face

Oh Spring come along
Where are your blue skies aglow?
And Sun's shining face

We need rainfall too
So that our seeds can all thrive
Then farmers can smile

Busy bees please come
There's much work for you to do
Fertilize this plants

Much thanks go to you
For the work all you have done
Fine harvest we'll reap

Image found at:https://pixabay.com/en/agriculture-field-food-farm-bauer-1646560/

Clear Blue Skies

Oh how I long for clear blue skies
Sandy beaches and mountain range
Stuck working here from dawn to dusk
I need the sun, I need a change

Want to leave the blocks of flats
Rattling trains and factories grim
Rushing people, bus, train and tram
I need wild; fill me to the brim

Now I'm framed on every side
Like a robot trapped in brickwork
Moving one way, turning around
Must do something, I'll go berserk

Just heard branch office opens soon
At the Gold Coast, that's great; Hurray!
Application in; book me up
Get to go there next Wednesday

Images found at https://www.queensland.com/destination-information/surfers-paradise

Note: The laugh here is that The Gold coast is a very popular tourist resort with lots of high rise apartments but does have excellent beaches and a hinterland to explore but work will be much the same!

The write place

I work in a study with a high window
The white clouds race by but I can't see below
Just me and a shelf of reference books
Nobody walks past or gives me odd looks

I compose my poems direct to keyboard
It is old hardware but all I can afford
My best aid is a rhyming dictionary 
Plus of course a very good memory

Much comfort is felt with high back office chair
With cushion, which can swivel without care
Waste paper basket waiting there at my side
For trash that I've written and now want to hide

Okay there is a bookcase filled to the brim
Just swivel and reach out to pick on a whim
To give inspiration when brain starts to fade
See what I've writenn, will get accolade

The skies are darkening it's time for a meal
So I print out my work to see how I feel
As I read my draft my heart pit-a-pats
Later I'll post it and in come the congrats

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/books-bookstore-book-reading-1204029/

Our eyes kept meeting

My brain screamed at me
"Go! Enough of work today"
Grabbed my case and went

Passed drinking fountain
Three plant pots and notice board
To the vestibule

Pressed the down button
A fresh office girl had joined me
Long wait for the lift

We both smiled hello
"You are new aren't you" I asked
She nodded shyly

When the lift arrived
She entered first, which pleased me
Then hit one "OK?"

"Where else?" I then said
Silenced by other workers 
Now piling aboard

At every floor more
Passengers boarded the lift
Our shoulders now touched

Lift was so crowded
I was wedged right at the back
With the office girl

Everyone faced front
On the long journey downward
Pressing each other

A curl from her hair
Fell across her pretty face
Wanted to kiss her

At last the ground floor
I reached down to hold her hand
Everyone spilled out

Into the dark street
"How about the flicks?" I asked
She spun round "Tonight?"

Ignoring the screen
Sticky hands still together
Our eyes kept meeting

Image found at https://pixabay.com/en/couple-movies-cinema-theater-1513497/

The night was dark

The night was dark and clouds hid the moon
Our delightful tryst would end quite soon
I drew back from kissing your lips
Although my hands stayed on your hips
The moon now shone like many candles
As your toes wriggled in your sandals
And your eyes still sparkled with delight
How I hated leaving you each night

The clouds scudded across the sky
As the time to leave now grew nigh
Back to work in kitchen scrubbing dishes
Preparing broccoli, gutting fishes
Always cleaning dirty pots with dents
For wigged boss who just has no sense
What bliss, what rapture in your arms
I relapse by dreaming of your charms

Image found at http://hospitalitymagazine.com.au

I saw her sitting there

I saw her sitting there                     

Proud, arrogant almost                  

She was the first women               

In our organisation given               

A high management job              

I liked her                                          

She eyed me suspiciously            

Door open to her office                  

I walked in and sat down               

To discuss my problem                  

The window behind her                

Luckily I didn’t laugh                      

I liked her                                          

Ignored chip on her shoulder       

She was clearly on trial                 

And had to act like a man              

In this office of men                        

As we got down to business         

She relaxed just a little                   

I liked her                                          

So gradually she changed            

She would always greet me

To have a chat when we met

Even told me where she lived

And shared the office gossip

Wonder what happened to her

I liked her

And the first among many

Image found at www.dailyworth,com

This piece was first posted in 2015 to Poets United

Right time to write

It was a hot day on the sands
Watching from the hotel window
Clear blue sky, alabaster moon
Felt out of place at scorching noon
My poems ambled across the page
Smirking back at me

Bloated bellies bathed in the sea
Laying there in the noonday sun
Stuffed full with junkfood and much more
Beach umbrellas dotting the shore
Children's laughter still as the breeze
The sun wins round one

I wait till dusk for my daily walk
Watching them kiss on the promenade
Warm fingers entwined and lockets touched
Fondly now each other clutched
My camera eyes click on the scene
Street lights blink with shame

My evening walk is now complete
I stroll back to my hotel again
A drunk leans raving by the wall
A victim of weekend pub crawl
I kick my heels and rush back home
Words pour from my brain

Image found at www.thebeachguide.co.uk

End of year party

The Christmas get together
End of year party
Eyeing up the office girls

No matter just how I tried
To woo one over
'specially the one with curls

A bashful one now glances
I love her turned up nose
She's the best of all the pearls

I never seen her before
Just like a rosebud
With drinks she just unfurls

So I talk and dance with her
She was mine alone
As she moves with pretty twirls

Clunker I have made for she's
Daughter of the boss
Dagger looks at me he hurls

I return her to her seat
So I now resume
Eyeing other office girls

Image found at www.warble-entertainment.com

On his way to work

The screeching of parrots overhead and the kookaburras chatter in the trees woke him up. It was already light and her bare back faced him as he rose to start another day. He brushed aside the net curtains and saw that it would be another scorcher.

He looked at her warm brown body heaving gently and thinking better of his plans sat on the bed tracing patterns on her bare back with his fingers marveling at her anatomy as she grunted contentedly still dead to the world.

He had to get the files in order in his office before his appointment with the accountant so he showered and dressed and quietly locked the door and drove into the city trying to forget her figure and reload the profit and loss numbers in his mind.

                                              Lucky is the man
                                     Who loves his wife in the morn
                                            On his way to work

Image found at www.serendipitypatchwork.com.au   

The sun's radiance

The sun's radiance warmed the room
As she rose to make a cup of tea
His snoring had kept her awake last night
A groaning rhythm made her want to flee

She place a cup at his bedside
Then took a shower and dressed for work
Did household chores at which she was adept
The vacuum now roared to please the jerk

The radio was now on full blast
Song's rhythm now put smile on her face
She sang along to "Walking on Sunshine"
Hearing him groan from that inner place

Image found at www.jpiservices.net

Walking on Sunshine was a hit for Katrina and the Waves in 1985

Coffee Break

It was coffee break
Girls gathered round the machine
The usual gossip

There was much laughing
About boys and the weekend
Then Hilda appeared

Back to work you girls
The old supervisor said
Sternly as she could

She recalled those days
When she worked on the shop floor
She'd been one of them

They'd get the sequel
At the afternoon's break time
She wished she could hear

Image found at www.chichesterweb.co.uk

My first job

I was barely sixteen still a schoolboy and had got my first real job working for the Post Office in Britain in 1951.

It was the Christmas rush and students were selected from certain schools and I struck lucky.

Us boys were assigned to parcel delivery and two or three of us would accompany the driver of a truck to deliver parcels and packages to happy households who received goodies from relatives and friends from all over Great Britain as well as the United States and other overseas countries.

It was obvious from the aroma that many parcels from Ireland contained foodstuff such as hams, other meats and cakes for lucky relatives that probably would not be permitted these days.

Britain was still slowly recovering from the Second World War and as the Republic of Ireland had been independent they were source of plenty for a lucky few.

Still at school the following year I managed to get the same job again but with my experience I was upgraded to Postman with bike and armband to show that I was official delivering letters right up to and including Christmas morning as the postal service then was the only means of communication for many in those days.

Image found at www.pinterest.com

Working hard

Oh what strange creatures we are
Living our lives without a care
Playing, laughing here and there
Learning, toiling
Eyeing, flirting
Losing, hurting
Until that day
We find the one
That now makes our world complete

Then we two unite as one
Working hard out in the sun
Resting when the day is done
Digging, sowing
Blooming, growing
Loving, making
Birthing, rearing
For we're the ones
Surviving now in our embrace

Image of "L'Angelus" by Jean-Francois Millet found at www.jmhosting.space.com

She smiled darkly

Placed on her shoulder

She carried the clay pitcher

Water for the day

Smiling in the sun

She tilled her small garden plot

For family’s food

Rubbing on the oil 

She’d please her husband tonight

As she smiled darkly

Image found at www.1stdibs.com

Late for the train

I lay in the valley of your breasts

How sweet the scent of morning

Trying to avoid that call to work

And you evicting me from our bed

Sadly I must flee very soon

Dash off with the rising sun

For my daily commute to town

To arrive in the nick of time

Just why do we live two lives?

She opens her eyes and pleads with me

Then whispers those beguiling words

Stay home, help me with the washing

Who could deny the lure of that?

My resolve subsides, I smile at her

The only day I can’t get free, I moan

We both sigh with disappointment

The trick of happiness is to lie

Especially when the fearful threat

Of domesticity beckons you

As out I run late for the train

Image found at www.classociates.org.uk

Beer, beer, glorious beer

Beer, beer glorious beer!
Fill yourselves up to here!
Drink a good deal of it - make a good meal of it
Stick to old fashioned beer!
Don't be afraid of it - Drink till you're made of it
Now, altogether a cheer!
Up with the sale of it  - down with a pail of it
Glorious, glorious beer!
                                             Traditional British drinking song

Once when I was just twenty
I worked for a brewery
A labourer no less
Rolling out the barrels
As a holiday job
To earn extra money
So I could get married

Underground in the cellars
Barrels thirty-six gallons
Kilderkins were eighteen
A firkin down to nine
Pin's just four and a half
Rolled around in tunnels
Maturing in the dark

Never saw the light of day
Wearing out our fingertips
Back bent, pushing, pushing
Those damned old oaken casks
Stumbling in the passages
We cursing and laughing
Until the break of shift

At the end of a days work
In those days of long ago
The shift finally over
We queued at the counter
Given two bottles of bitter
To take home for to drink
Beer, beer glorious beer

Image found at www.embracethefunk.com