written and posted by members of Lancashire Dead Good Poets' Society

Showing posts with label Madness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Madness. Show all posts

Sunday, 10 January 2016

Oriental

Sometimes when I present my work people look at me strange. They like what I do but it seems to scare them that I'm able to think of such things in such ways. Take this blog for example. You are happily reading this body text thinking “I thought this week the theme was Oriental and here's Colin going on about people looking at him strange as if that was strange”

But what if I told you that being creative is a form of madness; a symptom maybe? I said this to someone once. Their response was “Oh, well that explains everything.”

I thought, “It does?” and so I tried to figure out what being mad did explain. I came up with:

1.    Why the smell of old books is better than the smell of chips. (Because you're nuts)
2.    Why you can describe things in poems using words that have nothing to do with what you are describing. (because you're a loon)
3.    Why popping bubble wrap is soooooo satisfying. (because you're crazier than a box of frogs)

Then I thought, well if everything was explained because someone was batting for clowns, then that would mean everyone who ever did anything must be spoon-bendingly twisted. This then leads me to believe that, because every single person, creature and plant on this planet actually does something, even the smallest thing like breathing, all of which contribute to mass bundle of stuff known as chaos and thus all being important to the constant running of this planet, then all of the 7 point something billion humans plus the trillions of creatures and plants all working together must be more Barking than a suburb in the East of London.

And if that's the case, the no one is normal and the entire world, from capitalist chain store to Fracking gas Barons,  is run by complete fruit loops. Which explains everything.

So if everyone is completely Chicken Oriental, why look at me strange?

And I'm insane?

Drill down
Smash rock
Just to see how mush gas they've got?
And they call me mad?

Tell lies
Change they're minds
Just to say say rich man's hide?
And they call me mad?

Giving one family
For being born
Because the Americans buy tea towels with them on?
And they call be mad?

Well I am mad
I'm mad as hell
That these self appointed elite get to tell
Us what to do.

They must be mad.



Colin Davies

Sunday, 9 March 2014

Mad Hatters

18:38:00 Posted by Unknown , , , , , 1 comment
Good evening readers. Apologies for the late post today, I've been out seeking inspiration from the wild.
When it comes to the theme of Mad Hatters I think we've about covered all the angles this week. After a triumphant evening last Friday at the Number 5 I think it is fair to say that the standard of poetry in the group is excelling and so, with me giving up rhyme for lent, I've found writing for today extremely difficult.
Instead then, I've got a poem I wrote last week- just before pancake day as it happens. It is a piece based loosely on the act of returning to a school you've been to before and seeing just how wild kids have become in the modern day. I've been doing a lot of this lately, at various schools across the town and, if I'm honest, I'm not sure that the direction is the one I would have chosen for some of these schools. They don't seem to be what they were perhaps, in those rose-tinted days of youth we all hold dear, although I'm sure that is just my reaction on being out of the system too long. Teachers still care just as much for students as they always did and schools strive for excellence on increasingly limited funds- there will always be holes in the net for people to fall through. Without further adieu then, a poem. Next week I'll be all out of fresh rhyming poetry so watch this space to see where the new direction will take me. 


Mad Hatters.

The kids dance around in the corridors
They're moonwalking a way out of class
They see no chance for staying on
So they're taking their childhoods back

They're bolting their way out over the field
Huddling in groups outside shops
They're throwing away an education
Before knowing what chances they've got

Thrown down a challenging gauntlet
Special measures to give them more chance
You can bring in marines for discipline
But these children just want to dance

They're not asking for help with their homework
They're not turning up for their DTs
The rules left this place a long time ago
All those standards that helped to school me

Now I'm back and I feel I'm surveying
A great educational shift
I fail to see how academy status
Is giving these kids any lift

Some might put it all down to ambition
And claim home life pays such a big part
When a kid says his mum doesn't love him
It becomes a real matter of heart.

So the next time they're talking academies
Just think how the morale there might change
Half these kids just need love, that is more than enough
Even bad teachers give that in spades

Teach them life isn't rounding off edges
Rather building on strengths that are there
Let's make confident people, all created equal
Because after this place, life's not fair.

Thanks for reading, 

S. 


Saturday, 18 May 2013

Lyrical Ballads

00:00:00 Posted by Ashley Lister , , , , , , 6 comments


 By Ashley Lister

 I don’t listen to a lot of pop music. I have no ability to focus on more than one thing so, if I’m listening to lyrics and writing at the same time, you can bet money that those lyrics I’m listening to will appear within the fiction I’m creating. This was most poignantly illustrated by a series of shorts story I wrote entitled: Never Gonna Give You UpThe Power of Love and The Birdy Song.
Perhaps part of the issue here is that I tend not to switch off. I was listening to The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony,  the other day. Aside from enjoying it as a decent piece of music I ended up using it in a class to illustrate the determination of personality and to demonstrate character constructs within fiction.
But it’s rare I get the chance to listen to any form of music. My mobile has the facility to play various tunes but, in truth, I’ve got several series of lectures stored on there: all of which help wile away those long car journeys that would more usually be served by a background of songs and tunes.
That said, if you did come here today looking for good music – these are three of my all time favourite tracks: