The Hill: Songs and Poems of Darkness and Light

No Time to Think

I have enjoyed some amazing and unexpected publicity for my book The Hill: Songs and Poems of Darkness and Light

since its launch in November.

This online at Hold the Front Page:

http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2014/news/ex-editors-past-inspires-first-poetry-book/

Plus four regional / local newspapers including a stunning piece in the Shropshire Star.

Radio BBC Bristol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2N2X7t7awo

And on Russia Today TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU_4qJHIasc&list=UUbGif2gxFLxGDxG9CeA_fvg

I now have a Web Store at www.writeahead.co.uk where you can buy my book The Hill: Songs and Poems of Darkness and Light directly. I accept payments by debit and credit cards and PayPal through this store. The Hill: Songs and Poems of Darkness and Light is 100 pages of angst, joy, reflection and opinion. Order your copy now for just £3.99 plus £1.80 P&P (Europe: £3.70 P&P, Australia: £5.05 P&P and USA: £4.75 P&P with discounts on postage for multiple orders). I will personally sign your copy upon request. Your book will…

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The Songs and Poems of Nicolas Clare

When I first started writing poetry at the age of 19, I wrote under the pen-name Nicolas Clare – influenced by my then poetic hero John Clare.

Today, as the poems and songs begin to burgeon, I have resurrected the name and opened a new public Facebook portal exclusively for this work. It can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/nicolasclarepoems?fref=ts

I will try to upload half a dozen songs and poems each day until my vault is empty, while continuing to write new offerings.

Poem: Village of Lost Souls

Upon the hill the church bells chime

The graveyard whispers of another time

When lowly men and the land were one

And this ugly war had not begun

Above us the roof is full of holes

Searching this village of lost souls

 

John Keats is in the alley

Looking for a rhyme

Edward German walks by quickly

Lost in another time

I’m in the boot store

With a bootleg in my hand

Sipping Kraken quietly

Trying to make a stand

 

In the bull ring the artisans chatter

Newspaper headlines do not matter

To society fires of quiet rural lives

The verger preaches to lost young wives

Above us the roof is full of holes

Searching this village of lost souls

 

John Keats is in the alley

Looking for a rhyme

Edward German walks by quickly

Lost in another time

I’m in the boot store

With a bootleg in my hand

Sipping Kraken quietly

Trying to make a stand

 

By the waterside the barges float

The lock keeper paints his rotten boat

Flies buzz round fish heads and tails

The jolly joiner repairs his sails

Above us the roof is full of holes

Searching this village of lost souls

 

John Keats is in the alley

Looking for a rhyme

Edward German walks by quickly

Lost in another time

I’m in the boot store

With a bootleg in my hand

Sipping Kraken quietly

Trying to make a stand

 

In the Greyhound pub granddad drinks

The waitress watches as her spirit sinks

Punters come and wild wayfarers go

The world outside it moves too slow

Above us the roof is full of holes

Searching this village of lost souls

 

John Keats is in the alley

Looking for a rhyme

Edward German walks by quickly

Lost in another time

I’m in the boot store

With a bootleg in my hand

Sipping Kraken quietly

Trying to make a stand

 

Poem: Fanny by Gaslight

Fanny turn the gaslight up

And tell me what you see

Your vision has been clouded

Do you still remember me?

The lies and old malt whisky

Have poisoned all that’s good

Your captives have been clever

Don’t let us be misunderstood

 

Fanny turn the gaslight up

And cut the wick down low

Your memory has been twisted

And truth returns too slow

The lies and old malt whisky

Have poisoned all that’s good

Your captives have been clever

Don’t let us be misunderstood

 

Fanny turn the gaslight up

Now open the curtains wide

The horizon goes on forever

And I am on the other side

The lies and old malt whisky

Have poisoned all that’s good

Your captives have been clever

Don’t let us be misunderstood

 

Fanny turn the gaslight up

Pack your toothbrush and your comb

The train awaits on platform six

So make your way back home

The lies and old malt whisky

Have poisoned all that’s good

Your captives have been clever

Don’t let us be misunderstood

 

Poem: The False Widow

The dawn it screams in anger

How can it now be true?

How can the hope that dangled

Briefly

Be sewn with weeds anew?

 

The False Widow smiles insanely

Her web is woven tight

The Puppet Master dances

Madly

Until there is no fight

 

The morning conjures bleakly

How quickly life can change

They measured their options

Clearly

Behind the kitchen range

 

The False Widow smiles insanely

Her web is woven tight

The Puppet Master dances

Madly

Until there is no fight

 

The noontime sun advances

Their motives are quite clear

The marionette now stands

Sadly

Looking beyond the frozen sphere

 

The False Widow smiles insanely

Her web is woven tight

The Puppet Master dances

Madly

Until there is no fight

 

So evening calls more quietly

A vague hope it still clings

Touching love and life

Sincerely

And cutting webs and strings

 

The False Widow smiles insanely

Her web is woven tight

The Puppet Master dances

Madly

Until there is no fight

 

So dust the broom in moonlight

Keep it clean and new

The way ahead still lies

Clearly

Until morning’s early dew

 

Poem: September Song

Boots and bottles and a telescope reel

No-one knows just how I feel

Sitting blindly by a Catherine Wheel

I open my arms to you

 

Write me a song to sing all day long

Catch me a tune to howl at the moon

Watch me waltz on a silver spoon

I open my arms to you

 

My golden daughter does what she oughta

Reading medical books with whisky and water

The words get longer but never shorter

I open my arms to you

 

The breakdown came the breakdown went

Forty-four years they were paid and spent

I’ll pack up my shoes and buy a new tent

I open my arms to you

 

The sun still warms the September air

The grass is green and the day is fair

I look at my life with barely a care

I open my arms to you

 

The fox it will run and the bat does fly

The poacher stares at the empty sky

Time it passes with no reason to cry

I open my arms to you

 

Poem: Shadow Man

Shadow man

Fighting in the dark

Shadow man

Trying to light a spark

Drifting on a winter wind

Wondering where the paths begin

A face follows everywhere you look

Leaping from the pages of each new book

 

Cannot see the enemy

Cannot mark his claim

Cannot fightback anyway

Will not bow to shame

 

Shadow man

Waking in the dark

Shadow man

Rising with the lark

Seeing a ghost of the past

Reaching out for joy that did not last

A face follows everywhere you look

Leaping from the pages of each new book

 

Cannot see the enemy

Cannot mark his claim

Cannot fightback anyway

Will not play his game

 

Shadow man

Drowning in the dark

Shadow man

Walking in the park

Kicking at leaves upon the ground

Knowing what’s lost cannot be found

A face it follows everywhere you look

Leaping from the pages of each new book

 

Cannot see the enemy

Cannot mark his claim

Cannot fightback anyway

Where reason has a name

Climbing Another Hill

Today I finished my 25^th song/poem towards my second book – its working title: Just Another Hill. Some of these songs and poems flow easily while other are something like extracting teeth… but they all follow an inner sense of need.

A personal catharsis and journey of discovery.

Meanwhile my first poetry book: The Hill – Songs and Poems of Darkness and Light is available for order directly from my Web Store at www.writeahead.co.uk

I accept payments by debit and credit cards or PayPal through this store. Order your copy now for just £3.99 plus £1.80 P&P (Europe: £3.70 P&P, Australia: £5.05 P&P and USA: £4.75 P&P with discounts on postage for multiple orders).

The Hill – Songs and Poems of Darkness and Light is 100 pages of angst, joy, reflection and opinion. I will personally sign your copy upon request, and your book will be dispatched immediately upon cleared payment.

Thank you and best wishes

Nic

 

The Hill: Songs and Poems of Darkness and Light

I have enjoyed some amazing and unexpected publicity for my book The Hill: Songs and Poems of Darkness and Light

since its launch in November.

This online at Hold the Front Page:

http://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2014/news/ex-editors-past-inspires-first-poetry-book/

Plus four regional / local newspapers including a stunning piece in the Shropshire Star.

Radio BBC Bristol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2N2X7t7awo

And on Russia Today TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU_4qJHIasc&list=UUbGif2gxFLxGDxG9CeA_fvg

I now have a Web Store at www.writeahead.co.uk where you can buy my book The Hill: Songs and Poems of Darkness and Light directly. I accept payments by debit and credit cards and PayPal through this store. The Hill: Songs and Poems of Darkness and Light is 100 pages of angst, joy, reflection and opinion. Order your copy now for just £3.99 plus £1.80 P&P (Europe: £3.70 P&P, Australia: £5.05 P&P and USA: £4.75 P&P with discounts on postage for multiple orders). I will personally sign your copy upon request. Your book will be dispatched immediately upon cleared payment.

Thank you and best wishes

Nic

Brief Encounter #15

Annie Lennox and Terry Butcher

 

These two brief encounters are linked by geography and unique car registration plates!

The first occurred in October 1990, while I was driving north on the M6 and M74 to Scotland begin a new job and a new life at The Oban Times. I had passed Penrith and was motoring along quite happily in my sporty Fiat Uno Turbo when suddenly I was overtaken at speed by a gold coloured BMW 6 series. The rogue car must have been travelling at about 90mph, and two things struck me: the driver was steering one handed while using his brick of a mobile phone, and the car registration was a striking TB1. I continued on my way and thought no more of my over-taker. But about 30 miles further on in my journey on the M74, I came across the same car near Ecclefechan in the Scottish Borders. This time the driver was travelling at a more sedate 50mph in the slow lane. I noticed he was still deep in conversation on his mobile phone. As I overtook the BMW, I glanced and immediately recognised the driver’s face… it was Terry Butcher, the former England and Rangers football captain – hence TB1. Five miles further on, TB overtook me again!

Two days later the national media announced that Terry had quit Rangers to become player/manager of First Division Coventry City FC. I guess the guy had some negotiating to do the day our paths crossed.

The brief encounter with rock diva Annie Lennox was equally surprising, a little more tactile and occurred where the northbound M6 and M74 meet.

It was a couple of days prior to New Year 1991/92 and my partner and I decided to stop at Todhills services for a welcome break and a cup of coffee. As I pulled into the car-park I noticed a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud parked up, with the unique registration ANNIE 1. Who could own this car?

We wandered into the restaurant to be greeted by a cacophony of noise and laughter. We looked to our left to find that a third of the eating area had been taken over by some arty/muso types and at their heart was the instantly recognisable Annie Lennox. We stayed for half an hour, drank our coffees and caught snatches of their conversations. It was clear, that like many exile Scots they were travelling north for Hogmanay. Sweet dreams are made of this!

• A short post script: some seven years later, at exactly the same service station, I physically bumped into Scotland football manager Craig Brown, while paying for my petrol. Sorry, Craig, you don’t quite have the same oomph credits as Annie Lennox, but you did have the grace to apologise and say “excuse me”!