The dark road

I remember a dark road long ago,
headlights shining through the rain.
My memories, usually buried,
have risen from sleep again.

This was my home, everything I loved,
but life sweeps us away on endless roads —
like that road in the dark long ago,
when you were alive and life flowed.

What tragedy leaves me here,
without you, alone, dreaming of that highway,
forgetting, living another life day by day,
and remembering you only when dreams turn to light.

I remember that dark road;
it runs through my heart and sleep.
We only know what we know at the time,
and I thought forever was ours to keep.

I wouldn't go back to the graveyard
of the life we lived and the days we spent.
I am here now, and here forever;
the past sleeps, with all its sentiment.

Get off that phone Michael!

He's sitting there in the coffee shop,
every day, alone, solitary, absorbed,
making love to that wretched phone.
Get off that phone, Michael!

He's never fully with those he greets,
hands glued to that thing,
no matter who he meets.
Get off that phone, Michael!

The phone is his whole life -
emails, news, messages, everything.
He married it, made it his wife.
Get off that phone, Michael!

When he cared more for the phone than the street,
he shot up to his heavenly home,
and God said, "You're welcome, but -
Get off that phone, Michael!"

There's a possible link here to: https://beyondshannon.blogspot.com/

My view of Poetry

 I've been writing poetry since I was a child. It wasn't always good or appreciated. I have taken years to get to a point last year where I started this blog specifically for poetry, because I felt that at last I had something to share and of a standard to share. Previously I published poems here and there on blogs, but last year this blog and the real momentum started and then this year I started competing. 
I've competed in short fiction and non-fiction contests before, but this is my first year in poetry contests.

Do I have any qualification to write poetry? Qualifications aren't really needed. I did A215 Creative Writing with the Open University, where they tried to teach me 'the rules' and I did my own thing and still passed. Poetry is like music, the best of it isn't about rules but inspiration. 

Poetry, the best of it, is a story in fewer words, a crafted tale with a rhythm. My idea of a good poem is one with a bit of mystery perhaps, a tale, evocative, an atmosphere captured. My poems tend to tell a story of places, times or people or all three. I do a lot of poetry about places. The poem has to hit that secret key, to tell a story, historic or current, in a way that people can relate to, or even feel emotion from. 

I consider my best poems at present to be Lough Foyle, Galtymore, Monaleen Church, and The Cold Institution. These are all about places. None are on this blog as they are competition poems. 

I don't publish all my poems on here as some are for competitions, and I store a lot of poems unpublished in the blog archives, for safekeeping, and to publish or not, when the time is right. I will keep adding poems because once you really start writing poetry and start to build skill, it's impossible not to write poetry. It's another bad habit.