Author: Charlie Alford

I like to think I'm a story teller. I love stories. I believe the world is filled with stories just waiting to be told and learned. I enjoy travelling down the road less travelled, with my iPhone and journal in each hand. Here you'll find all my poetic musings... Enjoy!
Posted in Life, Music

You Gotta Be…

Posted on by Charlie Alford

Inspired by Pooky’s Poems where today’s challenge involved writing a poem to the rhythm of a song you enjoy. I chose Des’ree ‘You Gotta Be’ because this song has been stuck in my head since the first day I heard it back in 1994; when I was a nine year old English village girl getting up to mischief in her ‘Little Mermaid’ roller-skates. I kept the chorus because I feel as though it’s always been my life lesson.

 

This is who you are today

brown eyes on a summer day

stepping our from behind Grandpa’s knee

Your friends, they will grow with you

fly with you to Timbuktu

live, laugh, dance, this planet

young birds flying free.

 

You gotta be…

You gotta be bad, You gotta be bold, You gotta be wiser

You gotta be hard, You gotta be tough, You gotta be stronger

You gotta be cool, You gotta be calm, You gotta together

All I know, All I know, love with save the day.

 

Listen to want Des’ree said

seal the words inside your head

cherish every chapter cherish every line

some will teach you how to be

but all you need is family

my oh my, yea, eh eh

 

You gotta be bad, You gotta be bold, You gotta be wiser

You gotta be hard, You gotta be tough, You gotta be stronger

You gotta be cool, You gotta be calm, You gotta together

All I know, All I know, love with save the day.

 

I know you’re only nine, but life is beginning

story’s start – moments of time and space

the years keep on turning

they won’t stop; they will find you

one day you will wake up to another face

whoa-oh-oh

 

You gotta be bad, You gotta be bold, You gotta be wiser

You gotta be hard, You gotta be tough, You gotta be stronger

You gotta be cool, You gotta be calm, You gotta together

All I know, All I know, love with save the day.

 

Listen to want Des’ree said

seal the words inside your head

cherish every chapter cherish every line

some will teach you how to be

but all you need is family

my oh my, yea, eh eh

 

Posted in England, Family, Life, Writing

Carpe Dium

Posted on by Charlie Alford

I see you in our little coastal town
a photo awakens a reels of memories
of childhood antics on rocky beaches
and Welsh mountains that we would race down.
A traveller of the last century
I remember how you could spin a yarn
We would laugh at your terrible acting
every moment you made legendary.
Written across a tattered birthday card
printed like a human type writer
said the infamous words “Carpe Dium”
words that are tattooed in my mind and soul
as the world twists and turns without you.

Inspired by We Drink Because We’re Poets prompting us to reawaken a so-called dead language via a Latin proverb. I chose ‘Carpe Dium’ meaning to Seize the Day.

Posted in Time, Writing

OneDayOneWorld – Hour One – 12pm

Posted on by Charlie Alford

Ever wondered what everyone else is up to at any given time on any given day? The following was written for / inspired by the 1 Day 1 World Project running from May to October (24 weeks) where each week will unveil a particular hour around the world.

Sunday 12pm

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Bound inside my suburban walls

like the spider caught in the drain

watching as the dark shadows fall

under the loud thundery rain.

Nestled in my big blue armchair

I read my book and drink my tea

the smell of pizza fills the air

with my warm fuzzy boots and me.

Posted in Australia, Writing

Confusing Figure of Speech, Fair Dinkum!

Posted on by Charlie Alford

 

Twas Winter in Melbournia

students rugged up in coats and scarves

sipping on lattes and mochas

sitting where the benches were carved.

Huddled in a tiny horse-shoe

telling tales of the lost weekend

I listened carefully; laughed on cue

an outcast amongst Aussie friends.

A tale of breakdowns on bridges

and how we’d walked 5k’s to town

along the highway, fighting the midges

drowning as the rain raced down.

“Wow, Fair Dinkum, girls!”, Al exclaimed.

I just smiled; and nodded; coughed “Yeah…”

Being new to this Aussie game

Oh, how I felt like a silly mare!

I looked at Al all befuddled

and he told me the whole story.

What he’d heard had him bubbled

and he wanted truth in our glory.

Fair Dinkum.

 

Inspired by Pooky’s Poems: Confusing Figure of Speech

Posted in Life

Who has the fish?

Posted on by Charlie Alford

Oh, Mr Einstein! How befuddling 

you have me questioning and wondering.

If Britain is red; then who is the green

the Swede may have dogs; but where are they seen?

I wrote them out in spider diagrams

but the lines were baffling, my poor hands

needed to spread out across the spreadsheet

twas logical and a little more neat.

But I can’t figure out the German

I know he smokes! But what else can I learn?

Oh, Mr Einstein, it’s taken me hours

and only 2% have these powers?

Asking us questions like, Where is the fish?

Mind-boggling riddle, you just had to dish…

I would love to say that I mastered it

but alas, nay, I may have googled it!

 

The above, a result of a befuddling brain teaser a co-worker e-mailed me today. Written by Einstein the 19th Century predicting/stating only 98% of the population would be able to solve it. Well, I do like a challenge. I took it on. I failed. I succumbed to the easiness and peer pressure that was Google. I found the answer – went back to the riddle and still couldn’t see where I had gone wrong! C’est la vie.

Just for fun here is the riddle:

Five homeowners lived in five separate houses that were five different colours.Each homeowner was of a different nationality, drank a specific beverage, smoked a specific brand of smokes, and a kept a specific pet. No owners had  the same pet, brand of smoke, or drink.

The Clues:

1. The Brit lives in a Red house.

2. The Swede keeps a dog.

3. The Dane drinks tea.

4. The Green house is on the left of the White house.

5. The Green homeowner drinks coffee.

6. The person who smokes Pall Mall keeps Birds.

7. The owner of the Yellow house smokes Dunhill.

8. The man living in the central house drinks milk.

9. The Norwegian lives in the first house.

10. The man who smokes Blend lives next to the man who keeps Cats.

11. The  man who keeps Horses lives next to the man who smokes Dunhill.

12. The owner who smokes Camel drinks Beer.

13. The German smokes Marlborough.

14. The Norwegian lives next to the Blue house.

15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbour who drinks water.

 

With that in mind, Who Keeps The Fish?

Give it a whirl, let me know how you went… with or without Google… I promise I won’t judge!

 

Posted in #NaPoWriMo2014

Almost Twenty Little Poetry Projects

Posted on by Charlie Alford

Today was one of those days… for everyone else. It started with a Melbourne Metro Meltdown – it involved rats and fire! (I dare you not to click the link now! But come back,if you do).  I wasn’t affected until I was asked to channel my inner minion and do the morning coffee run. As I was standing in the painfully long queue of damp Melbournians I avoided all eye contact and browsed the internet on my phone, as you do, and other than reading all the lovely likes and comments on my WordPress reader (go team!) I stumbled on NaPoWriMo website. I don’t know it happened it just did. Anyway I saw the Day 29 prompt – “Twenty Little Poetry Projects” and thus started a tennis game in my head. Well, not tennis, but one half of the brain was “you’ve posted your Day 30 give yourself a break” and the other half was “pfft, challenge accepted”. Well, work was quiet today and I’m posting here so I assumed you’ve all concluded which side of the brain won. So with out further ado, and apologies for the long winded introduction I give you my-almost-twenty-poetry-projects-poem.

So, Wednesday happened.

Waltzing through the epic commuter show

avoiding a woeful Richmond station.

She wrapped her hand around a ‘cuppa joe’

which stimulated this pointless narration.

She sat at her desk by a stormy scene

and waited for her universe to light up

Orange windows flash-dancing on her screen

reflection of words in her java cup.

“Good Morning Miss Charlie – Are you here yet?

Can you help me a with little something?

Trainaggedon – No, it’s not a threat

I’m late; Need mojo; but calls are waiting!”

Ah, the sweet aroma of cocoa beans

hot lattes of satisfaction

just a hasty injection of caffiene

then he can give you your explanation.

Evil calendars begin at nine

her face turns red at the sound of ‘tick tock’

Sure, Alfie will be back at her desk on time

twiddling her fingers; waiting for the clock.

C’est la vie.

 

Posted in #NaPoWriMo2014, Life

#NaPoWriMo Day Thirty – “April’s Journey”

Posted on by Charlie Alford
headstone-md1

She noticed the line between B and D

on the worn out stone in that photograph

and thought, what could that line possibly mean?

When she leaves here, she’ll paint an autograph

of all her thoughts, moments and poetry

signed, sealed, delivered with a smile and laugh.

Walking through time, her quest to history

where she wrote letters on a Wiltshire hill

pondering the worlds greatest mysteries.

Lie with her in fields of daffodils

as she gazes into Albion’s windows

from the grassy bench of Salisbury’s windmills.

Or find her dancing sunshine and rainbows

as she encounters New York Down Under

April Twenty Fourteen was quite a show

just like lightening in a storm of thunder.

Her line tastes like chai latte on Mondays

a blissful moment her heart could plunder

From point B, the line is a disarray

of wibbly-wobbly moments

just waiting to be played.

 

Prompt: All the 29 poems I’ve written this NaPoWriMo 2014.