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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing January 2023
I Remember a time…, poems by Mary E. Ringland.
I Remember a time…
When a Platform
was a shoe
a deathtrap on the dance-floor
for a 1970’s disco diva
a launchpad for a Rocket Man
When the Cloud
was fluffy, all vapour and crystal,
a dreamy doppelgänger,
filled with dinosaurs, dogs,
and the odd dead relative
When the Web
was a spidery,
spinneret spun,
silken trap,
for any unsuspecting fly on the wall
I remember a time…
When my mind was my own
When we talked on the phone
When I didn’t feel so alone
The Substitute
He bought me a Lava Lamp
a gaudy gadget, full of false phallic intent
a tacky token of titillation
complete with a manufactures guarantee, of
psychedelic, scintillating, effervescence
‘They’re weird, way out’ he declared
his breath bitter as the beer he supped
‘Just like you then’ I snorted
my everyday eye roll, spiralling
into a chasm of murderous intent
That man was pure vintage
not like, a good wine that just keeps getting better,
ageless and timeless, more
ageing and legless,
a bleary-eyed Bacchus,
an aficionado of the premier league,
a dodgy physique with no mystique,
a veteran of the lad’s night out — washed out
and if truth be told,
a bit of a lout
I placed it on the substitutes bench
of whatnot and tat, beside
the Deluxe Massager and Foot Spa,
the Vintage Beer Coasters,
the cold, mechanical, Birthday Toaster; guaranteed to
pop up just the way you like it (it didn’t)
alongside the discarded gold and diamond clutter,
buried deep, beneath
the beer-stained Kodachrome dreams
in our dog-eared receptacle of lies
Rhapsody in Blue
We were an Argentine Tango on Strictly
an Argentine Tango, sexy — slickly
staccato, sensual and sassy
Until the lights turned blue
the lights turned blue
We were Swan Lake, skating on the thin ice
Swan Lake, skimming a slippery surface
all necks and wings, feathers and bling
Until the ice turned blue
the ice turned blue
We were Mills and Boon, the masters of swoon
Mills And Boon, you flew me to the moon
on a river of lust — gained all my trust
Until the moon turned blue
the moon turned blue
I was your lady Chatterley, for sure
your lady Chatterley, oozing allure
you were my bit of rough — raunchy and tough
Until the moor turned blue
the moor turned blue
We were Fifty Shades of Grey, back in the day
Fifty shades of grey — hey, hey, what a lay
fated, elated, ultra X-rated
Until the hue turned blue
the hue turned blue
We were a Beethoven Scherzo in C
A Beethoven Scherzo, full of brio,
gyroscopic, erotic — symbiotic!
Now we’re a rhapsody in blue
in blue
A Rhapsody in Blue!
© Mary E. Ringland
Mary lives on the beautiful Antrim coast with her partner and her two dogs, Fig and Freda. She has been a writer for the past twelve years; mostly prose and flash fiction. During lockdown, she began writing poetry for stage and page, mainly as a way of keeping sane and she hasn’t looked back. To date, Mary has had her work published in the Bangor Literary Journal and The Community Arts Partnership pamphlet, ‘Over the threshold’. She is also a regular participant in live and online performance poetry events such as; Lit Up, Oooh Beehive, The Belfast Book Festival Slam 2022, and the Morecambe Poetry Festival 2022. And, more recently in November 2022, she was a participant in Eat The Storms Podcast.
Mary is currently in the process of completing her Masters’s Degree in Creative Writing with the Open University and is working towards her debut poetry collection, due for publication in 2023. She also works part-time as a therapeutic Counsellor and has a keen interest in gardening and wildlife photography.