a soul just cries
break my heart and my soul cries for love into the desert dust
~
letters lie there helplessly
in a pile inside the door
I’ve tried but I just can’t
remember who they’re for
the past fades
the future hides
and time just glides
then you say America
and that makes me smile
I haven’t seen America
for such a long long while
a soul just cries
new thoughts arise
of blue skies calm seas
But you said California
and it made me smile
if I ever see California
my blue eyes will shine
and as for love
it’s much to old
a story to believe
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
the Pacific listens to my crying soul
Hot California Nights
I can’t stop looking at you, can I buy you a drink?
~
on a stool at the bar
a foxy woman, solitary
older, alone in a dark corner
drinking straight bourbon, heavily
staring blankly down at the counter
conversations offered ending unhappily
perhaps I could and should have ignored her
I knew it could only end in one way
her bad memories, bitter tears
but gently I lead her away
carefully to my car
where she vomited, noisily, messily
the fox confirmed my worst fears
but later I still had my way
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
wealth, foxy women, and too much wine
can make anything happen in this life
(the poetic form is a bastardized Rondeau)
Hospital Introspection
knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom
I think that it’s acceptable for me to be apprehensive, introspective, and a little depressed ~ I’m pretty certain this is day #5 of my lying on this hospital bed. I haven’t been able to get up at all, because of the tubes, drips, and because moving is painful for me. Being immobile on a hospital bed, with very little control of my own life, and very little privacy isn’t a joyous time.
At least the catheter was removed this morning, right after the phlebotomist took my blood for the umpteenth time. Nobody tells you that catheter removal is painful, and that there’s probably going to be blood. At least the nurses make me a cup of tea after they wake me up at 5 a.m. I thank them profusely for that.
As it happens I am not looking forward to going for a pee.
I have been trying to make the best of things;
We ought to hear at least one little song every day, read a good poem, see a first-rate painting, and if possible speak a few sensible words. ~ von Goethe
My concentration has come back sufficiently for me to do most of that ~ the sensible words thing may still be eluding me. Maybe the things I write on here contain a few sensible words.
One good thing has come out of this, I have realised that many of the people who know me on here, genuinely care about me and my welfare. I am pleased to call them my friends.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
I like the California desert
I wish I was there now
Scenes on Sunday ~ California Road Trip
the life you have led doesn’t need to be the only life you have
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
sometimes, only a convertible Mustang will do, with a very cute girl riding shotgun
Hotel California
staying in cockroach city is OK if you’re with the right woman
~
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Maybe I was
Scenes on Sunday ~ Cold Beaches
not all beaches bask under a Californian summer sun
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
this is what it’s like in sunny California
what a smashing lifeguard
A Californian I Am Not
California is a nice place to live, if you happen to be a hippie.
Orange County in Southern California is a very beautiful place to spend early summer ~ the great weather, fabulous beaches, and fascinating countryside….. But any Englishman thinking of coming here for the very first time needs to know that SoCal is as different from the Shires as Wensleydale cheese is from the muck known as American cheese.
George Bernard Shaw once said that England and America are two countries separated by a common language. This is manifestly true. Californians do not know how to speak or understand English, even if Spanish is not their first language. Certainly no Californian will ever understand English humour, irony, sarcasm, or know what real honesty is about. Also Californians have a language of their own; WTF does ‘Jonesing’ mean?
There is popular movement that calls on us all to walk 10,000 steps a day. Californians do not walk anywhere, unless they are a penniless bum. A Californian will drive to the gym and then spend some time on the treadmill while listening to mindless music.
And, Californians are among the very worst drivers I have ever come across, possibly barring the French. The two real downsides are #1 all Americans think they are good drivers, #2 in California the standard of driving worsens by age, sex, and ethnicity, (not how you’d think).
Californians even drive to and from what they are pleased to call a pub. I’ve been in several pubs / sports bars here, and to any decent Englishman they are universally appalling. Do Not think you will get a decent pint of beer here, they serve dross such as pineapple flavoured beer. Americans are also pleased to sit at the bar and watch sports TV all night. Do Not eat the food in any American pub / sports bar.
Some Californian food is fabulous, you can get a wonderful steak and salad here. On the other hand sushi is popular here, and so is serving nasty cheese with everything. Do not try ‘Mexican’ food, it’s greasy muck with jalapeno.
Some say that California is the Golden State. And that saying ‘have a nice day’ isn’t actually an insult. All I know is that bikers, drop-outs, hippies, stoners, and surf bums do well here.
~
Jack Collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
The beach bars are cool in California,
and some serve good food,
The Flat Earth Conspiracy
Those who are able to see beyond shadows will never be understood.
April Fools Day
The Earth from Space. (that’s Atlanta GA in the centre)
A bunch of conspiracy theorists who persist in believing that the Earth is flat are planning a trip to Antarctica to see ‘the end of the world’. I think they really mean the “edge of the world”, but you wouldn’t expect anyone who believes in a flat Earth to have a good grasp of semantics.
Good luck on that trip. If the Earth really was as flat as a pancake they would never get there because all navigation by sea and air relies entirely on the fact that the Earth is an oblate spheroid ~ that is not at all flat.
Mind you, as the next meeting of the Flat Earth International Conference will be held in Dallas, Texas, the spiritual home of conspiracy theories. I’m guessing that their meetings are filled with febrile debates about nothing that is within shouting distance of reality. You know what? I would have expected the Flat Earth Bunch to be headquartered in California, where they really do know how to party with psychoactive substances.
There is no evidence whatsoever for a flat Earth, other than the evidence of our own eyes when our feet are planted firmly on the ground. In that case, when we look around us, the Earth does seem flat ~ other than hills and mountains, and valleys, and gorges….. The Pythagorean theorem, one of the oldest mathematical proofs in Euclidian Geometry, is predicated on the Earth being flat. However, Pythagoras falls apart when great distances across the Earth are involved, in which case we need to use spherical trigonometry. (Which only works for big balls.)
As far back as Columbus in 1492 AD, navigators knew the Earth was a spheroid, although Columbus got the circumference badly wrong. The Norse Vikings knew the Earth was a sphere when they travelled to America in about 1,000 AD. The Ancient Greeks were thinking about a spherical Earth in the 6th Century BC, and before that the Phoenicians navigated great distances based on the idea that the Earth was a sphere.
The Moon is a sphere too
Only in the Bible is the idea of a flat Earth much popularised, and as we all know, everything in the bible can be treated as the Gospel Truth. However, if you are interested in exploring the flat Earth conundrum, the Flat Earth Society has a cool website https://www.tfes.org/
Some say that NASA’s sole reason for existence is to propagandize the public and promote this false ball-Earth heliocentric worldview. And that there was never a moon landing, it was all shot in a studio in Culver City. All I know is that some gullible fools are eager to believe the stupidest pseudo-scientific dross. And the moon really is made of green cheese.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
some say that real women have absolutely no sense of direction, and that no woman will ever admit that they’re wrong, some of that is mostly true
California Flowers
Every flower is a soul blossoming in nature.
In early June this year I will be flying out to Southern California, and then on to Arizona for a week or so.
One of the things I like best about SoCal is the beautiful flowers ~ the like of which we don’t see here in England.
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jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
perhaps I should get a book on the wild flowers of the USA
Cars, and Planes, and Trains
It’s very nice to go travelling, but it’s so much nicer to travel home.
Actually no it isn’t. In comparison to warm and sunny Orange County, the North of England in late November is bleak, boring, grey, and bloody cold, even down at my favourite boat on the marina it’s miserable today. And it’s a pretty long journey to get back here from where I was staying with my friend.
- Leave my friend at 04:00 Pacific Time on Monday 19th November.
- Uber to John Wayne Airport.
- Take off from John Wayne at 07:00.
- Flight to Dallas Fort Worth 2hrs 35
- Land DFW at 11:35 Central Time (2 hours time change).
- Take off DFW at 15:15 for London Heathrow, a flight of 9hrs 00, (benefiting from a 125mph tail wind over the Atlantic).
- Land London Heathrow at 06:15 GMT on November 20th (6 hours time change).
- Leave LHR for Newcastle upon Tyne at 09:45 GMT, a flight of 1hrs 15
- Arrive NCL at 11:00
- Leave Newcastle Airport by Metro Subway for Newcastle Central Rail Station at 12:40 GMT
- Arrive back at the garret at 14:30 GMT on Monday 20th of November.
Total journey time of 26hrs 30min. Time in the air 12hrs 50min.
It’s about 5,500 miles from SoCal to the North of England, all in all, and from 38,000 feet you damn well know the world is round when you look out of the aircraft windows.
Some say that it’s excitement and adventure that keeps a man alive. And, that when you can’t be bothered to go travelling, you may as well just curl up and die. All I know is that I loved every damn minute of my latest trip ~ maybe the best trip ever.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
much on New Mexico is Indian land
(is one allowed to say that?)
