Bloggery 2

Bloggery 2

Okay, so welcome to my second attempt at a bit of bloggery. I have changed one or two things since the first attempt, For one thing, I’ve decided that this page will be the sort of showcase for the rest of the blog. So this is where I’ll be posting a short story or a poem or a story or something each month. Today I’m going to try and showcase a poem called Stuff on a Stick, which comes under the category of whimsy. I think.

I’ve also added a page. It’s called “Tenses Don’t Get Tense about Them.”,And it looks at the grammar associated with Tense in English. [Not Tense as in being nervous, But Tense as in Grammar. Hopefully if you look at it, you’ll find that it’s not dry and dull at all – the whole thing is in dialogue, and as well as the grammar there’s a sort of mystery story, and a sort of love story.

Anyway, have a look – especially if you’re an English teacher or student of the language.

I think that that’s enough self-promotion. Here’s the poem I promised you:

Stuff on a stick.

This morning Fred said

‘I’ve got some stuff on a stick’,

and nobody turned a hair.

But my mind was immediately crowded

with images of

toffee apples

stooks of corn

candy floss

shish kebabs

choc ices

and lolly pops.

In my mind I saw broom(sticks)

dip(sticks)

flag(sticks)

drum(sticks)

up(sticks)?

No. Stick(ups)

joy(sticks),

lip(sticks)

and sticklers (for tradition)

I also saw match(sticks)

and slap(sticks)

fiddle(sticks)

candle(sticks)

and bread(sticks)

My mind was sticky with sticks:

Sticks of rock

and sticks of dynamite,

Gear sticks

and tally sticks

walking sticks

and yard sticks

stick men

stick insects

sticklebacks (?)

crabsticks

and chopsticks

French sticks

carrots and sticks

funny old sticks

jolly hockey sticks

A whole bundle of sticks,

More sticks than I could shake a stick at

but ‘some stuff on a stick’ was new to me.

So I watched Fred stick

the stick

in his laptop

And in a flash I saw

the stuff it held

Amazing

I didn’t know a stick

could be so clever.

Stick.

a simple enough word,

but the language is changing fast.

The next time I wonder

whether to twist or

stick

I’d better Google it first.

End of bloggery 2

Blpggery 1

.Hello, welcome to bloggery. My name is Chris Pearson and I’m a writer. I’m very proud to be able to say that; it’s just a pity that I’m not published  Actually that’s not quite true, I have published two books for teenagers (they’re kind of fantasies), and three collections of poems. If you’re interested, you can get more information in the page on poetry. The problem is that these books lurk in the darker corners of the Internet, and nobody knows they’re there. It’s a familiar problem I know, but frustrating.

Most of my life I’ve been a teacher of English, (though I did spend two years working on a radio station in the Middle East), I retired in September 2013 after 40 years teaching English in Spain (3 years), Qatar (7 years), China (5 years), Turkey (7 years) and the United Arab Emirates (7 years). I am married and have three grown up children. My wife, Stephanie, is the Deputy Head of a Primary school. We have been back in the UK Since 2001.

I’ve always been a writer, and I have written two novels, both targeted at young teenagers, the first, caled “The Rekhaz” – involves an immense dragon, a weapon capable of destroying the solar system, an Arab sheikh and his son, and all three of my children – and is available now through Amazon amd the Kindle store.

A review of the book (from a friend whose opinion I very much respect),was very complimentary:

” Tell Chris I have finished his book and really enjoyed it. Thought it was better written than Harry Potter and is amazingly imaginative. He is very good at getting back into a child’s head as well I think. I am impressed and envious!”

I have also  written a number of short stories, and these will appear on the blog from time to time. in fact, one of them, ‘Tall and Tanned and Young and Lovely.” is already available in the short story section of the blog.

31st of March 2015

Actually,I haven’t posted a new short story this time, instead I have put up one of my poems.

It came to me in a flash; I got the title directly from one of my colleagues, then all I had to do was scour my mental lexicon, a couple of dictionaries and at least one thesaurus. Easy, really, but fun.

I’ll post a new story next month