Doorway Writing Group June 2017

Doorway writing group June 2017
Five fabulous guests had a go at the crossword this month and we had a fun conversation about some of the words. Could we, we wondered, challenge ourselves to slip some of the more unusual words casually into conversations over the next week? Ideally during chats with unsuspecting individuals. We could, for instance, just en passant mention a) our intention to travel by charabanc (3 DOWN: a tourist coach), b) our tendency to indulge in a cold collation (9 ACROSS: a light informal meal) or even c) the fichu (24 ACROSS: a woman’s small triangular shawl for the shoulders and neck) which we’ve just bought for a friend’s birthday. Hmmmm, could prove interesting!
Certain crossword answers also led us onto some fascinating aspects of our life stories: a chat about time spent living in Malta or working with the circus. This in turn helped us to encourage K to write a short piece for our blog. J was – even by his standards – extremely prolific this session: providing us with a feast of song lyrics, poems/haikus and even a bit of – tongue-in-cheek political campaigning. Enjoy!

Doorway Music (by J)
You might be looking for shelter
A place where you belong
If you’ve a heart still beating
There’s a place for a song

Your conscience might be grating
Just trying to survive
One more rainy weekday might just skin you alive
You’ve forgotten what it’s like to have peace of mind
Get the music started and begin to unwind

There’s a hand for holding on
A guitar to string along
A roll on the drums just keeps a-rolling- on
One life that’s ended, one life that lives on
That’s Doorway music
Going for a song.

Mr Marzipan (by J)
You can’t just call me yeller
Because I’m sweet and slightly nutty
When it’s your birthday then you can
Call me Mr Marzipan
Under the icing
Where it’s chilling
A slab of sunshine
Not too filling
No one else in this whole lan’
Quite like
Mr Marzipan

Rope Walk (by J)
This is not a lifeline
It’s a rope walk
Not even a good time
A rope walk
Ask me if I feel fine
Yes, it’s fine
Like a rope walk.

Empty handed, washed up
Stranded
Like a piece of driftwood on the sand
Wondering how something
That started so innocently
So quickly became so hopelessly
Out of hand
And I’m so tired of the trouble and the strife
To send another postcard from the jagged side of life
On the rope walk.

Votes for Poldark (by J)
There’s a new face on the high Street
A blast from the Cornish past
Is back
So it’s nearly time
To cut the loss
And cross
For Ross

Haikus (by J):

Summer
Furtive question mark
Cat’s tail swish behind the hedge
Trailing lobelias

A roadside romantic
Belisha beacon
On and off and off and on
We’re over… to you?
How do!

Circus Life – Episode 1 (by K)
17 lions, 12 tigers, 3 elephants, 7 Polar bears, 1 Rock python, an American, a German, an Irishman and an Englishman all got on a ship at Gravesend. They took a tent and some seats and 30 caravans, and it was called Chipperfield’s Circus. The rest of them (another 57 people) all flew to Jakarta and got sunburn, but the ones who went on the ship turned brown instead….
Episode 2 eagerly awaited!