Like Larkin.

Okay guys, as promised I'm gonna delve into the journal for today's post. Still on the poetry theme for today (But no, we want more Manmade Man, I hear you cry. Well I'll post that tomorrow for you.) It has to be said, this is possibly the longest poem I've ever written... To put it into a bit of context, I caught the train to Bristol the other day so that I could surprise the girlface on her lunch break. Needless to say, things didn't go quite as well as I'd hoped, but I did manage to see her. Anyhoo, on the train I was reminded of Philip Larkin's "The Whitsun Weddings" and how he wrote a poem whilst journeying on a train, so that's what I thought I'd do. Again, I apologise, this is a rather long poem, and did lead to a follow up poem called "An Errata to Like Larkin" because I realised I'd made some calculative errors. Anyway, here we go, Like Larkin:

Like Larkin.

Taking a lead from Larkin,

I write whilst on the train.

I see the sights go scrolling past

That I know I'll see again.

I'm on this train to see her,

My beautiful darling girl.

We won't have long, but it'll be fun

To once again merge our worlds.

There are many people on this train

As the ticket man wanders by.

I wonder how many will try to hide

So as not to catch his eye?

One station down, five more I think,

Until I'm in her arms.

I'll buy her flowers to make her smile

And set off love's alarm.

She's worried that I won't see her,

That I left the train too late.

But the ticket man reassures me

That she definitely won't have to wait.

Just like Larkin, I watch the fields

As they overtake the cities and towns.

Out here, nature is king of the realm

And causes the modern man to frown.

It's sweet that my girl is worried.

It shows that she really does care.

At the station, I'll hop in a taxi

So I don't give too much of a scare.

I wonder if Larkin had someone

Waiting at the end of the line.

Regardless, I know that I have.

My girl is at the end of mine.

Cheltenam Spa passes me by.

Three stops, three more to go.

Parkway, Yate and Temple Meads,

Just waiting for the signal to show.

A delay, how typical, but we're off again,

No thanks to a kid on the line.

It wasn't long, only five minutes more.

I'll still be there in time.

Larkin, if you could see me know,

I wonder what you'd say?

Do you think I've done the right thing

By seeing my girl today?

I know I'm often a romantic,

But like you I'm a cynic too.

I wonder in this situation

What it is that you would do?

I think that you'd get on the train.

All writers will follow their heart!

Though perhaps like me when you saw your love

You too would not want to part.

Larkin, your words last through the ages

And so too my love for my one.

I'll smile all day while in her arms,

Though I'll grieve when I am gone.

So that's "Like Larkin", and as I mentioned, it spawned an Errata, which I'll post another time, but for now I'm off, so g'night all! Hopefully my house has quieted down and mircaulously become tidy in my absense? I know I'm a man of faith, but some things even I find hard to believe...

Night all,

Love and Peace!!

Craiggy.

September Seems...

Feeling somewhat nonchalant today... Ironic since my weekend has been spent performing two standup gigs and spending time with my lovely girlface. It's just that she's gone back home to her awesome full time job and, it's always difficult when we have to go our separate ways again, regardless of how much we enjoy our time together, however short. Long story short, distance sucks... And it's not even too far away! I have the deepest sympathy for people trying to sustain relationships across countries, nations, even seas!

In other news, I've bought myself a journal. It's kinda like being a real old school writer now! It's leather bound and everything... Well, possibly imitation leather, not sure on that one... Either way, it's such a nice feeling to write in a proper journal. I've already filled a few pages with stuff that I'm going to transfer onto here when I find the time. Also, apologies for not posting in such a long while. I assure you, the Tyree project is still progressing, but I've been working more on Like Clockwork primarily, that and poetry, I've been writing a lot of poetry as of late it seems. As such, that's what I was hoping to write tonight. It's completely off the cuff too, so here we go!

September Seems.

September seems not so far away,

But only if you say it quick.

September's pretty easy to say

When joined by a cheery hair flick.

September, you see, is when I next see her.

At least, that's the way it seems...

Given my options, I'd much prefer

To see her for real, not in dreams...

It's only three weeks, that's not long right?

Though it's longer than we've faced so far.

I'll toil and I'll slave and I'll grift and I'll fight

If it means I see those eyes like stars.

Time, it seems, is not our friend.

It laughs as we try to keep this love strong.

But love, my girl, it has no end

And shall never be proven wrong.

But now, my girl, I end this rhyme

So that I might dream of you.

And know, my love, that I'd gladly climb

The highest heights for this love so true...

Yeah, I'm sorry. It got a bit schmaltzy back there but I guess that's just where I am right now. I promise to have some new and exciting stuff for you too! And to prove it, here's a quick extract from another project that's been spawned in my journal which currently has the working title of "Manmade Man." Enjoy!

Reploids don't have the luxury of funerals. Hell, Reploids don't even have the finality of being buried to look forward to, in whatever morbid train of thought that that might be construed as a comfort in life... The final comfort I guess. No, when they die all a Reploid has to look forward to is having their genetic code broken down, analysed and recycled to produce more; a stream of never ending soldiers! It seemed the perfect solution at the start of the military's implementation of synthetic soldiers, but now that the war's over, now that the Reploids lost and struggle through existence as third class citizens, we don't even get the right to share the soil with our human kin...

I've lost count of how many people, people I considered friends died on the battlefield by my side, only to see them then hauled off by the carrier ships and sent back to the replication chambers to be remade into the perfect toy soldier. Do you have any idea - can you even begin to imagine how numbing it is to continue seeing and standing by, fighting alongside people who to all extents are those who you used to call friend? The same faces, the same voices, the same hair, eyes, breath, everything! Only, it's not them. They're just another Reploid off the factory line, 'born' into a life of chaos, misery and violence. They leave the replication chambers with nothing more than a serial number, a uniform and a gun. They have no memories of their past self, of who they were, and that's where it hurts the most. You know that no matter how much you want it to happen, you will never have your friends back; they simply stand and walk and fight alongside you with those all too familiar faces haunting you, crying and bleeding and dying all over again beside you, just for it to happen again over and over and over...

Sometimes, I wish it would happen to me... That way, maybe I'd stop seeing their faces when I try to sleep. There's a reason I wake up with a gun in my hand every morning... It's because every night before, I stare down its barrel, and I dare myself to become just another face in the Reploid crowd...