The other Trent Vale poet

At Trafficlink I have one of the least sociable work patterns you can imagine, earlies is 6am-2pm and lates on 2-10pm. Both shifts have their pros and cons however. On lates I used to do the travel for BBC Coventry and Warwickshire right up until 10pm, which is just plain daft as their stretch of roads are almost always silent by 7pm. One perk was the banter I got to have with the presenter, who would ask me such questions as “Greg, have you ever been in a shop?” or “Greg, what did you have for tea?”

On a Tuesday he had a poetry night and would challenge me to write a short poem on that week's subject, so at 8.20 he'd give me a topic and by 9.40 I'd have to read it out live to the adoring fans. Bear in mind, I had bulletins for other stations to prepare and present as well as for CovWar so these are far from polished masterpieces but for the next few Mondays I'll let you have a read of my unedited poems. The last two poems I wrote before the show was axed were just before Christmas and early on in the New Year. For some reason they asked me to write a haiku on the last show:

New Year Haiku
Another year gone
Another year to age more
Time moves too fast now

Christmas
I'd be happy if there was no mention of Christmas until the day itself
Although the world would be a much different place, it'd feel right eery
I take a positive view of life, but my enthusiasm seems to go on the shelf
When it gets closer to December and I'm reminded of those days dreary
When the days are short and weather gets colder, grimmer and wetter
As if some vision of yuletide festivities is going to make me feel better

But then, I'm rather missing the point of Christmas, as are most
Driven by commerciality is hardly how it all would have began
It's not to give presents, cards, to give those chestnuts a roast
It's to remember the birth of God on earth as a wee man
So when everyone else is enjoying their decadent pleases
I'll be singing my own song entitled Happy Birthday Jesus