Harbour
Lights Poets (ride again).
Time to
remind our friends that the next meeting of the Harbour Lights poets will be on
Sunday 29th of July. For the
sake of any new guests to our group we gather at 2pm in the meeting room above
the Harbour Lights Café at the Look and Sea centre, by the beautiful River Arun
in Littlehampton. West Sussex. For more info, email: dafbelt@outlook.com
Everybody
is welcome, watchers and listeners are just as warmly invited as poets and
writers of any level, in fact we love to encourage, help or advise and greet beginners
or just sit and lap up more experienced visiting poets work. Please do join us
for a couple of hours.
Steve,
Anthony Towers and I have been on a swimming and hiking holiday in Reifnitz on the Wörtersee
in Austria,
where the surroundings are stunningly, breathtakingly scenic and inspiring.
Looking toward the mountains in Slovenia from our table at dinner last night
A Hike
in Austria
Taking
what was less than a path uphill
just
after breakfast with some time to kill,
needing
to shake holiday sloth away
Crank up
the limbs to work more than just play.
Rising sharply
from the village below
Into
thick woodland where dark shadows grow.
A deer
leapt, the flash of furry rust red
of his
flanks as through sunlight he sped.
A
mountain stream spat the tiniest frog
who
crawled up a leaf and on to a log,
through
trees we saw a marvellous vista
turquoise
lake surface of sparkling glister.
Give
thanks to fortune to have such a life,
hand in
hand fondly, a husband and wife.
Mouse Mountain
A
mountain side cowshed turned
into a
chic hotel conversion.
From
fancy brochure we learned
funky
individuality emersion.
Each
room furnished
by a
well known designer
wall
art, coffee table
and
smooth leather recliner.
The
trendy restaurant serves
Dishes,
artistic yet regional,
wide
reaching and international
wine
list and fruit that was seasonal.
The vast
buffet breakfast presents
Swiss
delicacies and specialities
Experienced
staff that were fluent
in
languages for all nationalities.
Early
morning breakfasters
were it
seemed, few on the ground.
On that
morning just one other
couple
entered, glancing around.
They
strolled to the far end and
he sat
down with his back to the wall,
she took
the seat opposite, facing him.
She
looked in and he could see all.
Between
our two tables appeared
the furriest mouse I ever saw
lush mountain
coat, a comic appearance
fur
coated mice in such places are law.
Insects
and rodents don’t bother me
but
watching her husband’s eyes….
Turned
to see what it was he saw;
She
screamed, blood curdling cries.
She kept
on bellowing her alarm
skirt
held tight climbed on a chair
I turned
to face my other half
he went
and hid by the buffet there.
The
manager apologised to the lady
who was
still distraught by that.
He
brought a mousetrap and the cat;
Placed
them both near to where she sat.
That
couple left the hotel soon after
leaving
behind the horror of the house.
On my
dessert plate that evening was
a huge
ice cream with a marzipan mouse.
