"Stories behind some of the poems in A Bardic Melange

In case readers are curious, allow me to explain the background to a selection of my poems:

1 "Pardon my Padron" is a true story of a reaction that a restaurant client suffered, following the ingestion of such a pepper. Thankfully, she lived to tell her story which, in turn, inspired the poem to emerge.

2 "Who is this guy?" It's a reference to our saviour Jesus Christ and my version of a potted history of him.

3 "Granddaughter" is a personal tribute to my soon to be 18 year old granddaughter.

4 "Our hero" relates to my late Father and takes us through his life in stages. Sadly he died in August 2021, at the age of 96. His 100th birthday would have been Christmas Day this year.

5 "White; Black or Grey?" This is a story of which Beau a young lady must choose.

6 "Happy childhood memories" is self- explanatory. In other words it's a blast from the past (and it references good old Radio Caroline). Happy days!

7 "World Cup 1966" takes us through the exploits of our successful national football team and salutes those "heroes" involved.

8 "Save our pub" is topical with so many parts of the country and is a call to arms for those who want to save such institutions.

9 "School limericks" refers to teachers and their sobriquet. It stirred up fond reminiscences of my time at school and the antics of our educators!

10 "For the Grace of God" concerns a rough sleeper and makes us question our attitudes and whether we really care for victims of such a plight?
Thankfully, in the poem, someone does turn out to care.

11 "The delivery driver" is comical but parts of the poem will ring true with some readers!

12 "The rhyme of the modern matelot". This is my offering of a modern update of S T Coleridge's "Rime of the ancient mariner." In my version there is a dark theme running throughout. In real life, some of the events in this poem applied to my wife and I when we undertook a cruise of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea back in year 2000. Our ship took a climatic battering! Thankfully, we lived to tell the tale!

The foregoing is just an insight into my writings. I hope that you will be inspired to procure the book for further investigation and perusal!
Do feel free to leave comments and/or critique if you so desire.

Many thanks for taking the time to read through this blog entry.

Best wishes,
Tony Mcintosh

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