JAMES CHARLES FLYNN

Places in the sun

are sometimes overdone.

And they can come complete

with sadness, not with fun.

Many have said before

that wherever you go you take

your feelings – happy or raw –

Imposter, idiot, fake…

(That stinking feeling).

              * 

To Greece. Kalimera.

Overland and overseas – in a band-aid aided car –

holding it all together.

 

It doesn’t seem that far

unless you have to drive it.

Unwanted passengers skive it.

Such a pleasure

to finally ditch them

in Athens’ ancient heart

after a week of sardinery.

Now to hit the ouzo and be hit by

monstrous hangovers and the

aunt of my escaping girlfriend.

Cracks a mug on my head.

 

 

                      *

In and Out of Africa we thrive.

Jambo, Bwana.

Making theatre and playing

especially when it’s paying

more than enough for adventure.

For safaris, for the run

of the Great Rift Valley.

Swim in that native water hole.

Elephant attack,

panicked girlfriends in the back

and

damage to the skull in

connecting with the screen.

Stitches in the dark

by torchlight, in a park –

“hold it steady!”

Call it killjoy, call it

Kilimanjaro.

                    *

Where’s anger

when you need it?

Let’s not look back but find

ourselves an Oasis.

Folkestone end-of-the-pier

shows will do it –

“beside the seaside, beside the sea”.

Don’t rue it. Mr Porter

will have a go,

put on a show, swimmingly,

for us all.

There’s never enough sun

let alone fun,

on the English coast. It is

not California, sure.

 

                             *

 Would you go to Hamburg

for a hamburger? Maybe.

Think of the money –

forget it’s not sunny.

Keep out of the vater!

Oh, but you’ll need a beery brew – which they

easily can do.

You can eat Labskaus - seafarers’ stew

coloured a cool pinkish hue

by the addition of beetroot. Eww!

 

                          *

 

We like to go south in the winter,

and wouldn’t you know it,

escaping the snow, it

lands us in this Great

Southern Land.

Leave London in Jan –

I’m not such a fan of

the snow. Why then go

to New York, even colder?

This year I’m being bolder and

taking a Round The World trip.

Winter outfits for freezing and

Skimpy costume for swimming.

No.

Not that I’m happy much

being out in the sea.

But the heat I do like and

I will never

forget Perth.

The smell of the eucalypts.

That rush of hot air as I

stepped from the plane.

Insane, but a place

I can have space

to be me.

 

            *

 

Never going back.