Malcolm Hulatt

An Amazon Day
Guernica - Choice
Mes Classes De Français
New Dimensions
Plastic Menu - Plastic Food
Spark of Life
That The Grass Is Rarely Greener
The web rules, ok!
When Cars Were Black
Who Could Sleep?
Hong Kong
Imagination Rules the World
Texas City Refinery Fire
Dubai Towers

Amazon

The howler monkeys roar on cue,
Followed by a silent pause
Before we see the light of dawn,
When all the birds begin their song
To welcome in a bright new day
Reflected in the drops of dew.

The searing heat begins to build,
Though jungle shade gives some relief.
The humid blanket presses down
To leave all drained of any strength,
While up above the storm clouds fill
And thunder rattles all around.

But still we wait for those first drops
As lightning flashes left and right,
Until it hits with fearsome might,
And gusting eddies swirl and rip
The dried up palm leaves from the trees,
Till peace and cool then reign again.

Malcolm Hulatt © 2004
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Guernica - Choice

Part 1: Sartre

Some things arrive like a tidal flood,
To make you cogitate and walk,
Force you to think that you just could,
At junctures where there is a fork,
Arrest the mental to and fro,
Then make a choice not let it go.

The Age of Reason took me aback,
Gave me the right to pick and choose,
As wrapped around that paper back
Guernica lay there hanging loose,
Inviting contemplation deep,
Around a text to guard and keep.

Just twenty centimetres long,
And thirteen centimetres high;
The expressionism shows so strong,
When foreign fliers in the sky
So terrorised the market throng.
Yet all of Spain knew that was wrong.

The subject of this thoughtful tale,
Amid a Gallic highbrow world,
Could not embrace his freedom frail,
To fight in Spain or pick a girl,
To use his educated voice,
To go or stay: he had a choice.

Part 2: Picasso

The choice which Franco made is there,
It’s such a struggle to take it in,
Guernica offers war laid bare
As the Luftwaffe from Berlin
Blitzed that town into submission
With Franco’s permit and permission.

Picasso chose to disapprove,
His painting made them stand and stare,
He would not contemplate reproof
Of his work for the Paris Fair,
He exercised his human right
To take his artwork to the fight.

Left hanging up for New York’s view,
Till democratic rule in Spain
Freed the country to live anew
And send the painting home again,
A reminder of the human toll:
How civil war destroys the soul.

Now many thousand choose to throng
To where the tableau fills a wall,
Eight hundred centimetres long,
Three fifty centimetres tall,
The scale, you cannot visualise,
Makes such an impact there full sized.

Malcolm Hulatt © 2004
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Lost Luggage

Arriving in Shanghai without a case,
May not be quite as bad as you may deem,
With compensation swiftly put in place,
I could replace shampoo and shaving cream.

Yet clothes were slightly more a problem,
As sizes were constructed for Chinese,
All around were giggling girls in mayhem,
Assessing vital measurements to please.

For the shirts they measured round my neck,
Then my shoulders didn’t fit inside the space,
For underwear they just thought what the heck,
And gave me extra large with smiling face.

But I was left still bursting out all over,
Suffering from lost luggage bossa nova.

Malcolm Hulatt © 2004
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Mes Classes De Français

Mes classes de français me font peur,
Elles me donnent une crise de coeur,
Chaque mercredi il me faut faire,
Une préparation bien scolaire,
Pour montrer ce que j’ai appris,
Tous les devoirs que j’ai finis.
La maitresse peut-être petite,
Mais, elle tape la main si on n’est pas vite.

Je dois apprendre les listes de mots,
La langue correcte mais pas l’argot,
Je traduis les textes difficiles,
Mais jamais les comptines faciles,
Si j’hésite et puis me trompe,
Je rougis parce que j’en ai honte.
Les ânes sont mis en face le mur,
Quand leur professeur est dur.

Malcolm Hulatt © 2004
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New Dimensions

In life we may develop new dimensions,
It may look like we are now something new,
But values at the core take no correction,
We always leave behind those telling clues.

As we grow and discover who we are,
We may choose to camouflage who we were,
Vicissitudes in life will leave their scars,
Although with time the past becomes a blur.

But many people learn as they get older,
Gain strength from the difficulties incurred,
Suppressing any chip upon the shoulder,
Dispelling any envy which may stir.

So taking pride in who we are’s a must,
In establishing self respect and trust.

Malcolm Hulatt © 2004
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Plastic Menu – Plastic Food

Did a plastic menu,
Really ever tempt you,
To linger with your meal.
Alas the plastic food,
Will put you in a mood,
As you wonder if it’s real.

I think that what they need,
Is to taste the food they feed.
There is often so much left.
The food has no true flavour,
A gourmet seeks to savour.
They should sack the little chef.

Malcolm Hulatt © 2004
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Spark of Life

The small talk starts
With facts exchanged
The iceberg tip comes into view,
We start to judge
Quite early on
Despite the shallowest of clues.

The energy,
That spark of life,
May be difficult to sustain,
For many, with
The surface scratched
There seems little which remains.

But, others offer
Hidden depths
For which you have to wait and give,
Some elements
Of treasure trove
In personalities which live.

Malcolm Hulatt © 2004
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That The Grass Is Rarely Greener

To recognise that grass is rarely greener,
Is something we must learn to do in life,
Though the sun may make things look much better,
The shade that it creates may foster strife.

Some take little pride in their achievements,
Focus on what they have yet to attain,
Chase with keen endeavour new contentment,
As they seek to release their mental chains.

We need to see the glass to be half full,
And always build our lives on what we hold,
Work to ensure that life is seldom dull,
Put aside what negatives may unfold,
Ignore the advertising image pull,
Develop what we have by being bold.

Malcolm Hulatt © 2004
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The Web Rules, ok!

It is enough to remember they say,
It’s malcolmhulatt.co.uk,
But should dyslexic spelling rule today,
It’s co.ok for co.uk,
If that should make you think of food you may,
Pluck co.ck from co.uk,
And with a glass of wine you feel okay,
So un-co.rk the co.uk

If you feel hungry after this word play,
Prepare coq au vin and drink chardonnay.

Malcolm Hulatt © 2004
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When Cars Were Black

Before the days of smokeless zones
When cars were black and all in steel,
The soot pumped out from coal-fired homes
Sullied clothes and made you feel
There had to be a cleaner way
To keep the winter cold at bay.

When cars were white and looking sleek,
Soot wafted down then settled still,
Before the water wash each week
Erased the discharge from the mill,
Then all at once the clean air act
Eliminated soot from fact.

Malcolm Hulatt © 2004
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Who Could Sleep?

Nessun Dorma is the football anthem,
World Cup Italia and all of that,
And sure I have heard old Pavarotti
Hold in his grasp an audience enrapt'

But to sit so close to such a tenor,
Holding a note to make a teaspoon bend,
Just blew my mind as all of those around
Burst into great applause before the end.

You wondered from where the air was coming,
The note seemed then to build rather than trail,
His eyes began to bulge out of their sockets;
His concentration grew; he would not fail.

Well, that was worth the entrance fee alone,
The highlight of the festival to date,
As Peter Auty gave his great finale;
For the better things in life you have to wait.

Hong Kong

The white lights come
And red lights go,
But nothing stops.

The ferries dart
And shipping flows
While sea waves chop.

The buses speed
From dawn cock crow
Till workers flop.

The people rush
With furrowed brow
Around the clock.

Imagination Rules the World

Imagination rules the world today,
Releases us from shackles in our mind,
Proposes that there be different way,
Another route to see what we can find.

It lets us plan for what we might achieve
As we strive to break the moulds we see,
Offers up rare chances to be seized,
Allows the mind to flourish and be free.

But with the chance to fly comes chance to fall,
The possibility that plans go wrong,
We have to roll the dice and make the call,
Then take what comes but keep the mind set strong.

The skills which manage risk will seal our fate,
Decide a life of failure or rebate.

Texas City Refinery Fire

My blood runs cold at the photograph,
Mangled metal beyond repair,
Haunting images feed the mind,
So many families in despair.

A dozen people reported killed,
A hundred injured in the blast,
But many simply vaporised,
As start-up safety failed its task.

Dubai Towers

Stretching up like feeding geese
Gorging on the hazy sun, stand
Big sister, little brother,
Reflecting back the perfect other.

Geometric sentinels
Of designer cubist cool design
That catch the eye
While puncturing the clear blue sky

A permanent exhibition
Of artistic architecture,
Just one view of life
On the glossy side of new Dubai.