All That They Want

• 
• 

John’s latest poems include one about the plight of the migrants coming across the Mediterranean to Europe:

All that they want

All that they want is to live in peace.

All that they want is to be free.

All that they want is to find a country

Where they can live like you and like me.

 

All that they wanted was a future

Across the sea in another land.

All that they wanted was a safe passage.

All that they needed was a helping hand.

 

But all that the others wanted was money.

They said it was safe but they lied.

They didn’t care about the people.

They didn’t care if they lived or died.

 

All that he wanted was somewhere for his children

Where they could grow up safe and free

But what a terrible price he paid

When the boat capsized and they drowned in the sea.

 

All that the others wanted was money

They didn’t care about the lives that were lost

As they counted the note with blood on their hands,

The grieving father counted the cost.

 

All that they want is to live in peace,

In freedom and in harmony.

All that they want is to find a country

Where they can live like you and like me.

 

©John Foster 2015

A Few More

• 
• 

A few new haiku and a poem about rhymes.

 

A new haiku

This poem hasn’t been read
By anybody before.
It’s a new haiku.

 

Blue haiku

A calm sapphire sea
A field full of cornflowers
And a cloudless sky.

 

Flu haiku

I’m not feeling well.
I’m hot and have a headache..
I think I have ‘flu.

 

Flew haiku

It’s autumn again.
So the birds have flown away
To sunnier lands.

 

Gnu haiku

I asked a gnu if
He knew any new haiku.
But he shook his head.

 

Rhymes

‘Can you give me a short rhyme?’
Said the teacher.

‘Caught,’ said Amanda.

‘Can you give me a long rhyme?’
Said the teacher.

‘Wrong,’ said Jason.

‘Can you give me a brief rhyme?’
Said the teacher.

‘Leaf,’ said Maria.

‘Can you give me a straight rhyme?
Said the teacher.

‘Wait!’ said Javed.

‘Can you give me a near rhyme?’
Said the teacher.

‘Weary,’ said Kevin.

 

Try it yourself

For example, write some other rhymes such as a poor rhyme and a rich rhyme, a new rhyme and an old rhyme, a late rhyme and an early rhyme, a bright rhyme and a dull rhyme.