Author: Ian Hunter

I retired from the energy business in 2014 and started writing poetry. At first I shared my writing with family and friends. Then I set myself a challenge to write a poem every day for a year. After meeting that goal I just kept going and started this blog in 2021. I hope you enjoy reading my poems. Remember happiness is just a state of mind and poetry is great nourishment.

Just mail/email/call/text/WhatsApp/visit me

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I can remember as a child getting letters in the mail

It was ever so exciting

A birthday card or maybe a gift

Perhaps a long letter from a distant aunt

As I got older, letters became less exciting

Bills and junk mail filled the mailbox

People hardly ever write letters anymore

Opening the mail has become a chore

Something I do maybe once a week

Standing over the trash can and tossing most letters unopened

The rest are usually bills which have been paid electronically

I can remember the days of answering the phone every time it rang

Back then our landline had no caller ID

There were no robo sales calls in that era

Today I only answer calls from people I know

The rest go to voicemail

I can remember when I got my first personal email account

It was exciting to get the new email alerts

There were no junk emails as only trusted friends had my email address

Then slowly but surely emails became boring

Daily barrages of sales pitches

Malicious emails trying to trick you into virus traps

Today I leave most of my emails unopened and delete them

I can remember when texting was a novelty

No need to make or receive phone calls

Few people want to talk on the phone anymore

Especially if the call is out of the blue

Just send a quick text message

Sorry I will be 15 mins late

Don’t forget to buy milk

Call me please

Then came the group texting messages like WhatsApp

Great for planning a party or an event

But if you don’t keep on top of your texts

You can easily be 50 messages behind the rest of the group

I can remember the excitement of hearing the doorbell ring

Rushing to open the door and say hello

It might be a friend surprising you

That does not happen anymore

Today I check the doorbell App before going to the door

I can see who is there on the doorbell camera

If I don’t know the person, I might just ignore them

So if you really want to see me in person

Write me an old fashioned letter telling me you will be sending an email

In your email let me know you will be calling me on the phone

I probably won’t pickup so leave a voicemail that you will text me

Text me to say when you will sending me a group text

Then send a group text to the whole household

Stating the date and time you will show up at the house

When you arrive please ring our doorbell and talk into the camera

If you are lucky, somebody might just open the door and greet you

Golden silence

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no blazing orange sunrise today

no blistering early morning heat

welcome clouds fill the skies

passing showers cool the hot ground

flowering plants breath a sigh of relief

searing summer heat has briefly retreated

vanished is the breeze

stillness descends over the bay

trees are frozen in time and space

motionless leaves resting peacefully

a heron mimics a statue in the shallows

no watermen plowing through the sleeping bay

no passing pleasure boaters at dawn

the daytime roaring jet skiers are still in bed dreaming

at this magical hour I claim the bay to be mine

alone with just my thoughts and nature

I dare not whisper

to break the golden silence of this beautiful morning

morning star

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I rose early before dawn

gazing at the morning star

Venus was shining brightly

low in the eastern sky

a world without a moon

nor oceans or rivers

our barren sister planet

with no protective magnetic field

lashed by the solar winds

a planet too hot to support life

yet she still rises early mornings

to watch over her flowering sister

I became intensely aware

that miracles were essential

to bring us the gift of life on earth

One day of battle won

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Early morning silence shrouded in darkness

She lays in bed after a short unsettling sleep

Her mind acutely aware of the pains of old age

Limbs ache and stiff joints resist motion

Her mind tells her to ignore the pain

She tries to remain totally still and avoid any muscle movement

Shunning her medication as it slows down her thoughts

Its an ongoing war with daily battles

Sometimes those battles are lost and she swallows the pills

Today the pillbox sits untouched on the nightstand

She reaches out to the left side in the bed

Feeling the empty space once occupied by her recently departed husband

Her heart aches at the memory of his loss

There is no medication prescribed for such pain

She lingers a while conjuring up images of their life together

Long walks holding hands

Romantic dinners together

Bringing up a family

Smiling faces on vacations

Playing with their grandchildren

Before he was suddenly taken away after a short illness

Her hands scream in pain as she clutches the empty bedsheets

A long glance at the pills starts a fierce debate

Another day of pain or medically induced numbness

Why not take the whole box of pills she pondered

It would put and end to these constant battles

She reached out to grab he pill bottle

Recoiling sharply as she heard a voice yell no don’t do it

It was her husband no mistake

She put the light on replied where are you?

There was nobody else in the room

She sighed and reached again for the pill bottle

Please don’t take the pills he screamed

OK honey she answered knowing he was watching over her

Reaching out to smooth the wrinkled sheets on her husband’s side of the bed

Her arthritic fingers resisted but she overcame the pain

I promise not to swallow the whole bottle of pills she said softly

She never went near the pill bottle for the rest of that day

One day of battle won

Pulling back the sheets at bedtime

Her husband’s side of the bed was already wrinkled

A man of all sizes

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we all need to buy things that fit our body size

clothing is an essential need unless you are a nudist

selecting the right bicycle for your size is important

if you play golf make sure you select the right club length

lets start with what you put on your feet

if you were born in the US you will know your shoe size

when you go to Europe Mexico Australia China or the UK

be prepared for a totally different shoe size

does your foot change shape when you step outside the US

perhaps air travel induces permanent ankle swelling

do walking styles differ internationally

maybe Australians have more toes than Europeans

mens jackets are sold according to chest size

with options in regular or long

sometimes I fit a regular jacket and other times its a long

maybe my arms grow and shrink depending on the weather

I went to a bicycle store for a fitting 

I sat on a machine that adjusted the seat position

they measured my power output for a range of settings

then told me I needed a size 58cm

not all bicycles are sold in cm sizes

some manufacturers only offer small medium large and XL

worse still these sizes are not universal

one make in a medium is equivalent to a large in another make

I looked through my closet today

scanning the sizes of my shirts and cycling jerseys

all these items fit me today

but their labelled sizes range from L to XL and XXL

somebody needs to invent a body sizing App

where my phone maps my entire shape and form

then when I want to buy anything at all to fit me

I can just use the App and tell them I am size “Ian”

From Sputnik1 to CPAP nightly orbits

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One of my earliest childhood memories

Was walking one cold night with my dad

Peering up into the dark sky between lots of twinkling stars

He pointed out a moving object streaking across the sky

Told me it was the Russian satellite called Sputnik1

The first ever satellite put into orbit

I honestly don’t remember if I actually saw it

But I can recall the intense excitement we shared

He loved technology and his stories sparked my imagination about space travel

A few years later Yuri Gagarin was first man in space

I was spellbound and wanted to learn everything about rockets 

Telling everybody I was going to be an astronaut when I grew up

Visions of myself wearing an oxygen mask with tubing at high altitude

The first manned moon landing was a very exciting time

I was fifteen years old the and already committed to be an engineer

Following every step on TV with baited breath

Later studying aerodynamics during my Mechanical Engineering degree

I finally understood the physics of rocket science and space travel

I never quite made it to piloting a rocket though

Marriage and a family became my priority over space travel

I entered the world of work and my career took off like a rocket

Flying millions of miles on passenger jets during 4 decades of Corporate life

Looking out of windows from 30,000 feet while sipping on cocktails and working on my laptop

Seeing many different terrains and vast unpopulated areas as I edited my Powerpoint presentations

I still had the urge to travel in space one day

Many years later I retired from corporate life and witnessed the start of commercial spaceflights

The mega wealthy paying huge sums to ride in orbit

Having to accept that I will never ride in space with those Billionaires

But I can still live my dream as a CPAPONAUT

Now I dress up in my own little spacesuit every night at bedtime

My CPAP machine has a long breathing tube

Connected to a full face mask strapped to my head

I can hear every breath through the mask

It feels like I am wearing a space helmet 

I close my eyes and think about being blasted into orbit

Soon I am fast asleep and dreaming of space travel

Orbiting high with my CPAP lifeline watching Sputnik1 and Apollo 11 fly by

My dad is there smiling with me

I parachute back to earth in my dreams before morning

Taking off my CPAP space helmet after re-entering earth’s atmosphere

I walk to the bathroom whispering to myself

That’s one small CPAPstep for man, one giant CPAPleap for mankind

I try But Sometimes…And

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I try to be good

Always do the right thing

But sometimes I mess up

And it all goes south

I try to be nice

To everybody I encounter

But sometimes I slip up

And treat somebody unfairly

I try to be kind

Help anybody in need

But sometimes I hesitate 

And miss an opportunity

I try to be truthful

In everything I say

But sometimes I gloss over

And tell a little white lie

I try to forgive

When others do me wrong

But sometimes I don’t forgive

And I end up regretting that

I try to keep in touch

With friends and family

But sometimes it goes too long

And friendships drift away

I try not to gossip

Or run down my friends

But sometimes I do

And it makes me feel bad

I try to be happy

Spreading joy to others

But sometimes I am sad

And it shows

I try to forgive myself

when I make a mistake

But sometimes its a really big mistake

And I just beat myself up for a long time

I try to be trustworthy

Never meaning to break a promise

But sometimes I slip up

And then I deeply regret letting somebody down

I try and write a new poem daily

Posting on my blog at 6am every morning

But sometimes I run out of time or inspiration

And I post something I wrote before the blog started

I try………But sometimes…….And

Shoelacing blues

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Memories of childhood days

Badly tied but hoping it stays

It was always a race

To tie my worn out shoelace

In just a few strides

The badly tied knot defiantly decides

To come completely become undone

LOOK OUT  cried someone

YOU ARE GOING TO TRIP

As I hop jump and skip

I stepped on my flapping shoelace

Fell flat on my face

Started another race

To tie my worn out shoelace

I sighed with a frown

Decided to slow down

Tied both with a double bow

Pulled the knot real tight and slow

It stayed tight all day

Through walking and running play

Stayed tight during dinner

I declared myself the winner

Parents told me it was now bedtime

Despite my protests and pathetic whine

Shoelace stayed tight up the stairs

Despite my sister’s knowing glares

Then I started to get undressed

My shoelacing skills were put to the test

After a full day of fun

I had to get these shoelaces undone

I tried and tried and kept on trying

But the shoelace was defying

The knot was way too tight

I pulled it with all my might

The shoelace then unceremoniously snapped

My sister sarcasticly clapped

I kicked my shoes under the bed

Nothing more to be said

I decided to dream about a short lacing knot

It was perfected with a tiny loop and a short stop

Woke up the next morning 

I was positive with the new day dawning

I went to put on my old worn out shoes

Expecting to have the short shoelaces blues

Saw my parents smiling faces

My mother had put in new shoelaces

No longer dreading the school bully facing

I was the king of the school with my new shoelacing

Stupid People

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We have all come across stupid people, they mess things up for you, themselves and others. They say you cannot fix stupid but I wondered if anybody had actually studied stupid people. I discovered a man called Carlo M Cipolla, a highly acclaimed academic,  who wrote an essay in 1976 called The Basic Laws Of Human Stupidity.  Here are his five laws:

  1. Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
  2. The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
  3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
  4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
  5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

He went on to chart human stupidity against 2 factors;

  • Benefits and losses that an individual causes to him or herself.
  • Benefits and losses that an individual causes to others.

Helpless people contribute to society but are taken advantage of by it (and especially by the “bandit” sector of it); note, however, that extreme altruists and pacifists may willingly and consciously (rather than helplessly) accept a place in this category for moral or ethical reasons

Intelligent people contribute to society and who leverage their contributions into reciprocal benefits

Bandits pursue their own self-interest even when doing so poses a net detriment to societal welfare

Stupid people whose efforts are counterproductive to both their and others’ interests

Those who fall exactly in the middle are deemed Ineffectual People

I had a lot of fun recalling people I have met over time and pinning them on the chart.  Where do the people you know fit?