Hi All
It's another amazing day to present the work of a person I find amazingly talented. It is with great excitement I present the poems of Steve Wheeler on the Jimmy Broccoli page and website today!
I've followed Steve's work for many months and it's always captivating, well-written, and thought-provoking. I'm a member of the online poetry group Absolutely Poetry and first ran across Steve's (he is an Admin for the group) poetry there. And, earlier this year, the group (with Steve being one of the editors and the publisher) published a poem of mine within their anthology - a gesture for which I'll always be thankful.
Steve Wheeler in his own words:
Steve Wheeler is a poet, musician, artist and broadcaster. His roots are in performance poetry, and he has been publishing his work since 1984 when a chapbook titled Goodbye World… appeared. More recently, Steve has published seven volumes of his poetry, including Ellipsis (2020), Urban Voices (2020), Rite (2021) and My Little Eye (2021). His poetry has been described as challenging and entertaining in equal measure. His trademark is plenty of wordplay, strong rhythm and rhyme with plenty of metaphors thrown into the mix. Steve is a former university lecturer (psychology and education) and now spends much of his time following his original passions of creating art, music and word sculptures. He lives in the beautiful ocean city of Plymouth, on the south west coast of England.
Steve’s poetry blog is at: http://wheelsong.blogspot.com
Here are two poems by Steve Wheeler. I'm certain you'll love them as much as I do! ______________
Careers advice
I was never tough enough to be a boxer in the ring and there’s not enough blue blood in me to be a sovereign king I’m probably not wise enough to be a high court judge and I know I couldn’t be a priest ‘cos I always bear a grudge I’m much too tall to ride a horse in the Derby or the Oaks I have no talent to entertain and I’m crap at telling jokes I’ll never be an actor on a West End theatre stage or a whizz computer coder, even though it’s all the rage My music skills are not enough to play the Albert Hall and football is a no-go zone ‘cos I’m always off the ball Perhaps I was too slow to be a sprinter on the track and I’ll never be a swimming star, when flotation’s what I lack I’ll never be a doctor, really hate the sight of blood and farming’s a non-starter ‘cos I can’t stand all that mud My fear of guns prevented me from enlisting in the RAF
The same went for the Army and the Navy too, by half I could never be a teacher ‘cos my knowledge is too shallow I couldn’t be a confectioner ‘cos I’d eat all the marshmallow I’d never be a cop because I have no criminal streak and I couldn’t be a plumber I could never fix a leak Lack of creativity would prevent me painting frescos and it’s a stretch too far to think that I could stack the shelves in Tesco’s I can’t drive a taxi, bus or van ‘cos I get so bored with driving and ballroom dancing’s out ‘cos I confuse the waltz with jiving So I sit behind this wooden desk sipping cups of lukewarm tea giving careers advice, and telling schoolkids what they ought to be
Steve Wheeler © 19 October, 2021 ______________
Gravity always gets me down
Gravity always gets me down no matter where I am Climbing fifty stories high or strapping in a seat to fly in a fighter jet across the sky I’ll never understand just why Gravity gets me down
Gravity always gets me down
no matter what I do When bouncing on a pogo stick or riding roller coasters quick Performing aeronautics tricks until the G force makes me sick Gravity gets me down
Gravity always gets me down
No matter how I try Orbiting twice the speed of sound in a space suit high above the ground when down is up and up is down and everyone is floating round Gravity gets me down
Gravity always gets me down
No matter what the scene This seriousness is just a drag I’d rather hear some bright young wag show levity and tell a gag than fly the white surrender flag but gravity gets me down
Steve Wheeler © 26 October, 2021
