This poem came about on my last visit to Perth to see my daughter and grandchildren. There comes a time in all parents lives when they realise they are surplus to needs. I have no doubt my family love me and appreciate all the help given in the past,but when grandchildren get older and families dynamics change grandparents can be in the way. I just felt very lonely during this last visit and wanted to go home.

A Mothers Soliloquy

Good Morning Australia
How will this day be.
I know that tears and sorrow
Will be with me.
Where will I go
Who will I see.
This is not my home
This is not where I should be.

The sun is shining
It’s a bright new day.
But all who love and need me
Are far far away.
I hear birds singing
They are singing to me.
Go home and be happy
This is not the place to be.

I walk on the beach
Watch children at play.
Paddle through the surf
With feelings of dismay .
Listen to the sea-
Calling to me .
Go home and be happy
This is not the place to be .

I return across the oval
Sausages sizzle on the grill.
The BBQs are firing up
The Stubbies nicely chill .
The wind whistles through the trees
Urging me persistently.
Go home and be happy
This is not where you should be.

I came to see my daughter
Who left our cold wet land.
To start life anew
I came to see first hand .
Her home and lifestyle
Was she happy in the sun.
As much as I miss her
I have accepted what she`s done .
Achieved everything she said she would
On this sunny southern shore.
So now I can go home
And worry, no more.

VCook 2008

I have no idea why I wrote this poem,maybe something I had read in the news or seen on TV.
I can see the logic in these words and many follow the Naturalists Code all over the world. I wish I had the nerve.

The Human Form.

Why are people so afraid of the human form
Celebrated from dusk to dawn, where non conform.
When challenged they act quite naive
Become embarrassed when we just slip a sleeve.
To take our clothes off can be a sin
In some company that you are in.
Doctors nurses all agree
We are all the same, you and me.
Some cover their eyes snigger and turn away
When ever the body is on display.
Its seen as lecherous in thought word and deed
To have this unnatural need,
To celebrate the human form.
So speak out create a storm
Stand out from all the rest
To be judged as the best
Is an accolade of the highest degree.
But its really not for me.

Its beautiful wondrous and unique to behold
What God has given. We are told
That it is bad and non PC to enjoy the sight
Of men and women and what they look like
In the buff and looking good.
They are proud and so we should
Give our support to this style of undress

Hey.
Life is for living
Hang-ups are for the Psychiatrist couch.

Val Cook 2009


These poems don`t need any explanation.Life has many twists and turns.

“I do not enter silence it enters me”
Ezra Pound.

Solitude

Empty rooms that echo silence.
Empty heart that loudly beats.
Empty arms that ache to hold you,
Cold and numb that nothing heats.

Thinking of our time together.
Thinking of why you left.
Thinking of my world without you,
Cold and lonely so bereft.

Wondering where you are today.
Wondering why you would not stay.
Wondering did you ever love me,
Cold and silent since you went away.

Do you ever think about me
Do you ever wish you had stayed
Do you know how much I miss you
Cold and desolate since you went away

If you knew that I forgive you
If you knew that I still cared
If you returned my arms would hold you
Warm and loving our hearts repaired.

Val Cook 2002


Free my Mind

Halt who goes there?
I am not alone
So you beware.
You have no right
To invade my mind.
Your a memory
Of the worst kind.
I thought I`d seen the last of you
I havent a clue
How you break through
Into my mind.
So go away don’t torture me
All I want is to be free.
Free from all thoughts of you
But It`s so hard what can I do.
To free myself of thoughts of you.

Val Cook 2006

These two poems go together,poetry can be a kind of therapy
especially in emotional times. Divorce after 40years of marriage can be difficult to purge.

Broken Heart

Where is the love that once was ours
How many years has it been?
Since you took the sun and left me showers
How much rain have I seen?
My broken heart will never heal
The fissure is deep and wide
With only a superficial seal.
That opens and bleeds inside
When all the hurt is again revealed
By the memories I thought where sealed.
The knife that cut was long and thin
Silent as it slid right in.
It gave me pain that I could not bear
So hot and searing was the tear.
That ripped my heart so deep and wide
And I cried as I have never cried.
I swore, stamped and got up steam
To howl and scream as in a dream.
I was angry, despondent, suicidal and mad
The love was gone the love I had.
Betrayed dejected depressed and alone
I felt my heart turn to stone.


My Hearts Triumphant Cry

This day I will remember
As the first day in my life,
When I rose and realised
That I was now, no ones wife.
The feeling, the elation
Was a great exciting buzz.
Truly liberating, there
Would be no more of Us. I
Can come and go at leisure.
Buy without consent, all the
Fripperies a female wants
With complete abandonment.
Will this make me happier,
I won’t know till I try. But
I will go from strength to strength
Is my hearts triumphant cry.

Val Cook 2001


It Was Then

Heartbreak
A time of
Fleeting moments.
That grip the heart
Assault the mind.
Loyalty and love
Cast aside
Life became unbearable
Has no meaning.
Despair and loneliness
Fill the day.
It was sad
It was bad
It was then.

Val Cook 2006