<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Round Robin.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n (delete as appropriate) <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dear:<\/strong> Uncle\/ Cousin\/ Nephew\/ distant friend ,<\/strong><\/p>\n How are you?\u00a0 Where\u2019s this year gone?\u00a0 Already at its end<\/strong><\/p>\n and Christmas upon us.\u00a0 Please excuse the lateness of this note<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve had a bad:<\/strong> shock\/ memory\/ dream\/ bank balance\/ throat.<\/p>\n Doesn\u2019t time fly?\u00a0 Next year I promise I\u2019ll write<\/strong><\/p>\n and arrange to meet up.\u00a0 How about:<\/strong> Wetherspoon\u2019s\/ Tesco\u2019s\/ The Isle of Wight ?<\/strong><\/p>\n Jason\/ Kevin\/ Tara\/ Kate did the GCSE\u2019s this summer,<\/strong><\/p>\n got:<\/strong> twelve\/ six\/ none\/ other.\u00a0 Well done to him\/ her! \/ What a bummer!<\/p>\n Family hols. were in:<\/strong> Tenerife\/ Tenby\/ the Transit\/ Korea.<\/p>\n We:<\/strong> swam\/ golfed\/ argued , got:<\/strong> lucky\/ arrested\/ lost\/ diarrhoea.<\/p>\n Peter\/ Alice\/ Richard\/ Jill says<\/strong> she\/he loved\/despised it there<\/strong><\/p>\n so we\u2019re: <\/strong>suing the company\/ emigrating\/ buying timeshare.<\/p>\n Mother is still:<\/strong> living\/ grumbling\/ snoring in her:<\/strong> chair\/ attic\/ retirement g\u00eete,<\/p>\n but I suppose none of us are getting any:<\/strong> younger\/ older\/ nookie\/ vegetables\/ meat.<\/p>\n That\u2019s all from me here at home.\u00a0 I\u2019m ready to send<\/strong><\/p>\n from your loving:<\/strong> nephew\/ niece\/ cousin\/ uncle\/ auntie\/ friend<\/p>\n wishes for a Christmas that\u2019s:<\/strong> joyous\/ fantastic\/ festive\/ neat,<\/p>\n and stuffed with seasonal:<\/strong> love\/ love\/ love\u00a0 (no need to delete)<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Jeff Phelps<\/strong> has recently co-edited The Poetry of Shropshire<\/em> for\u00a0Offa\u2019s Press<\/a> . \u00a0His novels, Painter Man<\/em> and Box of Tricks<\/em>, are published by Tindal Street Press. \u00a0His poems and stories are widely published. \u00a0He lives in Bridgnorth.\u00a0 This is his website.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Compulsive of December huge expense, Even when the kids are grown getting caught in chimneys, <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Seth Crook<\/strong> taught philosophy at various universities before moving to the Hebrides. He does not like cod philosophy in poetry. But he does like cod, poetry and philosophy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Round Robin. (delete as appropriate) Dear: Uncle\/ Cousin\/ Nephew\/ distant friend , How are you?\u00a0 Where\u2019s this year gone?\u00a0 Already at its end and Christmas upon us.\u00a0 Please excuse the lateness of this note I\u2019ve had a bad: shock\/ memory\/ dream\/ bank balance\/ throat. Doesn\u2019t time fly?\u00a0 Next year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-twelve-days-of-christmas-2013"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6108"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6108\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23950,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6108\/revisions\/23950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inksweatandtears.co.uk\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>
\nHe tries to stop, never succeeds.
\nAlways red, with a white trim.
\nRelations reason with him, friends hint<\/p>\n
\nall his free air miles used up,
\nbut every year he does it,
\nsame day, same suit.<\/p>\n
\nhe’ll be flying through the night,
\nstumbling on the roofs, breaking tiles<\/p>\n
\nstill asking “If not me, then who?”
\nWon’t even consider wearing blue.<\/p>\n