Send your poems to barddas@celticrockmusic.com Copyright for all works is held by the individual writers   NICK FISK Bandit   The one-armed man Standing outside Shipley's Arcade Before going in, Realising the paradox.   Skillful Fly   I kicked a bottle top by the side of the road and watched as a fly tracked the lid's   every move as it skimmed and spun on it's way, then stopped. The fly   perched on the lid's rim for a second before flying off. Skill, I thought.   Happy Mondays Only the unemployed Can enjoy happy Mondays; No Sundays filled with dread About the week ahead.   Instead just mild misery At the thought of a week of… Nothing in particular, A few semi-arranged meetings,   Thoughts of the week's sport, Knowledge that work would pay Far better, but then… Never again a happy Monday. MORE FISK   HEDGEHOG (Space Poet) WORK IT OUT Reach out and touch whats real, A need for belonging to share what you feel. Who can be trusted who can you tell, when your life is like hell and in darkness you dwell. Got no hope left options all gone, Searching for right amongst all the wrong. Seems like no end to this mental torture, The bleakness is scary when it feels like you have no future. Something got to break after the rain the sun will shine, If you cant tell me yours how can i tell you mine. Talking through your problems is not an easy talk, But i will let you take your time crawl before we walk. MORE HEDGEHOG   Bard Of Ely I AM I am the spirit of the human race, I am the mirror that reflects your face, I am the folk devil that's unborn, I am inside the barleycorn, I am here and won't go away, I am you and I'm here to stay, I am the blessed and the bee, I am life and eternity, I am the broadsword and the lute, I am the bard but I can stay mute, I am the insect and the fern, I am Celtic and I yearn, I am a warrior of 10,000 years, I am laughing with floods of tears, I am blood and I am in you, I am words and these are true!   The Same At the bar they were selling the same range of drinks, The beermats had the same information printed both sides, My pint tasted the same as the last one, The abandoned newspapers had the same headline stories, The people in the bar all looked the same, Their designer fashions were all the same, The TV and video screen showed the same football match At the same time, In each team all the players wore the same colours, All the people who were in town had come to attend the same event, Some girls entered the bar sporting the same hair-dos And even their make-up was the same. I didn't feel the same. I felt different, So I wrote this and left.   MORE BARD OF ELY     AlvynPwll Vacuum Clean Air Silence simple undeafined grammar freedom unrefined   Progruess Road sense Sitting on a hard fence I watch you go by Shoulder blame Got to use the car again Can't breathe what shame Life in the past lane One day I became Enigmatic sellophane Wrapping up a membrane Passing for a pie In my eye Plastic of another kind Smaller than a sixpence Stopping me go blind   The Floating Stem In our own time We come to Be A growing peace of high stories Those days , They long forgotten, Are written on the face In lines of derailment, Of laughter and rage Every crease speaks definement that could be a mistake Or a passing mast On a clear ocean lake Sadly much is fake The riptide she took us in her wake My green lung Washed away on a formula wave Surfing to a cave one fine day Me - I sit away Not swept from the Kerb In a garden of stone On a pavement of herbs Gladiolisay This is what I have learnt     Compostual Rebirth Facing the inevitable Racing to the receptacle Making the acceptable Out of Rotting Vegetable   MORE PWLL