A Poet's Confession. Comical poem 833 by Angela Lansbury

 

Angela Lansbury performing a poem in August 2026 at the Writer's Summer School, an annual event at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick, England, UK. The book is her latest book, Embarrassing Moments.

Last night I wrote a poem

For all my fellow poets

Who love to write about themselves

And shamelessly, proudly show it

Not satisfied to fill the page

They -  we, want to prance about the stage

Create a world of illusions

About their, our, private delusions

And my dearest friend Christine

Writes of things others haven't seen.

I dream I'll make lots of money

To replace teeth lost to chocolates and honey

I don't write of love, embarrassed

To admit I'm no longer harassed

By men who are well past eighty

Bothered by troubles more weighty

Those growing older still remember

The distant past like glowing embers

Embellished with relish by rhythm and rhyme

Repeated, like a chorus, all the time

And so I must conclude

I don't use words which are rude

I'm sure you appreciate, it's too late,

For that, my dearest fellow, mellow poets.

Last night I wrote a poem

I could write, and talk, all night

I no longer earn a wage

They'll soon make me leave the stage

I'm sure you understand

So please give me a big hand

Please look at my latest book

It costs nothing to look 

And then I shall look at yours

So we'll enjoy mutual applause.

-ends-

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My books on poetry, and quotations, are on Amazon.com and Lulu.com

New Look At Us Old Treasures comical poem 643 by Angela Lansbury

 I love old styles like art deco

The swirls and curls of art nouveau

The mirrows might show off-white teeth

But smiles hint layered wit beneath

My home's a store, chutney pleasures

I hoard hordes of games and treasures

Old gold, like jewels to behold

Old friends' names kept like Scrabble games

Old wonky drawers, parquet floors

Extending tables, solid doors

A garden where old roses grow

Dictionaries of words roots I know

No empty days, so much to do

More words creating something new

Wrinkles draw stories on faces

New shops, revive, open places

Roman stones found when we build new

Can the old folk be me and you

Grand children do not see grey hairs

But gladly climb the steepest stairs

Grandchildren glow and learn old games

And we remember old friends' names

We've read all books, know how to cook

And don't judge everyone by looks

Instead dress up when it's required

Effort ensures that we're admired

Retired, create, before expired

Share piled knowledge we've acquired

Though it's harder to push pedals

We display prizes and medals

Just like an old but comfy car

The world's amazed we drove so far..

-ends-.

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Look in a Book comic poem/song number 453 by Angela Lansbury

 

I look in a book and what do I see?

See the wide blue sky and a tall green tree 

There's a big red boat on a wide blue sea

And a big white sea gull looking at me

I look round the room and what do I see?

A gold box has a black key in the lock

The day has lots of long free hours to spend

This weekend's fun is playing with a friend

First let's open the toy box, my first task

Wait, how can I do it? Should I do it?

Who can I, should I, ask? What will we see?

I ask my friend, and we too agree

I often ask my mum, I can ask a dad

Tell me, please, how much good fun can be had?

Is it fine for me to open the box?

Can I, may I - open all of the locks?

What if everyone's working or busy?

I must wait but won't get in a tizzy

I can eat some fruit, I can have a drink

Orange fruit. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I can look around, I can have a think

I could ask an uncle, auntie, teacher, 

Ask a family friend or a preacher

I could ask an adult, someone who's large

Ask the important person who's in charge.

I'm always delighted to hear them say

Yes, you can, and, you may, it's okay

Let's look in the box and find a big book

We look in the box and find a small book

 We look in a book and what do we see?

A wide blue sky and a tall green tree 

A big red boat and a wide blue sea

And a little red robin looking at me.

-ends-

Ava Indoors, Outdoors Birthday Party comic poem number 452 by Angela Lansbury

 

Ava who's' three, has lots of friends

With birthday parties at weekends, 

When it's sunny and she's free

She goes for walks with her family.

When it's sunny and she's free

She goes for walks with her family.

When it's midweek she likes to cook

And when she'd done we read a book.

When it's midweek she likes to cook

And when she's done we read a book.

Ava's three, has lots of friends

With birthday parties at weekends

Ava, who's three, has lots of friends

With birthday parties at weekends

She wraps a present she can take

Thinks fish and chips, fruit, birthday cake

She wraps a present she can take

Thinks fish and chips, fruit, birthday cake

I'm happy cos we'll be there soon

Jugs of red drink, and pink balloons

Birthday Party Here Balloons. Photo Sharot family. Copyright.

I'm happy cos we'll be there soon

Jugs of red drink, big, gold balloons

Ava, who's three, has lots of friends

With birthday parties at weekends

Birthday Party cake. Photo Sharot family. Copyright.

Ava, who's three, has lots of friends

With birthday parties at weekends

But if there's one day when it rains

She always smiles, never complains

Yes, if there's one day when it rains

She always smiles,, never complains

When it's midweek she likes to cook

And when she's done we read this book.

-ends-.

Copyright Angela Lansbury.. Please do not share the poem but share the link back to this page. I intend to sell it as a book with illustrations.

Name Changes

For the customer, recipient of the book, or babysitter, the name can be changed to that of the child being  read to or receiving the book and reading it to a younger brother or sister.

For example

One Syllable Names

For one syllable names (such as Ann, James, John, change to Ann who is three.

Two Syllable Names

For two syllables, like Ava, Anna, Emma, Henry, Lucas, Mia, Noah, Peter, change to Ava's three, Anna's three, Peter's Three. Other two syllable names include, Ali, Mary, Christos, Richard, Johnny, Paris,, Rina, Tina, Sharon,  

Three Syllable names 

Three Syllable include, according to the list of top names in the USA in 2003, include (my alphabetical order, not popularity which was the order published),Elijah, Mateo, Oliver, Theodore, William, Evelyn, Sophia.

Four Syllables -

Four syllable names are mostly girls' names which add an a on the end, which include Amelia, Isabella, Olivia,  

Age Changes

The age can be changed to one, two, three, four, five, six, eight, nine, ten (or a word in another language in a bilingual home, such as French, un deux, trois, German ein, zwei, drei, Spanish dos, tres.

This is the first time I have tried my new rhyming scheme, repeating the last couplet of each verse as the opening of the next verse.

I shall do another version tomorrow, using the words biking and hiking.

For a family or child or culture without birthday parties, change the words to with the family or sees the family at weekends.

I though of changing and thinks there might be birthday cake, to 

'Thinks, sandwiches, fruit, birthday cake,' which sounds healthier, but m original version is easier for a 3 year old to say and understand.

A Poet's Promise comic verse 192 by Angela Lansbury

 Angela with her large pencil and pink diary in which she wrote this poem. Photo selfie by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Every day I'll write a couplet

Even though it's just a droplet

Just to prove I am a poet

'cause I want the world to know it

How much more can I achieve

With just small progress every day?

With my tiny bite-size effort

Tasks don't seem like work, just play

I could learn another language

Wait 'til twenty years go by

Dull days drip out like hourglass sand

Decades pass fast, like a blinking eye

Will my dead diary just show shopping

Doctor, dentist, hospital?

If I add, 'Write daily poem!'

Obey alarms, it will enthrall

Yes, every day I'll write a couplet

Even though it's just a droplet

Just to show that I'm a poet

Bequeath a book, the world will know it.

-ends-

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Games with Names - Carolyn. Comic poem number 150 by Angela Lansbury.

Games with Names - Carolyn

comic poem by Angela Lansbury

You'd like a poem on Carolyn

She's my good friend, where shall I begin?

She believes in original sin

Done by writers, and one's kith and kin

But, frankly, what you all want to know

Is: where this poem's going to go?

What will my friend do which strikes as new?

More important  - what's in it for you?

She edits, with helpers, self-help books

She's already finished two or three

All include her, and two include me!

She'll add you in an anthology

Say you're an expert on everything

Write personal, researched, dark or light

Promise you'll stay up beyond midnight

What you write wrongly - you'll put it right!

Yes, write to her now, it's a win-win

With sharing, caring, dear Carolyn

To end, I'll echoing where I begin

She swears, she's my good friend, Carolyn.

-ends-

copyright Angela Lansbury 23 July 2022.

I began line four as 'once done by one's kith and kin', considered changing line four to 'gladly done by one's kith and kin'

The last line is ambiguous. 'She swears', meaning affirms, 'that she's a good friend', my meaning theirs, or mine, being me, Angela. I originally had, 'others swear' (profanities), but she never swears. However, the count of 9 syllables per line meant I had to change the meaning to fit the syllable count.

Go and look at the book Authenticity & Us on Amazon. 

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Poem after 35 UNBELIEVABLE COOKING HACKS for holiday drinks and fruit bought from the market on holiday

Oops. Wrong blog. What shall I do?
Leave it, my friend. Hope it's of use to you.
Then call it serependipity, a lucky clog
Misplaced video makes an odder blog.

Poem On Cooking and Eating
by Angela Lansbury

I wish that I could learn to cook
Spend no less time writing a book
Or reading books. Let other cooks
Use aromas like a title's hook

May all book titles have a colour
Nothing bland, boring, duller
But instead, a strawberry red
As spicy as pepper, as soft as bed

All through the day I alternate
Writing and reading, food and drink
The hunger which makes me want to eat
Feeds my drooped brain, pushed to grow, create and think.

Angela Lansbury

First version reads
Then feeds my brain with the urge to think
Second version ends
Then feeds my brain urged to make and think.
Third version above.

I read in a book on songwriting that you should edit your first draft with surprising and contrasting words to make your song (or poem) original, memorable, not just doggerel.
However, adding adjectives, metaphors, removing a and the, sometimes spoils the flow.

I remember contradictory advice:
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Don't over-write. (In both senses: don't cross out, don't spend too much time changing your first thoughts. I often write a blog and add a sentence to the end of a paragraph. Then the following paragraph's first sentence does not follow on, because the last sentence of the preceding paragraph has now gone off at a tangent.

I leave both final sentences so you, or a later editor, can choose what goes best.

PS Adding a syllable to every line:

How I wish that I could learn to be a cook
But spend no less time on writing a book
Or reading books. So let some other cooks
Use aromas to tempt, like a titles' hooks

May all book titles have vivid colour
Nothing bland, boring, grown dry, or duller
But instead, a bright, slap, strawberry red
As spicy as pepper, soft as shared bed

Each day I yo-yo, forced to alternate
Writing and reading, stop for food and drink
The hunger which drives my strong urge to eat
Feeds my drooped brain, pushed to grow, create, think.

-ends-