the un-bucket list, reprised from Project 366

 Kit Kelen #1320 - the un-bucket list

1320

the un-bucket list

the tightwire

high dive

firewalk

I’m not pinning on the lion’s tail

won’t be me goes for the gallop

balloon trip

base jump

no shark dive

I’m not going in the volcano

I won’t drive a locomotive

I won’t fly a plane

heat of the front line battle

and there are certain books

lion’s den

viper’s pit

crawl under the barbed wire to freedom

don’t want to be in parliament either

casual teaching

no need to learn to chainsaw

dive in a cave

go under the ice

all power to spies

risking their lives

defending what must be the truth

I’ll take truth every time

no dare!

I won’t be taking

the diving bell

Everest ascent

there’s barely a beast

I’d take by the horns

I will not ride the tiger

Lands End to Thurso

by whatever means?

it won’t be me that you’ll see

and I won’t fire the gun

play whist

I won’t inspire belief

consort with major criminals

fence goods, sing like canary

it’s not for me

to declare the war

dare the devil

do or die

won’t throttle the bike at high speed

much less dance on the whirlwind

let me skip steep ski slopes

may lightning never strike me

despite some messianic moments

I won’t be resurrected

issue fatwas

wear the black cloth cap

won’t weave carpet

mend motor

play rugby union

I can’t bear to watch

if I can avoid

helicopter, hospital

injections, suppositories

castor oil, cod liver

brains, black pudding

anything too big to swallow

a simple somersault

…

then I’ll a happy man

happy to list

any hazardous occupation

more generally, there’s work

I’ve found almost all paid employment sucks

shaving’s something I won’t do

also moonshot

Marswalk

the whole of the bottle at the one sitting

and magic?

no sawing assistants in half

I won’t even start an old religion

I’ll try not to cast the first stone

no hunger strikes

no beauty pageants

trophies on the wall

I’m not going after big game

these are things not on my post-its

no magnet holds them to my fridge

I guess I must lack aspiration

to be writing out these lines

I shall not descend into the maelstrom

I must not dive for pearls

I don’t care how much grease you’ve got

I’m reluctant to go down the pole

I will not swim the Channel

I won’t climb a tree  

though I see the cat’s up there

and often I’ve been put to task

certain piles I dare not excavate

clichés lived and not to challenge

I’ll take my critique just so far

I couldn’t wean myself off rhyme

I’ll never catch a kangaroo

and gladly, no one wants me to

perhaps I’ll never show them

but I can live with that

I’ll never see every inch of Australia

I may yet throw a pot on a wheel

compose and even dance a jig

find some cheap bauble words to steal

certainly I’d give a fig

for leafy genitalia

and yet

these things don’t make my to-do

they may raise a knowing smile

I never was a fan of reason

mildness

delicate decorum  

I cannot promise not to pun

there’s much attending I won’t list

for instance, taken as read

brush my teeth and make my bed

I won’t say any prayers

though I am ever wishful still

and hope to go on listing

give me the beachwalk

the garden

my yoga

the chocolate

(hot/cold taps)

sunshine to catch

an evening snifter

these tales by the fire

fine food and friends

never say never they say

but still

it’s cosy here

tucked up in bed

still passion’s slave

when roused

full of beans

ideas just get better

and death?

I was never brave enough

so let’s give it a miss

… if you’ll just cosy up beside

I’ll settle for a kiss