Today's poet

[Old Whippet]

Cheviot glows white
like a badly risen cake
iced with heavy hands

[Hes]

Nice poem I can see the metaphor I think, did you intend it. A great thing about poetry different people see different things and take different meanings. I interpret it as one of those small incidents in life that become maybe not precious but significant enough to spend longer writing about it than the occurence itself, good stuff

Thanks NDubya. Every word was intentional and chosen carefully and I am a big fan of metaphor. My prints too, often look straight forward but will have layered meanings if the viewer knows how to read them. Yes, small incidents can become symbolic. Sometimes you are given a gift that becomes bigger than the object itself.

[Hes]

Cheviot glows white
like a badly risen cake
iced with heavy hands

Wonderful OW! You create such evocative imagery.

[Hes]

Grandmother's footsteps
nesting jackdaws steal the wool
from bedraggled sheep

[N-dubya]

there was a bit of a debate on the Best of British thread about the Beatles

At home I have a copy of a book called scanningt the century, which is basically a huge anthology to C20 poetry, The beatles a day in the life is included as a poem, I think this identifies their significance as great lyricists.

[N-dubya]

From the aforementioned anthology a poem taken from the civil rights section

Lewis Allen

"strange fruit"

Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black body swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant South
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop


I think this poem is brilliant as the poet puts no sentiment to the situation he just says it how it is in poetic form allowing the reader to develop their own set of emotions about the situation the poem describes.

[Old Whippet]

From the aforementioned anthology a poem taken from the civil rights section

Lewis Allen

"strange fruit"

Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black body swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant South
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop


I think this poem is brilliant as the poet puts no sentiment to the situation he just says it how it is in poetic form allowing the reader to develop their own set of emotions about the situation the poem describes.

I think it's brilliant too - and until you posted it and I looked it up on wikipedia credited it to Billy Holliday. I have now learned...."Strange Fruit" began as a poem written by Abel Meeropol, a Jewish high-school teacher from the Bronx. He published under the pen name Lewis Allan. Apparently he was keen for it to be sung.
And I agree too about A Day in a Life - lyrically brilliant.

[Old Whippet]

Grandmother's footsteps
nesting jackdaws steal the wool
from bedraggled sheep

Cracking image Hes! - I didn't know what you alluded to til I googled 'Grandmother's footsteps'. I vaguely remember a similar game when I was a young 'un but can't remember what we called it. Anyway...I can picture those tentative tip-toeing jackdaws.

[Derby Tup]

I liked Hes' jackdaw inspired haiku too

Spring seems to have an extra resonance this year because of the cold and snowy winter

[Derby Tup]

Derby Tup keenly
scans Dales' skies for returning
Swifts, Swallows, Martins