Today's poet

[Alf]

Thanks Steve. It's good to miss special folks now and then I think, even if it does feel a little sad.

Wow! some great poems posted tonight Well done Stef, I loved your poem about your Gran.

[Stef F]

Wow! some great poems posted tonight Well done Stef, I loved your poem about your Gran.

Aww thanks Alf. I too am enjoying the latest batch of poems

[Alf]

I read this poem on here the other night Alf and I loved it but was too tired to log in and say so, so I'm saying it now! I especially like the verse that you highlighted. We are in the midst of Masham Arts Festival here and on thursday it is poems and a pint night. I am going to take some of my favourite poems to read but am wondering if I have enough courage to read out one of my own (maybe I can say it was by a 'friend').

"poems and a pint night" sounds very civilized to me Hes :thumbup: Definitely read your own!

[Alf]

I enjoyed the Carol Ann Duffy poem that freckle posted so here is another.



Demeter

Where I lived—winter and hard earth.
I sat in my cold stone room
choosing tough words, granite, flint,

to break the ice. My broken heart—
I tried that, but it skimmed,
flat, over the frozen lake.

She came from a long, long way,
but I saw her at last, walking,
my daughter, my girl, across the fields,

in bare feet, bringing all spring’s flowers
to her mother’s house. I swear
the air softened and warmed as she moved,

the blue sky smiling, none too soon,
with the small shy mouth of a new moon.


Carol Ann Duffy

[Nee Bother]

"poems and a pint night" sounds very civilized to me Hes :thumbup: Definitely read your own!

Hear hear....go Hes go :thumbup:

[Hes]

Cheers NB, Alf and Freckle. The problem is, I have reread all my poems and, ironically, they seem too personal to read out loud (despite the fact that I've posted many here) and they also seem to be not very well put together, but, I will try and give it a go. thanks for the encouragement.

Hear hear....go Hes go :thumbup:

[Hes]

Wow! I love this! I don't think I've read it before and I have a real fondness for the Persephone myth.

I enjoyed the Carol Ann Duffy poem that freckle posted so here is another.



Demeter

Where I lived—winter and hard earth.
I sat in my cold stone room
choosing tough words, granite, flint,

to break the ice. My broken heart—
I tried that, but it skimmed,
flat, over the frozen lake.

She came from a long, long way,
but I saw her at last, walking,
my daughter, my girl, across the fields,

in bare feet, bringing all spring’s flowers
to her mother’s house. I swear
the air softened and warmed as she moved,

the blue sky smiling, none too soon,
with the small shy mouth of a new moon.


Carol Ann Duffy

[Mossdog]

I've enjoyed these latest poems; thanks Steve, Freckle and Alf.

Something in them reminded me of my late grandmother, so with nothing much better to do I've written a poem about her:

Granny

My grandmother ran her own nursing home
Raised three daughters to standards these days unknown
She was as strict as she was kind
Bright and stubborn; she knew her own mind

My grandfather, a soldier, fond of the dawn
Taken by cancer, before I was born
He could not be saved, so there it ended,
A loss so deep that could never be mended

She’d come to visit, travelling by train
And when we were in Cyprus she’d take the plane
That’s how I remember her, when I was small
Chatting away about everything or nothing at all!

She’d paint landscapes in watercolour and oil,
Rocks and water and skies on the boil
One of these I treasure with pride
Aphrodite’s rocks, lapped by the tide

She lived alone for many years
With a small spaniel named Suzie who had big floppy ears;
Silky black and white, Suzie loved to be touched
She was spoilt just a little, but never too much

When the fairies took Granny, we didn’t notice the deceit
A nibble of chocolate, a sip of ribena, neat;
She had a sweet tooth, and was sometimes merry
We’d tease her and ask if she’d been on the sherry

She said she’d been to the moon, didn’t you know?
It really is a marvellous place you should go!
She’s travelled the world; to the most far flung places
Met the Pope too; lots of famous names and faces

Fascinating broadcasts by the BBC
Volcanoes, icebergs; the documentary
Holiday programmes, those long haul flights
Master Chef, such culinary delights

A mind full of golden memories unreal
That really wasn’t part of the deal
Does it matter? Did she realise?
What she thought was real; she’d seen through others eyes?

It left her confused, not knowing her daughters
Reduced to a child and lacking in orders
She asked for Thomas; her love that had died
And in the end,they were reconciled

I really enjoyed reading your poem Stef, and i think what particularly flowed from each verse, for me, was the warming thought of you too bringing your memories alive by the very act of composing it. Thank you.

[Mossdog]

where is this kind of love to be found?.....within or outwith? or in-between?...........


Atlas
U.A.Fanthorpe

There is a kind of love called maintenance
Which stores the WD40 and knows when to use it.

Which checks the insurance, and doesn’t forget
The milkman; which remembers to plant bulbs;

Which answers letters; which knows the way
The money goes; which deals with dentists

And Road Fund Tax and meeting trains,
And postcards to the lonely; which upholds

The permanently rickety elaborate
Structures of living, which is Atlas.

And maintenance is the sensible side of love,
Which knows what time and weather are doing
To my brickwork; insulates my faulty wiring;
Laughs at my dryrotten jokes; remembers
My need for gloss and grouting; which keeps
My suspect edifice upright in air,
As Atlas did the sky.

WOW! What an interesting poem Freckle. Really got me thinking.

[stevefoster]

Cheers NB, Alf and Freckle. The problem is, I have reread all my poems and, ironically, they seem too personal to read out loud (despite the fact that I've posted many here) and they also seem to be not very well put together, but, I will try and give it a go. thanks for the encouragement.

Go for it Hes, your your own worst critic, everyone on here likes them, Good Luck:thumbup: