Today's poet

[Hes]

Nice post Dom. It was one of those days in Masham on Sunday, sunshine, birds singing, kids playing, church bells ringing, football on the rec and a swim in the river. Mind you, blizzards this evening!:w00t:

[Hes]

the curlew laments
as - soft as blackthorn petals,
the snow falls again

[freckle]

...Today's Poem, read to you by Geoffrey Palmer,

Ooooooooo how lovely....his voice is like melted chocolate....dom, you dark horse you! ;0)

ps is that the tune from the hovis ad?

[freckle]

the curlew laments
as - soft as blackthorn petals,
the snow falls again

beautiful hes..i was lamenting a tad with the sideways sleet on my run tonight but the then the other part of me though how much i like our crazy spring weather, micheal fish was on five live stating that apparentl it is more common to have snow in april than in december in england! x

[dominion]

Ooooooooo how lovely....his voice is like melted chocolate....dom, you dark horse you! ;0)

ps is that the tune from the hovis ad?

Dvořák's Symphony No. 9

[freckle]

Siobhan Harvey...a new poet to me...i love this so elegant...

cactus

No snags, I promise,
simply a gift so that we might part smoothly,
our points of difference buried.
The distance between two spikes
might once have measured our passion,
an infinite world of tenderness there.
But now, it’s enough
that each sharp star speaks of something long gone.
Perhaps you’ll take this cactus with you;
grow into it from afar,
rooted by it wherever you go:
Ulluru, Rio, Arizona.
Perhaps you’ll leave it behind,
allow it to stand in place of you,
holding your memory
in the same way a picture might,
or a closed book on a shelf in your room:
a silent, internal way,
the way of the animate,
the wrist-watch, the ghost.
I’ll tolerate either choice,
for some winter’s morning
you’ll fly home to darkness
and you’ll know that you’re alive,
because you’ll stroke this cactus,
recalling the moment it was offered,
and it will prick you,
and it will hurt.

[freckle]

Dvořák's Symphony No. 9

Indeed...its as good for you today as it has always been!...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mq59ykPnAE

[Alf]

Siobhan Harvey...a new poet to me...i love this so elegant...

cactus

No snags, I promise,
simply a gift so that we might part smoothly,
our points of difference buried.
The distance between two spikes
might once have measured our passion,
an infinite world of tenderness there.
But now, it’s enough
that each sharp star speaks of something long gone.
Perhaps you’ll take this cactus with you;
grow into it from afar,
rooted by it wherever you go:
Ulluru, Rio, Arizona.
Perhaps you’ll leave it behind,
allow it to stand in place of you,
holding your memory
in the same way a picture might,
or a closed book on a shelf in your room:
a silent, internal way,
the way of the animate,
the wrist-watch, the ghost.
I’ll tolerate either choice,
for some winter’s morning
you’ll fly home to darkness
and you’ll know that you’re alive,
because you’ll stroke this cactus,
recalling the moment it was offered,
and it will prick you,
and it will hurt.

That is very good freckle thanks for posting it.

[Alf]

the curlew laments
as - soft as blackthorn petals,
the snow falls again

Not lost your touch Hes I love the Blackthorn at this time of year. Petals without leaves amongst the thorns just made for poetry.

[Alf]

The Fist


The fist clenched round my heart
loosens a little, and I gasp
brightness; but it tightens
again. When have I ever not loved
the pain of love? But this has moved

past love to mania. This has the strong
clench of the madman, this is
gripping the ledge of unreason, before
plunging howling into the abyss.

Hold hard then, heart. This way at least you live.

Derek Walcott