Today's poet

[freckle]

Chockstone

I brought gifts, a dream,
above the edge of an escarpement,
unfathomable drop,
I felt the fear and the desire to fall.

Another dream, my naked torso,
huge cavernous omission
sans stomach,
the wind howling through.

After that I saw holes everywhere,
In the numbness of his gaze,
In our ever dwindling bank balance,
The constantly mediocre landscape.

A pleasant vertigo followed.

At the theatre constructed of bamboo
I gazed at the distance
between my seat and the stage
My cells dizzied with the prospect,
of descending into multiplicity
buffered by a hitherto unknown ally

Resilience.

Dreams were becoming reality
A luminous hood in november rain
Began to unpeel a tender carapace
Which gathering momentum
Sent me, crashing and banging
reeling with awareness.

Landing with a bump into uncertainty
The chockstone unlodged,
it got ugly, I think...
I got ugly.
I wasn’t expecting that.

But now, after the machinations,
I catch glimpses,
here is the centre of myself,
a stillness forgotten.

Tonight my mother found some poems
written for her when I was a child
“you were always writing poems”,
I had forgotten completely,
it was a relief to remember.

[Hes]

Freckle, that's a great piece of writing. I can't believe you have the headspace to produce something so meaningful when your life is as hectic as it is. It's beautiful.xx

[Alf]

Chockstone

I brought gifts, a dream,
above the edge of an escarpement,
unfathomable drop,
I felt the fear and the desire to fall.

Another dream, my naked torso,
huge cavernous omission
sans stomach,
the wind howling through.

After that I saw holes everywhere,
In the numbness of his gaze,
In our ever dwindling bank balance,
The constantly mediocre landscape.

A pleasant vertigo followed.

At the theatre constructed of bamboo
I gazed at the distance
between my seat and the stage
My cells dizzied with the prospect,
of descending into multiplicity
buffered by a hitherto unknown ally

Resilience.

Dreams were becoming reality
A luminous hood in november rain
Began to unpeel a tender carapace
Which gathering momentum
Sent me, crashing and banging
reeling with awareness.

Landing with a bump into uncertainty
The chockstone unlodged,
it got ugly, I think...
I got ugly.
I wasn’t expecting that.

But now, after the machinations,
I catch glimpses,
here is the centre of myself,
a stillness forgotten.

Tonight my mother found some poems
written for her when I was a child
“you were always writing poems”,
I had forgotten completely,
it was a relief to remember.

Gorgeous that poem freckle When I got to the end I wanted seconds

[freckle]

Thanks Hes and Alf for your generous comments, it felt nice to be writing again today

[stevefoster]

Conjures up so many images and emotions, just like a great poem should, I salute you freckle, brilliant.

[Alf]

"this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you"


Sudden Shower

Black grows the southern sky, betokening rain,
And humming hive-bees homeward hurry bye:
They feel the change; so let us shun the grain,
And take the broad road while our feet are dry.
Ay, there some dropples moistened on my face,
And pattered on my hat--tis coming nigh!
Let's look about, and find a sheltering place.
The little things around, like you and I,
Are hurrying through the grass to shun the shower.
Here stoops an ash-tree--hark! the wind gets high,
But never mind; this ivy, for an hour,
Rain as it may, will keep us dryly here:
That little wren knows well his sheltering bower,
Nor leaves his dry house though we come so near.

John Clare

[Harry H Howgill]

i love the word richochet! this is lovely as is alf's offering, i don't seem to have much head space for writing these days...perhaps it'll return eventually! likewise HHH I would love to organise another fell poet event but I am waiting for inspiration to hit me! :-) perhaps we could persuade armitage to take up a series of fell running challenges under your wing and get some fell poets to write accompanying haiku ...hell we might even get a book /documentary out of it! (if only)

We'll have to get him over Kinder Scout to Edale. Just finished the book and he'd had enough by the Snake Pass. The end took me by surprise. I really enjoyed the read. Good memories.

[Alf]

Whenever I begin to think, an English area comes to mind.
I see the nature of my kind as a locality I love.
Those limestone moors that stretch from Brough
To Hexham and the Roman Wall
These are the symbols of us all.
There where the Eden leisures through its sandstone valley
Is my view of a green and civil life that dwells
Below a cliff of savage fells
From which original address
Man faulted into consciousness
Along the line of lapse the fire
Of life’s impersonal desire
Burst through his sedentary rock
And, as at Dufton and at Knock
Thrust up between his mind and heart
Enormous cones of myth and art

W.H. Auden

[freckle]

Just checkin in...alf I enjoyed the clare choice very much (appropriate with all of the rain) and HHH i am still reading simon's book will get back to it tonight i think with a well overdue early night...steve than you for your thoughts on my poem very kind :-)

[freckle]

I have found a nice poetry resource...podcasts with some great live readings from poets...

http://www.thepoetrytrust.org/poetry-channel/archive/

I liked no 8 which has the lovely poem by Jo Shapcott "Somewhat Unravelled" about her aunty with dementia which is both poignant and whimsical...worth a listen