Tag Archives: memory

With

With is not a wordto end a sentence,or so they taught usat school. With is not correctwhen it is usedcome withwent withcame withwas with,this withering wordthat withoutcannot exist.Let’s go withwithin, wherewithal,forthwith, notwithstanding. —‘Creative writing rules’ from my school days still to echo in my head. The teachers’ warnings against starting a sentence with ‘and’ orContinue reading “With”

On a traffic island halfway across High Road, evening

It’s been a year, Yet your presence lingers in strangers who cross the road towards me. — In a quest to educate myself and use my time more constructively I’ve scheduled reading before bedtime. In addition to poet and writer Salena Godden’s memoir, Springfield Road, and Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow, I’ve been readingContinue reading “On a traffic island halfway across High Road, evening”

Nos Liberavit

Bell-like, round and clear Hopeful and transparent as a copper bauble, it lifts the congregation. From the sanctuary the maiden’s voice soars and plunges as she elongates the siren call.   — I am not a groupie. I’d rather spend my days in a hermit’s hut on a mountainside with books, green tea and yogaContinue reading “Nos Liberavit”

“on the table – a glass of water”

This time last year I wrote up an explanation about “Winterreise”, a poem in which a glass of water features as a symbolic object. (Regular readers will have noticed that water is a recurring motif in my poetry.) “Winterreise” describes a meal out with my father, who passed away on the 5th May five yearsContinue reading ““on the table – a glass of water””

Interior Holdings

A turn to the inside, draws out liquorice laces, long and sweet to suck and chew; This turn to the inside locates in other corners of the paper-layered drawer small tacks of past stings — Scheduling a poem every day for a month (from 18 Jan. to 19 Feb.) made me feel impressively productive. NowContinue reading “Interior Holdings”

A definition, notably for the cloud-dwelling artists

Success is speaking to the people who matter, In networking when due. Waste no time on a satyr. Success is doing what you should for Work, for Security, for Good. It’s silence when your speech would rattle, And indifference to a pointless battle. Success is deafness to all that’s ugly, But sympathy if your deed’sContinue reading “A definition, notably for the cloud-dwelling artists”