Gazing, as we do

At the beginning of this month I wrote of the bumper crop of archive poems for November. Here are the last few from the files of 2012 and 2013: A Bequest of Wonder, a poem inspired by a painted banner of Chinese silk, a Chinese artist’s portrait and two detailed Shunga prints. I do. Do you?, in which all the antics

People ask questions they have no right to pose

November marks an anniversary month for this blog for it was in November 2012 that I started posting regularly. Looking back at the poems posted last year (Nov. 2013), I’m pleased to report that the month’s archive crop is a particularly good one. November seems to be a good month. Perhaps it’s an echo of

Highest Priority

Thank you for signing up for your HP daily updates. Each day we reveal your most important task. Before you had this service, words and deeds you left undone, passed over in your routine haste. Today’s commission is to assist a woman lost on Highgate Hill. She clutches a page with the address. These are

She takes to heart her ship

My use of maritime imagery predates the well received poem of August, “Tall Ship“. For example, there is also this poem posted last year, “Preceding seafaring that was not to transpire“. — Twitter: @BeadedQuill Facebook: BeadedQuill Books

In preparation

In preparation           for life’s many little pageants We brush out our hair, cut the dry, split ends, straighten out the frizz. We lather up our legs and smooth out the bristle. We take concealer to those rings beneath our tired eyes and layer over the unhappy spots. We tint tiny

Poems inspired by sea creatures

This poem about scales is a mash-up of ideas about old flames and red herrings. Strangely, yesterday I also wrote about sea creatures. In ‘New ink cartridges‘ I paired cephalopods with writing in black ink. — The image of fish scales is courtesy of Wikicommons Media and photographed by Rajesh danji. View the original image here. You can

Simply say, I am here at this place

I am very fond of this little poem from the archive. It outlines advice for letter writing, an activity that I so enjoy and of which I reckon I am one of the last remaining proponents. Many recipients of my correspondence have graciously sent back their pen-and-paper replies. In some instances, they have noted the

Ignoring the pearl

Last year I wrote this diffuse poem. The setting is the large ice-mass that perhaps once bridged Siberia with North of America. A couple are migrating across this inhospitable realm. Imagine the pair dressed in furs, with all their worldly possessions in tow – tent, working dogs, blankets, food and household items tied to sleds.

Tumbling After – reprise

  This time last year I revisited a poem based on the Jack and Jill nursery rhyme. This version was a shortened version of the ‘Tumbling After‘ I had written the previous December. Both versions veer towards the same scene: Jill watching Jack from afar and awaiting his delivery. Although not true to the nursery rhyme’s narrative,

Advice for Love Chess

When I first posted this poem, it elicited some strong responses. “Blatant manipulation. Far better to say what you mean.” Ah! Love chess. — This poem, along with 24 others about life, love and the modern boy, are collected in my book Emily’s Poem for Modern Boys.