tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66610968543046060392024-02-08T20:01:56.888+00:00Herga PoetsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-13172049423977873722020-06-18T21:13:00.002+01:002020-06-18T21:45:01.957+01:00<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange; font-family: "arial";">Two poems by Dorothy Pope</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange; font-family: "arial";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Published in The Spectator May 2020.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange; font-family: "arial";">a great achievement <claps></claps></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";">Coronavirus Street</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">Only the early morning thief</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">quietly shovelling sand,</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">a midnight cheat</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">home from long drive,</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">med student and nurse</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">not volunteering</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">in the otherwise street</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">but the self-risked gifts</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">of food in the porch,</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">the faithful deliveries</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">of newspapers and fish</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">sustaining numbers</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">of phone calls, emails and post –</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">different play, same characters.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "arial";">How Old</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">I am six and seventeen,</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">twenty-five and thirty-four,</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">and we all have to live</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">in this ugly, inconvenient house</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">but from upstairs,</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">you can see clear across</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">to Dartmoor</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">and the beaches beyond,</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">past the bomb damage</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">and the four old-fashioned schools.</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">In the foreground is the man</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">seated at his table in the window</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange;"><span style="font-family: "arial";">reading the spread out</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: #0c343d; color: orange; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 12pt;">broadsheet version of The Times.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-7931442039491524972016-10-28T18:41:00.001+01:002016-10-28T18:41:15.406+01:00Intimations<br />
(at Finzi Window, Gloucester Cathedral)<br />
<br />
Within that inner jewelled heart,<br />
where all the colours gather back<br />
into a whiteness of the soul,<br />
I can reside complete and still –<br />
between the words, inside the song –<br />
at the essence of such beauty<br />
and an inward sense of answer<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
© Anthony PinchingUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-23573472713454730302016-10-19T23:25:00.001+01:002016-10-19T23:25:15.560+01:00& ante<br />
<br />
What just denoted walking pace,<br />
the leisured middle movement stroll, becomes –<br />
with an exquisite error of transcription – the question:<br />
“And before?” Nothing so simple as: “And then?”<br />
<br />
To find a way into this mystery,<br />
we could walk awhile, and then look back,<br />
triangulate future and present<br />
towards a not yet remembered past.<br />
<br />
The sonata encompasses familiar patterns,<br />
flowing and developing in its path –<br />
but is this really “And before?”,<br />
or just the prelude to a question?<br />
<br />
& ante asks about the preconceptual moment<br />
when the composer is imagined by the performer.<br />
<br />
<br />
© Anthony Pinching<br />
<br />
Published in:<br />
‘Soundscapes – A Musician’s Journey through Life and Death,<br />
by Paul Robertson. Faber & Faber, London 2016. pp. 221-2.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-50672713915953734632016-10-14T09:10:00.003+01:002016-10-14T09:21:07.772+01:00<h2>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Dorothy Pope’s third book will be out in November 2016. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Called 'A Mile of Kite
String', </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
it will cost £6 or £6 + £1.20 postage.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Get Yours Now!</div>
</h2>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-87261383335181396992014-10-07T22:01:00.003+01:002014-10-07T22:01:32.079+01:00A SPECIAL DAY<br />
<br />
Imagine a city under siege:<br />
it may be any such city<br />
at any time<br />
as long as old women<br />
dressed in black<br />
scuttle amid rubble.<br />
<br />
Think how the miracle of relief might come:<br />
soldiers advancing in a column;<br />
raids from the air;<br />
even pretended discovery<br />
0f the fake relic of a saint.<br />
<br />
Do they all see<br />
how a slanting band of sunlight<br />
pours from between two masses of slate dark cloud<br />
to illuminate a distant tree up on the hill?<br />
<br />
Any tree will do,<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>but shining out in that special way.<br />
<br />
<br />
Peter Keeble<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-51114379675356641282014-10-06T18:57:00.003+01:002014-10-06T18:57:33.261+01:00Restructuring<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">It was
obvious he’d gone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Twenty
minutes later he emerged;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">a year
older (and an inch shorter),<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">for
every minute he’d been before the boss.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Never
seen a man so reduced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">He
stood for an hour and stared at the car park.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Something
had left him,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">none
of us knew what words to offer his shell. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Then
Shivali asked if he’d still sort the Lottery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">and
Dave wondered if an office would be free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">The
following week<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">hushed
conversations stopped<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">whenever
he came into the tea-room.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Might
as well have rung a bell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">He’d
eat alone, untouchable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Then
his desk was empty,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">though
his screensaver still showed <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">a
picture from the Christmas do;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">dressed
as an elf with Leanne on his knee, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">he
always liked a laugh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Emails
arrived with words like <i>rationalise,</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">downturn</span></i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;"> and <i>downsize</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">It was
like a damp we couldn’t stop from spreading<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">and it
seeped from his department into ours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial;">Just
now HR Jenny smiled at me;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;">my appointment ‘s Thursday, half-past three.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt;">Neil Elder</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-69574725955365985752014-10-06T18:50:00.002+01:002014-10-06T18:50:30.859+01:00At Last<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fairly well remembered</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
that final game for Stanley.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Boys spread out like</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
ducks across a floating pitch,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and me, under new rules</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
trying out my spec-less eyes </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
for blind spots.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before kick-off,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the thirties brick changing room</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
reeked sweetly of </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
White Horse embrocation</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and Fiery Jack </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(chilli seeds ground into</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
rubbing-cream for </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the grossly insane).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Today's ref, clogged up in</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
a starched Polaroid</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
of football through the years</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
read FA directive, 8liND,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
for specs, I was no </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
longer allowed to play in.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lens-less, I launched </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
myself frailly</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
like a fight in a blindfold,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
a centre forward for once,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
with no regard, and ostrich-like morals</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
as I could see nowt. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Second half we trampled </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
the over-wide pitch,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I picked up a short cross, Jesus, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and hammered toward goal,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
forty yards out I blasted it,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
under shock, it smashed the bar,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and jumped over.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
almost my best ever goal.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But that final match </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
all seems a blur now.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jerry Pike</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-38509144653084953112014-10-04T10:09:00.001+01:002014-10-04T10:20:42.211+01:00Hear Harrow's Herga Poets Read Their Own Work.<h2>
<span style="color: #cc0000;">https://soundcloud.com/tags/herga%20poets</span></h2>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-54691897304461818752014-10-02T17:07:00.001+01:002014-10-02T17:08:09.093+01:00October 9th 2014 WW1 Poetry Special by Herga Poets, at Harrow Arts Centre<br />
<h2 class="green3-font-col" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #f3901d; float: left; font-family: Conv_miso-regular !important; font-size: 40px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 14px 0px 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; vertical-align: baseline;">
Speak Your Mind</h2>
<div class="evnt-info" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; color: #70766f; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin: 28.33333396911621px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 566.7166748046875px;">
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<span class="location" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; clear: none; float: none; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 12px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">THE STUDIO</span><br />
<span class="cost" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; clear: none; float: none; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">£3.00</span><br />
<a class="ticket-button" href="https://kiosk.iristickets.co.uk/k?harrowarts&speakyourmindoct" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(102, 102, 102) 0px 1px 1px; -webkit-transition: all 200ms linear; background-color: #f57f22; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 10px; border-bottom-right-radius: 10px; border-top-left-radius: 10px; border-top-right-radius: 10px; border: 0px; box-shadow: rgb(102, 102, 102) 0px 1px 1px; color: white; display: block; float: right; font-family: Conv_miso-regular !important; font-size: 2em; margin: -24px 5px 5px; outline: 0px; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Buy Tickets">BUY TICKETS</a><span class="cost bookingfee" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; clear: none; float: none; font-size: 0.9em !important; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 2px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">£1 BOOKING FEE PER TRANSACTION APPLIES</span><span class="description" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; clear: none; display: block; float: none; margin: 28.33333396911621px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 566.7166748046875px;"></span><br />
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div>
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<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Words of War: Poetry of the First World War and Today</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Featuring playwrights, novelists, storytellers, poets and more, HAC’s scratch night showcases the best of local writers and performers. All types of writing and spoken word are welcome, from poetry to rap and novels to plays. This evening is a special edition presented by Herga Poets to commemorate the First World War.</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Herga Poets, Harrow's poetry group affiliated with the Poetry Society, has been running since 1992. Members critique each others work, which covers a broad range of styles and subject matter. Our programme on 9 October will combine our own work on the subject of war and peace with famous and not so famous poetry from the period of the First World War.</div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
If you would like to perform at this or future events, contact Cate on 020 8416 8963 or<a href="mailto:cate.gordon@harrow.gov.uk" style="-webkit-transition: all 200ms linear; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #0099ff; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">cate.gordon@harrow.gov.uk</a></div>
<div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 1.5em !important; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Find out more about Herga Poets on their <a href="http://hergapoets.blogspot.co.uk/" style="-webkit-transition: all 200ms linear; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #0099ff; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">website</a>. </div>
</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-16705362939018812082013-11-29T22:08:00.000+00:002013-11-29T22:09:47.948+00:00Like My Daughter Says<br />
If, like my daughter says,<br />
you are now a million particles<br />
orbiting in space,<br />
may you keep on spinning.<br />
Or else as I look out tonight,<br />
I hope you fall like snow<br />
and settle for a while.<br />
<br />
Neil ElderUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-39518642673588846732013-11-20T22:40:00.002+00:002013-11-20T22:46:43.147+00:00Louisa Bay Café<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The blues merge</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
lose character</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
as faint-light tinsels</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
deep as damn </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
into dusk-pools.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Day players, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
fold salt-wet life back </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
inside striped canvas bags.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Parading gulls sulk, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
their luminous screeches</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
jump out, brightly voiced </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
from nightfall's dirge.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A black and orange tug, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
wakes by, checking, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
dead shore</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
for the lifeless</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and not so.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sailboarders scoop </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
a sandpit fireplace,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
slotting beach scrap </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
between tinder flames,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
their barbecue group</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
enthused and vibrant,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
patch a pirate's living,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
to the fabric they hang on.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Two women's shell-likes, </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
eavesdrop the seaweed edge,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
hearing distant cinema songs,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
where the wrecks used to be.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They glaze over, unnoticed,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
and the snack bar </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
crumples into nothing.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Jerry Pike</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-40832705105036430102013-11-20T21:51:00.001+00:002013-11-20T21:51:15.765+00:00Betrayal<br />
<br />
With your reassuring hum<br />
I never thought you could be<br />
arsonist or assassin.<br />
<br />
You kept my food safe,<br />
my drinks cool,<br />
were a familiar friend.<br />
<br />
It was only when I heard<br />
how others like you<br />
had caused fire and death<br />
<br />
that I came to study you.<br />
You continued humming<br />
but I was no longer fooled.<br />
<br />
A man came round<br />
to change the condenser.<br />
No short-circuit now!<br />
<br />
We’re friends again.<br />
I’ve almost forgotten<br />
how nearly you killed me.<br />
<br />
Jennifer Johnson<br />
<br />
Published in Genius Floored: Uncurtained Window edited by Ruth O’Callaghan<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-11799126277176702202013-10-21T17:44:00.002+01:002013-10-21T18:12:49.775+01:00SeasonsThe procession of our seasons
<br />
carries us forward afresh, and
<br />
transfigures the dark and the grief.
<br />
<br />
The unfurling leaves of our spring
<br />
encode our own sure transience
<br />
in the cycle of creation.
<br />
<br />
The confidence of summer’s growth
<br />
allows a myth of permanence,
<br />
fuelling the cycles of our love.
<br />
<br />
Burnished, we prepare to transmute
<br />
this our flourishing, to free us
<br />
for the cycle of earth’s renewing.
<br />
<br />
For the seeming deaths in winter
<br />
are truly the transfigured lives -
<br />
resilient, transcendent, and ineffable
<br />
<br />
© Anthony Pinching
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-35915699621571263882013-10-21T17:40:00.003+01:002013-10-21T18:07:44.635+01:00Coining ItA late March, along the pier <br />
they group, too thin for weather,
<br />
all mod cons in gangs of old, <br />
rubbing coppers the wrong way,
<br />
as static gambling drags their
<br />
carefree souls to sea level.
<br />
It slots you in, greases your palm
<br />
with spurious dollars,
<br />
a brief windfall energised by salt air
<br />
and your head screens guilt trailers.
<br />
You dig deep, finding the angry money,
<br />
you flick it dangerously
with a backward spin.
<br />
The penny drops,
<br />
the penny pushes
<br />
and grips your small dreams tightly,
<br />
beside a teenage thump.
<br />
<br />
Jerry PikeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-25751017471314110262012-11-13T21:02:00.000+00:002013-11-29T22:22:59.925+00:00Fern Hill (After Dylan Thomas)As I was young and uneasy far from the apple boughs,<br />
About the silent house, unhappyas the streets were grey,<br />
The sun above me cold and flat,<br />
Life held me tight and sighing<br />
Caught in the turmoil of my time,<br />
And forgotten among commuters<br />
I was lost in the timeless town<br />
So when I sank to sleep<br />
the farm peopled my dreams<br />
Faded from colour to white<br />
Down the rivers of the windfall night.<br />
And as I was dark and burdened,<br />
alone among the stars,<br />
Sitting in the school and listening<br />
as the farm was born<br />
In the poem that was young once more,<br />
Time let me stretch and be<br />
Golden in the mercy of his words,<br />
And new and golden<br />
I was loved and farmer, the fields<br />
Rang to my touch,<br />
the sunlight on the hills<br />
shone clear and bold<br />
And the spirit sang, glowing<br />
In the ripples of the flowing streams.<br />
All the day long it was humming,<br />
it was lovely, the hay<br />
Fields high as my home,<br />
the sound of the swallow, it was free<br />
And flying, food and water<br />
And green as flame.<br />
The sungrew round that very day.<br />
Nothing I cared, in my sky blue daze,<br />
that soil and mortar<br />
In their dust and drying<br />
and the cobwebs of dying things<br />
Clung to the soles of my feet<br />
Fir I sang in my chains like the sea.<br />
<br />
Jane UpchurchUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-9946778198295874882012-11-13T20:44:00.001+00:002013-11-29T22:18:34.889+00:00DESPAIRI used to think I knew the ways of verse,<br />
and that I kissed its purposes and methods:<br />
to amuse and entertain,<br />
to admire, educate,
describe and politicise,<br />
to transform and to sustain<br />
sometimes with just a simple list.<br />
Then I read <i>Terrier in rape</i><br />
and despaired at my ignorance<br />
and at how it gave no explanations<br />
but held that mass of yellow smells<br />
up to the dog within us all,<br />
how seen from above by bees<br />
it's only an atom's track
immersed<br />
within the yellow rape:<br />
and how all this just is,<br />
like the very universe.<br />
<br />
Peter KeebleUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-81160947891559315652012-11-10T23:50:00.002+00:002013-11-29T22:15:45.682+00:00The World's Gone OutThe World’s Gone Out.<br />
It stole my moleskin trilby<br />
grabbed a beige Mack
by the door<br />
and scooted.<br />
Leaving my dwelling<br />
on the good times<br />
of fourteen across,<br />
pencilled in
and near completion.<br />
I sketched missing links on paper<br />
got out of my brain<br />
slid to the floor<br />
and wandered about,<br />
seeing things as they were<br />
prodding past experiences
into life,<br />
and quizzing them<br />
from my new freer perspective.<br />
The world raced on,<br />
and no one to stop me<br />
I chased after it<br />
sneaked through a window<br />
and gazed back blurred<br />
at a congealing mist<br />
that crossed my essence,<br />
as I ran moonward<br />
Dancing unhindered,<br />
empty as air<br />
I smiled at the nothing
I’d become.<br />
Joking and talking to people<br />
who couldn’t see me,<br />
I bumped into
another nobody<br />
we hugged<br />
the world stood still<br />
and doffed my hat.<br />
<br />
Jerry Pike
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-1825080515268682332012-02-26T22:18:00.000+00:002012-02-26T22:18:03.164+00:00Those Feet (With apologies to William Blake)And did those feet, a lovely thought,<br />
tread England's grasses sandal-shod<br />
or is this mere idea, caught<br />
in wishful thinking's web? He's trod<br />
<br />
the walkways of the mind of man<br />
world-wide for centuries and so<br />
to want him here in Avalon<br />
is natural but can we know?<br />
<br />
The facts add up and there are years<br />
of His life unaccounted for.<br />
A thorn tree for his crown of tears<br />
is rooted on this English shore.<br />
<br />
The rational remain aloof.<br />
"It's possible," our minds admit,<br />
"though only that for lack of proof,"<br />
Yet instinct clamours, "I know it."<br />
<br />
Dorothy PopeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-31406854824235136862012-02-26T22:05:00.002+00:002012-02-26T22:05:58.811+00:00HolidayThe sun is a bowl<br />
holding heat on my skin<br />
like love,<br />
soaking into my bones,<br />
into my mood<br />
like balm.<br />
<br />
My knots unravel,<br />
my pressures melt away.<br />
<br />
I am butter, oozing.<br />
I am apple pie,<br />
peeled and baked and brown.<br />
<br />
I have brought all of me<br />
on holiday,<br />
my toes, my tears, my ears,<br />
the whole package<br />
so we can each unwind.<br />
<br />
This is meditation,<br />
my mind not chasing plans,<br />
past and future folded away,<br />
just the glorious, sun-filled<br />
present.<br />
<br />
<br />
©Jane UpchurchUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-72351289756453489532012-02-26T22:04:00.000+00:002012-02-26T22:04:15.173+00:00Record ShopThe hallowed deck<br />
warmly rubbered<br />
span to life<br />
its beating art<br />
sent thumping<br />
into wood box speakers<br />
watt-filled copper cables<br />
topping up the shop's life<br />
causing people to nod<br />
rhythmically<br />
to kick and snare<br />
exploding mid range<br />
Tannoys <br />
and herding bass lines<br />
route one<br />
through the rib cage.<br />
<br />
Jerry PikeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-48691116328827075702012-01-12T16:35:00.002+00:002012-01-12T16:35:17.746+00:00SunbathersAs snow blows<br />
and we huddle in our<br />
hoods and scarves<br />
trees drop their leaves<br />
and abandon last years fashion,<br />
scattering skirts and underwear<br />
to display their nakedness<br />
like children on a beach.<br />
<br />
Today the early morning sun<br />
caught their dark bark<br />
and lit it bright with orange<br />
as they stretched their arms<br />
to the sky<br />
and basked in the sunlight<br />
letting the glow bronze their skin.<br />
<br />
Winter is an intimate <br />
time of year<br />
for trees.<br />
<br />
©Jane Upchurch<br />
www.janeupchurch.co.ukUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-87455619390617015912012-01-11T17:11:00.000+00:002012-01-11T17:11:06.262+00:00EvacueeShe washed up in a shoreside terraced cottage<br />
fostered by a Devon couple, gentle,<br />
loving, in this haven came to know<br />
the heaven of a sandy beach. With pail<br />
and wooden spade, she reconstructed house,<br />
cathedral, school and sweet shop ubder skies<br />
with no more in them than unworried gulls<br />
which skimmed her pet name here of Dimples, limned<br />
in capitals, in sand the perfect stage<br />
of damp, with with edges of spade and then with shells.<br />
She paddled in the playful waves with squeals<br />
of new delight, quite cleansed of dread. In bed,<br />
tucked, lulled, she breathed, in sleeping synchrony,<br />
the soothing music of the rhymic sea.<br />
<br />
Dorothy PopeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-36294357433712971382012-01-11T17:01:00.000+00:002012-01-11T17:01:07.086+00:00Open-air Baths, West HarrowShe told him that while there were still scrappy fields<br />
all around the estate<br />
each Monday their school made them swim<br />
in the open-air pool<br />
- even in Novembers.<br />
<br />
He had seen Johnny weismuller open it<br />
young years before that<br />
saw the great Olympian thrash a top-speed length<br />
before his whole class splashed in<br />
- this he alwats remembers.<br />
<br />
Now half way through the winter they sit clasping hands<br />
in the low-ceilinged lounge of their sheltered unit.<br />
As each stares into the embers,<br />
she shivers at the thought of the bitterest cold<br />
while he exullts in the movie star's glow.<br />
<br />
Peter KeebleUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-745594245097917072012-01-11T16:53:00.000+00:002012-01-11T16:53:22.097+00:00Geezers Of NazarethI know the decorations must be somewhere,<br />
seen photographs of when I'd fixed them up,<br />
and memories are drawing-pinned there with them,<br />
a yesterday from which I'll take a sup.<br />
<br />
I watched and wished a big star in the night sky<br />
from childhood tales of Christmas just begun,<br />
and underneath a smile I had forgotten,<br />
I trekked back to the birthplace of his son.<br />
<br />
The roads were just a mud patch, dried and stony,<br />
the king would surely never venture here,<br />
but sure enough old Elvis rocked the manger,<br />
and three wise men at least, broke out the beer.<br />
<br />
I caught a glance, some fat bloke in a window,<br />
dressed up in green, he punched his mobile's text,<br />
it isn't true, he said, but …what the Dickens,<br />
that’s Santa, selling gifts to undersexed.<br />
<br />
Outside the corner tent, Patel was cursing,<br />
his luck was low, and pine trees touched the sky,<br />
he also stacked up angels and some starlight,<br />
and paper chains, but no one knew quite why.<br />
<br />
Then up the road came shepherds drunk on sheep dip,<br />
each sang their hallelujahs and passed wind,<br />
they'd come in fancy dress, geezers of Nazareth,<br />
and as they stormed the barn, the wise ones thinned.<br />
<br />
Each squinted in the candle brightened hay stack,<br />
a child was born, sang Mathis (to their shock),<br />
they all got down and partied with old Mary,<br />
and Joseph pulled some JD from his frock.<br />
<br />
I heard that some years later, short on shekels, <br />
young Jesus (who'd been inside left for Rome),<br />
signed books, and balls to anyone he'd hated,<br />
his online blogging buzz, slid to a drone.<br />
<br />
Now leaning on this lamp post, where once gas light<br />
would rest its glow on hardened, weary souls,<br />
take note from lowly ancients and their fan base,<br />
and write yourself a bible, don't score goals.<br />
<br />
Jerry PikeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6661096854304606039.post-1606008329482943712011-11-25T18:22:00.000+00:002011-11-25T18:22:51.979+00:00Hard FrostA night frost following an early spring<br />
has blighted the magnolia. Now browned,<br />
its petals droop and fall, littering<br />
like yesterday's confetti on the ground.<br />
<br />
Where is its glory now, perfection's blush<br />
that stopped me as I walked to gaze and gaze?<br />
That just one silent stroke could do so much<br />
by stealth to spoil its subsequential days!<br />
<br />
The man who walks his dog said, "Never mind.<br />
There's always next year to look forward to,"<br />
but what, of course, he could not understand<br />
was that to me the lovely tree was you.<br />
<br />
You, darling, cannot bloom in future years.<br />
Your petals a finality - my tears.<br />
<br />
Dorothy PopeUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0