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I’ll wear my swishing, stunning skirt todaybecause todayI’m going to the land of ex-girlfriends: they wear their skin tan;their hair pinned to perfection;their nails manicured impeccably; I’m morelike a manmy appearance doesn’t own meI trythen I loose interest; miss a beatand they’ll be outthose ex-girlfriends from every corner of the street they'll comewanting my husband’s salaryand all the things I didn’t... Continue Reading →
Linguistics is a sexy subjectAnyone who would disagree Should listen to this:LabialDentalPalatalFricativeLabio-velar GIt’s the science of how we speakSo it must have a little to doWith the things that make us tick:It’s easy you seeIt’s all doneWith a flickOf the tongue.I’m British so I’m afraid That’s about as sexy as it’s going to get:Now I’m off to... Continue Reading →
This fortnight's challenge, to write an Elegy, produced some truly moving and heart-wrenching responses, as you might expect given the nature of the Elegy itself. My thanks and congratulations to those who entered; I was moved by your words and impressed by how powerfully you used your response to grief to create art which I... Continue Reading →
Yesterday on the bus my kids sang:‘All day long I’d biddy-biddy BUM!If I were a wealthy MAN.’On the way homeWe passed a man sleeping in a doorway:Better by far to be a rich bumThan a freezing poor Man. Written in response to dVerse: Quadrille #110: Shall we bum around a bit? For some reason, my kids... Continue Reading →
It’s easy to climb:Just don’t look down.It’s easy to leave:Just don’t everCast a glanceOver your shoulder.But easiest of all isTo stay:As easy as sliding down a greased poleInto not-so-quiet desperation. It’s easy to stay but it’s alsoThe hardest of all:Tortured hoursAnd the slow death of the soul. I am posting this, a little late, for dVerse... Continue Reading →
I met you in the food courtOf the shopping-mall, thatCathedral of commercialism, thereWere chintzy flowers on the restaurant wallWhere I saidI would helpYou find a woman, butWhere were the women? Visit FVR for the full text, where this month's theme is 'nightmares and dreams.' This stream-of-consciousness poem is inspired by a dream I had once... Continue Reading →
Like the Ode, the Elegy has its origins in Classical literature, where it was characterised by its elegiac metre (alternating lines of dactylic hexameter and pentameter). But don't worry, this challenge does not demand such a fixed and complex metre. In English literature, an Elegy is 'a form of poetry in which the poet or... Continue Reading →
We had a great response to this fortnight's challenge: The Ode. There were some truly heartfelt and moving responses. I think being prompted to write a poem about something which moves you deeply is the perfect way to get the creative juices flowing. All of my poems (apart from the silly ones) are about something... Continue Reading →
The Ode as a poetic form dates back to Ancient Greece, where it was devised as a song to be performed by a choir, and accompanied by dance. Wikipedia describes it as: 'an elaborately structured poem praising or glorifying an event or individual, describing nature intellectually as well as emotionally.' I also found the following definition in... Continue Reading →
It was the same villageThe same hotel andThe same meal (sausage and chips)But she wasn’t there: Had I been trying to bring her back? I wonder now as I think backI can’t even remember how old I wasNo more than ten or elevenShe died when I was eight Drowned in the riverThe same river of... Continue Reading →
Experiments in Fiction 