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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 →
It was a day to be borne.Sometimes days are like that:Got to be borne,Born to be got through.Sometimes whole stretches of time are like that:One day, then the next dayThen the next day after thatOn and on'Keep on keepin' on'Because they can’t go on without youIn the sweltering heat whichWouldn’t rainComplaints, always and Nothing was good... 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 →
Today, I am honoured to announce the publication of two of my poems, 'Shattered' and 'The Last Best Pisstake' in the anthology BeautiFUl Ways to Say... This anthology was compiled and edited by Katie Elizabeth, and is available from Amazon. All proceeds will go towards helping victims of domestic violence. I am very proud to... Continue Reading →
I am happy to say I've had some interesting responses to, and interpretations of, this week's challenge. I loved the way that poets came up with new ideas of translation, from translating well-known poems into a local dialect of English, to sign-language recordings of poems and songs synced to poetry readings and song lyrics. Thank... Continue Reading →
Welcome, poets and poetry lovers alike: today I'm excited to announce a new EIF Poetry Challenge! After the success of the previous challenge: The Sonnet, I'm really looking forward to this. I did say I probably wouldn't be making the challenge any easier, and this is perhaps harder than the last one, (it certainly was... Continue Reading →
I was looking for a short Old English poem to translate in preparation for the next EIF Poetry Challenge (coming later today), so I searched through my poetry archives to find 'Cædmon's Hymn,' which I had studied at university many moons ago. Old English is very different from Modern English. If you're unfamiliar with Old... Continue Reading →
Experiments in Fiction 