www.theblisspages.com - poetry

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stories on this page: my poems :
contributed poems : a meeting at Samhain : a miscellany of kettle poems : boy : fireworks : flame : guising : how to make lots of runs : mouth cabaret : Murray Lachlan Young : National Poetry Day 7 October 2004 : notes inégales : resolution : seeking sun spots : smoke signal : the child people : the Fuse is lit : the hurry exercise : the intruders : This OBE is Not for Me : winter :
creative resources : 'colours of your mind' workshop : All Hallows Eve 2006 : another 15 minutes of fame : creative writing : creative writing workshop : eclipse : elemental, my dear watson : is it the medium, or is it the message? : is this a blog or a website? : links : new moon rising : playwright in residence scheme 2005 : poets corner fun day in Hove : poets cornered : promise or threat? : sanctuary january 2006 : sanctuary march 2006 : sanctuary november 2005 : Science: Threat or promise? : slow time workshop : songwriting with Heidi Berry : the web as a tool for poems and creative writing : time: real and imaginary : topical poetry workshop

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Why have I created a poetry page?

I've always had a love-hate relationship with poetry. I love words, and English was always my favourite subject at school.

I remember reading 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' by Alfred Tennyson during a competition at my grammar school, Sir George Monoux. The rolling, resonant tones of my memories were probably scratchy and timorous in my barely-broken adolescent voice, but I can still feel the words going through my mind:

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Other poetry had less impact, and seemed to veer from vacuous to pretentious.

But then, I discovered Dylan Thomas, and everything changed. See Under Milk Wood and A Child's Christmas in Wales.

what is this page for?

Firstly, it is a resource. Useful tools, useful sites, useful techniques - all are grist to my mill.

Secondly, a showcase and a place to share poetry and invite comments and contributions.

If you have an iPod or want to listen to my poetry, you can subscribe to my poetry feed. You need iTunes or another RSS Reader. If you just want to listen now, click on my RSS reader. I will post more information shortly.

showcase

my poems

See my poems in alphabetical order:

'tween Halloween and Christmas : 1571 : 1984 : a blur of red : a new year : a rotting heap of leaves : a... : acrostic poem : air : animal farm : another new year... : aroma therapy : as devious as... : as the dust settles : autumnal morning : awakening : bad tuesday : bag lady : bangkok tuesday : bauble : beach huts : bees : black salamander : blackout : blue rinse : bulb : burning crusade : can I call you back? : careering : carved carrots : catastrophe (cat-as-trophy) : change of pace : christmas cards : christmas memories : clip-clop : come in please, your time is up : count on me : cross(ed) lines : disenchantment : does my bum look big on this? : dollars spent on war, but no cents : don't cycle on the pavement : dumb blond? : eat me! : echoes : eclipse : ecosystem : election count : elegy to a friend : elemental : elliptical bodies : existentialist rant plus support : falling asleep : favourite restaurants : fears in solitude : festival poem : finger nails on a blackboard : fire place : fruit salad retro : fugue in F minor : genetic changes, changes change : genetic mutation : global warming : graffiti party : guy fawkes' revenge : halloween : HD life : headache : height : I am Ghengis Khan : I am not stressed : I can hear voices : I hate Christmas : I love Christmas : I won't see her again : I wonder : I'm dreaming of... : I've started... : identity : if I were a superhero : If you go down to the tube today... : in my tangled mind : in the distance : intersections : intrusion : is it good - or is it bad? : is it good, or is it bad? : just a small one : karma : karmic chameleon : life's a beach : lights and lungs : lists : looking : Marisa : metal rose : mirror : missed opportunities : mistletoe : mousing : my last fifty pence : network woes : new house - new beginning : newton's apples : ode to a chip : ode to www.theblisspages.com : origami : outed : pandora's box : parasynthetic poetry : performance : perspective : petrol : poetic Christmas : pole position : political correctness and hypocrisy : pro mise : profound poetry : quality : redemption: broken dreams : redemption: choices : redemption: cocktail : redemption: emancipation : redemption: news : redemption: prison : redemption: tenebrous times : remember remember : resolution : revenge of the tooth fairy : ridge : Roll up! Roll up! : routine Monday morning : school for scandal : sea the dolphins : second chance : see the leaves : senses : shadow : shine your shoes? : slow time : smoking may damage your health... : so near and yet so far : solidarity : songs of innocence and of experience : spilt wine : strange days : summer plumage : surreal voice recognition : table : tea cosy : the arboretum : the audience : the code in my head : the communication byway : the critic : the day the tide went out : the deathly lament : the dripping tap : the final poem : the key : the labyrinth : the last time I cried : the man in the moon : the naked cyclist : the naked poet : the office plant : the old, old, story : The Poem Created For Salsa Holiday : the problem with religion : the quintessential Englishman : the remedy was always the same : the rind of the ancient marinade : the second kiss : the stalker : the Thames whale : the thespian : the treatment : the vision : the weight of luck : the wind in my face : this time next week : this too will change : Thomas Edison killed me : three-quarters over : time of goodwill : tin can : towering infernal : train of Babel : tree : trick or treat? : twas... : two views : upon my soul : valentine : view from the balcony : viral communication : waiting : waiting for inspiration : what I did at the weekend : who am eye? a triptych : why are you looking at me? : yellow : you for coffee? : you say potato...

my poems follow in date order - most recent first.
Hint: to print an individual poem, it's better to summarise the page and click on a poem to see it on its own page:

I welcome comments, so please send them to me, or you can click on the 'give feedback' link on every poem.

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echoes

'Gnowing' is from the latin gnoscere 'to know'. This is basically linking the intuitive and rational sides of ourselves, as was practiced by the Gnostics, an early group of Christians.

Look at that tree over there
You can see the buds growing
But open your eyes, no, your other eye
And you can see the leaves to be
Sap-green and full of life.

Look back a little, or forward
And spy the golden leaves of Fall
And when your third eye is attuned
You see things to be, or things that were
Or things that might be, one fine day.

Then listen to all, and feel
And smell the trinity and taste
Then you will not just know, but gnow
What is what and where is when.

updated Thu 24 Apr '08 give feedback...

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height

The view is seductive
Just one step, it whispers
Then you can fly away.

I look down at the verdant green:
Trees looking like fragrant thyme
As my hour glass trembles.

The air is very clear here
Unlike my mind
And my foot inches forward.

My lips are dry and my palms moist
Fingers whiten on the guard rail
The all-too-insubstantial guard rail.

I finally gather my thoughts, and ...
Vault over, dropping into the void
Waiting for the cord to tighten.

updated Wed 23 Apr '08 give feedback...

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view from the balcony

Whitehawk is an estate in Brighton, described as one of the most deprived areas in Britain

I feel that I'm up in the sky.
White clouds roil below me
As I look down at nothing
Seeing only my memories.

It could be a mystical world
Of hobgoblins and orcs
There could be a forest
Of majestic hornbeams and oak.

There could be a castle ahead
With crenellated towers and turrets
And the obligatory maiden
Letting her hair down.

Then the sun breaks through
And the clouds boil away
Revealing the alternative joys
Of the Whitehawk estate.

updated Tue 22 Apr '08 give feedback...

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this too will change

My watch strap broke today
And my mobile cord frayed
It is a time of changes
So I rebooted myself.

It's easy to get into a rut
To do as expected
Stick with the boringly familiar
The routine mundane safety of the now

Maybe I should change my job
After decades of futile permanence
Loosen the strangling umbilical
Of the formerly paternal.

But I think I'll hang on in the English way
Leaving it to external forces to act
In this chaotic, wondrous lottery of life
A stroke, or stroke of luck - who knows?

updated Wed 16 Apr '08 give feedback...

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waiting

The rabbits are vicious in Waberthwaite
Ever since the day of the containment.
Of course, they say it didn't happen
But we, the ones that were left, know.

We don't eat the onions any more
Not since one got poor mad Sid
And we're wary of the local water
Gently bubbling green from the taps.

The lapine creatures are not just wild
But bloody furious, as well they might be
Mad eyes staring from hornéd heads
As they hunt the feral squirrels.

Come to peaceful Cumbria, they implore
But beware the glossy brochure.
It's not what they say, but that left unsaid
The sun may be shining, but so are we.

Electricity is pumping into the grid
But we're paying for it as we mutate
I flap my flippered arms and drool
Looking at the view over Sellafield.

updated Wed 16 Apr '08 give feedback...

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elliptical bodies

It's difficult being the youngest.
My older siblings majestically sweep past
As I gallop and gambol
Round the brilliance of our mother
Blinding us all – but me most of all
As I orbit around her.
We snigger at my older and staider relative
And make fun of his name
As he puffs reflectively around us
I wonder about those cold creatures
Jumping like fleas between us –
But I don't suppose they'll ever visit me –
I'm much too Mercurial for them.

updated Tue 15 Apr '08 give feedback...

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karma

Every good turn
or crossword
or selfless action
or thoughtless gesture
turns around
or so they say.

What of the legacy of the politicians
facing their hubric fall?

They make their expedient decisions
balancing voters patience against
blasted babies and mullahs with surprising belts
where a trip to work can be one-way
and a coffee break can last forever.

updated Tue 15 Apr '08 give feedback...

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valentine

I wrote a poem for Valentines day, then, when I realised it was 14 lines long, converted it into a sonnet. Which do you prefer?