Poetry 101

At the beginning of this year I re-discovered a passion, an old flame....poetry.

I wrote a lot as a teenager; thoughts, prayers, words...I never thought much of the tumble of words that formed most days - just let myself process and push through the pen to find out what I was really thinking. Some of that can be seen on an old, old blog - most of it is an embarrassing mush of day to day reporting though!

However, as I read through some of my old notebooks, discovered spoken word/poetry slam material on YouTube and attended my first open mic nights in Oxford I realised: I write poetry!

And on New Years Eve, something came back to life - don't know why - hadn't planned it, wasn't expecting it.....found myself re-inspired.

So, in February, I found myself on a small stage, in a small room above the Jericho Tavern - taking a deep breath and performing poetry. Original, borrowed, old and new, to a group of good friends and total strangers.

After this performance I was overwhelmed with the positive feedback and admissions of admiration that I received! Enquiries about further performances and online sharing of writing work followed, and I found myself grinning like a Cheshire cat! 

Since then it's been fairly quiet - I've allowed other areas of life to be a priority - not wrongly so - and haven't followed up with very much!
Writing slowly and quietly - as time and my imagination allow.

Today though, is a day where I try out again.
I'm sharing two new(ish!) poems - and will go on to post a variety of old and new poems for my own enjoyment -- and hopefully yours too. 

Reading poems will never capture the power of performance, but with time constraints as they are at present I'm going to focus on the slow and steady progression of writing vs the heady and consuming task of performing; in good time that will surely change :)

Apology
"Sss" the syllables hang on my lips
As my knee jerk reaction surfaces again
Lips quickly chewed, cheeks shine - a rosy hue.

A word that should be polite
But in this case it's simply not

Sorry.
An apologetic reflex of the female tech savvy generation
Laid bare for us in a crude compilation of missed steps and uncertain facts.
We are making the rods that breaks our backs.

Friend or foe? I simply don't know.
But I do know when I've got it wrong.
Sorry!

Alone
When I am alone
Do I hear the ache of loneliness? or the silence of solitude?
Do I appreciate the quiet? or fill it with mindless tunes?
Do I embrace the middle of my cosy, comforting bed? or do I crave the embrace of arms unknown?
They say the grass is greener on the other side
But I know that side will always be better, I think, 
I know,
I think

My spinster soul would have me believe that things will always be this way.
Robbing me of appreciation, appealing to self-pity and struggle.
To persuade me that this moment and space is all encompassing; all that there is.
When one look to this world around me will tell me that's not true.

And so, 
When I am alone; I will breathe - deeply
Listen closely, sense keenly
To the things that the stretching, cocooning tendrils of solitude have to show me.
I will wiggle and snuggle --- and dig myself deep into the vessels of my own soul and heart.
So that, 
When the time for companionship and ceaseless noise comes to be
My knowledge of self will not allude me.
But flow through,
outworking from this past.