Chris Warren has published Childhood Memories. This charming collection of poems tells the story of Chris' upbringing in an African country. There are lots of animals, including several snakes.
You can find it at http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/8106119-childhood-memories
You will also find here links to Chris's two books of fantasy poetry: Time Rime and Heartwood
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Tom Rudge's The Road to Devon
Tom Rudge has published a new volume entitled The road to Devon.According to Tom, the road to Devon runs through the county of Somerset. Tom grew up on the borders of the two counties and has spent his life travelling the roads between them. His booklet brings together 11 poems inspired "at least in part" by roads and places on these travels.
It is published by Camless Press, a new specialist publisher, and you can obtain a copy for £4 by contacting pfblog99 at gmail.com. Payment will be by paypal.
Saturday, September 8, 2018
The Five Live!
The Five are live in Derbyshire next Sunday - September 16th 2018.
The event is taking place at 6 pm at Christ Church Parish Church, Litton. Derbyshire. SK17 8RA
The event is taking place at 6 pm at Christ Church Parish Church, Litton. Derbyshire. SK17 8RA
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Domenico's Gate
Domenico's Gate is the new book of poems by Simon Iredale.
The book spans all Simon's adult life and rages in topic from Oedipus to the Great Birmingham Bin Strike. Simon Iredale is one of those writers who carry great learning lightly. Follow the trail of his poems on this site and you find writing that's a great first read - but well worth extra time spent in pursuit of the writer's mind.
In Domenico's Gate you will find a whole new set of Simon Iredale's poems. It can be found at:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Domenicos-Gate-Selected-Simon-Iredale/dp/1973564149/
The book spans all Simon's adult life and rages in topic from Oedipus to the Great Birmingham Bin Strike. Simon Iredale is one of those writers who carry great learning lightly. Follow the trail of his poems on this site and you find writing that's a great first read - but well worth extra time spent in pursuit of the writer's mind.
In Domenico's Gate you will find a whole new set of Simon Iredale's poems. It can be found at:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Domenicos-Gate-Selected-Simon-Iredale/dp/1973564149/
Monday, September 3, 2018
Coming soon...
Poetry doesn't cease in the heart of the poet. It gestates and grows. Silence is not absence, it is meditation. The hiatus here hasn't meant we've abandoned lyric poetry. Some of those quoted on this site have finished their work. Others work to the beat of the years, not the days.
There will be updates over the next few days.
There will be updates over the next few days.
Monday, August 4, 2014
In Praise of Air
Spotted on the side of a building at Sheffield University, this poem, In Praise of Air, by Simon Armitage
Friday, February 7, 2014
The Somerset floods
Global Warming. Tom Rudge's poem about the Somerset Levels from 2008
http://www.lyricpoetry.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/global-warming.html
http://www.lyricpoetry.blogspot.co.uk/2008/09/global-warming.html
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
The Riding Man
The picture is
Of a young man, attempting
To ride a horse.
His pose is strained, half
Crouched in the saddle, painfully
Aware of being observed.
I am told, by those
That should know, that
This is me at twenty-three.
But since then every
Cell in this fragile human
Form has been altered by
Nature's alchemy.
And if the self is an
Emergent property of time
And 'I' am only 'I' through the
Chance concatenations of
Fitful experience, then between
The one who rides and the
One who turns the paper
In transient hands, there
Is a great gulf fixed which
Cannot be made up by
Memory, story spinning or
Unwitting invention.
When one idol falls, another
Irresistibly rises in its place.
Some new stranger may yet
Remark on this dying moment
Who shares my face.
Simon Peter Iredale
Copyright: Simon Peter Iredale
Last poem by this writer
Of a young man, attempting
To ride a horse.
His pose is strained, half
Crouched in the saddle, painfully
Aware of being observed.
I am told, by those
That should know, that
This is me at twenty-three.
But since then every
Cell in this fragile human
Form has been altered by
Nature's alchemy.
And if the self is an
Emergent property of time
And 'I' am only 'I' through the
Chance concatenations of
Fitful experience, then between
The one who rides and the
One who turns the paper
In transient hands, there
Is a great gulf fixed which
Cannot be made up by
Memory, story spinning or
Unwitting invention.
When one idol falls, another
Irresistibly rises in its place.
Some new stranger may yet
Remark on this dying moment
Who shares my face.
Simon Peter Iredale
Copyright: Simon Peter Iredale
Last poem by this writer
Auden on time and age
Lullaby
Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm;
Time and fevers burn away
Individual beauty from
Thoughtful children, and the grave
Proves the child ephemeral:
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.
Soul and body have no bounds:
To lovers as they lie upon
Her tolerant enchanted slope
In their ordinary swoon,
Grave the vision Venus sends
Of supernatural sympathy,
Universal love and hope;
While an abstract insight wakes
Among the glaciers and the rocks
The hermit's carnal ecstasy.
Certainty, fidelity
On the stroke of midnight pass
Like vibrations of a bell,
And fashionable madmen raise
Their pedantic boring cry:
Every farthing of the cost,
All the dreaded cards foretell,
Shall be paid, but from this night
Not a whisper, not a thought,
Not a kiss nor look be lost.
Beauty, midnight, vision dies:
Let the winds of dawn that blow
Softly round your dreaming head
Such a day of welcome show
Eye and knocking heart may bless,
Find the mortal world enough;
Noons of dryness find you fed
By the involuntary powers,
Nights of insult let you pass
Watched by every human love.
WH Auden
Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm;
Time and fevers burn away
Individual beauty from
Thoughtful children, and the grave
Proves the child ephemeral:
But in my arms till break of day
Let the living creature lie,
Mortal, guilty, but to me
The entirely beautiful.
Soul and body have no bounds:
To lovers as they lie upon
Her tolerant enchanted slope
In their ordinary swoon,
Grave the vision Venus sends
Of supernatural sympathy,
Universal love and hope;
While an abstract insight wakes
Among the glaciers and the rocks
The hermit's carnal ecstasy.
Certainty, fidelity
On the stroke of midnight pass
Like vibrations of a bell,
And fashionable madmen raise
Their pedantic boring cry:
Every farthing of the cost,
All the dreaded cards foretell,
Shall be paid, but from this night
Not a whisper, not a thought,
Not a kiss nor look be lost.
Beauty, midnight, vision dies:
Let the winds of dawn that blow
Softly round your dreaming head
Such a day of welcome show
Eye and knocking heart may bless,
Find the mortal world enough;
Noons of dryness find you fed
By the involuntary powers,
Nights of insult let you pass
Watched by every human love.
WH Auden
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Coming up...
Coming up... two poems on the theme of life, time, ageing, who we are ..one old, one new. You'll just have to read the poems
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Rock poetry
Among all rock groups, the Moody Blues regarded themselves as poets. The band's spin off group, the Blue Jays had a similar approach to writing.
I Dreamed Last Night is a fine example of their writing and has superb lyrical composition - but does it stand as a poem? As a song it appeals to universal themes of longing and lost love - but is the writer telling his own story or is it merely a collection of disjoined thoughts and convenient rhymes?
Oh I dreamed last night I was hearing, hearing your voice
and the things that you said well they left me, left me no choice
And you told me we had the power
And you told me this was the hour
that you don't know how
if I could show you now
Well I dreamed last night you were calling, calling my name
You were locked inside of your secrets,
calling my name
And you told me lost was the key
And you told me how you long to be free,
that you don't know how
Oh let me show you now
Like a bird on a far distant mountain,
like a ship on an uncharted sea,
you are lost in the arms that have found you
Don't be afraid,
love's plans are made
Oh don't be afraid
If there's a time and a place to begin love
It must be now
Let it go
Set it free
Oh I dreamed last night I was hearing, hearing your voice.
Why did you say those things that have left me,
left me no choice?
When you told me we had the power
why did you tell me now was the hour?
But you don't know how
Oh let me show you now
Like a bird on a far distant mountain,
like a ship on an uncharted sea,
you are lost in the arms that have found you
Oh don't be afraid
Love's plans are made
Don't be afraid
If there's a time and a place to begin love
It must be now
Let it go
Set it free
Oh I dreamed last night I was hearing, hearing your voice
I Dreamed Last Night is a fine example of their writing and has superb lyrical composition - but does it stand as a poem? As a song it appeals to universal themes of longing and lost love - but is the writer telling his own story or is it merely a collection of disjoined thoughts and convenient rhymes?
Oh I dreamed last night I was hearing, hearing your voice
and the things that you said well they left me, left me no choice
And you told me we had the power
And you told me this was the hour
that you don't know how
if I could show you now
Well I dreamed last night you were calling, calling my name
You were locked inside of your secrets,
calling my name
And you told me lost was the key
And you told me how you long to be free,
that you don't know how
Oh let me show you now
Like a bird on a far distant mountain,
like a ship on an uncharted sea,
you are lost in the arms that have found you
Don't be afraid,
love's plans are made
Oh don't be afraid
If there's a time and a place to begin love
It must be now
Let it go
Set it free
Oh I dreamed last night I was hearing, hearing your voice.
Why did you say those things that have left me,
left me no choice?
When you told me we had the power
why did you tell me now was the hour?
But you don't know how
Oh let me show you now
Like a bird on a far distant mountain,
like a ship on an uncharted sea,
you are lost in the arms that have found you
Oh don't be afraid
Love's plans are made
Don't be afraid
If there's a time and a place to begin love
It must be now
Let it go
Set it free
Oh I dreamed last night I was hearing, hearing your voice
Monday, May 21, 2012
Radiance Festival
On Saturday - May 26th - members of The Five will be reading at the Radiance Festival at St Matthew's Church, Church Hill, Walsall, UK. WS1 3DG
Radiance is described as a Christian Spirituality Fair. Admission is £5 for the day, running from 10am to 3.30pm.
Chris Warren, Colin Gibson and Simon Iredale, of The Five, are scheduled to read at 11.45am.
Chris Warren will also be leading a workshop on "poetry and prayer" during the day.
The Five first wrote and read together as students in 1977 and reconvened five years ago. Their latest anthology is Five Squared.
Radiance is described as a Christian Spirituality Fair. Admission is £5 for the day, running from 10am to 3.30pm.
Chris Warren, Colin Gibson and Simon Iredale, of The Five, are scheduled to read at 11.45am.
Chris Warren will also be leading a workshop on "poetry and prayer" during the day.
The Five first wrote and read together as students in 1977 and reconvened five years ago. Their latest anthology is Five Squared.
Friday, May 11, 2012
The music-makers
We are the music-makers
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying,
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
Ode
Arthur O’Shaughnessy 1844-1881
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying,
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
Ode
Arthur O’Shaughnessy 1844-1881
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Lyric festival
Check out the Sheffield Lyric Festival:
"Now in its second year, Lyric is Sheffield's only festival of poetry, music and the spoken word and will take place from Wednesday 9 May to Friday 11 May 2012 at the University of Sheffield."
It is organised by poet Simon Armitage, professor of poetry in Sheffield.
More details here:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/mediacentre/2012/stellar-line-up-celebrate-poetry-and-music-at-lyric-festival.html
http://www.shef.ac.uk/lyric/2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Poems to make you think
Here is a collection of thought-provoking videos of poetry and lyrics. There's a great Dylan song and some up-dated material that's already been on this site. These are poets thinking about life, the universe and everything. Any ideas for additions welcome.
Full listing:
Full listing:
- Spring - The Innocence Mission
- Stephen Lovatt - title unknown
- Gates of Eden - Bob Dylan
- On Burnham Beach - Tom Rudge
- Dover Beach - Matthew Arnold
- Always Making Things - Stewart Henderson
- Heaven Haven - Gerard Manley Hopkins, music versions by Caedmon and the Innocence Mission
Thursday, December 29, 2011
New anthology
There's now an anthology of new poems out by The Five, the group of poets who have contributed many of the poems on this site. In the past we've promoted live readings by the group. There are going to be more this year.
They first published together in the late 1970s and appeared with a band called Candle Factory, whose single album, Nightshift, now fetches largish sums on e-bay. They published a slim anthology then - and many years later, this is their second collection after "five life-times of beach-combing, of spiritual highs and lows, of taking less-travelled paths".
The new book Five Squared, edited by Simon Peter Iredale, is available from lulu.com for £12.50 It has 25 poems. One or two have appeared here - but most have not.
The five are Max Butcher, Colin Gibson, Simon Peter Iredale, Tom Rudge and Chris Warren.
They first published together in the late 1970s and appeared with a band called Candle Factory, whose single album, Nightshift, now fetches largish sums on e-bay. They published a slim anthology then - and many years later, this is their second collection after "five life-times of beach-combing, of spiritual highs and lows, of taking less-travelled paths".
The new book Five Squared, edited by Simon Peter Iredale, is available from lulu.com for £12.50 It has 25 poems. One or two have appeared here - but most have not.
The five are Max Butcher, Colin Gibson, Simon Peter Iredale, Tom Rudge and Chris Warren.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Christmas morning
Curled together
on Christmas morning
we're the comma
in the year
an apostrophe
of mutual possession
a quote mark that says
the conversation is ended
and is beginning anew
Tom Rudge, Christmas 2011
Copyright: By application
Last by this writer
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Suggest a Dylan lyric..
I've been trying to find an appropriate Bob Dylan lyric - words that stand out on the page as a poem in their own right. Dylan is meant to be the great lyricist, the contemporary song writer about whom dissertations have been written. Indeed sometimes he wrote poetry without songs - although unlike Leonard Cohen he was not a poet first and foremost. I confess - I have found the search difficult.
Any suggestions?
Any suggestions?
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