Category Archives: Poetry

Left-Wife Goose by Sharon Olds

Posted on by
Reply

9780224096942

Winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize 2012 and the 2013 Pulitzer Prize, Sharon Olds’ sequence of poems in Stag’s Leap, tells the story of a divorce, embracing strands of love, sex, sorrow, memory and new freedom.

“America’s greatest living poet” The Guardian

Hoddley, Poddley, Puddles and Fogs,
Cats are to Marry the Poodle Dogs;
Cats in Blue Jackets and Dogs in Red Hats,
What Will Become of the Mice and Rats?
Had a trust fund, had a thief in,
Had a husband, could not keep him.
Fiddle-Dee-Dee, Fiddle-Dee-Dee,
The Fly Has Left the Humble-Bee.
They Went to the Court, and Unmarried Was She:
The Fly Has Left the Humble-Bee.
Had a sow twin, had a reap twin,
Had a husband, could not keep him.
In Marble Halls as White as Milk,
Lined with a Skin as Soft as Silk,
Within a Fountain Crystal-Clear,
A Golden Apple Doth Appear.
No Doors There Are to This Stronghold
Yet Robbers Break In and Steal the Gold.
Had an egg cow, had a cream hen,
Had a husband, could not keep him.
Formed Long Ago, Yet Made Today,
Employed While Others Sleep;
What Few Would Like to Give Away,
Nor Any Wish to Keep.
Had a nap man, had a neap man,
Had a flood man, could not keep him.
Ickle, Ockle, Blue Bockle,
Fishes in the Sea.
If You Want a Left Wife,
Please Choose Me.
Had a safe of 4X sheepskin,
Had a brook brother, could not keep him.
Inter, Mitzy, Titzy, Tool,
Ira, Dura, Dominee,
Oker, Poker, Dominocker,
Out Goes Me.
Had a lamb, slung in keepskin,
Had some ewe-milk, in it seethed him.
There Was an Old Woman Called Nothing-at-All,
Who Lived in a Dwelling Exceedingly Small;
A Man Stretched His Mouth to the Utmost Extent,
And Down at One Gulp House and Old Woman Went.
Had a rich pen, had a cheap pen,
Had a husband, could not keep him.
Put him in this nursery shell,
And here you keep him very well.

Within Reach

Posted on by
Reply

What is my life,

by which I seek accord?

My dysfunction the result,

of opinions squatting, uninvited.

My unseen mate,

anonymous in his visibility.

A bond forged,

an unbroken potential,

of another who sees me

as he sees himself.

Torn open by my longing

of his unfeeling touch.

Knowing me,

as I know myself.

To share the love

we both kept distant,

now within reach.

Leap of Faith

Posted on by
2

Your dreams filled my mind,

replacing logic

with a desire

to escape from the drudgery

of a dog-eared life.

Unrealistic

perhaps

in its offering.

A one-sided expectation,

to leap into the arms,

of not even a promise.

Abundant willingness,

tethered to the reality of experience;

the scars of my healed past,

rightly lighting my way.

Both of us deaf,

to the pulse and beat of the other.

Judged by tone and geography

rather than the sensory magic

of meeting in the flesh.

What a fool I had been, but no fool am I now!

Posted on by
Reply

As a child I was told, how I ought to behave,

that the doctrine of others, was what made me brave.

Within those confines, I did not flourish, nor grow,

my dreams became limited and desire could not flow.

 

I stumbled along blindly, trying to discern my own way,

ignoring intuition, found her words to be bray.

Mismatched with existence, at great odds with myself,

with no respect for my currency; the coinage of my wealth.

 

Although held by the moon, my fear swelled with each dawn,

my mind strangled freewill, saw any choice as a thorn.

It continually re-routed, just to champion its own plan,

thoughts blurring the edges, of where I ended or began.

 

For years this continued, for years I was lost…

For decades a mere puppet, until my own heart had been crossed.

And as the beating did stop, and all the pieces were shattered,

only then did I awake, to the reality of what mattered.

 

What a fool I had been, but no fool am I now!

There will never be another master, to whom I will bow.

My ache is my own, the true gift of existence,

my courage and self-worth, the real armour of persistence.

Permutations

Posted on by
Reply

I’ve seen the blueprints, I’ve seen the plan

The permutations of could, can’t and can

The present’s arrived and taken my hand

Showing me I am everything, but bland

 

My courage unveiled, I know I am strong

The Universe holds me, when my path is wrong

I recognise my judgements, they all come from me

From times when my heart and mind disagree

 

I believe in all that I am, life isn’t a thought

I know what I know; the lessons have been taught

Letting go of old concepts, that no longer serve

Living the life my ego says, I do not deserve

 

There’s no need for control; there never ever was

I followed like a lemming; society saying ‘because’

My concept of perfect, now turned on its head

By unlocking my child, I am no longer dead

 

I cannot be held by projections, or fear

Nor feel an obligation, to those I hold dear

I’m an amazing woman; I’m all my own work

To not live life wondrously, well I’d be a real berk…

Control Alt Delete

Posted on by
Reply

Control alt delete

No longer an uninvited visitor…

with the voyeurism of an inquisitor.

Enlisting the engines of obscurity,

satisfying nothing more, than bit-form curiosity.

 

With control, I alt-delete my recent history,

the continual refresh button of adultery.

Hiding from myself that I so, so cared.

I return home, clearing the screen of how he fared.

 

In his absence, he slowly scrolls out of view,

without needing to restart, I am able to renew.

Disappearing off the monitor of life, with a click,

with the apparent ease, of one dipping their wick.

 

Updates downloading of their own accord,

virus free, I log into the new and unexplored.

Replacing my old software with a new program,

seeing through the self-created hologram.