Making A Start

Right then, I am going to try and get to grips with this whole Substack thing. I am a poet. In a previous life I was a teacher and never had time to redraft, edit and all that jazz. Now I am retired so writing is almost like my day job. I write about the Dorset landscape, nature, the passing of time and all that implies. I want to connect with people through my poetry. I have three pamphlets you can find on Amazon. Two are published by Hedgehog Press and one by Hobnob. I also have work in a number of anthologies and journals. I’m Pushcart nominated and my pamphlet, Transformations, was also nominated for the Pen Heaney Prize. I hope you enjoy what I do.

I’m kicking off with a poem which is a response to the birth of my grandson. It was published in The Yorkshire Times just before Christmas. Imagine it as the wall notes you find in a gallery next to a painting.

Unto Us A Child Is Born

Triptych

egg tempura on oak panels

Traditional as an devotional aid,

this triptych of the birth of Christ

is re-presented in the modern idiom:

pregnancy test in Mary’s hand,

Joseph in running kit,

this is an low key Annunciation.

In the central panel the Holy Infant,

delivered by Caesarean section,

is handed to his mother by an angel in scrubs.

In the final panel the child is celebrated:

a black and white cat looks on,

worshippers bring food and

tiny knitted cardigans, take selfies

to memorialise this nativity of hope.

In the background, choirs of angels sing.