Fidelity – dVerse

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Artist: Claudia Schoenfeld

He holds his guitar as a lover,
Stroking the maple, the cherrywood,
And most of all, the singing strings.

His sleep is filled with chords,
His duvet undulates beneath his fingers,
His mattress sighs at his sweet nothings whisper

Yes, all of his guitars are his one true love.


 

Courtesy of dVerse, where we continue to celebrate 5 whole years of poetic gloriousness, I have learned today about the form that is the sevenling. I have tried my hand at it – using music as the inspiration as requested – I hope it’s sufficient enough to be considered one!

We also have a fabulous interview with Claudia, who is not only a poet, but an artist as well. I have just found out that she is an urban sketcher too – I try my hand at it, mostly whilst waiting for trains, or on trains, as part of my way of relaxing on the daily commute. The picture above is one of her vibrant works! Thank you, Claudia, for allowing us to use one of your paintings today.

Sweet sister death – dVerse Quadrille

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You never told me, father,

how to prepare for this journey,
dismissing your own war-wound,
saying ‘It’s nothing’.
I am bitter to my shattered bones,
staring into the chests of my comrades

my enemies,
spatchcocked like the chickens

cold-slabbed in your butcher’s shop window.


 

Hurrah! the dVerse pub has re-opened after the summer’s hiatus. We have a fantastic interview with Brian Miller, one of the  co-founders, to celebrate 5 years of dVerse. In much more sobering news, we have also learned that the lovely Viv passed away on 5th July. She was always very supportive of my work in her comments, so I am terribly saddened to hear of her passing. My thoughts, along with everyone else’s, go to her family and loved ones at this time.

Tonight, we are hosted by the lovely Grace, who has invited us to write a quadrille – 44 words, no more, no less. I love the form, it really makes me work to get my meaning across.

I watched a documentary on BBC iPlayer about the poet David Jones, who’s epic poem  about the First World War, ‘In Parenthesis‘ is considered to be one of the finest of its time, of all war poetry in fact. The title of my quadrille is taken from a phrase in Part 7 of his work, and my poem has been informed somewhat by him, and the subject matter of his work. If I had even an ounce of his talent, I would be delighted.

I’m a bit of a war poet fan, and although I had heard of him, I hadn’t read David Jones’ epic work. The documentary, which was both about him and his poem, has enthralled me and my family. I have ordered a copy of ‘In Parenthesis’ and am desperate to start reading it.

Anyway, please do hop on over to dVerse and take part if you can. Or just enjoy the work you find there!

Expendable

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She is a cracked plastic spoon,

brittle, cheap, temporary

in our use it, bin it world.

Not worth a second thought –

that’s what he thinks, anyway.

He is a brutal jackhammer

pounding everything in his path

scything his way through

without a second thought.

They are a match made in hell.


 

Sadly, this poem was inspired by a couple I observed whilst out and about in town today. They played on my mind and followed me home, in my head at least. I feel a little better for ‘writing it out’, but I do wonder what will become of them.