London Calling – dVerse

June 19, 2014June 19, 2014freyathewriter 40 Comments

London skyline, change unceasing
Altitudes aspire, increasing
Reaching scudding clouds suspended
Your city’s tale has not yet ended

London skyline, change unceasing
Skyscrapers empty, workers releasing
Easing on to pavements, thronging
Each mind alone, yet still belonging

London skyline, change unceasing
Parks reducing, space decreasing
Many cultures, smells and tastes
A never-resting, human race

London skyline, your heart’s still beating
London skyline, change unceasing.

———-

This week, on dVerse Meeting the Bar,Tony has asked us to repeat, repeat, repeat – whether it’s a word, a phrase or a whole line. Let’s get the musicality going!

I haven’t aimed for a particular form, although if I hadn’t submitted a villanelle to a competition, I would have shared it right here, because it is, by it’s nature, a musical, repetitive piece. Hey ho. So, ‘London Calling’ is inspired by my place of work and by the wheels going round on my train journey home. I hope you enjoy.

Please pop over to dVerse to read some excellent poems on the travel theme. Join in – we don’t bite!

Grounded – dVerse

June 10, 2014freyathewriter 39 Comments

nailers, brewers and
butchers; artists, hoofers and
railway platemakers

Titanic, double-
booked, third class overflowing
what a stroke of luck!

———-

This week, on dVerse Poetics, Grace has asked us to delve into our family history – what makes us, where have we come from, who are our ancestors? As I get older, as life changes, I feel more of an urge to answer these questions. Recently I spent a lovely long weekend with my family up in Worcestershire, investigating old photos and luxuriating in tales of what happened way back when. This knowledge is to be treasured, no?

I have decided to be short and sweet this week. Two haiku-form stanzas and two photos – one of me as a little girl, and one of my scribbles during a quick coffee break. You’ll see the second stanza didn’t really sit well with me… hence it got the chop. Ancestors in both my mum’s family and in my step-dad’s family almost made it on to the Titanic… strange, but true!

In which nobody is satisfied – VisDare 63

June 1, 2014freyathewriter 9 Comments

worker ants are we

carrying our load

that over the years

has become leaden, unwieldy

and grown knife-sharp

burrs digging into skin and necrotising flesh

eroding and abrading

laden with expectation

wants have transformed into needs

more urgent than water

than the very air we breathe

infinite possibilities are subsumed

in unrelenting grey dolour

as unstoppable as time itself

it takes strength to resist

to walk away from the pressure

and those who say ‘just do it’

and those who say ‘it’s not that easy’

are both right

each from their own perspective

each from their own prison

each hearing, but not listening –

empathy is necessary

more so these days than ever, perhaps

and yet the white noise deafens

we are hoodwinked and blinded

and through wilful isolation

we choose to fail to realise –

we are not alone.

——-

Here’s my latest entry into VisDare this week, the prompt run by the lovely Angela. I have chosen to write in poetic form this time, but of course, I have met the guide of using 150 words or less! Please feel free to read, comment, critique or just enjoy, whatever you prefer.

I am going through a bit of a political phase on my blog at the moment, as you will see from here and here. Of course, all of life is political and politics invites people to disagree with your opinions. Wouldn’t life be dull (or horrific) if we all had the same viewpoint? I’m not great at arguments, they do put me in turmoil. But life requires you to be brave, right?