[ October 1986 ]
He's off to Poetry School. He's desperate. Thinks it'll make him a better - a better - well, a better something. It teaches him buggerall, other than to think fast in public if you want to be seen as “clever” although one night he has to give himself an effen [F] for Poetic Fidelity because he scabs a Mickey Newberry line and says it's his own. Desperation can lead to some fairly tawdry things.
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(Exercise
– 6 things about a small animal/insect)
COCKROACH
The
furtive ferret of the insect world
Ever
nosey with the nervous business
Of
staying busy
Checking
everyone’s skirting boards
And
the corners of their cupboards
Surviving
on the musty smells
Of
long dead newspapers
That
wait forever for last week’s Scout drive
An
unlovely design
But
so evolution perfect
As
to have never needed adjustment
In
Nature’s scheme of things
This
living fossil
Reputedly
one of the few
That
will contest the inheritance
To
poor transient Mankind’s nuclear rubbish heap
T.R.E.
(1986)
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(Exercise
– 2 lines each, for the elements of Earth (sensation), air (intellect), fire
(emotion), and water (intuition)
ELEMENTS
Earth
is the smell of fresh burrows
Waiting
to give up rabbits for the pot
Air
blusters up the cliff face
Pushing
around the winter walkers
Fire
is the servant and master
Of
the blacksmith at his forge
Water
is cold in glassy mirrors
Staring
up from the roadside
T.R.E.
(1986)
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(Exercise
– a progression poem, starting with the small and close at hand, steadily
getting further away and larger, going though all the senses, image on image,
sharp, concise, ap 1-2 lines each)
SEPTEMBER
BEACH
Mars
bar tatty wrapper, up to its “a” in the sand
Buttress
bank of seaweed, smelling of summer at hand
Limpet-crusted
breakwater, tide-waiting high and dry
Sandhills
and tussocky havens, of the plover’s plaintive cry
Out
there on Neptune’s ocean, ride ghosts of the galleon days
On
endless wrecking breakers, in the distant salty haze
And
in Davy Jones’ locker, are the bones of those ships he manned
While
a Mars bar tatty wrapper, is now up to its “M” in the sand
T.R.E.
(1986)
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(Exercise
– 6-8 lines that alternate wall and body)
STONE
WALL
A
universal barrier of carefully fitted stones
End
product of hands long gone
Each
rock selected for its own shape
Measured
by the craftsman’s eye
I
drowsed too long
Sitting
hard against his plodding work
And
caught the backache he’d left behind
In
the random-edged crevices
T.R.E.
(1986)
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(Exercise – 6-8 lines of TOO MANY strong ageless images, incorporating “moon”, “tower”, “path”, “window”, “rose”, “fountain”, “cloud”, plus one of your own)
BIG
THINGS
Ageless
cratered moon
Rising
grey through the watchtower window
Somewhere
below the dark rider swings by
Plucks
a rose from beside the river’s path
(gave up about here! too many BIG things!
hopeless,
fit only for Monty Python, but carried
on...)
encroaching
cloud of night
he
falls heavily in the unseen fountain
swears
terribly
kicks
his horse
shakes
his fist at nothing in particular
T.R.E.
(1986)
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(Exercise
– a poem on some small incident in childhood, in its early stages, short,
vivid)
HOME
ON LEAVE 1943
A
soldier
A
stranger
trying
not to sit at attention
amid our suburban front-room ruffles
Stiff
khaki
big
boots
(one
faintly marking time
to the pulse of his own discomfort)
“G-day
...
how
ya doin’ ... ”
smile
sincere but awkward
outstretches a big machine-menders hand
“go
on ...
it’s
you Dad ...”
Mum
pats me into the space
that is otherwise empty between us
Shy
reluctance
pull
away
Dad
retires back inside himself
Mum tells me to not be silly
T.R.E.
(1986)
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(Exercise
– I Like. You have 90 seconds – GO!)
I
LIKE...
Sunday
morning breakfast,
walks
along the beach,
walks
in the country when the weather’s kind,
pottering
in the garden together when the mood fits,
making
love when we both really feel like it,
watching
really good stuff on TV,
listening
to music you’re in the mood for,
getting
home for tea each night,
reading
brilliant books,
live
music,
eating
out,
barbecues
at home with the kids,
barbecues
at home with good friends,
dinner
parties with good friends,
making
music for the fun of it,
writing
my own stuff,
visiting
libraries,
visiting
art galleries,
buying
records and tapes,
doing
a good job at work,
making
and fixing things when I feel like it,
early
summer mornings before the world wakes up,
Saturday
mornings alone at work,
doing
the grocery shopping together with plenty of time,
have
others get pleasure from my writing,
researching
an interesting subject,
thinking
about God and the Universe,
doing
the family tree,
exploring
new country,
snorkelling
in my own way,
making
love when we’ve got the house to ourselves,
winning
something,
have
you get pleasure from my writing,
(Ding! your time’s up)
and
Xmas day.
T.R.E.
(1986)
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