Poetry

Fear No More The Heat O’ The Sun ~ William Shakespeare

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April 23 is the day celebrated as the possible birthdate and known death date for the Bard, William Shakespeare. Coinciding with St. George’s Day (the dragon slaying patron saint of England) this is a day that must acknowledge Shakespeare’s immense contribution to poetry and prose.

 

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun

Fear no more the heat o’ the sun,
Nor the furious winter’s rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta’en thy wages:
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.
Fear no more the frown o’ the great;
Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke;
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The scepter, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.
Fear no more the lightning flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan:
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.
No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renownèd be thy grave!
William Shakespeare
Cymbeline King Of Britain ~ Act 4 Scene 2
Fear No More The Heat O' The Sun ~ William Shakespeare

Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth ~ Pam Ayres

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Oh, I Wish I’d Looked After Me Teeth by Pam Ayres

Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth,
And spotted the dangers beneath
All the toffees I chewed,
And the sweet sticky food.
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.

I wish I’d been that much more willin’
When I had more tooth there than fillin’
To give up gobstoppers,
From respect to me choppers,
And to buy something else with me shillin’.

When I think of the lollies I licked
And the liquorice allsorts I picked,
Sherbet dabs, big and little,
All that hard peanut brittle,
My conscience gets horribly pricked.

My mother, she told me no end,
‘If you got a tooth, you got a friend.’
I was young then, and careless,
My toothbrush was hairless,
I never had much time to spend.

Oh I showed them the toothpaste all right,
I flashed it about late at night,
But up-and-down brushin’
And pokin’ and fussin’
Didn’t seem worth the time – I could bite!

If I’d known I was paving the way
To cavities, caps and decay,
The murder of fillin’s,
Injections and drillin’s,
I’d have thrown all me sherbet away.

So I lie in the old dentist’s chair,
And I gaze up his nose in despair,
And his drill it do whine
In these molars of mine.
‘Two amalgam,’ he’ll say, ‘for in there.’

How I laughed at my mother’s false teeth,
As they foamed in the waters beneath.
But now comes the reckonin’
It’s methey are beckonin’
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.

And if you want complete joy you can listen to Pam Ayres herself read it Here.

Oh, I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth by Pam Ayres

Hawk Roosting ~ Ted Hughes

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Hawk Roosting

I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed.
Inaction, no falsifying dream
Between my hooked head and hooked feet:
Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat.

The convenience of the high trees!
The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray
Are of advantage to me;
And the earth’s face upward for my inspection.

My feet are locked upon the rough bark.
It took the whole of Creation
To produce my foot, my each feather:
Now I hold Creation in my foot

Or fly up, and revolve it all slowly –
I kill where I please because it is all mine.
There is no sophistry in my body:
My manners are tearing off heads –

The allotment of death.
For the one path of my flight is direct
Through the bones of the living.
No arguments assert my right:

The sun is behind me.
Nothing has changed since I began.
My eye has permitted no change.
I am going to keep things like this.

Ted Hughes from “Lupercal” 1960

 

Hawk Roosting ~ Ted Hughes

 

 

 

April Is Poetry Month ~ What Are You Reading?

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April is Poetry Month when readers and word loving people are encouraged to delve into poetry instead of prose and explore the world of words.

Often considered a rarefied medium and quite high brow poetry definitely isn’t for everyone, and often is shunned by students and the public at large. Quite interesting really as the first forms of literature for infants is often poetry and nursery rhymes. Think Mother Goose and all the little rhymes that children learn, The Owl And The Pussycat, Three Little Speckled Frogs, The Wheels On The Bus, and so much more. The repetitive rhythm of these gives a physical comfort to young ones and act as something calming and assuring as you know what is coming next.

So, what happens when you grow up? Well, there are no doubt books, articles and research into why poetry falls out of favor. Possibly the spareness of words, the depth of focus, the lack of where it is going? Who knows? Nevertheless April is the month where we are encouraged to spend a little time with poems. And as in other years we will reflect on some.

Hopefully we will find a poem or two that speaks to you, introduces you to something fresh. And there are lots of interesting poems here from other years. Just put poem in the search box.

What do you think? What are you reading?

September 28 Is National Poetry Day

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September 28 Is National Poetry Day in the United Kingdom. A day designated to enjoy, discover and share poetry. Readers in the United States and other points around the glove  can enjoy it too, just from a distance.

How better to enjoy the change of seasons and the move to the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness than with some poetry

National Poetry Day is “an initiative of the Forward Arts Foundation, a charity that celebrates excellence in poetry and widens its audience.” As a joy for a rare few poetry suffers from so many pre-conceived Ideas that spreading awareness and appreciation is a great idea.  The National Poetry Day website is full of information, suggestions and ideas to jump start your connection with poetry. This year’s theme is FREEDOM. and with poems by Emily Bronte,  Rosa Parks, William Blake and so many other great writers readers will surely find something new to inspire them.

And pop over to Penguin to their Poetry Prescription where you can answer a few questions and you are prescribed a poem to lift you up and make you feel better,

Perfect!