After the Concert falling foul of memory’s snare entrapment awaits and the waif-like recollection of an evening when time crept so slowly it felt as if we owned it as if the moon would never break beyond the branches of that winter ash nor disappear behind the distant hills it was romantic I … Continue reading After the Concert
Category: Poetry
“Feral”
Most of Kate Potts' "Feral" isn't really poetry. Normally that's a big red flag for me, but I have to confess, not this time. I really liked "Feral". There was something about the tone, the images, the quality of it - even if it wasn't 'poetry' - that was undeniably pleasing. I told myself that … Continue reading “Feral”
Full English on the 6:17
Full English on the 6:17 Breakfast en route to London everything so hot you could almost taste the radiation. Across the First Class aisle a young woman in a too-short hooped dress watches videos on her phone self-consciously out of place. And grey commuters whose days blur into an amalgam of routine take … Continue reading Full English on the 6:17
In Mourning
In Mourning There used to be a sparkle in your eye fired by a vigorous joust with life. No more. I watched it die as I watched you lose your wife, wanting to weep but dry-eyed at being left behind. She would have told you what to do: to keep … Continue reading In Mourning
‘News’
News I wait for the telephone to ring. The inevitability of it. This is a strange waiting, a long waiting wishing for something not to happen even though it must. I tried your line today. My turn to call. There was nothing after the dialling tone as if that was the end of it, … Continue reading ‘News’
Let’s not make the same mistakes next year…
Perhaps that should be the only resolution any of us make when facing into a new year. After all, it is bound to cover a number of bases..! Twelve months ago - almost to the day - I posted a review / preview of my writing years, '17 into '18. The stand out? That I … Continue reading Let’s not make the same mistakes next year…
“The Distal Point”
Fiona Moore's "The Distal Point" is segmented into three reasonably discrete section: personal mourning, what might be loosely termed 'the political', and 'the rest'. Finding it difficult to cope with too many back-to-back pieces on the same theme - and especially those whose subject matter is deeply personal (I'm really struggling with Hughes' "Birthday Letters"!) … Continue reading “The Distal Point”
Two new readings
First, about a visit to Deauville, France when on holiday: And second, sitting in a supermarket cafe - part fantasy, but mostly reality! Comment
‘Cocktails in the Infinity Pool’ – a reading
A reading of my poem 'Cocktails in the Infinity Pool', plus the mp3 version of three earlier readings. 'Cocktails in the Infinity Pool' 'A Cracked Voice' 'Approaching the Border' 'Waves are not water' Comment
Readings – updated
I recently published a couple of readings which, I discover, are probably only playable for people with Macs. Apologies. I have now updated the files to the more standard mp3 format and republished the posts: ‘Coast’ – a reading ‘Gas Street Basin’ – a reading Please try them out!
Ian Gouge - Writer 