Kingston Morning

Hello Poetry Lovers

Now we look to another contemporary poet, the talented Dennis Tomlinson.

I’ve had the pleasure of knowing and seeing Dennis perform for a while now, and his poetry never ceases to be anything but innovative and sharp.

From his book Over the Road, I have chosen this very atmospheric piece. I know Kingston quite well, but it still paints a very fresh picture. A lovely unique poem. Do read on….

Kingston Morning

Over a pedestrian street

hang Christmas swags and switched-off lights.

An occasional customer

checks the dresses in John Lewis.

By the church a bearded loner

shouts, ‘That’s all I know about it!’

Claws of cloud strike at the blue sky:

pigeons scatter, hair dishevelled.

In the small museum Muybridge

shows the breadth of San Francisco.

Wasn’t that an exquisite piece? Thank you for letting me publish this poem, Dennis.

The picture above is a sketch of Dennis contemplating his next piece.

Do treat yourself to a copy of Over the Road A lovely and personal collection. Contact me if you would like a copy.

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry action real soon…

Late Shift at the Pickle Factory

Hello Poetry Lovers

Now is the right time to highlight some of the wonderful poets we encounter and read poetry with.

One of these is the marvellous Mary Dickins, a lovely and deft poet. I swooned over her in Morecambe and am still swooning.

Her collection Late Shift at the Pickle Factory is a very powerful read and one I’d highly recommend. The following piece in particular struck a real chord with me. How it really summed up a childhood, and how easily we could picture the narrator.

Read on and see what you think…..

Childhood

my playground was a bomb crater

my teacher was a monk

my family were aliens

my friends were urchins

my teddy bear was threadbare

my socks fell down

my key let me in after school

my fingers were frozen

my dinner came out of tins

I had a cheeky grin

Mary Dickins 2023

Isn’t that last line wonderful. Such a clear picture of a child and how they get on with life. Love it.

Thank you so much for letting me publish this, Mary. Adore it. I highly recommend Mary’s collection Late Shift at the Pickle Factory published by Burning Eye Books.

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more Poetry action real soon….

Poetry Window

Hello Poetry Lovers

I thought we’d make a return to the Poetry Window. It’s been a long time between visits.

Did You as a child covet other people’s windows? How enticing and comfortable they looked while you were out in the cold? Or was I the only one?

Well look, pretend you did! And read on anyway. This was one of the first poems I ever wrote….

Blue Window

Why are everyone else’s windows

so warm and enticing?

Comfortable and cosy?

Walking back from me Nan’s,

I see orange bay windows the colour

of Quality Street.

Concealing a happy family, snuggled up.

Toys cleared away – clean pyjamas

and cocoa. 

Why do I have to come home to such a crap hole?

A fusion of strip lighting and cold lino.

The coal fire warming our fronts

while our backs shiver. 

No-one would look at our crudely lit window

with such envy.

Anyway, it faces the back. 

HM 2017

Thanks for indulging me, PL’s. I still covet other people’s windows now! All window thoughts on a postcard to me please…

Thanks for tuning in, Poetry Lovers. We’ll be back with more poetry action real soon….

Fleapit Corner

Hello Poetry Lovers

Welcome back to Fleapit Corner.

How can we not reminisce about our former cinemas?! The more down-at-heel, the better!

We had two cinemas opposite each other in our town. The posher Embassy and the very scruffy Regent cinema opposite.

The Embassy got the creme of the releases at the time such as Clockwork Orange and The Devils, but the Regent had quite a few fun ones.

I abandoned it as I grew up for discos and plays but I was still sorry when it ceased to exist.

Anyway, here is my tribute, do read on…

Fleapit

Oh you Fleapit, you!

I was under your spell,

especially when you showed

Jack Wild films.

And Ryan’s Daughter.  

And Carry On Henry.

And Ring of Bright Water.

But I think you sunk the lowest

With The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins.

I worshipped your lack of

balcony seats,

no airs and graces for you,

unlike the posh Embassy

over the road.

You knew your time was up.

Your rivals being divided up

into three cinemas. 

You couldn’t compete with

your lethargic lettering

wonkily displaying Big Jake.

But like John Wayne,

your star had dimmed.

Along with your torn posters

and cheap lollies.

No Kiora drink could save you

 now.  

Goodbye and thanks.

I’m off to the Multiplex.

Good luck with the Bingo,

Then later on as a

Turkish Grocers.

Thanks for reading, PL’s. Extraordinary how we can be brutal at the time about an institution, then hanker for it years later.

Now I know you all have a fleapit inside you, so write in with your nostalgic poems please.

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry action real soon…

Nonets All Round

Hello Poetry Lovers

I thought we’d turn to the Nonet form this time. 9 lines, 9 syllables the first line, 8 the next….well, you get the gist. Great fun to do and it makes a fantastic structure.

These are my attempts – and this time Dobby is not featured! She gets enough attention as it is! Dobby is not happy about this, so I’d better lay low!

Nonet to Sue

I’m not allowed to the school disco

My parents don’t like my mate Sue

but mind you, she’s terrible

flirts with boys in Capri’s

Mum says she will get

a murky name

I don’t care

Sue is

cool!!

A Kid’s Nonet

When I was a kid, I’d scream and shout

Create a mess around the house

When my Mum sent me outside

I’d start a fight with Linda

she ran off crying

So I went home

Ate burnt toast

And then

Bed

I hope you liked these, PL’s, and please send any in of your own. We’ll be back with more poetry action real soon…

Acrostic Corner

Hello Poetry Lovers

I thought it was time we featured some poetry forms again. Acrostics seem the best place to start, and guess who the main star is?!

Oh Hello Dobby! Fancy you walking in like that? What a coincidence. So here are two acrostic pieces, (the first one stars Dobby, natch.)

Dobby

Darling, come in from the rain

you lovely ball of fur

One look at me with your penetrating

eyes and I’m

Bowled over, just putty in your velvet paws

But if you sabotage my dolls house again

and act like King Kong

You are out on your ear!

(you little cow!)

And now we turn to the popular subject of Beauty

Beauty

Bastard false eyelashes gave me a headache

Every bit of loose powder scattered in my handbag

Apple blushed cheeks gave me spots

Under my face paint greasiness lurked

Then I discovered foundation that flowed like velvet. However,

Youthful skin still stayed away

Okay, now there’s an acrostic lurking in all of us, so send them in on a postcard to the usual address please….

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back real soon….

Save The Date!

Hello Poetry Lovers

I’m proud and excited to announce that The Booming Lovelies will be a part of this great festival.

Saturday 28th March at 3 pm at the wonderful Ecetera Theatre above the Oxford Arms in Camden. Be there!

A 42 seater venue, there should be many laughs!

This is the Booming Lovelies schedule so far. It’s shaping up to a good year !

That’s it for now, PL’s. Put the 28th in your diaries and I’ll keep you updated. Tickets on sale soon….

More poetry action real soon….

Resolute Corner

Hello Poetry Lovers

How are those New Year resolutions going? Now, be honest….

Clever and talented poet Trisha Broomfield has been just that, and has written a great piece about this very dilemma.

How many of us will blush with shame when we read these delightful words. Read on and see….

New Year’s Resolutions

Resolutions of the New Year’s kind

I’ll keep them easy in my mind.

I’ll give up chocolate, also tea

and coffee, I’ll be caffeine free. 

Alcohol will get the push,

a new teetotal me will wash

in only pure organic soap.

I’ll be filled with detoxed hope.

I’ll not buy biscuits, so won’t munch,

eat raw, exciting veg for lunch.

I’ll grill tofu, fish or chicken bits

then all my ‘too tight’ clothes will fit.

My hair will gleam, my skin will glow

I’ll have a secret you won’t know.

I’ll take up yoga, bend and stretch, 

but maybe won’t do all this yet.

The trifle has to be consumed,

on Boxing Day there wasn’t room,

and chocolates, still a deep filled box 

that has to go before detox.

It’s not that I don’t have the will,

or visualise when time is still

a slim attractive, healthy me,

I just hate the waste, you see.

©TB

Wasn’t that a great piece?! And very close to home! Thank you so much, Trisha. Please keep them coming.

Okay, I’ll leave you lot to sort out those resolutions (or lack of) and will be back with more poetry shenanigans real soon.

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s.

Tribute to Molly Parkin

Hello Poetry Lovers

Molly Parkin has sadly left us, and I couldn’t help but post a tribute to such an icon, and for so many reasons.

Unique and colourful, I read her books and articles relentlessly. I also adored her poetry.

I only met Ms Parkin once and I found her a lovely human being. So I’ve put together a fitting sort of poem here, from my perspective anyway. Do read on….

So farewell, Molly Parkin

I loved your book Love All

It made me blush profusely

And I learnt words like Felatio  

After your one woman show

 at the Bloomsbury theatre

You admired my white silk blouse

I could only blush and stutter!

You were so frank and open

How I fell about with awe

And you said the C word

You were never ever bourgeois

Full up, Up and Coming, Write Up

I devoured your written words!

Naively discovering you at 18

I became worldly by your third

Goodbye and thank you, Molly

Thanks for reading, PL’s. I hope it’s an apt tribute.

Thanks for tuning in, we’ll be back with more poetry adventures real soon….

Larkin About

Hello Poetry Lovers

A Happy New Year to you.

To sum up the New Year, I have decided to feature a poem by Philip Larkin from 1974.

I have mixed feelings about Mr Larkin, some of his pieces unmove me and others have made my eyes moist.

However, this particular poem really draws up a new year for me. (And a great excuse to sketch some trees!). I’m afraid Dobby got in on the act as usual.

It is a lovely piece, so do read on…

The Trees (1974)

The trees are coming into leaf
Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.



Is it that they are born again
And we grow old? No, they die too.
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.



Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In fullgrown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.

Philip Larkin 1974

Wasn’t that a beautiful piece? If you have any Larkin favourites yourself, please write in.

Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry adventures real soon….