Poetry Corner
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Hello Poetry Lovers
I’m very excited about the Poetry Night on the 21st August at Parade’s End Books in Ham. 
It’s a lovely venue and refreshments are served. Plus a classy night of poetry, and open mic. What’s not to like?!
I hope to see you all there, all details below
Parade’s End Books
21st August at 6.30 pm
£5 entry. For tickets, please click the link below
Hello Poetry Lovers
I had a marvellous poetry day on Saturday at the Surrey Poet Laureate’s weekend.
Situated in a beautiful building in Egham, the schedule was full on.
After the Mayor’s opening speech, and hosted by the marvellous Sam Ball, there was a poetry panel of Dakota Warren, Sharron Green and creator Adam Gary.
A very insightful session and later Dakota gave a reading and talked about her latest book, Be Happy I Am Mad.
Then there was an interview with my personal favourite poet Bradley Taylor. Swoon!
Bradley also took a masterclass in the afternoon that was very insightful. Here is Sharron Green and Bradley together
There was so much on offer; Katie Griffiths took a class, the lovely Joe Campling ran the Open Mic section, Melanie Hyo-In Han took us on a publishing journey, and later Luigi Coppola was interviewed. The headliner was Len Pennie who I was very sorry to miss.
Thanks for a great day. Do look out for this great event next year, PL’s.
Hello Poetry Lovers
Now this is a tricky form to take on. A mirror image piece and my version is a bit “dodgy” to say the least! 
However, who can resist a challenge, and rules are there to be broken! I love the palindrome form and there have been some very clever ones written. I hope to get there one day!
As you can see, Dobby gets in on the action! Do read on….
Palindrome
Your black cat moves me and
your broomstick is menacing
The doves from your top hat look at
Me with beady eyes
Hiding behind your black cloak
You think you can cast any spell
But I am not wizened with your power
Abracadabra
Your power does not wizen me
With any spell you think you can cast
Your black cloak hiding behind
I look at the doves with beady
eyes from your top hat
Menacing your broomstick
And I move your black cat
Heather Moulson 2024
Now, I know there’s a palindrome in all of you, PL’s. So send them on a postcard please…
Thanks for tuning in, Poetry Lovers. Got a very busy weekend ahead but I’ll be back next week…
Hello Poetry Lovers
I think it’s time to tackle the Tritina poem.
Not being able to stomach its big sister, the Sestina (six stanzas!), I find the Tritina friendlier. Only half the workload in three stanzas, it’s much more fun.
And it goes like this ;
1, 2, 3 – first stanza (of three lines)
3, 1, 2 – second stanza
2, 3, 1 – third stanza
Then the final line has words 1, 2 and 3.
Look, here’s one I prepared earlier.
My Mother’s Hairdresser 1966
My mother’s hairdresser’s face was flushed
Hair lacquer, ammonia and the full up ashtray
Had turned her very young features so pink
The huge brutal rollers in greying hair were pink
The sheer tightness making women’s faces flushed
Their lipsticked fag ends burnt in the ashtray
Tight-lipped women always sat near to the ashtray
And their disillusioned features would turn pink
Under the hairdryers, rollered housewives flushed
The flushed hairdresser would stand over the ashtray with her pink hands.
HM 2026
I only have lovely memories of going to the hairdressers with my Mum (I got a Bunty comic!) and not the grim picture I have painted here. However, it seemed fitting for this Tritina.
Now, send your Tritina’s on a postcard to Dobby at the usual address.
Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back real soon…
Hello Poetry Lovers
Today we tackle a cinquain. I like to take on a form I normally struggle with. 
This is about the house I grew up in. We sold it to a young couple in ‘69/70.
About 30 years later, the occupant spoke to my dad, and said that they’d been so happy there and never wanted to move! 
And it showed, that house was gleaming! It was extraordinary how the love of a house shone through. Anyway, read on, it’s very short (obviously).
My Childhood House
Gleaming
A Porch added
‘We’ve been so happy here
Our home since 1969’
I wave
HM 2026
Now, PL’s, there’s a cinquain in all of us, home or otherwise, so please put them on a postcard and send to me at the usual address. 
Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry action real soon.
Hello Poetry Lovers
Today, we cover one of my favourite subjects – Beauty.
Particularly cosmetics. A more painful learning curve than you would think, and an upward climb to getting that perfection right (if you ever do). 
I think many memories here will resonate with most of us. Do read on…
Made Up
Mum went out the house with a smudge
of lipstick and face powder.
Sister would do some self-mutilating
eye liner and spit on cake mascara.
I longed for false eyelashes and disco
pink blusher
But toner took off half my skin,
loose powder granules swum in my handbag.
Mascara on my pillow,
traces of red lipstick on a teacup.
Tan-soaked tissues on the dressing
table – all slovenly attempts at beauty.
Foundation’s only good for covering
up love bites – and tears, yet it flowed like velvet.
And, with a dusky bronzer, glamour
found me. I had another face at last.
HM 2026
Phew! It was exhausting getting to that particular face, I tell you!
Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry shenanigans real soon….
Hello Poetry Lovers
Now, I’m reluctant for Dobby to see this poem as it wonderfully describes Trisha Broomfield’s lovely cat, Perry going on holiday. I do not want Dobby to get ideas!
However, if we keep it hush-hush, we can enjoy this great pantoum from Trisha and all the preparation our cats demand from us when they’re going away. 
Do read on
Perry Packs for his Holiday
Perry packs for his holiday
insisting on gold lame boots
of course he will ask me to pay
he’s taking red and white swimsuits
insisting on gold lame boots
he’s cleaned his tux for dinner dates
he’s taking red and white swimsuits
a pair of sparkly roller skates
he’s cleaned his tux for dinner dates
his carry bag is full of treats
a pair of sparkly roller skates
he’s fussy about what he eats
his carry bag is full of treats
he’ll munch through Dreamies every day
he’s fussy about what he eats
his saxophone he plans to play
he’ll munch through Dreamies every day
of course he will ask me to pay
his saxophone he plans to play
Perry packs for his Holiday
©TB
Wasn’t that a great piece?! Thank you so much, Trisha, and I hope Perry has a great time! Will you get a postcard?! Let us know.
Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry action real soon…
Hello Poetry Lovers
My second dedication in the Slummy Mummy collection is to Ann Buxton.
One of those people you meet over a crowded playground and never look back.
Ann was a warm and welcoming human being, taken from us far too soon. A great loss to everyone particularly her four daughters and her lovely husband Mark.
Funny, even though we were good friends, it was hard to write about Ann. So I’ve kept it very simple in a series of haikus. Do read on
Your silky long hair
You were a playground force
I take home children
You took on the world
And still smiled at everyone
I only complained
Unforgettable
You’re still there in the school yard
I still get maudlin
HM 2026
The economical references gave me a clearer picture of Ann. I hope these pieces did the same for you.
Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. Next week we have a cat going on holiday. Don’t touch that dial !!
Hello Poetry Lovers
Okay, I’ve plugged Slummy Mummy but now it’s time to feature the real reason for its emergence.
This book is dedicated to two of my school mum friends who left us too soon. I’ll feature Kate Dodd in this post, and the lovely Ann Buxton in the next.
Katie was adorable and a real bolster on the afternoon school pick-ups. My son was close friends with her boy in those intense years of 3 & 4.
I have no photos of Katie, we weren’t so camera obsessed in the early noughties, but I’ve drawn pictures from my rosy memories of her. Anyway, read on;
Kate
Kate, I hope you like this material
and that it makes you immortal
I wonder if I can feel your presence
although I don’t believe in the paranormal
I will never forget Petersham Nurseries
where we had lemon cake and coffee
Trying not to choke on their fancy prices
and the lovely Senem ordered banoffee
She went back to Turkey
and our boys grew up and apart
We moved to chatting in the street
But friendship still ingrained in my heart
then a former school mum
told me that you had abruptly left
Twickenham suffered a terrible blow
and Petersham Nurseries was bereft
Did you fly through their glass panes?
in the guise of red breasted robin?
a symbol of a departed soul?
I hope not because I’m scared of them!
H Moulson 2026
Kate had a great sense of humour and she would appreciate that last line! Why do people leave us like this?!
Anyway, back to plugging the book…..stay tuned.
Hello Poetry Lovers
As you may have noticed, I’ve dropped very subtle hints that my pamphlet Slummy Mummy is out now! 
Please see a wonderful review of these child rearing capers from Sharron Green.
A review of Slummy Mummy by Heather Moulson
Just when you thought it was safe to enter the playground…
by Sharron Green
Heather Moulson has cleverly crafted a party platter of nostalgic nibbles that anyone who’s been a child will relish.
The joys of nappies, free school milk, spiteful teachers and fickle friends are intricately examined, providing an education and a relatable comparison to modern days.
Heather contrasts her childhood experiences with those of parenting this century, and we discover both how little, and how much, has changed.
The shock of adulting; parental growing pains; the torment and torpor of waiting at the school gate; are spiced up by pen portraits of the mummies of today.
That’s where the eponymous Slummy Mummy emerges (whose ‘work is never done’), and her bandmates Yummy, Eco, Scary and Average.
The pages are dripping with dry humour and keen observations. My favourites combine this with touching wistfulness – the little boy who’s ‘grime knee’d and puppy dog tailed’ but ‘when you finally fall asleep… I will miss you’.
Accompanied by Heather’s wonderful illustrations which capture the essence of her poetry, Slummy Mummy can be consumed in one delicious sitting – but you’ll definitely return for second helpings.
Thank you so much, Sharron for that fabulous review.
Well, PL’s! Why are you still sitting there?! Get out and get a copy now! Available from Amazon and Julie Slagg’s Emporium.
Heather Moulson