Hello Poetry Lovers
Now as we know by my most recent broken Handbag post, the loss of a much trusted item takes time to get over. However, we never think of the injured party’s side of things, and clever poet Sharron Green has given us the bag’s version of events. A very poignant view.
Wonderful piece, thank you Sharron. Do read on….
Emotional Baggage
I’m sorry dear Heather,
that I’ve let you down.
I love that you took me
on trips into town.
At poetry gatherings
we were a great pair,
I held you together,
and now I’m not there.
I was in charge of
your bits and your bobs,
your lippy and fags,
your hankies for sobs
your cardie on cool days
your brolly for rain
gloves in the winter
it was quite a strain.
And that’s why my handles
could handle no more –
you’re lucky they didn’t
give up long before.
But now’s not the time
for me to let rip,
we need time to mend,
or at least get a grip.
I’m hoping you have
a replacement for me,
a glance in your cupboard,
reveals two or three.
But one thing I’ll say
now that I’m not in tow
is thanks for the mem’ries
and on with the show!
@rhymes_n_roses
Wasn’t that wonderful?! So witty and astute. Thanks again, Sharron for such a well written piece.
Thanks for tuning in, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry adventures real soon….
Heather Moulson 
Thanks for the wonderful, though tragic inspiration Heather 🛍️ beautiful illustrations 🛍️💕
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And thank you for a terrific piece xx
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Very pleasing mastery of the alexandrine couplet: well done Sharron! Another poem to add to those of Shakespeare, Pope, Chaucer, Dryden, Aphra Behn, Wendy Cope, Marie de France, Dante, Li Bai, Firdausi, Virgil, Sapho, Homer . . . and most other poets you can think of, to show the Fashion Police that metrics–the control of verse rhythm–is NOT (as commonly assumed by the Eng-Lit establishment) a mere symptom of being confined by “tradition” or in thrall to out-dated conventions, but is, as it always has been, a device for making our verse more effective, giving it extra impact.
Readers will expect me to notice niggling details of rhythm (well it was part of my job for twenty years) so I won’t disappoint. Coming to the line “At poetry gatherings we were a great pair” I felt the meter was faltering: in natural speech the word “were” here would too quiet and short: the English alexandrine couplet would require a louder (“stressed”) syllable at this point: so if the poem were mine I’d tweak it by replacing “were” by “made” or “formed”. I say “English” here because in French alexandrines “stress” (variations in loudness of syllables) is less important, not a matter of local tradition, but of the way the French language works, phonologically; so in French mere counting of syllables will do. But in English it won’t. The English alexandrine couplet began life as an imitation of the French, but it had to be tweaked to fit our language.
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