Heather Moulson

May

Hello Poetry Lovers

“May I what?” You might or might not ask.

This particular post is on the month of May, for once I’m a little bit ahead. However I was inspired by Joe Campling’s lovely piece about May and how we as people change with the seasons.

Prolific poet Joe has kindly given me permission to publish this lovely piece on here. Read on…

May

I think about May

It comes upon you without delay

The unsettled weather of April

Then suddenly the tomes so shrill

Of lawnmowers and smells of barbecues

But the shocking showers that surprise you

The flowers start to bloom

And you get out of indoor rooms

And hope to get some sun rays

On the brighter days

And hopes go up for the year

As you start to enjoy outdoor beers

And music punctures the air

As we make time to cut our hair

We plan our nonsense for bank holidays

Even though it always rains

But remain ever hopeful

That the sun penetrates onto our skull

Joseph Campling 2024

Wasn’t that a terrific piece?! Thank you so much, Joe.

Treat yourselves to a copy of Joe Campling’s latest collection. A truly terrific read

Contact me if you would like a copy.

Joe also runs a poetry event in Iver the last Tuesday of every month at The Whip and Collar called Whipping Those Words Into Shape. Again DM me for details or look up Joe’s Facebook page.

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

Poetry Basket Review

Hello Poetry Lovers

Welcome back to the Poetry Basket Review. Have we got a hot one for you!! Rhymes for the Mind by prolific poet Sharron Green is a reflective, calming and profound collection.

Greeted by a warm author’s note, and illustrated with vivid sunflowers, we begin our mindful journey. This poet embraces the elements and awareness in an array of elfchens, loop pieces, pantoums and sonnets, and we are drawn into nature, human behaviour and insights.

Out of the Dark in particular emphasises our deep winters and the embrace of spring. In other words, the poet writes about our natural environment from an insightful view.

A personal favourite is Magic Moments. A highly reflective view of our souls. The Chain of Life is profound while Succour is haunting. Grow Wild is conveyed in a thoughtful and classy structure while Love Life is a fuel of inspiration, reflecting our own thoughts.

Descriptive and colourfully vivid, September Sun really does bring mindfulness to us as readers. Harvest of Hope gives us true optimism. The Company of Thought is a very personal piece and A Stoic’s View is absorbing.

The Beginning … of The End is a moving account of a hard mental journey. Wise Flowers takes the right path for us. We are willing to walk there with the poet. If Only …is a wistful piece without being mawkish and gives us hope.

Tea for Two is another of this reviewer’s favourites with its touching couplets. A truly apt end of our journey leaves us with Serene Moon Scene.

We must now let go of the poet’s hand but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to read it again! A reflective well written and personal collection. Do treat yourselves.

Click this link to order a copy and find out more about Sharron Green and her wonderful poetry.

Also look out for Sharron on instagram @rhymes_n_roses.

www.rhymesnroses.com

Thanks for tuning into the Poetry Basket, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry action real soon…

A Cynic’s Easter

Hello Poetry Lovers

A Happy Easter to you. I’m afraid this particular Easter offering is a little grim and cynical but sadly true.

However, that doesn’t mean I didn’t have great fun writing it! An old acrostic and I’ve blown the cobwebs off. Do have a read

A Cynic’s Easter

Enticed by chocolate eggs on the supermarket shelf, £10 for Club Card members in Tesco. It finds its way onto your credit card receipt.

An overpriced, overwrapped indulgence and you can’t get the silver paper off fast enough on Easter Sunday. The anti-climax is palpable, you end up leafing through the Radio Times with brown sticky fingers for a decent film on TV.

Self loathing begins on Easter Monday, and you wonder when the next holiday actually is so you can avoid it – and do summer holidays count?

Terse because the irony of cutting out sugar and cappuccino is not lost on you. And was that giant Lindor egg really so wrong?! You don’t answer that.

Eggs that are wooden and painted with vintage Easter chicks, filled with pricey hand-picked chocolate bunnies, get trodden underfoot by family members who wanted a Kit Kat one like their mates!

Recycling those splendid and colourful boxes. Their lingering smell of cocoa makes you want to heave. At least you avoided hot cross buns. Way too unhealthy!

Don’t say you weren’t warned, PL’s. A very acid take on a treasured chocolate-blessed Festival. But what fun!

Happy Easter to you all. We’ll be back with more poetry action real soon….

Never Trust a Poet

Hello Poetry Lovers

Such true words indeed!

So, the last post featured the excellent How to Cook a Poem by James Domestic. This post continues the profound theme of poets and their craft.

Clever and talented Sharron Green has written an excellent piece from her collection Willing Words . And every word is true! Never ever trust a poet! Read on….

Many a True Word

Never trust a poet,

they are wearing a disguise,

you might think they are listening

but they are plotting lies.

Like magpies they are spying gems

that others haven’t spotted,

just watch and they will swipe them

and soon they’ll be re-potted.

You’ll think—where did that come from?

It sounds so fresh and new!

But someone else inspired it,

it could even be you!

So never trust a poet

they are at least two-faced,

though their work is eco friendly

as no word goes to waste.

rhymes_n_roses 2025

What did I say?! Doesn’t that resonate with every one of us? For more amazing pieces from Sharron, click on the link below to get a copy of her new collection Rhymes for the Mind. Really worth a read.

http://rhymesnroses.com

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

How to Cook a Poem

Hello Poetry Lovers

Picture this; a night in Borough in a room above the Roebuck pub. Play On Words, a great live reading concept founded by explosive poet Lee Campbell.

And yes, an exciting night of poetry, with an incredible feature from James Domestic. A left field force that made one breathless with his frank and vibrant poetry. I had to have one of his many books And it’s brilliant. That’s not Poetry is painfully true and inspiring.

It was hard to choose a favourite but How to Cook a Poem is up there.

How to Cook a Poem

People are ingredients for poets

A store cupboard there to be raided

When the hunger in you strikes

of the world you must write

to have any chance of ever being sated

People are ingredients for poets

Steal a line of wisdom from a friend

A mondegreen from the singer

on the radio’s a zinger!

All elements you can employ and blend

The cashier in a foul mood

could be a top-notch inspiration

as could misunderstandings

from across the generations

Nan is baffled by the modern world

It’s not like when she was a girl

And there’s no hope

of suitable translation

People are ingredients for poets

Their quirks

their struggles

and their constant strife

A pinch of ecstasy from your lover

A spoon of guilt from yet another

The alienation from the people

in your life

People are ingredients for poets

Without ‘em?

Well, what could you do?

They’re weighed, and peeled,

and chopped

And I hope you ain’t forgot

that the final core ingredient is you

What did I say?! Such a wonderful piece! Thank you so much, James, for permitting me to print your brilliant piece. And I want more!

Catch up on this prolific poet and musician on http://jamesdomestic.com. Well worth a look. James has a full tour this year, try and catch him. Or treat yourselves to one of his books.

The next POW event is on 28th April. Get there at 7 to sign up!

Sunday Lunch

Hello Poetry Lovers

Yes, I thought that title would draw you in.

So many memories of the aroma of roast lamb and other enticements. It was always the roast potatoes for me.

However, clever and wonderful poet Trisha Broomfield does an interesting take on this subject, and how Sunday lunches can be reinvented. And unrecognisable!

I think her piece expresses our own thoughts very well. Do read on

Sunday Lunch (a pantoum)

Crispy Squid and Halloumi fries
I swear that’s what I overheard
no mention, steak and kidney pies
or thick sponge pud with lemon curd

I swear that’s what I overheard
the man who ordered at the bar
or thick sponge pud with lemon curd
I don’t think squid will get him far

Gyoza lighter than a bird
no suet dumplings like Nan cooked
I don’t think squid will get him far
how comfort food is over-looked

no suet dumplings like Nan cooked
has Sunday lunch now come to squid?
How comfort food is over-looked
and costing more than a few quid

has Sunday lunch now come to squid?
No mention, steak and kidney pies
and costing more than a few quid
crispy Squid and Halloumi fries.

©TB 2025

What a terrific piece! This really sums up how the Sunday traditional meal has been reinvented. Think I’ll stick to the old tradition! Thank you so much, Trisha. A great pantoum.

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

Interview with George MacGillivray

Hello Poetry Lovers

Welcome back to the talk show studio (Ecstatic applause)

Now settle down, PL’s, because our special guest tonight is talented and prolific poet George MacGillivray!

(Standing ovation.)

Hello George Welcome to the show.

Great platform shoes you have on there.

Why don’t you fill us in on your background?

Born in Glasgow rather longer ago than I care to remember. As a child I was not much interested in writing or indeed any arty subject. I was much more interested in science and saw my life going in that direction.

This didn’t really work out and I took a job working with computers; then a new field. Writing reports became part of my job.

My interest in the arts was fired by theatre both as an audience member and as a member of amateur drama groups. I always enjoyed Elizabethan and Jacobean drama; written in poetry rather than prose.

I have always been involved in community groups. That involvement led me to a group called “Write Afresh” at Raynes Park library. That’s where I started writing creatively; first prose then poetry.

Fascinating, George. I see Ann Vaughan Williams on the horizon here.

When did poetry become a part of your life?

I wrote my first poem in 2009. I had written prose before and was encouraged to redraft one prose piece I wrote as a poem in a weekly workshop Write Afresh; then run by Poetry Performance regular Ann Vaughan Williams. Once I started, I just kept doing it.

There, what did I say?! Lovely poet and lady. Then you came to us at the Adelaide. Excellent!

Who are your biggest influences?

I don’t enjoy reading poetry; it has always been about performance. I suppose I came to it via the Jacobean dramatists. It seems to me natural now, to express myself in verse.

After all poetry or song was the medium routinely used for stories and drama until after the Jacobean era.

Marvellous. Are you working on anything at the moment?

Write Afresh, the group I mentioned above is still running on Mondays at 10:15 in Raynes Park library. Consequently I write something most weeks.

That’s so inspiring, George. What a great way to start the week.

Now, (the audience gasp in anticipation)

What’s the best poetry gig you’ve ever done – and the Worst ?!!

I enjoyed reading at Poetry Performance. Previously I had only done open mics. So it was good to read for a bit longer.

The other reading I remember was at the British Museum as part of a writing workshop called “Writing Mesopotamia.”

After reading, Jenny Lewis, one of the facilitators said that I read very well. I didn’t know why she was so enthusiastic until I saw the video produced. It was quite a show.

It’s still out thereWriting Mesopotamia.

Isn’t it great being a featured poet?! Where the floor is truly yours! Sounds a wonderful video.

One open mic I did where the lighting in the hall was so dim no-one could see their scripts. Makes the case for learning it I suppose.

Indeed! A real learning curve. That was very impractical! Not thought through very well.

Well George, you’ve been a great guest

(Audience cheer in agreement) So, you’re out on the town with Dobby tonight?

Although she’s just been de-fleaed so she’s in a vile mood!

Well Heather, I think I’m going to return these shoes first. In fact I’d better get off to Freeman, Hardy & Willis before they close.

(Our esteemed guest awkwardly ascends the stairs to rapturous applause)

Wasn’t George a wonderful guest. Thank you so much, George.

(Big round of applause)

Thanks for visiting the Talk Show Studio, PL’s. We’ll be back with more poetry shenanigans real soon…

Wise Flowers

Hello Poetry Lovers

I could not resist this intriguing title followed by an even more intriguing poem.

Clever and prolific poet, Sharron Green has a terrific new poetry collection out called Rhymes for the Mind.

Full of wonderful and visual poetry that soothes our mindsets. I particularly liked how she embraced our natural elements, and I have chosen Wise Flowers that capture this essence.

Rhymes for the Mind also contains illustrations by an up-and-coming artist!

Do read on as I think you will agree with me about the mood this poem creates …..

Wise Flowers

My walk takes a path

where the wildflowers go,

grow straight to the light

and keep going.

Their seeds have been scattered

in soils far and wide,

they beat all the odds

never slowing.

Mixed bunches of beauty,

scents summon the bees,

who feast as if there’s

no tomorrow.

My walk takes a path

where the wise flowers show,

a hardy example

to follow.

Sharron Green 2025

Wasn’t that a wonderful piece?! Adored that structure too.

Keep your eyes peeled for this lovely book shortly to appear in The Poetry Basket Review very soon….

Treat yourself to a copy of this lovely book and click on https://amzn.eu/d/0p9Fy5J

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

Thumbscrew

Hello Poetry Lovers

Today I have stumbled upon Helena Nelson – such a terrific poet, and I am reading her Down With Poetry! collection like mad!

Such brutal and ironic advice, and truths about us as poets! The following pieceThumbscrew is particularly wonderful and painful reading, yet I wouldn’t miss it for the world!

See what you think….

Thumbscrew

Poetry bores me.

I think I will become a poet

so I can bore people.

Inflicting boredom’s not so far from pain.

I have always been interested in pain.

I had never thought of poetry like this

until now. I am less bored than I was.

I think dinner can wait.

I have written a lovely poem about a thumbscrew.

Let me show you my new metaphor.

Helena Nelson 2016

Wasn’t that a wonderful piece?! Do read up on Ms Nelson’s work

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

Our Night in Farnham

Hello Poetry Lovers

Last night, we as The Booming Lovelies embraced Farnham Literary Festival. A superb performing space at the Farnham Town Hall

A wonderful room with an ideal stage. I can’t pretend we weren’t daunted but that’s a normal feeling for us before each performance.

The festival organised by the talented Theresa Gooda has had wonderful writers appear and due to appear. We were honoured to be part of that selection. Theresa aka Ted Gooda is a very gifted poet herself and loved our pieces. Do look her up.

This is Sharron Green, Trisha Broomfield and moi in the lovely green room downstairs.

We were touched and pleased at how many people came and what a wonderful audience they were. This is me looking for my water bottle! There’s always something to catch one out!