{"id":1925,"date":"2018-06-06T21:52:55","date_gmt":"2018-06-06T20:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/?p=1925"},"modified":"2022-07-01T17:02:54","modified_gmt":"2022-07-01T16:02:54","slug":"new-poems-the-dark-horses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/?p=1925","title":{"rendered":"New Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROOM FOR POETRY<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have a room for poetry<\/p>\n

Two bookcases of neatly filed books<\/p>\n

Arranged by region of course<\/p>\n

Then chronologically<\/p>\n

They have been gathering dust for years<\/p>\n

Unread, unopened, a wall of doubt<\/p>\n

Twenty years I have been a closed book<\/p>\n

Until today the penny dropped<\/p>\n

The dam burst, the Bastille fell<\/p>\n

Words started pouring down<\/p>\n

Cascading down the shelves<\/p>\n

From Shakespeare to Auden<\/p>\n

A waterfall of words<\/p>\n

For you<\/p>\n

They poured around my bed<\/p>\n

Lifted it up like a boat<\/p>\n

Some took off battered the windows<\/p>\n

Like a murmur of starlings<\/p>\n

Blinded my eyes<\/p>\n

Choked my throat<\/p>\n

I have made a room for poetry<\/p>\n

I rock on a bed at sea<\/p>\n

Calling out to you<\/p>\n

In the silence<\/p>\n

THE INVISIBLE AUDOBON<\/strong><\/p>\n

Somewhere deep in the bowels<\/p>\n

Of my past life in Oxford<\/p>\n

I am crouched with a naked flame<\/p>\n

Above an original copy of Audobon<\/p>\n

Subscription edition, worth millions<\/p>\n

And hidden from mere mortal gaze<\/p>\n

In a secret location<\/p>\n

Its own room in the Bodleian Library<\/p>\n

In this dream my life rolls backwards<\/p>\n

Towards the Minotaur under the trees<\/p>\n

Holding each precious page<\/p>\n

Hurt and pain unwound too<\/p>\n

Alongside Alfred’s jewel, lost treasures<\/p>\n

Leonardos and Raphaels all mine<\/p>\n

I load them on to Tradescent’s cart and<\/p>\n

Wheel them back into the light<\/p>\n

I start a new enlightenment<\/p>\n

Shine a light into the dark with these beacons<\/p>\n

Light a series of fires across the downs<\/p>\n

Burn away the hurt and sorrow, the business plans<\/p>\n

Start a new University in the air free of charge<\/p>\n

FORGED<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ignition came unbidden<\/p>\n

A firefly at dusk, drifting<\/p>\n

Across the estates like a wayward lantern<\/p>\n

That some bright spark in Mansfield<\/p>\n

Decided was a UFO<\/p>\n

And called 999 twice<\/p>\n

Or three times<\/p>\n

No I didn’t want to start again<\/p>\n

I couldn’t help it<\/p>\n

The materials were there<\/p>\n

Lying around the forge<\/p>\n

Dusty with neglect, unloved<\/p>\n

Then the molten heart leaked<\/p>\n

A salamander<\/p>\n

Here it lays, stronger, steely<\/p>\n

Coated in black armour<\/p>\n

For black times<\/p>\n

Come slings and arrows<\/p>\n

Normal misfortunes are ten a penny<\/p>\n

In every A&E you’ll find them<\/p>\n

Forging ahead or burnt and gone<\/p>\n

You cannot fake emotion<\/p>\n

SOUTH AND WEST<\/strong><\/p>\n

I sit on a Nottingham bound train<\/p>\n

At Derby Station<\/p>\n

And note the platform signage<\/p>\n

‘South and West’<\/p>\n

My wife is south and west<\/p>\n

Of here now following her own path<\/p>\n

I am headed north without due reason<\/p>\n

My life has always been south and west<\/p>\n

Until nearly twenty years ago<\/p>\n

On a whim I headed north<\/p>\n

And met her due south<\/p>\n

On a grey thundery London evening<\/p>\n

She was headed west even then<\/p>\n

It just took her a lot longer to reach her destination<\/p>\n

Which for now is between stations<\/p>\n

Hanging in the air like bird song<\/p>\n

I hear her now and then, hear her true voice<\/p>\n

Growing fainter on the wind<\/p>\n

Standing in a siding blurred with weeds<\/p>\n

Somewhere south and west of here<\/p>\n

In twenty years<\/p>\n

We will both be gone, long departed<\/p>\n

Down the lines we can still see<\/p>\n

Singing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ROOM FOR POETRY I have a room for poetry Two bookcases of neatly filed books Arranged by region of course Then chronologically They have been gathering dust for years Unread, unopened, a wall of doubt Twenty years I have been a closed book Until today the penny dropped The dam burst, the Bastille fell Words…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[60,33,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creative-writing","category-poetry","category-the-dark-horses"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6nhh-v3","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1925"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2382,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1925\/revisions\/2382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shaunbelcher.com\/writing\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}