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SHOWCASE: Write Club poets

I want to show-case a few poems by members of Write-Club, the Open Universities’ creative writing group. The poets below all worked with me on a long collaborative poem which we never finished, but which was very stimulating and interesting to write. I thought I’d give them each space here for a single poem of their own choosing (they are in alphabetical order of poet’s surname):

 

A Sportsman

Suzanne Louise Burn 

 

Your handshake is cool and light

no hint of the power you wield

in the ring, where your hands

are weapons intent on destruction.

Nobody messes with the big guy

from Hammersmith, all six foot four

yet here on ward ten, in Great Ormond street,

you bring hope while I watch my baby

fight the ravages of chemo, such a tiny body.

You take the time to show you care

moving so quietly from bed to bed

including everyone, a true gentleman.

Superheroes come in many guises, never 

thought I'd meet one in my darkest hours,

yet here you are, and not for publicity

arriving unannounced, dispensing calm.

All it takes is a few kind words to lighten

the loads so many of us bear.

Know what I mean, Frank.             

 [Inspiration for this piece has come from memories of meeting Frank Bruno in Great Ormond Street Hospital in December 1990, when my eldest son Matthew was undergoing treatment for a kidney tumour at the age of 13 months. The poem was written in 2022]

 

We don’t do hugging

Sharon Henderson

 

We don’t do hugging, our family don’t.

We don’t do kissing, neither.

We do marmite sarnies,

Even though we hate the smell.

We do jams, chutneys,

And homemade cakes as well.

We do travelling for miles at three am.

Just to be told to go back again.

We do handwritten letters

And weird little gifts.

Send silly messages,

To give people lifts.

We do trawling the shops,

For that one little thing,

Some chocolate or biscuit,

That will make their heart sing.

We do phone calls at midnight,

To listen to tears.

We do standing beside you,

Through all of your fears.

But we don’t do hugging, our family don’t,

And we don’t do kissing, neither.

 

 

Coffee Corner

Karen Honnor

 

There’s a man sat in the corner,

looks like David Baddiel,

The caffeine’s slowly kicking in so

I’m not sure if he’s real.

 

I found myself staring

and averted my gaze,

For staring at a stranger’s wrong

in oh so many ways.

 

I came here for a coffee.

and try and write some more,

but I keep looking up to see.

If David’s making for the door.

 

He seems to have his head down

and is scrolling on his phone,

Should I say ‘hello’ to him?

He probably wants to be alone.

 

I sip a little latte

and wonder why he’s here

I’m sure he doesn’t live close by,

I glance – he’s coming near.

 

Now, it’s me that’s got my head down,

I don’t even know why.

I doubt he will have noticed.

I’ve been trying to catch his eye.

 

Is he working on his next book?

Taking time out from his day,

Stopped for coffee in a corner

before going on his way?

I’d ask him for an autograph.

but I’m not sure how he’d feel,

 

Hang on,

 

Wait a minute,

 

No …

 

That’s not David Baddiel.

Copyright © 2022 Karen Honnor

[The poem is taken from Just Take Five]  

Winter Needles

Tracy Hutchinson

 

A life well spent, a day gone by,

another twinkle in her eye.

Her needles clack-clack with white yarn,

growing a sleeve for a newborn arm.

 

The mother, too young, her grandaughter’s child,

like all youth today, was wayward and wild,

poisoned the foetus with alcohol and smoke,

probably wouldn’t appreciate the matinee coat.

 

But life had showed her a better way

to fill her heart each passing day.

So, her needles continued to clack-clack in the night,

to finish the jacket of winter white.

 

A bridge across the years and miles.

A sunny moment filled with smiles,

as the tiny bundle placed in her arms

looked up with baby beguiling charm.

Another child for the family tree,

and the grandmother thought ‘they all look like me.’

 

[First published in Generations 2019 Write Club OU]

Beside Me
Jane Langan

 

And over pale skies,
clouds like grey collared doves

undulate and surge in breezes,

beyond our whispered touch.

I watch silhouetted birds
move with grace and freedom,

transported by thermals,

rising and falling,

rising and falling.
I think of you,
I think of you...

Beside me when

thunder came.
Beside me when
we wept, over the lost.

We had so much to give,

instead, our insides, turned out.

Beside me when,

joy filled us up,

like chips at the seaside,

whipped in salty air.
Waves of laughter,

heard through the pull of the tide,

rising and falling,

rising and falling.

As we watched pure

happiness seep from every pore,

of those things we made,

unearthly, almost, in their beauty,

luminous in evening light.

You were there, beside me.

[First published in Blood Kisses, 2021]

 

 

Hate vs Love

Lily Lawson

Hate leaks from lips,

its powerful punch poisoning all within its wake,

wasting weighty words on trivial pursuits.

 

Love flows from the heart,

its calming lotion pouring in caressing streams,

healing wounds, seeping into souls.

 

Hate’s afflicted admirers

keen to ingratiate themselves

bow and scrape at its feet.

When they hear the battle cry, they charge.

 

Love listens long.

Its gentle voice persuading, reaching out,

accepting all in its embrace.

 

 

Copyright © 2022

        

[Taken from Rainbow's Red Book of Poetry by Lily Lawson https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B3F7N6SP/ref= ]

 

Author biographies:

 

Suzanne Burn

Suzanne Louise Burn (she/her) graduated from The Open University in 2018 with a Bachelor's Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing. She is currently halfway through studying for a Master's Degree in Creative Writing (also with The Open University) and focussing on fiction writing. She enjoys reading and writing poetry and is hoping to do more of this from Autumn 2023 onwards, once her Master's studies are complete.

She has had poetry, flash fiction, and life writing published in Makarelle magazine, together with six Open University Write Club anthologies for charities: Generations, Footprints and Echoes, The Gift, 2020 Still Together, 2021 Still Together, and Where's the Manual? And Other Thoughts on Parenthood.  She draws inspiration from nature, realism, and human relationships for her poetry and fiction.

 

Sharon Henderson

[Sharon doesn’t actually look like a teddy bear, but the only recent picture she has of herself is so blurred and dark that she is unrecognisable, so she has sent a picture of Denys instead]

Sharon is a teacher in a large secondary school just outside of London. She loves to teach and also tutors students with additional needs. She has two grown up children and a pet rat named Pandora. Her hobbies include what has been described as a maniacal amount of walking and baking cakes. These are then given to anyone who will take them as she has a gluten and dairy free diet. She also loves to study and has just completed an MA with the Open University.

 

Karen Honnor

Karen Honnor has always had a passion to write. Mostly, fitting poetry and script writing in around her day job in the past, now she has closed her classroom door and she has the freedom to focus on her writing, in whatever form it takes. Writing is a powerful way to make connections with others and to start a conversation.

She finds inspiration from my everyday and write with honesty and a touch of humour about the subjects that effect us all, building her self-confidence as she goes. Her books and blog continue to strike a chord with readers and she is learning and growing as she writes my way through midlife.

You can check out Karen's blog https://www.karenhonnor.com/

and follow her on Twitter here.

 

Tracy Hutchinson

Tracy Hutchinson writes alongside caring for her family. She gained a first-class degree in English language and literature in 2017, and followed it with an MA in creative writing which she was awarded in 2019. Tracy compiled and edited two anthologies during the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 Together and 2021 Still Together, to raise funds for the NHS Charities Together Urgent Covid-19 Appeal. The two anthologies had over fifty contributors and raised more than £1200 for the charity. Currently, Tracy is working on her first novel, which she is hoping to release later this year.

 

Jane Langan

Jane has been published in the anthologies, Footprints and Echoes, Dipping your Toes, the Makarelle Anthology ONE and her poetry anthology Blood Kisses. She has had a special mention from The Welsh Poetry Competition and was longlisted in the Mairtin Crawford Awards. Jane has an MA in creative writing.

http://www.howilikemycoffee.co.uk/

 

[Photo accompanying poem and photo of herself above were both taken by Jane herself]

 

 

 

Lily Lawson

 

Lily is a poet and fiction writer living in the UK. She has had poetry, short stories and creative non-fiction published in anthologies and online, in addition to her poetry books My Fathers Daughter, A Taste of What’s to Come and Rainbow’s Red Book of Poetry. She has recently published her first picture poetry book Santa’s Early Christmas. You can find out more about Lily and read more of her work on her blog. Life with Lily. Subscribers are the first to hear all her writing news. She can often be found sharing her randomness on Twitter.

 

[Photos either free-to-use from internet, or by Louise Wilford or Jane Langan or provided by poet]