Wednesday 29 February 2012

Oh go on then... a poem

Weird picture I took the other night. I'm big on reflections at the moment.


So there have been some murmurings about poetry here and elsewhere. Have I given up on poetry altogether (answer - about once a week... no maybe once a day...)? Will I be putting together another book of poems (I'm thinking about it at the moment actually... maybe a pamphlet... I have a title anyway...). Have I stopped putting poetry on the blog (proper poets don't post online anyway you know... bah!)? Oh the joy it would be to have Faber & Faber publish my every word and not need to have these concerns... but it's not looking likely for now so in the meantime here is the first poem of mine on here for a while. It's one I wrote last year for a project that pretty much came to nothing and so far only a couple of people have read it. See what you think.



poem temporarily removed

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like. :) It's good to read a poem of yours again. Cool how you ended with the hardest word.

Rachel Fox said...

I think that was an accident but don't tell anyone else...
x

The Weaver of Grass said...

Good to see you posting poetry again Rachel.

Rachel Fox said...

I've been reading through my poetry files this week... found myself looking at this one and wondering what people might make of it.

x

The Bug said...

I like it - and I've had simliar thoughts about "body of work" - ha! My arse is right (but my family thinks I'm fab - they don't really get how it is in the real world).

By the way - the Poetry Jam prompt this week is to write a poem with repetition in it. Funny that you're posting just such a poem today :)

Niamh B said...

Hurrah! I just like your poems, glad you posted, this one is a good one for reading out to a crowd I'd say. I said.

Rachel Fox said...

Bug - I wrote it kind of about someone else's relationship with their work... but of course there's plenty of my own experiences and feelings in there too, I suspect... I went over to the Jam and added my link. Seemed appropriate.

Cheers Niamh. I'm not sure this would do for all crowds... but then you never know!

x

Brian Miller said...

smiles...we are our own worst critics at times eh? i thought the la la la was playful and an honest question after it...nice use of repetition...

RD said...

ahhh...so you defeat "now" and words DO find their way home...she said

Peace ☮

Helen said...

'I said' ... repetition works well with those simple words! Beautifully composed.

hope said...

And just now on my ride home I was listening to an audiobook where the character said, "Words need to be said. Out loud. We should read out loud more. Give life to words."

What a great poem to read out loud. :)

Victoria said...

i like all the complex and contradictory "I saids". That rings true. I say so much that doesn't quite fit with other things i say, and yet I suppose it does because I say it all. Gets me thinking...

JANU said...

La la la...loved this...fun yet so true.

Rachel Fox said...

I'm guessing all you new folks (here) are Poetry Jammers. Hello and welcome.
Though Helen... I remember you from Poetry Bus of old, I think.

And Hope... you're more like family... maybe I'll record an audio for this later in the week.

x

Rachel Fox said...

I should say... the (weekly?) Poetry Jam is here:

http://poetryjaam.blogspot.com/

I know some of the old Bus poets are on there quite often. This is my first time (I think!).
x

The Solitary Walker said...

I like your elliptical poem very much, Rachel. Seriously flippant.

Rachel Fox said...

Maybe I should use "seriously flippant" on the new pamphlet in some way. It sounds like an album title...
x

Mary said...

I am glad that Dana led you over to Poetry Jam! I can, in some ways, identify with this poem...as I am thinking seriously right now about my 'body of work.' In fact, I'm going to organize things NEXT week for my third book of poetry. I don't wish to be famous, only to have my words preserved...hope we will see you at "the Jam" again!

Maude Lynn said...

I like this! Smart and witty.

Daydreamertoo said...

Great repetition used to get how you feel across. Lovely prose.

Rachel Fox said...

More Jammers! Hello to you all.

As I said this was part of a project and that was with someone else so this poem both is and isn't how "I" feel. It could be anyone really...

x

Laurie Kolp said...

Powerful and very effective repition of said.

Titus said...

For me it's the repetition and the pacing. SW's 'seriously flippant' is very good.

Rachel Fox said...

Probably about half my poems involve repetition. I said, probably half of my poems involve repetition. Really.

x

A Cuban In London said...

Thanks for publishing my comment the other night. Itw as very kind of you. I've had problems with blogger recently. They've changed the feedback layout and allowed, meanwhile, gremlins to sneak in. Anyhoo, to your poem. I wish you posted your poetry more often. It's humorous, irreverent (the way poetry should be, mind) and personal. This was my favourite line:

I said
(to death)
hello
have you met my body of work?

Great. Thanks.

Greetings from London.

Domestic Oub said...

Great bloody poem Rachel :) From a non-(so far anyway) poetry jammer :)

Rachel Fox said...

Yes, the word verification gremlins may well kill us all, Cuban!

I haven't posted much poetry lately mainly because I haven't been writing much. I got to saturation point with writing about my Mum after she died... and then we went away (I haven't written any poems about that yet... they may be on the way...). And then we got back from travelling and mainly we (adults) just had to get used to ordinary life again. It's been a bit of a blur. I am thinking about some writing again and I've spent a lot of time looking at my poetry files this week. I'm coming out of the all-my-writing-is-crap fog (again). Now I'm nearly back into the well-it-may-be-crap-but-it's-my-crap zone!

p.s. once when i was down about my work Titus instructed me to go back and read your review of my "More about the song" book, Cuban. It worked... I did feel better.

Yes, I was an accidental jammer this week, D'Oub. I was such a regular Bus passenger but we can't all do everything!

x

Marion McCready said...

I really like this, the repetition, it's quite experimental! I love that photo too, the yellow and blue, the blurring, lovely.

Rachel Fox said...

It was written with abstract art in mind, this poem. That comes out I suppose!
x

Roxana said...

the picture is so stunning that, for me, it overwhelmed the poem for this first read. i have to come back to it again to get a feeling which is not influenced by the photo :-)

Rachel Fox said...

I've been taking lots of photos of window reflections lately (especially on trains!). This is our bedroom window, my favourite sky (twilight) and our main bedroom light (obviously!). Well, that or a spaceship...
x