Reunions

The last few days have been great for reconnecting with people. On Saturday I went to the Kirklees Author Forum Exchange for the first time in two years, meeting old writing friends and making some new ones. On Wednesday it was great to be at the return of Marsden Write Out Loud, a poetry open mic which has been in abeyance since the start of Covid. (Poetry-inclined readers in the West Yorkshire area might like to be aware that henceforth it will be meeting on the second Wednesday of every month, at 7.30-9.30 pm in Marsden Library.)

And on Tuesday, I got to see my friends from Poetry ID face to face for the first time in ages at the launch of our anthology A Sackful of Clouds, in memory of the late John Gohorry. Having posted one of my own poems from the collection recently, I thought I would share one today from another contributor. This is from J. Johnson Smith, and references Edward Thomas’s famous poem ‘Adlestrop’.

Intermission

Another station, another stop
Silence in the carriage
Broken by a cough.
Looking out the window, no trees
Just a wall and railway stuff.
No passenger getting on or off.
No rolling Gloucester hills with elm or oak
No valleys with a milking herd
Just a lonely blackbird pylon-top
With its warning call.
I don't know where it was
You'd never know we stopped at all.

Copies of A Sackful of Clouds are available from David Smith (djsapt@gmail.com) at £6 plus £1.50 P&P.