Tag Archives: Writers Resources
National Poetry Day Double: News and Poem
Happy National Poetry Day in the UK! Here’s some news and a poem to celebrate the day.
Firstly, Marc Latham’s Autumn Air Spins Summer Samaras to Equinox Earth has been published in the latest etips, which is a free monthly poetry e-magazine if you sign up at Wendy Webb’s etips blog. Thanks to Wendy for publishing it amongst lots of quality poems and poetry discussion.
Secondly, here’s another thoughtful FM poem full of poignant imagery
by KJP Garcia:
Wishing wells,
fountains
foot
river
Hand-in-hand
mouth
sea
fishermen
Poor-unknown
Remembering Remembrance and Questioning Relevance
Marc Latham had a services remembrance week here at the Folding Mirror poetry site last week, and debated with himself whether/how to do it before and during the week:
- should he do one at all
- was he using it for publicity
- was it in good taste
- would it be decoded as nationalistic/warmongering by some
- or unworthy of a non-service person to write such poetry by others
Not feeling sorry for himself, Latham finds such things a bit of a dilemma, as when you become a working writer/poet, you have to try to find markets to make a living, and try to balance the creative/professional balance.
This of course opens writers who support a cause to criticism, and accusations that they are only using it for publicity and to further their career.
Marc Latham is always aware of this, and although he does offer his opinions, and try to market his work, he always does it with words he believes in, and doesn’t use marketing strategies that he doesn’t think ethical or fair.
In the current media climate it seems that having extreme opinions is the easiest way to get attention, but Marc Latham tries to keep to the ethics of the Greenygrey (sorry if that, and all this, seems a plug!), and look at everything from all points of view, and provide a balanced opinion, or a balance to what he thinks is missing or skewed in some debates.
Anyway, after writing his armistice poem, and reading it, and seeing the field of poppies gravatar he used last week, he was reminded of the last episode of Blackadder, which mixed images of the cast going over the top to their deaths with the fields of poppies that would later replace the mud and wire.
It hadn’t been a conscious influence at the time of creating the poem, but the juxtaposition of history and nature, myth and reality seemed very reminiscent afterwards. So Marc Latham wrote this poem in reflection:
Reflecting on Poems of your Future
inspiration for creation
idea falls to life
new thoughts harvested
consume, digest, scatter
poem of your future, reflections on the past
analyse, decode, remember
old images recalled
memories return to mind
unconscious reveals mystery
mistYmuse 