Geraldine Green (click here to visit her blog) led another workshop for an enthusiastic small group of poets on Shotley Peninsula in Suffolk last week. A stimulating annual event that we all now look forward to. The ‘Write on The Peninsula’ workshop was organised by Suffolk Poetry Society Chairman, Ian Griffiths, and generously hosted by Patience Shone.
One exercise was to write a sonnet in ten minutes, using one or two given words in each line, the words, throat,yes and elbow, had to be used in lines 1, 2 and 3, then the word longing used in both lines 4 and 5, etc, etc.. The finished poem is below.
PLEASE CLICK ON THE ARROW BUTTON ABOVE TO HEAR THIS POEM
Song has changed in the Robin’s throat
he sings for a mate, then waits for a Yes
thoughts link to spring, the Sun signals yes,
dark winter is nudged by a radiant elbow.
A sharp surge of hope rekindles longing
for a sense of change, a new belonging,
as fresh sap pumps like athlete’s blood.
Emerging plants engorge their new spines,
my slumped spine uncurls in beckoning light,
warmth speeds in bone, from finger to heel,
almost a riffle in the garden’s green silence.
Light from afar reaches to my bared scalp
a powerful headlight from the heart of the Sun
heads straight to dormancy’s rekindled heart.
