I thought it would be a great idea if we could celebrate UK's National Poetry Day together so emailed some of my favourite poets and asked them if they would like to take part in a group poem.
The guidelines were as follows and we emailed back and forth throughout the day coming up with the lovely poem 'Wall/Flower" below.
1. You can post as many or as little times as you like but to ensure that everyone gets a go ONLY POST TWO LINES AT A TIME
2. Once you have added to the the poem allow a couple of other people (at least) to add to the poem before you post again.
The poets who took part were: Katrina Naomi, Heather Taylor, Nev'l Lewis, Paul Ross, Miriam Nash, Kamaria Muntu, Sean Thomas Dougherty, Jacqueline Saphra, Mahogany L. Browne, Nena Black, Sabrina Mahfouz, Warsan Shire, Den Rele and Naomi Woddis
Wall/Flower
Should I tell you that I'd reached for you,
reached for your city, punched through that stupid wall.
Or should I curl my hand in to an embryo,
a sleeping bud yearning for the light ?
A faint bulb beats in me
I cast its flame as wide as I can, a fishing rod.
A sea that pulsed once with shoals of silver
is viscous now. The bait waits on the hook,
a streak flashing across the murky Thames
swallowed in the morning gloom,
I had wanted to call you, I held the empty phone
to my ear as they fished the suited woman out of the river,
I was left with the echoes of my breath
your warm voice nowhere near my heart.
And then the distance begins, the sky slate,
and the chalk dust of our hands.
Scanned ticket prices, hotel deals are reminders
Of days before highway exit signs claimed you
a lazy wave laps at the mucky shore,
reaches towards the blank silent bank walls
On a lay-by, I see weeds growing through cracked
tarmac, their gaudy flowers shimmering like jewels
I tear at their string bodies, pulverize buds
under nails. My fingers are wet with their slush.
a reminder that I am enamoured by the slick glimmer
of chance, where carnations bloom in your mouth
But I have only descended in body, decaying now upon the shore
And my soul now waits beside you, just out of reach for you to see
Can you catch me, I'm the wisp that covers the moon
it's silvering eye freezing you with my glare.
call me dear moon, as our footprints stretch across
the sky and i scratch your name into the clouds,
That I am now in white moon of cul de sac
A house spun away from it's rooms
a spine for your welcome mouth, a hollow doorway
anticipating your wretched smile. breath me like water
For I was the energy of the bird in flite and before that
The sunflower propped up against a old Roman Wall
And now I am the vastness of poppies and plains
wide open like a hungry woman's legs
Moving forward, forever forward
till the climax of my soul
clings back and decides that this is all too much
a touch, just a touch, is enough
yet held -- motionless, suspended -- with all the impetus
of the four winds, sans the sun that moves them
Your light so bright, it worms my soul
But the veil I stand behind, God I can not let go
Take just that one step to stand with me my love
So we can walk within the puddles of eternity
All I wanted was a conch
But you've stolen the sound of the sea.
I think about her again, drowned amongst
weeds, the siren call she did not hear.
her face pale mottled like sharkskin
her perfect ears wet and glistening like seashells
With her face calm, eyes closed, at peace now
As the rope around her neck gently moves in the tides breath
you pick up, a coarse hello, my tongue knots itself among molars
the lover beside you coughs, pulls you closer, i swallow your dial tone.
I am drowning, falling in to the moss green water
your voice is the hand to save me, I grab your finger tips.
And swallow. My ribs aching with a kick,
The sight of you my lift from blindness to light
4 ever more you were more than your my soul,
my light & my dark. You were the air that I breathed,
the song in my head, the dance in my feet.
