This was a question I was recently asked to answer – on behalf of Wenlock Poetry Festival and their search for the second ever Shropshire Young Poet Laureate. It was one of several questions. The answers that I and other poetry lovers gave can be found on
http://www.wenlockpoetryfestival.org/laureate/
Unfortunately I got somewhat carried away – there wasn’t enough room for the selection of poems that I wanted to share with everyone. So here they are now (one at a time because technology is not letting me lay them out as it should !!!)… Thank you poets xx
THE CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES for Shropshire Young Poet Laureate 2015 IS 5pm ON FRIDAY JANUARY 16TH 2015
Newborn Keith Chandler
You will remember none of this –
how we loved to pass you around
like a parcel. To wrap, unwrap.
How we marvelled at the newness of your skin,
the softness of a foot that has walked on water,
tiny pearl fingernails.
How we laughed to see you on your back
kicking out like a toy on a stick,
a tipped up beetle, a disco show-off,
How you wore that look of soft amazement
in dawn-blue eyes of not yet colour
wondering at shapes on the window
or the arrangement of ceiling lights.
How we fought for a piece of you –
my ear-lobe, so-and-so’s nose.
How we manoeuvred to pick you up
about the size and weight
of a hot water bottle –
a comfort not for you but for us.
How you heightened our senses
to catch your still breathing,
to nuzzle the fragrance of your scalp
or nose a bouquet of nappy noises
down to the green fingerpaint of your poo,
How loudness could make you flinch,
trapped wind appear to make you smile
How hiccups were the No1 enemy
to be fought, grunting squirmily, against.
How you were happy to swap
our gift of a rattly bunch of rings
in primary colours, cheap plastic,
for the keys to a magic kingdom.
None of this will you remember.
© Keith Chandler 2014 from The Grandpa Years (Fair Acre Press)This poem is reproduced here with the kind permission of the poet.
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