Submissions by ashbymcgowan (Ashby McGowan)
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
I write multi-voice and single voice poetry.
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
1st Feb 2017 12:52pm
1st Feb 2017 12:52pm
THE ANGER OF THE LONELY GIANT
THE ANGER OF THE LONELY GIANT
(A prose poem)
The angry Giant can roar very loud! Aaarggh!
Yet he is lonely, for no one loves him.
Sometimes a stranger will see him in the town centre,
He will smile and go to shake the Giant’s hand.
As the Giant jumps on their head he bellows,
“Why do you not love me?”
He doesn’t like gays, or women, or scientists, or those of a different religion.
He has his own religion, “Giantism”
Sometimes, he lies awake at night thinking of new people to hate.
On his garden wall he has a tiny...
(A prose poem)
The angry Giant can roar very loud! Aaarggh!
Yet he is lonely, for no one loves him.
Sometimes a stranger will see him in the town centre,
He will smile and go to shake the Giant’s hand.
As the Giant jumps on their head he bellows,
“Why do you not love me?”
He doesn’t like gays, or women, or scientists, or those of a different religion.
He has his own religion, “Giantism”
Sometimes, he lies awake at night thinking of new people to hate.
On his garden wall he has a tiny...
769 reads
2 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
7th Jan 2017 12:39pm
7th Jan 2017 12:39pm
Peace, an interactive poem (you join in)
776 reads
0 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
7th Dec 2016 5:30pm
7th Dec 2016 5:30pm
Daybreak
918 reads
4 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
3rd Dec 2016 12:47pm
3rd Dec 2016 12:47pm
Happy the dawn
846 reads
2 Comments
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
21st Nov 2016 8:26am
21st Nov 2016 8:26am
Circle of Compassion
As a businessman I often visited the stranger parts of town, always on the lookout for new ideas and new customers. It was in an almost hidden corner of town that I noticed the shop, piled up against the remnants of an ancient play-park. It sold, “Antiques and Toys, Old and Strange”. Indeed, the salesman looked somewhat old and strange himself. Just as musty and cobwebbed.
He spoke to me while fixing an old musical box, the notes of “Old King Cole” playing through my mind as he spoke, “Hello, Brian. (It was only later that I wondered how he knew my name). The shop is quiet today. It’s...
He spoke to me while fixing an old musical box, the notes of “Old King Cole” playing through my mind as he spoke, “Hello, Brian. (It was only later that I wondered how he knew my name). The shop is quiet today. It’s...
860 reads
0 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
17th Nov 2016 1:00pm
17th Nov 2016 1:00pm
WHEN PEOPLE DISAGREE
When people disagree, we communicate
We can use words
Or we can use weapons
Adjectives and nouns
Or missiles and bullets
How do you communicate?
Words can be happy, sad, nasty, nice, or neutral
They can be said in anger or in love
But weapons are always bad
How do you communicate?
When I wear a white poppy
I communicate,
Peace
[This poem was inspired by the nice people who attended the Peace Pledge Union Alternative Remembrance Day event in London in 2016.]
Thanks to Jeani...
We can use words
Or we can use weapons
Adjectives and nouns
Or missiles and bullets
How do you communicate?
Words can be happy, sad, nasty, nice, or neutral
They can be said in anger or in love
But weapons are always bad
How do you communicate?
When I wear a white poppy
I communicate,
Peace
[This poem was inspired by the nice people who attended the Peace Pledge Union Alternative Remembrance Day event in London in 2016.]
Thanks to Jeani...
658 reads
2 Comments
DARK POEM
Published
2nd Nov 2016 7:50am
2nd Nov 2016 7:50am
WELCOME TO THE PANOPTICON
1088 reads
3 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
26th Oct 2016 8:06am
26th Oct 2016 8:06am
Don’t seek to Die
I have seen, as you now see it, the path ahead, looking endless, without hope
So I know how hard it can be, in life, just trying to cope,
Climbing a hill that forces you on to your knees,
No matter how hard it is, struggle on, please!
Look for goodness in each thing that you find
Find meaning in the day-to-day grind
For this world needs you,
And the things that you do
Don’t seek to die
Sometimes, facing the day ahead can seem like an impossible task
But there are friends out there, to walk with you, you just need to ask
There are gifts and...
So I know how hard it can be, in life, just trying to cope,
Climbing a hill that forces you on to your knees,
No matter how hard it is, struggle on, please!
Look for goodness in each thing that you find
Find meaning in the day-to-day grind
For this world needs you,
And the things that you do
Don’t seek to die
Sometimes, facing the day ahead can seem like an impossible task
But there are friends out there, to walk with you, you just need to ask
There are gifts and...
1278 reads
4 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
6th Oct 2016 12:53pm
6th Oct 2016 12:53pm
Story (A “puzzle” poem)
There is a very simple puzzle/story hidden here. See if you can find it.
Previously published in, Infinities Kitchen
This also works as a performance poem and I have performed this and given out the text as a puzzle.
This is a puzzle that could never be solved just by listening to the words. You need to see the text.
[No need to send solutions as that would stop other people being able to work out the “puzzle” on their own]
Where do Plughole Empties start? so begin the movement away... another day fades... fast
stream... Down Until. distant day...
Previously published in, Infinities Kitchen
This also works as a performance poem and I have performed this and given out the text as a puzzle.
This is a puzzle that could never be solved just by listening to the words. You need to see the text.
[No need to send solutions as that would stop other people being able to work out the “puzzle” on their own]
Where do Plughole Empties start? so begin the movement away... another day fades... fast
stream... Down Until. distant day...
661 reads
FICTIONAL PROSE
Published
20th Sep 2016 8:08am
20th Sep 2016 8:08am
Four green walls
It is hard to climb the stairs. Only four flights but they are narrow and steep. People piss in the entryway and offensive graffiti covers the walls. Back home early tonight. Another curfew. I stay at 45 Slaughterhouse Avenue. It’s not in the best part of the City.
From the window of my tiny one room flat, I can sometimes see fields of green far away beyond the City limits. My room has all four walls painted green. I did a good job. Slow but steady. I could have painted something similar to one of the works in the Art Gallery but painting in many colours is difficult work. And I like...
From the window of my tiny one room flat, I can sometimes see fields of green far away beyond the City limits. My room has all four walls painted green. I did a good job. Slow but steady. I could have painted something similar to one of the works in the Art Gallery but painting in many colours is difficult work. And I like...
700 reads
2 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
19th Sep 2016 1:09pm
19th Sep 2016 1:09pm
The Gael
Thanks to Annie Rutherford of Far Off Places magazine for using this poem in their first issue.
I am a Selchie walking from the sea
Dry land in sight, but it doesn’t much appeal to me
Taking off my Selchie skin,
Talking in a stranger’s tongue,
Trying to be “at home”,
In someone else’s world
I curse the moon, as it cursed me ...
I am a Selchie walking from the sea
Dry land in sight, but it doesn’t much appeal to me
Taking off my Selchie skin,
Talking in a stranger’s tongue,
Trying to be “at home”,
In someone else’s world
I curse the moon, as it cursed me ...
526 reads
0 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
22nd Aug 2016 12:53pm
22nd Aug 2016 12:53pm
AFTERWARDS
And yes, afterwards
Perhaps there shall be what the humans once called, “Weeds”
Yet pretty in the ruins
Green urgent shoots, they do not know they were once called, “Ugly”
There may one day be trees
All over the World, surviving
Covering the scars. Giving out oxygen for what remains.
So much lives on through the radiation
Yet still, many species have been cruelly mutated
But lichens? Yes, beautiful lichens will survive,
Afterwards
The United States of America, Lecanora, The United Kingdom,...
Perhaps there shall be what the humans once called, “Weeds”
Yet pretty in the ruins
Green urgent shoots, they do not know they were once called, “Ugly”
There may one day be trees
All over the World, surviving
Covering the scars. Giving out oxygen for what remains.
So much lives on through the radiation
Yet still, many species have been cruelly mutated
But lichens? Yes, beautiful lichens will survive,
Afterwards
The United States of America, Lecanora, The United Kingdom,...
1024 reads
0 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by ashbymcgowan (Ashby McGowan)
