Submissions by ashbymcgowan (Ashby McGowan)
POEMS AND SHORT STORIES
Poet Introduction
I write multi-voice and single voice poetry.
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
31st Mar 2016 8:16am
31st Mar 2016 8:16am
While writing a poem
My head drops back
Eyes penetrate the cloudless sky
A word falls out of my brain,
Just misses my mouth,
To splash on the empty page
Spreading as an ink stain
It moves through fields of cornflowers.
Swallows race across the sky,
Open mouthed
Feeding on one colour only.
A group of Scots Pine are deeper tinted in the haze of distance.
And beyond that, far beyond, the sea.
When the dark comes,
Vega rises in the cold
Eastern sky.
Multi and single voice “hidden”...
Eyes penetrate the cloudless sky
A word falls out of my brain,
Just misses my mouth,
To splash on the empty page
Spreading as an ink stain
It moves through fields of cornflowers.
Swallows race across the sky,
Open mouthed
Feeding on one colour only.
A group of Scots Pine are deeper tinted in the haze of distance.
And beyond that, far beyond, the sea.
When the dark comes,
Vega rises in the cold
Eastern sky.
Multi and single voice “hidden”...
684 reads
0 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
31st Mar 2016 8:10am
31st Mar 2016 8:10am
THE PAINTING
The girl stood,
Not very tall
Staring at something,
A painting on the wall
The painting hung,
Not very high
Smiling at someone,
A girl, quite shy.
The girl’s lips had
The smile of the painting
The painting caught
The eyes of the girl
The painter stopped
And smiled at both
As either side the glass
Each child of his was satisfied
Not very tall
Staring at something,
A painting on the wall
The painting hung,
Not very high
Smiling at someone,
A girl, quite shy.
The girl’s lips had
The smile of the painting
The painting caught
The eyes of the girl
The painter stopped
And smiled at both
As either side the glass
Each child of his was satisfied
585 reads
6 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
30th Mar 2016 12:54pm
30th Mar 2016 12:54pm
HEART OF GLASGOW
19 ships go sailing
A sailing down the Clyde
And each shall catch its cargo
Dark cargo, deep inside
Look, all around, at Glasgow’s finest buildings
Built by its Merchants rich and grand
Their wealth came from the use of slaves
Whose blood nourished the land
19 ships go sailing
The slaves have work to do
Tobacco and sugar plantations
Need the strongest men, and women too
And an African sun
Still shines on us today
It illuminates our memories
And the things we do and say
19 planes go flying ...
A sailing down the Clyde
And each shall catch its cargo
Dark cargo, deep inside
Look, all around, at Glasgow’s finest buildings
Built by its Merchants rich and grand
Their wealth came from the use of slaves
Whose blood nourished the land
19 ships go sailing
The slaves have work to do
Tobacco and sugar plantations
Need the strongest men, and women too
And an African sun
Still shines on us today
It illuminates our memories
And the things we do and say
19 planes go flying ...
688 reads
4 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
30th Mar 2016 12:52pm
30th Mar 2016 12:52pm
The Politician’s Truth
I read somewhere that our Politicians spoke the Truth about Iraq. If that is so, then that truth was but:
the fading memory
of a ghost that never came
seen through a dirty mirror
on a foggy,
moonless
night.
the fading memory
of a ghost that never came
seen through a dirty mirror
on a foggy,
moonless
night.
608 reads
2 Comments
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
29th Mar 2016 1:01pm
29th Mar 2016 1:01pm
A poem based on the UNITED NATIONS: Universal Declaration of Human Rights
This Document was compiled in 1948 and in the Author’s (of this poem) opinion, is one of the most important Documents ever written. It has changed the world for the better. This poem was written for International Human Rights Day 2007 and is meant to inspire people to look at the original U.N. Document. Only the first twenty points are dealt with: to keep the poem of a size that is capable of remembering.
I wrote to the United Nations and they E-Mailed this Poem around the world (twice) as part of their 60th Anniversary Celebrations (for the Original Document.)
1.
All...
I wrote to the United Nations and they E-Mailed this Poem around the world (twice) as part of their 60th Anniversary Celebrations (for the Original Document.)
1.
All...
692 reads
2 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
29th Mar 2016 12:56pm
29th Mar 2016 12:56pm
RED IS THE COLOUR OF RUST AND BLOOD
Under a blazing sun, the tanks advanced in formation.
Pennons flapping in the hot breeze, as they raced through the valley.
Slogans of hate were painted on the tanks’ sides and on each man’s heart.
Suddenly, a roar came out of the distant hills
And caused the warriors to blush in fear.
That deafening noise was the echoes of crying,
That had come from the families of those who had lost loved ones
To the brave shells of the tanks.
And then, a salty rain fell and soaked through the steel of the turrets.
That bitter rain was the tears
Of those who...
Pennons flapping in the hot breeze, as they raced through the valley.
Slogans of hate were painted on the tanks’ sides and on each man’s heart.
Suddenly, a roar came out of the distant hills
And caused the warriors to blush in fear.
That deafening noise was the echoes of crying,
That had come from the families of those who had lost loved ones
To the brave shells of the tanks.
And then, a salty rain fell and soaked through the steel of the turrets.
That bitter rain was the tears
Of those who...
536 reads
0 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
14th Mar 2016 1:05pm
14th Mar 2016 1:05pm
Muraho, new neighbour! ("Muraho” means “Hello” in Kinyarwanda)
As she pours out the tea, her hands shake with the strain,
Dreams of her parents, her head filled with pain
A half-smile on her face as we eat and we drink,
But she never sleeps well and she struggles to think
Pills from the doctor, who treats her for shock
Perhaps, “best to keep secrets and never to talk”
I ask, “What happened?” And, “What was it like?”
“I went to the films, had a job, rode a bike.”
Once again I ask, and she sighs in distress,
Asks me, “Are you from the Police or maybe the Press?”
The Council sofa is smelly and rotten with...
Dreams of her parents, her head filled with pain
A half-smile on her face as we eat and we drink,
But she never sleeps well and she struggles to think
Pills from the doctor, who treats her for shock
Perhaps, “best to keep secrets and never to talk”
I ask, “What happened?” And, “What was it like?”
“I went to the films, had a job, rode a bike.”
Once again I ask, and she sighs in distress,
Asks me, “Are you from the Police or maybe the Press?”
The Council sofa is smelly and rotten with...
664 reads
1 Comment
UPBEAT INSPIRATIONAL POEM
Published
10th Mar 2016 1:07pm
10th Mar 2016 1:07pm
MANY VOICES. A multi-voice poem
1430 reads
2 Comments
MISCELLANEOUS POEM
Published
10th Mar 2016 8:21am
10th Mar 2016 8:21am
The Performance Poet
This is a tribute to the passion of the performance poet, and not a condemnation
The Performance Poet
Stands in fear
Before the audience who are
Tidal currents rising from the deep, splashing their tallest waves Towards him.
His own sweat, drip dripping from his brow, turns the salt sea saltier
And a mist passes slowly before his blink blinking eyes
He is trembling as the tiny transparent words,
That he so earnestly seeks, try to hide in,
Forgotten corners of his pulsating brain.
Legs, too long and unsteady,
Shake without...
The Performance Poet
Stands in fear
Before the audience who are
Tidal currents rising from the deep, splashing their tallest waves Towards him.
His own sweat, drip dripping from his brow, turns the salt sea saltier
And a mist passes slowly before his blink blinking eyes
He is trembling as the tiny transparent words,
That he so earnestly seeks, try to hide in,
Forgotten corners of his pulsating brain.
Legs, too long and unsteady,
Shake without...
595 reads
2 Comments
NON-FICTION PROSE
Published
9th Mar 2016 8:05am
9th Mar 2016 8:05am
BACKWARDS TRANSLATION USED ON A HAIKU
BACKWARDS TRANSLATION. My favourite poems are ancient and foreign. Consequently, for many years now, I have had to rely on translations of beautiful Greek, Japanese, and Chinese Poetry. I understand how inaccurate translation is and I am trying to develop a new method of “backwards translation”. I have written a Haiku in English. It is a Haiku in meaning. I don’t believe that a Haiku needs to keep to all the rules (of a Japanese haiku) when it is written in English-the languages are too different to have to restrict oneself to a particular number of syllables-which, anyway, adds nothing to...
715 reads
0 Comments
NON-FICTION PROSE
Published
9th Mar 2016 7:57am
9th Mar 2016 7:57am
A chapter from a Guide to writing poetry book I am working on
Chapter 3 Haiku.
I work in a School and know how much pupils in English Classes enjoy writing Haiku. I think they prefer the haiku to every other type of poem. Perhaps, this is partly because it is such a short type of poem. Pupils spend ten minutes writing one. Failure or success, they haven’t wasted much time. But then, they see, sometimes, that the poem might be deeper than they intended. This poem is often the first poem they have enjoyed. Britain is not Japan, and Poetry is not usually seen as being worthwhile here. So the pupil might have had little experience of poetry in...
I work in a School and know how much pupils in English Classes enjoy writing Haiku. I think they prefer the haiku to every other type of poem. Perhaps, this is partly because it is such a short type of poem. Pupils spend ten minutes writing one. Failure or success, they haven’t wasted much time. But then, they see, sometimes, that the poem might be deeper than they intended. This poem is often the first poem they have enjoyed. Britain is not Japan, and Poetry is not usually seen as being worthwhile here. So the pupil might have had little experience of poetry in...
643 reads
0 Comments
OBSERVATIONAL POEM
Published
8th Mar 2016 8:10am
8th Mar 2016 8:10am
LOTUS
838 reads
0 Comments
DU Poetry : Submissions by ashbymcgowan (Ashby McGowan)
