Long Poems About Risk
#risk
Lozzamus
Poem Published
5th Aug 2023 7:18pm
5th Aug 2023 7:18pm
Silent, Aidan
Things always go wrong.
One moment, I was outside the theatre, happily drunk and searching for Philippa; the next, I was heading down the pier, unable to walk straight, Dawn and Paul either side of me.
'Aren't you staying for the second half of the concert?' I said, slurring my words.
'We're going to Jace's party,' Dawn said.
'Philippa asked us earlier.'
'Did she?' Philippa hadn't mentioned that to me.
'At the classes,' Dawn said. 'So we thought we'd join you.'
'Keep you company,' Paul added. 'You'd like a bit...
One moment, I was outside the theatre, happily drunk and searching for Philippa; the next, I was heading down the pier, unable to walk straight, Dawn and Paul either side of me.
'Aren't you staying for the second half of the concert?' I said, slurring my words.
'We're going to Jace's party,' Dawn said.
'Philippa asked us earlier.'
'Did she?' Philippa hadn't mentioned that to me.
'At the classes,' Dawn said. 'So we thought we'd join you.'
'Keep you company,' Paul added. 'You'd like a bit...
#mystery
#obsession
#risk
191 reads
2 Comments
Lozzamus
Poem Published
3rd Aug 2023 8:34pm
3rd Aug 2023 8:34pm
Silent, The Concert
Two Years Earlier, Gavin
I received Philippa's text just as I was about to call at her room: hi, going 2b late. Go on without me. cu outside theatre at 9? x P
The time was quarter to eight. I searched round for Paul in case he was driving, but I couldn't find him, so I got a taxi to town and paid the extra. When I arrived at the Grand Theatre, businessman Terence Harlesden stood in the foyer dressed in an expensive suit, greeting people.
'Ah, our star performer from the classes,' he said when he saw me. 'I told my father Arthur about you and he hopes to...
I received Philippa's text just as I was about to call at her room: hi, going 2b late. Go on without me. cu outside theatre at 9? x P
The time was quarter to eight. I searched round for Paul in case he was driving, but I couldn't find him, so I got a taxi to town and paid the extra. When I arrived at the Grand Theatre, businessman Terence Harlesden stood in the foyer dressed in an expensive suit, greeting people.
'Ah, our star performer from the classes,' he said when he saw me. 'I told my father Arthur about you and he hopes to...
#music
#mystery
#obsession #risk
#obsession #risk
178 reads
2 Comments
Lozzamus
Poem Published
23rd Jul 2023 7:42pm
23rd Jul 2023 7:42pm
Silent, By The Picnic Table
Two Years Ago, Gavin
After lunch, I skipped the rest of the master classes and walked back to Lyme House. I needed time to think.
When the others returned from the Grand Theatre at about four thirty, Philippa came to find me. We took a walk through the surrounding fields, across a stile and through a rusty gate. We sat down at a set of picnic tables close to a cluster of trees in the shade. Rummaging in her bag, Philippa got out a couple of cartons of juice and handed me one.
'Cheers,' I said. 'Needed that.'
She gave me a brief update on the...
After lunch, I skipped the rest of the master classes and walked back to Lyme House. I needed time to think.
When the others returned from the Grand Theatre at about four thirty, Philippa came to find me. We took a walk through the surrounding fields, across a stile and through a rusty gate. We sat down at a set of picnic tables close to a cluster of trees in the shade. Rummaging in her bag, Philippa got out a couple of cartons of juice and handed me one.
'Cheers,' I said. 'Needed that.'
She gave me a brief update on the...
#mystery
#obsession
#risk
162 reads
0 Comments
Lozzamus
Poem Published
7th Jul 2023 6:51pm
7th Jul 2023 6:51pm
Silent, The Car
Two Years Earlier, Lucy
A figure stood by a tree, watching her.
A stationery figure in a light blue anorak, staring directly at her, like a crow perched on a fence. For a second or two, she thought of Ash, always wearing blue. But Ash was in bed in Yorkshire, sleeping off a hangover. The figure remained still, like the silence around her.
Blue, blue, blue.
The next second, the figure had gone.
She ran as fast as she could.
A car approached then. Slowed down. Stopped.
She was about...
A figure stood by a tree, watching her.
A stationery figure in a light blue anorak, staring directly at her, like a crow perched on a fence. For a second or two, she thought of Ash, always wearing blue. But Ash was in bed in Yorkshire, sleeping off a hangover. The figure remained still, like the silence around her.
Blue, blue, blue.
The next second, the figure had gone.
She ran as fast as she could.
A car approached then. Slowed down. Stopped.
She was about...
#memories
#mystery
#risk
197 reads
0 Comments
Lozzamus
Poem Published
26th Jun 2023 8:07pm
26th Jun 2023 8:07pm
Silent, The Boy
Two Years Previously, Lucy
Sunday lunchtime. She spent a while sipping ice coke in a café near the pier. The next stage of her plan would include a visit to Katie Whittaker, Terence Harlesden's ex-wife and Arthur's former daughter-in-law. She must do this straightaway, to get the answers. No one else seemed to want to tell her the truth. The Harlesden family were keeping secrets about Dad's affair with the tall, dark haired woman she kept remembering from the music room at Lyme House. Even the police hadn't investigated this. Hopefully, Katie Whittaker, an outsider like herself,...
Sunday lunchtime. She spent a while sipping ice coke in a café near the pier. The next stage of her plan would include a visit to Katie Whittaker, Terence Harlesden's ex-wife and Arthur's former daughter-in-law. She must do this straightaway, to get the answers. No one else seemed to want to tell her the truth. The Harlesden family were keeping secrets about Dad's affair with the tall, dark haired woman she kept remembering from the music room at Lyme House. Even the police hadn't investigated this. Hopefully, Katie Whittaker, an outsider like herself,...
#memories
#mystery
#risk
185 reads
0 Comments
Lozzamus
Poem Published
29th May 2023 7:07pm
29th May 2023 7:07pm
Silent, Still Trapped
Sunday May 2019, Gavin
Utter quietness again. Not a sound in the building. I can't believe that anyone else is here. They must have gone. Or perhaps Lucy is dead and the internet troll has killed her.
I decide to risk all. I call her name.
Lucy!
No answer.
Darkness.
Quietly, I cry for the dead.
For my friends who died two years ago.
For Dawn and Philippa.
Especially Dawn.
She got dragged into the madness through me.
***
LUCY
The footsteps...
Utter quietness again. Not a sound in the building. I can't believe that anyone else is here. They must have gone. Or perhaps Lucy is dead and the internet troll has killed her.
I decide to risk all. I call her name.
Lucy!
No answer.
Darkness.
Quietly, I cry for the dead.
For my friends who died two years ago.
For Dawn and Philippa.
Especially Dawn.
She got dragged into the madness through me.
***
LUCY
The footsteps...
#secrets
#mystery
#obsession #risk
#obsession #risk
207 reads
2 Comments
Lozzamus
Poem Published
21st May 2023 7:07pm
21st May 2023 7:07pm
Silent, A Tense Exchange
Two Years Earlier, Gavin
A couple of guys about my age wandered over, dressed in army trousers, one of them grinning away, the other looking tussled and cross. I recognised them immediately. The two squaddie-like lads who'd climbed the pylon-like structure at the end of the pier yesterday.
'Hi, Jace,' Philippa said. 'Steve.'
'Hey, babe,' the guy grinning away said. 'Who's this then?'
'A friend of mine from the classes, Gavin.'
'Yo. I'm Jace. Nice to meet you, Gavin.'
'Cheers.' I thought he sounded quite posh - or, at...
A couple of guys about my age wandered over, dressed in army trousers, one of them grinning away, the other looking tussled and cross. I recognised them immediately. The two squaddie-like lads who'd climbed the pylon-like structure at the end of the pier yesterday.
'Hi, Jace,' Philippa said. 'Steve.'
'Hey, babe,' the guy grinning away said. 'Who's this then?'
'A friend of mine from the classes, Gavin.'
'Yo. I'm Jace. Nice to meet you, Gavin.'
'Cheers.' I thought he sounded quite posh - or, at...
#mystery
#obsession
#risk
193 reads
2 Comments
Lozzamus
Poem Published
15th May 2023 7:46pm
15th May 2023 7:46pm
Silent, Jace
Two Years Earlier, Gavin
'I'm not apologising, Philippa said, once Dawn had gone back in. 'Agnes is evil.'
'In what way?'
'I'd rather not tell you yet. There's a reason.'
'What reason?'
'I'd rather not say. Hey, got something on later and I need to ask a favour of you.'
'What sort of favour?'
'This friend of mine who lives a couple of miles away. I'm hoping to see her later.'
'A friend of yours? How's that possible. This is Lancashire and you're from Tunbridge Wells in Kent.'
'It's a...
'I'm not apologising, Philippa said, once Dawn had gone back in. 'Agnes is evil.'
'In what way?'
'I'd rather not tell you yet. There's a reason.'
'What reason?'
'I'd rather not say. Hey, got something on later and I need to ask a favour of you.'
'What sort of favour?'
'This friend of mine who lives a couple of miles away. I'm hoping to see her later.'
'A friend of yours? How's that possible. This is Lancashire and you're from Tunbridge Wells in Kent.'
'It's a...
#mystery
#obsession
#risk
221 reads
4 Comments
Lozzamus
Poem Published
22nd Apr 2023 7:51pm
22nd Apr 2023 7:51pm
Silent, The Discussion On The Pier
Two Years Earlier, Gavin
'I'm telling you,' Philippa during the second coffee break. We were outside, standing by the pier railings with our drinks. 'That woman is so unbelievably mean. She listens in to your thoughts and twists them just to confuse you.'
'She seemed okay to me, 'I said, staring out at the choppy sea. It made me think of diesel and rough crossings, and I tipped my drink over the railings. Last night's party kept playing on my mind. The rain and wind and cold coming straight from the sea, freezing my toes and fingers. The moody teenager Scott calling me a...
'I'm telling you,' Philippa during the second coffee break. We were outside, standing by the pier railings with our drinks. 'That woman is so unbelievably mean. She listens in to your thoughts and twists them just to confuse you.'
'She seemed okay to me, 'I said, staring out at the choppy sea. It made me think of diesel and rough crossings, and I tipped my drink over the railings. Last night's party kept playing on my mind. The rain and wind and cold coming straight from the sea, freezing my toes and fingers. The moody teenager Scott calling me a...
#music
#mystery
#risk
199 reads
4 Comments
Lozzamus
Poem Published
1st Apr 2023 7:28pm
1st Apr 2023 7:28pm
Silent, The Masterclass
Two Years Earlier, Gavin
After breakfast, one of the guys offered us a lift to the classes, so I travelled with Philippa and Dawn in a bumpy, second hand car. A rough journey. The car park near the pier looked grey and bland, matching the tone of the sky. We walked across the path and climbed the promenade steps, stepping over broken glass. Closer to the sea, I detected a scent, a mixture of pickled onions and diesel that seemed to get stronger - and once more, I wondered why a wealthy family like the Harlesdens had chosen to host their piano masterclasses in a town like this...
After breakfast, one of the guys offered us a lift to the classes, so I travelled with Philippa and Dawn in a bumpy, second hand car. A rough journey. The car park near the pier looked grey and bland, matching the tone of the sky. We walked across the path and climbed the promenade steps, stepping over broken glass. Closer to the sea, I detected a scent, a mixture of pickled onions and diesel that seemed to get stronger - and once more, I wondered why a wealthy family like the Harlesdens had chosen to host their piano masterclasses in a town like this...
#music
#mystery
#risk
229 reads
2 Comments
Lozzamus
Poem Published
21st Mar 2023 7:19pm
21st Mar 2023 7:19pm
Silent, The Day After
Two Years Earlier, Gavin
I wasn't sure what had hit me when I woke to the sound of the gong in the morning. Let's go through the list. Hangover, big and ugly. Sore throat, the shivers. Rubbish party on an abandoned fairground last night...a disagreement with Terence Harlesden's son Scott...rain and wind and a wild sea. And after all that, the waitress with the honey-blonde hair crying in the hut in the Remembrance Garden, resting her head on my shoulder. We'd got a bit intimate, hadn't we? Well, intimate for two people who'd never met.
The gong sounded again and a...
I wasn't sure what had hit me when I woke to the sound of the gong in the morning. Let's go through the list. Hangover, big and ugly. Sore throat, the shivers. Rubbish party on an abandoned fairground last night...a disagreement with Terence Harlesden's son Scott...rain and wind and a wild sea. And after all that, the waitress with the honey-blonde hair crying in the hut in the Remembrance Garden, resting her head on my shoulder. We'd got a bit intimate, hadn't we? Well, intimate for two people who'd never met.
The gong sounded again and a...
#relationships
#mystery
#obsession #risk
#obsession #risk
166 reads
2 Comments
Lozzamus
Poem Published
14th Mar 2023 7:28pm
14th Mar 2023 7:28pm
Silent, The Missing Memories
Two Years Earlier, Lucy
When she finally got to sleep, she dreamt she was standing at the edge of a shopping mall in an unfamiliar seaside town, crying for Mum and Dad who'd vanished without a word. Pushing into a crowd of holidaymakers, she called for Mum and Dad, but instead of seeing them, she ended up further away as the tide of shoppers swept her along, towards the main road and an unfamiliar coast. The scene changed, and she found herself in the middle of the countryside, stumbling along a muddy trail, down a hill, towards a solitary grey house with smoke coming from a tall...
When she finally got to sleep, she dreamt she was standing at the edge of a shopping mall in an unfamiliar seaside town, crying for Mum and Dad who'd vanished without a word. Pushing into a crowd of holidaymakers, she called for Mum and Dad, but instead of seeing them, she ended up further away as the tide of shoppers swept her along, towards the main road and an unfamiliar coast. The scene changed, and she found herself in the middle of the countryside, stumbling along a muddy trail, down a hill, towards a solitary grey house with smoke coming from a tall...
#dreams
#memories
#mystery
#obsession
#risk
218 reads
0 Comments
DU Poetry : Long Poems About Risk
