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Two poems: Blackthorn, and The Drummer

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Gyppo
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Location: UK

Two poems: Blackthorn, and The Drummer

Post by Gyppo » Sat Jan 25, 2020 4:39 pm

Apart from 'The Actress', there were two other poems which came from that long-ago 'year of protest'.  I believed they were both lost in the mists of time, but a recent tidying and re-shelving in my 'office' found the dusty originals.  So I promptly typed them onto my machine so there is no longer just one fragile copy.

Blackthorn is wistful musing.

The Drummer celebrates a little slip of a lass (Becky) just totally ignoring the security presence one morning to follow an ancient right of way.  

Gyppo

=====

Blackthorn

Blackthorn prickles, long and sharp,
encased in ice are rendered mute.

Protective spikes of 'fester thorn'
held impotent in a frosty dawn.

The spike's still there, have no doubt
the morning sun will let it out.

Our land, encased in tarmac black,
one day, surely, will fight back.

Gyppo, Jan Ist 1993, Twyford Down
(With notebook, pen, and cold fingers.)


=====

The Drummer

Stood on the frosted, machine-ripped earth,
a solitary ponchoed figure.
Drumbeats gentle, but insistent,
echoing the pulse of life.
Swirling mists wrap a tiny figure
following an ancient path.
Instinct guiding 'cross ruts and wire,
though yellow men enslave this land,
holding it for their grey suit masters.
Bright running dogs who bear no name.

Muffled drumbeats gently tapping,
gently tapping, gently tapping.
Life's own rhythm slow but clear,
sounding in the frosted air.

In other times and other places
drums have summoned men to war,
or drummed out traitors and betrayers.
Who knows for whom the drum sounds here?

Muffled drumbeats, tapping, tapping,
fading into mist and frost,
stirring ancient slumbering powers,
Twyford Downs are still not lost.


Gyppo, Jan Ist 1993

===
I've been writing ever since I realised I could.  Storytelling since I started talking.  Poetry however comes and goes  ;-)

Dave
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Joined: Mon Jan 08, 2018 9:07 am

Re: Two poems: Blackthorn, and The Drummer

Post by Dave » Mon Jan 27, 2020 2:58 pm

Two interesting and intense poems full of strong imagery
Dave
 

Matty11
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Re: Two poems: Blackthorn, and The Drummer

Post by Matty11 » Thu Jan 30, 2020 9:01 pm

Particularly enjoyed Blackthorn, both in content and messsage.

best

Phil

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Gyppo
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Re: Two poems: Blackthorn, and The Drummer

Post by Gyppo » Tue Feb 11, 2020 2:34 pm

Dave and Matty,

Cheers.  Sorry it's taken so long to reply, I've been a bit bogged down in the 'practical world' for a while.

I physically remember writing Blackthorn, an instant response to seeing those ice sheathed spikes. My fingers were so stiff with cold that morning I had to keep repeating the limes to myself as I slapped my hands together and clenched my fists to get my fingers moving.  My pen felt like an icicle.  All the time hoping no-one would speak to me and break the flow.  I truly feared losing it if I couldn't get it written down quickly.

Drummer was written later, at home in the warmth.

Gyppo
I've been writing ever since I realised I could.  Storytelling since I started talking.  Poetry however comes and goes  ;-)

ajduclos
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Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2019 1:35 pm

Re: Two poems: Blackthorn, and The Drummer

Post by ajduclos » Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:01 am

Nice and full, these two poems.  Images are strong and clear.

I see some form and rhythm in these, Gyppo  ;)

Aj

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Gyppo
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Location: UK

Re: Two poems: Blackthorn, and The Drummer

Post by Gyppo » Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:22 am

AJ:  The Drummer one provided its own rhythm.  There was a particular pattern of drumbeats the protesters used almost as a signature tune.  I can still tap it out on my desk or any handy surface to this day.  Sympathetic drivers on the old bypass used to beep it out on their horns.

Visualising Becky walking across the disputed area provided a soundtrack as I was writing that one.

Blackthorn almost rhymes.  It wasn't a conscious effort ;-)

Gyppo
I've been writing ever since I realised I could.  Storytelling since I started talking.  Poetry however comes and goes  ;-)

ajduclos
Posts: 1746
Joined: Mon Apr 01, 2019 1:35 pm

Re: Two poems: Blackthorn, and The Drummer

Post by ajduclos » Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:37 am

Yes, totally get how "The Drummer" has it own rhythm - you wrote it so clearly one can hear the drum !!!!  And I think I remember that protest drumming pattern on this side of the pond. 

"Blackthorn" almost rhymes not a conscious effort?  Welcome to my world !!!!

Be well.

Aj

indar
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Re: Two poems: Blackthorn, and The Drummer

Post by indar » Wed Feb 12, 2020 12:48 pm

Hi Gyppo,

I liked the first, "Blackthorn" despite a feeling there were references I didn't understand. Those references may be a key to parts of "The Drummer". The land surely fighting back seems to refer to more than shedding the literal icy encasement. The theme seems to be the oppression of others and ecological exploitation more fully revealed in the second poem. I like guessing at meaning while appreciating the ambiguity. 

OK I just googled Twyford Downs and get it. I am saddened. When I lived in Minnesota there were years of protests including campouts in the dead of winter in front of bulldozers against a proposed highway that eventually cut down a huge grove of ancient oak trees that were sacred to the Native Americans in the area. 

indar
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Re: Two poems: Blackthorn, and The Drummer

Post by indar » Wed Feb 12, 2020 12:51 pm

BTW that was in the Minnehaha falls area Longfellow wrote about in "Song of Hiawatha"

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