Biography

Writer of poetry. Published. Poems inspired by art, music and cinema. Narratives that spiral into space (outer and inner).

I Have Never Been to Poland

I Have Never Been to Poland Winter arrives as I read Milosz in the crowded warmth of a blank midlands town. The sky is a thin slice of itself and it melds easily into the grey stone. Post-dentist I drink cranberry juice and nurse a tooth; the poet understands the countdown to death, that a vodka hangover isn’t as bad as a red wine one and that Plato was right poetry is deception. A long bodied bus comes to a halt on the high street and students carrying books shove one another into coffee shops, a traffic warden sinks back into a darkening doorway like a sniper. Winter foists its intimate warmth on the populace December tastes like salt so we add extra sugar and days not fully awake lie dozing in the corner. From my bed I invent countries that turn slowly under light snowfall and host market stalls that sell strong smelling sausages and soap to weekend travellers with fur lined hats. I’ve never been to Poland, it sounds empty and industrial inside my head. I go back to my book, mark the page and note in the margins to re-read this in Spring to the birds in the garden in Summer between the branches of a tree in Autumn with a hot cordial warming my hands and in Winter while watching long-bodied buses breathe steadily on the High Street.

All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.

Blog entries by Barry R Tench

Mistaken (23/02/2017)

Turntable (19/02/2017)

Blog link: https://www.writeoutloud.net/blogs/barryrtench