Rowena Love

Biography

Originally from the West of Scotland, I am now based in Hertfordshire. I have been widely published in both poetry and prose. I am an experienced speaker and workshop leader (on general creative writing as well as poetry) and have performed my poetry in everything from castles to marquees with many a church hall along the way. I write in both English and Scots.

Samples

MINING SUNLIGHT Sun bores through a seam of dense cloud until it reaches sea, drills through ice-blue water, filling the hole with so much gold it overflows, an ever-widening puddle that slowly sinks and drains as the sides cave in under the force of cumulus. Wind is a blunt chisel, chipping the waves, revealing striations that glitter with pyrites, their false promise soon buried beneath shale shadows that clog the surface. Sunset dribbles from a crack in the cloud face, then gushes in a copper spray that twists and coils as if alive, before seeping away, its power spent. The watcher is left to fossick for opalescent light, last twists of apricot and rose flickering against the blue that deepens slowly to coal. Published by D C Thomson in The Fireside Book PRESTON MILL The mill stands poised like a fashion model, displaying tones and textures from Nature’s Collection. Red pantiles drape the roof with Madras cloth checks; cornerstones seam sandstone walls in shades of sorrel; a skirt of grass borders the buildings in a lush green velvet polka-dotted with ducks. A lamé pond shines like sequins in sun, its silver surface slubbed with the wake of waterfowl. The mill wheel bobbin purls water from the stream; white cotton yarn unravels from every paddle. Beyond the drawn-thread fence, is the corduroy of ploughed fields: light and shadow ruffle the nap into ripples of russet and chestnut. Above, doves are appliquéd on sky’s azure bunting, pin feathers pointing to Phantassie and dreams. Published in The Fireside Book 2001 (by D C Thomson) and excerpts used in the National Trust for Scotland guidebook to Preston Mill and Phantassie Dovecote in 2012. ROCKS WITH FUNNY NAMES Can you wave a flagstone? Is limestone very green? Does basalt come with pepper? You do know what I mean? Is it true that slate slept in? Are boxers called graphite? Does granite come with dentures that you take out at night? So why is mica never yours? How daft is silica? And if you dropped a corner shop would the brand become feldspar? All kinds of rocks have funny names that don’t match how they look; to check if gneiss is really nice get out that reference book. Published in Reach Poetry Magazine, Issue 92 April 05

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