This week's Poem of the Week is 'While the Blackbird Sings' by Dorothy Webb, a whimsical tale of wildife and wonder.

The piece is cleverly constructed and while it appears slight and almost musical, it carries a darker tale underneath its nursery rhyme exterior - much like the songs sung on the playgrounds around the world, its juxtaposition of dark theme and light structure are its greatest strength.

 

Below, Dorothy answers our Q&A;

 

Where do you look most for inspiration for your poetry?

I have never looked for inspiration - it always comes to me - and is always unexpected (though welcome) and it usually comes from surprising directions.

 

Apart from poetry, what is one book you would recommend everyone read?

I would never presume to advise anyone - we are all so different.

 

What is your favourite style of poetry? Do you favour the constraints of sonnets and villanelle or the freedom of free-verse?

I am still learning - i love the flow and repetition of a villanelle - but I have a difficulty with constraints - i like a poem that free flows without obstruction and has a strong rhyming element.

 

If you could give one piece of writing advice to people what would it be?

Let go --- let your words flow freely - they will choose their own natural path and can be tidied up later. 

 

What do you look for most in a poem?

I like a poem that has an 'authentic ring' about it.

I like funny ones - they can release a building tension. 

Others that I like are so beautiful that they take me to another zone, much like a dream or trance.

And then there are the ones that are so strong and vivid that they disturb, I can hear, see, and smell their reality. 

The only thing that they all have in common is flow and a sense of rhythm.

 

 

 

While the Blackbird Sings

by Dorothy Webb

 

Silken thread binds

gossamer wings

wild and high the blackbird sings

 

gossamer thread

and silken things

to the web a peacock clings

 

silken web

and fragile wings

on gossamer thread a peacock swings

 

peacock wings

and spider's web

weave a tale in silken thread

 

from silken thread

is spun a yarn

a spider's song can do no harm

 

peacock's wings

in gossamer web

spider spins his silken thread

 

gossamer wings

and silken thread

tells it's tale -

                             -    the peacocks dead.