Friday 17 July 2009

Amy, Pet Laureate




Beloved cat companion Amy was put to sleep on 25th June. She had been poorly for several months. Over 12 years she often collaborated in writing, by walking across the keyboard or by making muddy pawprints on draft poems.

In honour of animal companions everywhere here are some links:

Alison Brackenbury's Cat Poems (scroll down the page)

There's also a cracking interview & poem by recent TS Eliot prize-winner Jen Hadfield, in the recent Mslexia (Jul 09): 'In the same way' about her cat Sophie.

And here's one of mine, for Amy and the pets of Derbyshire and beyond who remind us what's really important in life.

2.53 a.m.
Leave your rush-hour sweat and classroom roar.
Leave your sprint towards the train door,
double-bookings, lost notes, stagnant mail,
your desk pitched in its papery white grave.

For miles around you sense collective weight
of heads on pillows, dreams' cast-lists.
Nothing can be done. No-one to phone;
even the West Coast's on the freeway heading home.

Water slides into a glass like well-earned sleep
and as you slump across the sofa, dark takes shape;
insists you curl up, make a lap. Sink now
to purring and the deep fur of the night. Be cat.


Thursday 9 July 2009

Looking for a Laureate

Could you be Derbyshire's next Poet Laureate? I'll be handing the baton over to the next DPL on National Poetry Day in October. The laureateship is open to all who live, work or study in Derbyshire. Download the application details here. Closing date is 17th July.