The first poem that ever really grabbed me was Cargoes by John Masefield, I was about 7 years old. I think my dad could recite it off by heart and it sounded so delicious, the words were so lyrical and dripped off the page like honey and then there was the dirty British coaster and it made me so proud to be a northerner, whilst we didn’t have the opulence of the Orient, we played an important role in the world. This was when I started to write poetry but I struggled for a while as I preferred to write poems that didn’t rhyme and I didn’t know anything about structure either and had no-one to teach me.
As a teen I moved into the realms of The Wasteland and had a wonderful teacher who made the Thames maidens come alive- I can still hear the Weialala leia- and loved the references and the voices, the languages, and the tempo and timbre changes. I discovered Sylvia Plath and devoured Ted Hughes, he lived in Heptonstall for a while and I used to play there at the whit walks with the Brass Band and walk down the steep cobblestones playing my trombone. Then I stopped writing and only really started again in November 2016 as my 50th birthday present to myself, and I discovered d’Verse. I love the challenge and the words and the learning and the community. It has been a wonderful voyage of rediscovery and I love giving a voice to the past, then the stories can live on.
Winter storm
We take to the road
Spring’s adrift.
©Alison jean Hankinson
This is for d’Verse where we have been asked by Toni to explore where our inner poet was inspired and nurtured.
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Oh I do love the way you found your way back… my early poetic reading was in Swedish, but I never thought I could write anything… the way you describe that early pride in your heritage was lovely. I wish I could find a poem like that.
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I still love the poem. XX
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Interesting story! I too love being part of d’Verse. It is such a great group. It is interesting how we viewed ourselves growing up. Writing from the heart is where it all comes from. Great Post.
dwight
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Thank you very much. XX
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rediscovery – yes, that’s a great word for me to use as well as I started writing around 47 years of age.
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How wonderful to have that teacher and finally for yourself, to rediscover your poetic voice ~ So nice to find ourselvers together in this world of poetry. Also this part is true:
I love giving a voice to the past, then the stories can live on.
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Much love to you Grace. XXXX
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I think I was subjected to Cargoes as well. I recall in primary school we had to learn Daffodils by Wordsworth and I was puzzled by the references to fields of daffodils when in my part of Australia we never saw such fields.. I’m sure it coloured by future opinion of WW.
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Chortle it has been so cold this year we still seem to be in snowdrop season. XX
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I just read Cargoes. I’m glad you decided to write again! Don’t stop.
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Thank you so much for your lovely words. XX
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You are welcome!
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Giving a voice to the past through one’s own is good motivation to write.
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It is like capturing a landscape of souls. XX
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Spring’s adrift—I know this so well. Lovely haiku!
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What a wonderful gift, and a gift to us all!
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I enjoyed reading of your journey. Lucky we are to be drawn to a place where we can share our compelling need to write!
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A lovely journey, a journey of love and passing on a vibrant heritage…all excellent reasons to write!
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Thanks and much love to you. XX
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