A Brief Review of Inspiration
Tomorrow I will write. Whisky will begin
its journey upstream. Porridge will cool
beside the spurtle. A sequinned hip
will shimmy in midnight. Pluto will backstroke
a wide ellipse, conkers will hide in green spikes.
I will requite Han Solo where the Empire Strikes
before Star Wars. Tomorrow I will write.
I will splash into my father’s arms
at Akamas Bay. A cockroach will ignore
my eager fingers, walled jasmine will inhale.
An apple will swoop to a branch, whole again.
'A Brief Review of Inspiration' was published in The Interpreter's House, issue 54 by its new editor Martin Malone. The poem was generated at an Arvon poetry course with excellent tutors Ann and Peter Sansom who worked us poor poets to produce the beginnings of some 20 poems on a very fruitful week. The poem started as 'Against The Grain' looking back at where inspiration comes from to try and create something tomorrow. Martin requested an alternative title.
The cockroach was almost in my mouth when mum spotted its bloody corpse in my one year old hand.
The apple is the one Eve picked to eat, and, for me, represents a return to innocence and primal curiosity. I like to wonder about situations where original sin never existed.