Of all my creative activities, it is poetry which is my first love and which allows me to express my most profound and significant thoughts. Not that I believe poetry must, or should always be serious. Many of my poems are humorous, satirical, and occasionally, silly. Even those major poets considered to be some of the most original and significant practitioners have indulged in doggerel, even sometimes, turning their hand to academically despised poetic forms like the limerick.
All subjects are susceptible to the poet’s pen and although there are long established and well defined poetic forms, with strict rules of composition, there is also free verse which allows for innovation and experimentation. Such freedom provides poets with opportunities to explore and extend the possibilities of language revealing new ways to view reality and express our deepest thoughts. I believe that the very best examples use language with a vision and clarity which enriches and enhances human experience, enabling us to be more receptive and empathetic to to the complexities and contradictions inherent in the human condition.
My own efforts in this process can be read and judged here, at my poetry site:
My poem ‘We Cast Pale Shadows’ is featured on the website ‘Ten of the Best Short Poetry’. It is also the title poem of my new poetry collection which will be published in February 2020. I’ll post an update here when it’s available.
You can also view ‘We Cast Pale Shadows’: here and listen to me read it
‘Déjà Vu
A poem which received many complimentary comments when I posted it to my blog was ‘Déjà Vu
This poem meant a great deal to me personally, as it was written for a very special person in my life. I also discovered a portrait which bore an uncanny resemblance to the poem’s subject, which I shared, and which is I think, a remarkable work-of-art in its own right.
Click here to visit my blog and read the poem.
My new volume of poetry entitled ‘We Cast Pale Shadows’ is now published and can be ordered here: http://bit.ly/2tH7JeK
A Sonnet for the Young
When shall young lovers kiss again
Free from the dread their sweet embrace
Will leave a trace of Covid on their lips?
When will they know their mingled breath
Does not contain the pathogens of pain,
Rewarding passion with a kiss-of-death?
What shall become of youthful needs
To trace the sensual contours of desire
With fingers unprotected from the feel
Of flesh made toxic by the heat of fever’s touch?
How much of love’s beginnings perish here
Where adolescent dreams must be denied?
No memories created of a love devoid of fear,
No moments to recall when death draws near.
Copyright: James Rainsford 2020
