Three poems from SCARBOROUGH FLARE workshops

I was delighted to have been able to attend two poetry writing workshops over the long weekend of Scarborough Flare. These are poems which I wrote at the workshops.

The first two were inspired by Jo Reed's "WOMEN's WORKS" workshop:

Pass the parcel

Layer upon layer of names

protecting me from myself.

Pack up all the emotions

but leave no forwarding address.

Brown paper packages tied up with string

but these are not favourite things.

Tie the string tight - so that none of me escapes.

Then i can be myself again.

Hot Tap

Hot.

It's no more hot 

than Magritte's pipe is a pipe.

The ceramic, the word.

Even the beautifully turned metal thread of the connector.

All plastic.

Cold hard plastic.

It offers no conduction 

even if heat could be applied.

The next was inspired by Adrienne Silcock's 'Waves and Wishes' workshop:

Me.

Alone.

Searching.

Bent double with my hands digging wildly in the wet sand.

Wearing rags as grey and damp as the air which enfolds me.

Lost in today, and maybe tomorrow.

I want to bury my whole self, along with my hands.

I am me.

I am alone.

Today, and maybe tomorrow.