DEMOCRATIC POETIC

Democratic Poetic is a gathering together of the finest poems published in Poetry Matters from 2006 to 2019. 

By 'finest' I mean, keen or sharp, as a tool. That is, poetry that does something, effectively. In my reading of each of the poems those chosen gave me a reason why they should be included. 

I also asked the authors of the poems to provide an introduction to themselves and their work based on the ways in which poetry plays a part in their lives and what it means to them.

The responses were marvellously varied and rich. But perhaps the one that impressed me the most was from Joan Parker:

'I was never really "into" poetry. Then one day while supervising an exam in a very hot room, not even a poster on the walls to read, only the bent heads of thirty-five hopeful students at eye-level, I watched some birds in an old twisted tree outside the window. I mentally composed a poem to keep myself awake and as soon as I got home, wrote it down. I have always been a prolific reader but from then on I read a lot of poetry and discovered there were many ways of writing it, so I wrote some more and found myself with a mid-life passion!' 

 

One of the poems included in the anthology is 'The Painting' by Ray Liversidge:

The Painting 

i.m. Beryl Liversidge

 

'Paint that, Beb', my father often said,

Pointing to a self-evident sunset

Or an ocean impressioned with boats.

All this after the children up and left.

At school I sketched and studied art, and yet

You never spoke a word for or against

My craft. Your indifference I accepted

Because I thought you thought it made no sense. 

So tell me how to reconcile the call

You answered late in life with such silence?

Like love it dances, beguiling Time before

Time shifts and takes the dancer from the dance.

You found your touch just once. Once was enough.

Our paintings hang together — mine below, yours above.

 

Poetry invites us to look, and look again; to think, and think again. Poetry is the most democratic art form. Language, a sense of rhythm, and the ability to observe and think are the only requirements. Like anything, we get better with practice. 

     

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