A Pocketful of Chalk E-Book

Claire Booker

• Herausgeber: Arachne Press
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 29

Beschreibung

The South Downs lie at the heart of this collection – the sunsets and huge skies, cliffs and fossils, fishing vessels and windmills, people and sheep. Past, present and future collide within geological and emotional landscapes. Life erupts magically out of plum trees. Love is as friable as chalk, and as deeply underpinned. A lost father is redeemed through the gift of a chocolate rabbit, a loved one returns in the shape of a trombone. Mothers, both human and animal, prove their strength. A Pocketful of Chalk bursts with myth and metaphor, energy and originality. The giant of Wilmington leaves his hillside in an apocalyptic vision of global warming. Herons and Ospreys take flight, and a boy releases monsters from the sea shore. A cow really does jump over the moon. Claire Booker offers moving and memorable poetry from an iconic corner of England.

Leseprobe

First published in UK 2022 by Arachne Press Limited

100 Grierson Road, London, SE23 1NX

www.arachnepress.com

© Claire Booker 2022

ISBNs

Print: 978-1-913665-69-2

eBook: 978-1-913665-70-8

The moral rights of the author have been asserted.

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form or binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Except for short passages for review purposes no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Arachne Press.

Thanks to Muireann Grealy for her proofreading.

Cover design © Fiona Humphrey

Acknowledgements

These poems (or versions of them) first appeared in the following publications.

An Osprey Fledges, Dinosaur Boy, Channel (issue 5);

Anniversary, Walking the Edge, Loose Muse anthologies (Spring 2013, Autumn 2013);

Breaking Out, First Kiss, Structo (issue 20);

Drone Boys, Museum of Childhood, The Spectator (2020);

Fisherman’s Daughter, Bringing in the Fruit, Mr McGregor’s Seedlings, Solstice Shorts anthologies 2019, 2020, 2021 (Arachne Press);

Footprints, Artemis (issue 27);

Framed Woman, The Poetry Society Website (runner-up, 2021 Stanza Competition);

Gaia in the Back Garden, Caduceus (issue 107);

Gang, erbacce (issue 45);

Hey Diddle Diddle, Poetry Salzburg Review, (issue 38);

Italian Hair, Dreamcatcher (issue 40);

News Flash, The Morning Star (23rd Dec 2021);

Night Bus, Morning After, Bringing You Back, On the centenary of my teacups, The High Window (Summer 2016, Autumn 2019, Summer 2021);

On Beacon Hill, Poems on the Buses winner (Guernsey, 2018);

Paperwhite Narcissi,Fossil Fish, Pennine Platform (issue 91) Remembering Chocolate, South (issue 45);

Sand: Naming the Parts, I think of rain and it’s you, Stand (vol 20 – 1);

Skewed, The Rialto (issue 88);

The Wrasse, Poetry Birmingham Literary Journal (issue 7);

Turning Back, Lunar Pareidolia, Finished Creatures (issues 3 & 5);

The Invitation, Prole (issue 8);

The Lightness of Words, Grey Heron, Spelt (issues 1 & 4);

Towards Beachy Head, Sussex Wildlife Trust online anthology ‘Awakenings’ 2021.

Waiting for Glory, New Welsh Review (multi-media film, 2015); My gratitude also to Mimi Khalvati, Lisa Kelly, Jane Maker, Alan Price, Marion Tracy, Caroline Vero, The Brighton Stanza Group, Live Cannon and The Poetry Kit for their invaluable feedback on a number of these poems.

Last, but not least, my sincere thanks to Cherry Potts at Arachne Press for making this collection possible.

To Jayne D-T

In warm appreciation of your insight and care.

Also by Claire Booker

The Bone That Sang

(Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2020)

Later There Will Be Postcards

(Green Bottle Press, 2016)

Contents

Notes

Breaking Out

Looking Towards Smock Mill

Drone Boys

Call of Nature

Paperwhite Narcissi

Moon Kill

Hey Diddle Diddle…

Long Man Dreaming

Skewed

Sand: Naming the Parts

Bringing You Back

First Kiss

The Horse in My Bedroom

Museum of Childhood

Remembering Chocolate

Anniversary

Night Bus

On the centenary of my tea cups

Italian Hair

Waiting for Glory

Towards Beachy Head

Morning After

Dinosaur Boy

Grey Heron

The Wrasse

Fisherman’s Daughter

Framed Woman

An Osprey Fledges

Walking the Edge

I think of rain, and it’s you

The Invitation

Turning back

Lightness of Words

Gang

News Flash

Footprints

Lunar Pareidolia

Fossil Fish

On Beacon Hill

Bringing in the Fruit

Mr McGregor’s Seedlings