Our lives packed up, scaled down, crammed,
contained in lorry then in boat. Suffocating heat,
then paralysing cold.
I say “Everything will be ok”
With a reassuring smile, from mouth not eyes.
The worst is over. But I do not know.
If worse is yet to come. Penned in.
In lorry, then in boat, that smells of rotten flesh
not fish. That bobs upon the sea, on wave, on estuary.
That bobs to port that turns away.
They’re scared. So I say “Everything will be ok”
With a reassuring smile, from mouth not eyes.
I wipe away their salty tears,
their cries. From mouth. From eyes.
And then, penned in,
in lorry, boat and train, another place again
That won’t know what to do. With us. With them.
They’re scared, they say. They want to go back home.
So I say “everything will be ok.”
With a reassuring smile from mouth not eyes, because I do not know
If worse is yet to come.
I hide my salty tears, my fears, my lies.
From mouth. From eyes.
Our lives contained, in trains, on platforms where it rains,
Exposed, on view, like animals in a Zoo.
We wait. We queue. Accused. In news.
We’re hungry, they say. We want a place to stay.
So I say “Everything will be ok”.
With a reassuring smile from mouth not eyes, because
I do not know if worse is yet to come. So tired. So now I cannot hide,
no matter how I try, these lies, the tears, my fears.
From mouth. From eyes.
The Poised Pen. Our Liverpool Writing Group.
The founding members met on a creative writing course in 2007 and decided after finishing part 2 of the course that we wanted to continue meeting. Our tutor Poet Eleanor Rees, arranged a free room for us at the Windows Project which was based in Bold Street, above the independent bookshop News from Nowhere.
We published our first anthology ‘Words from Nowhere’ in 2009. This was the first time many of our writers had been published. To say that we were proud of this Anthology is an understatement. At that time, only one member of our group had a Kindle. My own view was that they would never catch on!
We published our second anthology ‘Out of Our Minds’ in 2011. Our group was growing. New members joined. Tony O’Neill was crowned Liverpool People’s Poet after winning a post Capital of Culture poetry competition, as well as being shortlisted and highly commended in too many other competitions to mention here. John Davies also was shortlisted and published (and paid) for his poetry and short stories. Kelly (Johnson) Mcpako and myself were Highly Commended at NAWG. Steph Blakeborough and James Antonio both had plays chosen and produced in the Write Now Festival in Liverpool. Steph even managed two years on the row, and in 2012 hers was voted the best play of the festival.
Writers have come and gone. Some have had families, some have moved away, most have kept in touch and some come back when they can. Every member past and present has played a huge part in making the group what it is today. .
Emma Law joined and set up our website, and became our IT guru. We were involved in the ‘It’s Liverpool’ Haiku Competition in 2012, organised the’ Poised Pen Pub Poetry’ Competition in 2013, with a presentation night in the winning pub, and our first international Frightening Flash Fiction Competition in 2014. We announced the winners of that competition at a launch night for our third anthology ‘Half Baked’ and Tony O’Neill’s first collection of poems ‘Buddha in a Hat.’
Thanks to the hard work of A J Walker, ‘Half Baked’ was our first E formatted anthology. Then with the help of both Catherine Connolly and Andy Walker, we published an anthology of all the entries to the Frightening Flash Fiction competition which was published on kindle in 2014.
As the digital age has finally caught up with us, we felt the time had come to publish our first two anthologies on kindle. The links are below.
I am so proud to be a part of this wonderful group. With our fourth anthology on the way, and our next competition in the pipeline, the world is going to hear a lot more about this Liverpool Writing Group.
Words from Nowhere.
Out of Our Minds.
Half Baked
http://www.amazon.co.uk/381/dp/B00QFZDHCW/ref=pd_sim_351_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0HZZRNWKGTW8673M0RQE
Vanessa Louise Lester. Secretary.
Ladies Day. Aintree
Part 1. Morning
Excited Ladies
Tanned sun baked
Sometimes orange
flock.
Tiny steps on killer stilts
Velcro-less. Roller-less
Pyjama-less. Ugg-less
Set lacquered and coiffured.
False lashes
Magic mascara
Luscious lips.
In tight Coast
Or floaty Monsoon
Knowing there’ll be others but
Wishing “I look best”
Hats hide
Fascinators fascinate
No expense spared
Hoping
Classy elegance.
Part 2. Any time after 12 pm.
Falling fillies
Stained streaky legs
Bloodied knees
Stagger
Killed feet bare or flip flopped
Shoe-less. Senseless
Hat-less. Hopeless
Tatty dragged through hedge
Lashed bets
Panda eyes Panda cars
Puffy lips
Torn Coast
Filthy Monsoon
Hoping there’ll be others
more worse for wear.
Heads hurt
Fighting, floored
No money left
Swearing
drunken “Ladies?”
An Ordinary Day
Angels. Written for Visdare 46. Published in Poised Pen’s Anthology Half Baked 2014
Sally’s Nose Wart Spell. Published in Poised Pen Anthology Words from Nowhere
One of the first poems I ever wrote. In a Whacky Warehouse, whilst the kids played.
http://thepoisedpen.co.uk/writing/vanessa-louise-lester/86-sally-s-wart-nose-spell
The Estuary. Received highly commended NAWG Competition in 2009.
Devoted -Written for Visdare Published in Poised Pen Anthology. Half Baked 2014
My Magic Castle
Visdare 86 Elite. I would have loved more than 150 words for this one. Continue reading
Vanessa L. Lester 