Ambushed by Grief
This week’s choice is “For Grief” by John O’Donohue, and it says everything I want to say about grief. I’ve chosen it for all my friends and family who remember Nicola and for those who are grieving for their loss, whether recent or long past.
Something Attempted, Something Done
This week’s choice is “The Village Blacksmith” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a poem that praises the simple life.
Furnish’d and Burnish’d
This week’s choice is “A Subaltern’s Love Song” by John Betjeman, a poem based on a real-life story.
All Our Pomp of Yesterday
This week’s choice is “Recessional” which was written by Rudyard Kipling for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and it marks the coronation of King Charles III last weekend.
I Was Coming to That
This week’s choice is “Welsh Incident” by Robert Graves, a recounting of an imaginary strange incident in North Wales.
The Days of Wine and Roses
This week’s choice is necessarily short as I have been suffering from a hideous gastric upset all week and haven’t had the time to devote to a long poem. It is “Vitae Summa Brevis” by Ernest Dowson.
A Mist of Silver Quivering
This week’s choice is “The Song of Beren and Lúthien” by J.R.R. Tolkien.
A Decent Meal
This week’s poem is by Roald Dahl and tells the story of “Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” in a new way.
The Famous Barking Dog Solo
I have now been writing Poet’s Day for three years—one poem a week (three initially) adds up to 261 poems, and something over 100,000 words (not including the words of the poems themselves). Perhaps I’m no better than the barking dog in Billy Collins’ poem but I occasionally get a message of encouragement which makes it worth my while. This week’s poem is “Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House” by Billy Collins.