My poetry begineth here...

I've been writing a lot of poetry the past year or so - and although none of it has been published (yet!) - this one got through to the top 9% of entries in 2024's Bridport Prize.

It wasn't quite enough to get me longlisted - but it did at least let me know that it resonated with somebody somewhere...

This year, I've entered more of my writing into various different competitions - a stage play, two books, and some more poems - but before I share more, I thought I'd share this one - aka 'The One That Didn't Quite Make It' - also known as -

'Lost Love.'

LOST LOVE

…a POEM with instructions

I often think poems should come with an instruction guide, telling you how to read them.

Like an actor, being given the background to a scene by the director as he helps them understand how to deliver their words and the emotions that lie beneath.

This poem is like an Anime movie - with scenery and images that are vast and expansive, but the emotions repressed.

In Anime, love is either lost or unrequited, or, there’s never quite the right moment to say what you want, or need, to say…

This poem is for anyone who has ever lost a love…

We begin,

NOW.

PICTURE the second, when you wake from sleep.

You are lying in bed, still in the world of your dreams, but conscious (just) of being back in the real world. Your voice is a sleepy whisper and you feel what you have to say in your heart. Vulnerable and exposed. And yet, the truth.

[whisper quietly, as if speaking the words directly to someone. Someone who is there at your side, but they’re not… an invisible spirit, whose heart fills yours]

I CAN FEEL YOU

[take a deep breath in. Feel the air touching the sides of your nose. Acknowledge the silence. Your…

Aloneness.

Breathe out slowly before taking a pause, delivering the words slowly, feeling them as you speak. Whispering them still, in your vulnerable, half-asleep state]

WHEREVER I AM IN THE WORLD

WHEREVER I WAKE UP --

[touch your pillow gently, like you are reaching for the person. Still whispering]

-        YOU’RE HERE

[quietly still, you continue. Whispering as though who you are speaking to is actually there at your side]

I FEEL YOU COURSING THROUGH MY BLOOD

FILLING MY VEINS AND TOUCHING

EVERY PART OF ME

MEMORIES OF YOU FILL MY SYNAPSES

THOUSANDS OF MILLIONS OF TINY SNAPSHOTS IN TIME

[beat]

I MISS YOU

[beat. Speak slowly. Own the sadness as you finish-]

MY LOST LOVE.