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Kate Foley

• Herausgeber: Arachne Press
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 24

Beschreibung

The algorithm of my own life, faded and spidery, is written, not keyed in. From bombsites used as childhood playgrounds to lockdown FaceTime calls, Kate Foley looks back on almost nine decades of life – a life characterised by curiosity, resistance and a strong connection with the natural world. Appreciation and concern for the planet runs through this frank and moving collection, which muses on the notions of faith and belief, ultimately rejecting both Whitehall politics and traditional religion as inadequate to deal with environmental crisis. Simultaneously nostalgic and highly concerned with the future, Kate Foley's candid reminiscence and simple use of language draw us softly into consideration of life's big questions: What's it all for? How will we be remembered? Will it build again, our earth?

Leseprobe

First published in UK 2023 by Arachne Press Limited100 Grierson Road, London, SE23 1NXwww.arachnepress.com

© Kate Foley 2023

ISBNsPrint: 978-1-913665-76-0

eBook: 978-1-913665-77-7

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.

Printed on woodfree paper by TJ Books, Padstow, England.

Thanks to Muireann Grealy for her proofreading.

The publication of this book is supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following for original publication of some of these poems

12 Rivers, magazine of the Suffolk Poetry Society and their The Ripples, anthology celebrating the society’s 70th birthday

Poetry Wivenhoe, anthology and poster exhibition

Artemis magazine of the Second Light group of women poets

The Friend, Quaker magazine

Words from the Brink, Solstice Shorts Festival 2021, Arachne Press

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for Tonnie

Contents

NECESSARY POETS

THIS

POWER CUT

BOOKS

THE EDUCATION OF THE HEART

NAN

ROSEBAY WILLOWHERB

PLAIN

EGG

SLOWLY ACQUIRING SILVER

IN CAFE WELLING AMSTERDAM

TO LEARN A LANGUAGE

A WALK IN THE PARK

ALL CHANGE

POLITICS

‘THERE IS NO PLANET B’

LINES

APOCALYPSE

WAKE UP!

REFRACTION

TAKING THE KNEE

OUR (OLD) LADY

TEA TIME

WHAT I KNEW ONCE

THE DYING ZONE

IN THE CAVE OF NIAUX

TREE-SPEAK

A MURMURATION

ON BEING 80 PLUS

WHAT FOR

TOOLBOX

BEACHCOMBING

COLLECTIONS

MY FAVOURITE POEM?

DEAR POEM

SLOW WATER

JUST A LINE

YOU THINK YOU HEAR THEM SING

SUNDAY MORNING

A NEW LANGUAGE

GOD IS THE POEM

RAGS AND BONES

ON FIRST SEEING www.quakeranimals.org

LIMPING

A DAY WITHOUT A HERON

VISITING THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY

REPEATING PATTERNS

NECESSARY POETS

The ones you did for ‘O’ level,

live in your pocket

like a silver coin.

You rub an embossed head

with your thumb

to find a sovereign truth.

Ordinary poets

may from time to time,

if they’re lucky

speak the one word

that will do, so

they need to learn humble –

because, if the arrow hits the target,

they’ll never know.

THIS

This is my smartphone

                  my app –

– a river of small birds

flows across the sky,

ripples in floodwater.

I try to write their words

in another language.

This

my life

my time

harvested

in ink.

This

is my computer,

shedding messages

like pigeon feathers

after the hawk.

Yes, I will mail you.

Promise!

This

is the new this,