It’s not a seaside town, it’s a town by the sea It’s not much to look at, a bit like you and me, It’s quirky and it’s quaint and it needs a lick of paint. It’s Peter White our famed Town Crier, Shoal Project seating and the Guy Fawkes fire, It’s shrieking gulls and the…
Author: Chris Goode
Crumbling Plaster, by Jayne Marshall
A babe awakes grows strong learns from all it sees and hears And as it grows and adds the years Sadly, like crumbling plaster innocence trickles out the once bright mind Held tight to love and laughter Perhaps the joys of son and daughter, Loosens its hold and Sadly, like crumbling plaster The memories trickle…
Armistice, by Mike McBride
I’m the proud heart wheeled out at remembrance. The old campaigner who knows life is tough. Until his spent lungs whisper, “Enough!” And he hears the last charge of the ambulance. I’m a boy killed when a building collapsed, Held by his mother: wracked with despair, Crouched in the gutter, stroking his hair; Beside a…
The Grandure that was Rome, by Mike McBride
THE GRANDURE THAT WAS ROME 338 BCE Lucius Timidus Pusillanimous First plebeian Censor of Rome To Brutus Menace Publius Second Temporary (Acting) Deputy Magistrate Don’t blame me for Rome’s defeat By the puny Latin League. The roads have given me sore feet And wobbly chariot fatigue. And I thoroughly object To the published inference That…
Hang on to Christmas, by Mike McBride
The jobsworths on the Council Are at their tricks again. By solving one small problem They’ve created nine or ten. They were angry at the number Of children missing school To holiday in term time At some foreign swimming pool. The summer dates are all the same And so the prices double. Plus parents say…
Quarterly Newsletter December 2018
Welcome to Seahaven Poets Newsletter for December 2018! We wish all our readers and fellow poets a Merry Christmas Season and a Happy and Fruitful New Year. 2019 will begin for us with LitFest19 in mid-February. Once more we have a wonderful line-up of authors, poets, and musicians to transport us to special places far…
Is That a Knock I Hear? by Honour Stedman
Policeman at the door backfire from a motorbike next door’s penchant for hammering – never heard of screws silently turning nuclear submarine lurking in the gloom propellers torquing slowly. Baseball bat to head cricket bat to ball crack of a pistol shot criminal gang’s revenge or start of a race hundred metre sprint all that…
I Wish I Was A Poet, by Michael McBride
I wish I was a famous poet. I’m jealous of their knowledge and skill. I’d call to A.E. Housman. “Your team is ploughing still!” I’d pen an ode to Wordsworth From a daffodil. My study is an Eliot wasteland Of crumpled paper and sighs of despair. Why can’t I write like Shakespeare? In tragic monologues…
Stiperstones, by Michael McBride
Lost in the south Shropshire hills, A sleepy, quiet land of farms and tea rooms, No longer the violent borderlands, Uneasy, restlessly awaiting The imminent arrival of Welsh raiders. A land made incongruous by its contrasts: Undulating fields, green pasture, streams and forest Torn apart by steep-sided, forbidding highland escarpments. One minute: a sunny picnic,…
Bicycle, by Jayne Marshall
One needs to be quite lexical To rhyme a word with bicycle A two wheeled one saddled vehicle Not to be confused with aerricle A device once thought as mythical. With some parts quite mechanical To repair is not too technical Racers can be fanatical Excuse this rhyme rhetorical All about the bicycle. Jayne Marshall…
Forgotten But Not Gone Dot Com, by Michael McBride
Username: dog-eat-dog Password: barking Playing Monopoly Solitaire Stuck on Free Parking. Bum sore from this commode Everything’s shit-slow these days. My carer’s stuck somewhere on the road “Will somebody get me off this bog!” Listening to the sounds of the city Watching shadows lengthen Trying not to feel self-pity. Not worth pressing my button To…
Who’s Afraid of Artificial Intelligence, by Michael McBride
Hi-there, Michael, It’s your AI here, Flashing, to wish you A prolific New Year. Whatever you’re into, I-can-help-you-do-it-better So taste-me, Try-me, Use-me-as-a-diary! I’m-the-friendly-fact-tree Bubbling in your ear. Feeling…hopeful? Need…to find Fresh new words To expand your mind? Looking for the flames To forge a new rhythm? Ask-me, Task-me, Cautiously unmask-me. I-do-everything-I’m-told And I’m always kind….
Open Mic Poetry Evening, 5 September
The literary eyes and ears of Seaford were focused on the Crypt Gallery last Wednesday when we held another Open Mic poetry event. Our thanks to our two wonderful guest poets, Robert Edwards and Jasmine (pictured), who completed the line-up for each half of the evening. Our thanks too to all the amazing poets who…
Quarterly Newsletter September 2018
WELCOME to the first SEAHAVEN POETS newsletter! We’re delighted to invite you on the first leg of a poetic journey from the South Coast of England to Parnassus and beyond! You don’t have to come from Newhaven or Seaford, or even be a poet, to join us on our website – if you have a…
The Chalk Giant, by Jayne Marshall
Caught in a time warp On a march through history Imprinted on a hill In midst of an unending walk stands quite still The white giant Leaning on walking staves Outlined against shades Of patchwork green Searching for a village, clan or sheep, No longer seen. Through wars and peace, Winter’s bite and summer’s song….