Poetry and Creative Writing for All

Jacqui Thorne

Winner of our Top 5 Poets of September 2003 Online Competition

I am a Mum of 4 from South Wales. I have only recently started writing again after a gap of 12 years, in which time I have been raising my family. When my youngest child started school last year I needed something to do to fill the time and started writing again. I know that it is highly unrealistic to think that I will ever have my own anthology of poetry published, but Forward Press have given me the opportunity to get my work in print and I am grateful for this opportunity to showcase some of my work. The winning poem Ice Age Aurora was written about Antarctica, which I think is an inspiration because it is one of the most hostile environments on earth but also one of the most beautiful and unspoilt places, Aurora Australis meaning Dawn of the South, which is the name given to the amazing phenomenon of the Southern lights which is seen every night in Antarctica. My influences vary greatly and so does the subject matter of my poetry. I am inspired by nature, history, superstition, general observation and human nature. I have had a lot of encouragement and support from other poets that I have met in the community here. So thanks to everyone.

Restless

Saturated by the

Resurgence of your love

A violent tropical

Storm hangs heavy as it

Engulfs the solitude

Of my sleep, I can see

Turbulence, the waves splinter

Against the hull. You come

As a buccaneer to

Pirate my head, finding

Our spirits fermented

As my eyelids flutter.

Evening

Evening’s lull

Poised in elegance

Sleek and lustrous

In black.

Her diamonds shine

Against the satin sky

A delicate shimmer

In moonlight.

Her tranquil beauty

Eclipsed by Night

Wrapping his cloak

Around her.

Shadows are cast

Embracing they listen

To the gentle lullaby

Of sleep.

The Letter

I enveloped my deepest thoughts

And sent them in a dream

To fly above the mountain tops

And flow amidst the stream

They mingled in the woodlands as

They stopped to smell the flowers

Cascading through a waterfall

Resplendent in its showers.

I sealed them with my happy hopes

And perfumed them in kind

With honey bees and blossom trees

That lived within my mind

And on a ship they set to sail

My vision at the helm

To steer the way through choppy seas

Until they reached your realm

And as I gently closed my eyes

They swam onto your shore

And on the hands they all held hands

And ran up to your door

I saw you smile as you received

The twinkle in your head

The image said it all to you

And no more words were said.

The Psychic

As evening descends

On their blindness of mind

In half wake she’s calling

With hands clenched and eyes shut

At a séance for the

Grieving, her melodic

Trance captivates the lost

Drawn to the ouija

The wisp transit of woe

Manifests, she’s walking

In purgatory talking

To comfort the anguished

The cynical watch her

Gripping ever tighter

An energy surging

The empty glass tremors

Sliding to the letters

They show her, she relives

The past lives lamenting

A solace binding them

The entities of both

The lost souls and living

Harmonised as they

Perceive each others love.

Butterfly

A butterfly fluttered

For a while

Beside me and it

Made me smile

A soul of one that

I once knew

It said hello and

Off it flew.

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