When I found a young lady in red
On the floor by my fine old bed,
And I said, “my dear,
How did you get here!”,
She said, “I fell out of your bed!”.
When I found a young lady in red
On the floor by my fine old bed,
And I said, “my dear,
How did you get here!”,
She said, “I fell out of your bed!”.
After tea
And homemade cake,
And the crossword,
We heard,
Sitting in a London garden,
A wild, screeching sound.
“What was that?”, I said.
“A fox with it’s prey”.
Soon the screeching ceased
And our sunny day
Returned to peace.
A quick death
Is best.
And the dead
Read no romanticising poetry
Of death.
When a young lady known as Claire
Said, “I’d like to call you sir”.
I said to Miss Jane,
“Its you with the cane!
I think Claire should call you sir!”.
I know a young man named Keith
Who is known as a prodigious thief.
His pretty wife Lin
Is full of sin.
But I’m not that fond of Keith …
When an old man driving a hearse
Went and composed a very poor verse,
A corpse named Ted
Said, “I am dead!
But I still object to poor verse!”
Whilst visiting a place known as Clapham
A girl said, “I’ll make it happen!”.
When I said, “does it involve money?”,
She said, “o, my dear naïve honey,
Don’t you know everything does in Clapham!”
I check my feet.
The skin underneath
Has begun to crease
And my toes
Are sometimes stiff.
I am growing old.
I can not deny
My middle age.
But when girl’s feet
Pass me by
I know only dust
Will defeat my lust.
In the sunlit wood
I heard
The sound of love.
No word
Did I hear.
Simply the bliss
Of young lover’s lips
Came softly to me
As a bird
In a tree
Mimicked kisses for me.
Why do I
Obsess over fallen leaves?
Should I lie
And try to pretend
There is no end?
Trees do not grieve
For fallen leaves.
Nor will I,
For all must die.
Yet I see
A poignant beauty
In these bare trees
And Autumn leaves.
On Monday 2 October, I was interviewed by Ariadne Sawyer of the World Poetry Reading Series. During my interview, I read several of my poems and talked about what inspires me to compose poetry. In addition, I answered several questions, including 1 from a listener who asked how to start writing poetry and how to deal with criticism.
To listen to the podcast please visit https://www.mixcloud.com/VictorSchwartzman/world-poetry-cafe-for-october-5-with-kevin-morris-and-vani-pradeep/?utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=notification_new_upload&utm_content=html. My segment starts approximately 27 minutes into the podcast and runs for around 17 minutes.
I am grateful to Ariadne Sawyer of the World Poetry Reading Series for hosting me on her show.