POETS, WRITERS, OPINION AND PROTEST

A PLATFORM FOR FEMALE WRITERS TO BE HEARD - COMMISSIONED BY LEDBURY POETRY FESTIVAL

Following on from my previous post of 27th March I am still contemplating what to think about and what to do with LPF and their intention to offer a series of commissions with the aim to give female voices space to speak. My God! I could be deafened!

Well that rules me out then? Or does it? It only rules me out of their commissions because I still have the right to speak my piece and I hold that as a precious right. Gender for me does not come into it except to try a re-create the balance.

At the same I, and all of us, should protect the complete right to think what we like and write what we choose but without any intention to cause harm to others, harm to the environment and not-to-be-finger-pointing- abusive to anyone. I know that this last sentence might need clarification as the propensity for some individuals to feel offended seems to be common. I defend the right to write what I, and we like, within the confines of the above.

Research on poetryschool.com gives information on Phoebe Stuckes. You can google that too and apparently she is ‘acclaimed’. It tells a lot about her and you can read some of her poems. Enjoy what you will.

Again I defend the right to write what we do. Readers do not have to agree with anything; they don't have to like it either and they can be troubled by it because it does not fit in with their own personal views. So, what do I think about her writing? Quite simple really. I am troubled. Is it protest in any form and we should accept it? Well why not?

If all writing is within the same parameters then what could happen? I suggest, boredom and of course that could lead to some exceptional writing and off we go again.

Back to Stuckes (and please no shout-outs about her name) I am troubled by some of her words in ‘No Touching’ and apart from not understanding much of it, (I'll try again later) I quote these lines.
“I sewed dolls of the police who kept us apart and burnt them in a bonfire on top of the hill”

Anarchy is only kept at bay by our consent of the way that we are policed and in ‘no touching’ we have to remain just outside touching distance. And to burn that symbol of authority is a big scream out about authority. Some persons will need it more than others, I suggest. And as my son points out there is only one red flag or is she going really left wing and hoisting their red flag to fly in our faces. Not really polite that, but I can remain polite. I will let my poetry speak for me.

I have relevant poems that I will add later