Nicola Beckett
Email: nicolabeckett74@hotmail.com
Email: nicola@enigma-arts.org.uk
Write Out Loud Profile: http://www.writeoutloud.net/poets/nicolabeckett
Biography
I began writing at the age of 25 as a way of recording and making sense of the world. Most of my poetry is reflective and confessional. My influences include Dorothy Parker, Maya Angelou, Sylvia Plath and Julia Copus to name but a few. I'm based in Bolton and my interests include photography and art.
Samples
She's in the Sea Again
...........................................
She’s in the sea again,
She’s got her sundress on,
Striding through the dark waves.
Silhouetted by the moonlight.
He’s calling her name again and again,
louder and louder,
and only the rocks can answer.
His voice echoes off them,
he stumbles.
She watches him.
Her eyes are sea shells,
her dress is made of sea horses,
she’s oblivious to his shouting and ignores him,
watches as he staggers back,
giving up the search so easily.
She dances with the waves,
free for a while,
Her dress blowing in the wind,
She’s in the sea again.
The Moon Watches
.........................................
I want you and you are not here.
I pause,
the water trickling between my fingers.
Dishes left uncared for.
I picture you stood here.
Grasp onto your memory, before it too seeps away.
You’re smiling again.
fixing me with the look you always do.
The one that says I am wrong,
that I should carry on.
The moon watches us together,
dancing on the dusty floor.
The colour of our memory everywhere.
It’s light photographs us.
Always together,
always apart.
Entwined
....................
Entwined,
Forever,
Limb around limb,
Clasped in embrace,
Captured in stained glass,
Purple and blue,
Hues of love,
and lust.
Secret sighs’
Etched by a palette of watercolours,.
Now all can see,
In the windows above.
Your face hidden from view.
Tucked into your lovers nest
Of half truths and half remembered lies,
Soft daylight caresses your skin and his
and you awake caught by the dawn.
Hushed whispers,
Of hurried words and gentle sighs.
Some love is secret,
But pure,
Not bound with tape
Vows or papers.
It’s fragmented and rare,
Like the dawn light,
Exposing the beauty of skin upon skin,
Mouth upon mouth,
Seeking salvation,
In sweet folds of time.
Angel
..........................
The firework heavens,
open their skies.
Snow falling on leaves,
echoes a sweet melody.
The beat of a wing is heard,
through the twilight hours of days.
An angel flies,
through the December air,
embracing the rhythm of notes.
Ice melts with the slowing down of time,
yesterdays lost in a haze of life.
The stars are smiling at me tonight.
God takes away,
who he loved the most,
leaves behind a hole to fill.
Candles burn in churches still.
Icicles form in the dead of night.
The beat of a wing is heard.
The Rival
.............................
The moon smiled at you,
And you smiled back,
You were photographing her beauty,
Or so he said,
In the nude,
Paint on your fingertips no doubt.
The moons cold light captured your soul.
Her smile reflecting yours.
Cold and unforgiving,
Full of shadows and secrets,
I look at your frozen smile
And still blank eyes
And cannot compete,
Cannot compare,
I live in blood red sunsets
And hot desert sands,
Azure skies
Cacti filled lands,
The earth screams
Yellow,
Red,
Orange to me.
I paint with words
Wander roads
That fill my books.
Diamond pieces of tomorrows and yesterdays.
Images,
Colour,
Black and white
Of creased faces,
Dancers spinning,
Bodies beautiful.
The moon smiles at you still
And you smile back
As the sun sets
And rises
And rises
And rises.
Nicola Beckett 2007
All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.
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Comments
Nicola Beckett, where you been hiding! Lovely to hear from you. Fab poems, very sensuous, painfully sensitive, love to hear you read them aloud. Come out of yr cupboard and let's catch up. Four years now since John J.died and I frequently think of what we owe him.Wrote a tribute and had it framed. Gave it to the M&S to put up in the front parlour. Never seen it there.I'll put it on my profile.You've heard it before anyway.A lot's happened in five years. We're all five years older for a start!
Hi Nicola. Thanks for further comment. I thought you might like to know what lies behind "Of Beds". The beds are: Oyster and Man's as in: "You have made your bed now lie on it." I am a natural inventor with several patents granted in my name. I often received approval for my inventiveness (typically western thinking|) but one day realised it is inventiveness that destroys the world. Very daunting! Tibet knew for centuries that when the wheel came, they were done for.
Add to this that I love analogy and word-play and Bob's your uncle (although the banana is your ancestor).
Thanks Barrie. No problems as to asking questions about my poems at least you are reading them and it's good to share ideas. I tend to write freely but use a few tricks such as assonance, alliteration and internal rhyme. I am influenced by music and intend my poems to be read out loud so use a lot of rhythm. I will try to write a sonnet or two as I think it's good to diversify and an iambic pentameter will be a challenge! I will post one of my poems that rhyme and maybe something more structured. I think I got frustrated with trying to make words fit and tend to write from the soul these days. I read some wonderfully technical poems sometimes but they don't speak to me. I like your poem 'Of beds' and will post the reasons why on you site. Thanks for your time and comments
Hello Nicola. Thanks for comments on my efforts and an apology for wondering about that first line of yours. Coincidentally, Newbury Poetry Workshop asked for poems with a 'borrowed' beginning only weeks back! I must admit that poems without meter and rhyme seldom appeal to me though I can be caught experimenting (as with 'Of Beds') or worse, kow- towing to the current idiom! But at least I can understand what you are saying and I like the way your line breaks fit the sense (not random as so often). One thing is sure: You are better placed to win a competition than I! I'll post my poem referred to above if I can find it. Regards.
I want you and you are not here.
I pause,
were these words borrowed from Carol Ann Duffy? I am always borrowing, bending and mutilating so just curious.
Nicola so spiritual, but you always were. Love your writing. Keep it up.
Hello Nicola. I picked your profile completely at random and fell upon "She's in the Sea Again" which says so much. Lovely and troublingly close to the truth too. (Not sure if "troublingly is a word - it is now!). Good luck with your writing. Robert
Good to see your stuff on here, Nicola. She's in the Sea Again as you know is one of my fav poems of yours... The rest are good also! (as you know what I should say)
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sally jenkinson
Wed 6th Aug 2008 00:03
hello lady. i think your poems are so lovely. the moon watches is my favourite by far though, hope you dont mind me saying? i love 'the colour of our memory everywhere', yummy yummy.
:-)