Poetry Blog by Emma-Jane Stradling
The Chariot
I see wings with golden flecks
that embrace the moon;
a faith we need to reign in,
the horses of light and dark pull them.
I run with the wolves,
my hair streaming behind me,
as the wheel of fortune flings me out.
I see two magpies when I'm joyful,
but only one when I need two the most.
I can harness hell in times of apocalypse
and channel Gaia on Elysium field days.
The Chario...
Friday 22nd January 2021 12:47 pm
To Rach
You enter the hospital
COVID precautions, mask on.
You see your Mum,
breathing on her own again,
like she had done for years
even before you were born.
And you know it’s time,
nothing can be done now.
You say your goodbyes
Walk out of the door
to a life that you no longer recognise;
One where you feel alone
without your anchor,
your home
There will be mome...
Monday 4th January 2021 4:48 pm
Monday in Tier 4, New Year Jan 4
Facebook is full of futility;
pandemic emotional ping pong
vapid mini Directors spouting “truth”
proving a point to the other side
The class divide is dividing us,
fuelled by media-driven Morgan’s
who needs to create division to thrive
pointless pricks with absent minds
Propaganda piloted, spoon-feeding
Humans walk past Joe the homeless,
humming on their way into work
happily sti...
Monday 4th January 2021 7:51 am
The unkindness of Covid
Your polo shirt is slightly askew.
Eyeliner you try and hide.
My daughter baby’s prime;
we have fought for this.
You now sit in classrooms,
open windows, warmth drained.
Queue, face mask clad, in corridors
dreaming of seeing faces
The boy you pass notes to
you are no longer free to kiss
or find the ecstasy in another.
Your childhood is on hold.
W...
Monday 19th October 2020 12:41 pm
Sunday Morning Thought
I have been
Seen
Death has held me
Life has killed me
But you still think
You have the right
To give me advice
As if you’re above me
If you let me speak
You might learn
Something
Sunday 30th August 2020 10:38 am
Little Doll
I seek you moth girl,
there are hopes masked
behind doors in our mind
touches, intrusions
that felt like Fear
Frozen Little Doll
It’s where you still solicit,
Part Me, Part Him
God’s Steward dismantled
drowning under sheets
and adult whims
Fragments of sin
I ask you to come home
dance with me again,
you are swimming of reach
in the same mind
...Thursday 9th July 2020 12:32 pm
The current situation
Lives threatened by what they don’t know
Dictated by police banners of hell
Don’t let anyone escape their reality
We are all victims of false dichotomy
Black or white we are all longed for
Children of a false enemy
Rise up and sense the difference
A red flag goads us towards sensibility
Neutral props of a false economy
Rise forth and take the enmity
The discourse of truth will out
N...
Monday 15th June 2020 12:35 am
spirit and sanity
Since I cannot sense a name for God
power will stutter out of my mouth
In the old days it was the Village Church
Rich with Stain Glass Hypocrisy and Sin
In the middle it was a wasteland, dead
Then I saw God and everything changed
Spirit stood on my shoulder and held me
Angels came in plain clothes to erase me
No-one left even though I tried to kill me
In the attire ...
Tuesday 21st April 2020 1:37 pm
New Therapist
She sits there her book full of latent codes,
a way of communicating so no-one knows
Rambling on my life, traces of a history unread:
a mind full of trash and misdeeds unsaid.
She's a pristine therapist, who hasn't lived,
expecting me to say all and give,
when I couldn't give a shit about her plan.
Tuesday 25th February 2020 5:46 pm
You made me do it
You're so impossible
you are selfish
you are difficult
you cause me so much trouble
I've only got this angry with you
you provoked me
you're unreasonable
you aren't like your brother
you never help
I never get this cross with anyone else
you made me hit you
I lost control because of you
you are defective
but I love you
so all is ok
everything is possible with me
I am self full
...
Saturday 8th February 2020 11:20 am
Inside a house
Dark outside,
you see inside.
I’m standing there,
without a care,
but looking out,
i’m full of doubts.
I’m projecting pride,
but have nearly died.
He makes my tea,
you see he loves me.
I appear to have done
nothing for it.
My inner voice,
gives me no choice,
where you can’t see,
I slice my extremity,
the blood runs down,
into the family’s dishes.
...Wednesday 27th November 2019 6:43 pm
Common souls
Vulnerable
I know that no one really cares
If those people that they stare at
Really live it die or roam the streets
Wondering if there lives are nothing
Like the ones that “normal” people
live, but I am one who cares for those
Ego less souls who feel more than
Those who think they are more
Do not make me make you see
Those who you think are less
Because you w...
Wednesday 6th November 2019 9:44 pm
Blackbird Mother
My wings are brown, not black and shiny.
I'm always peeping out through leaves.
I try and keep above the fear trilling below,
I know they are ingesting bitter roots.
And yet I swallow their song all the same.
The empty smoke of hope that arises,
as I am the Blackbird mother sitting,
gathering material and protecting you,
refined in pointless expectation.
I am a gust of failure that ruins,
...
Tuesday 18th June 2019 4:00 pm
The Wasp
She is dead already,
those eyes have murdered her.
They shut her inside jars,
scream their pain, projection.
She needs not to sting humans
but she is overwhelmed.
Searching for open windows,
A chance to kill herself.
Saturday 18th May 2019 2:55 pm
My Mum's Lover
A house,
a staircase
it was an accident
you hit me
with your words
it's my home I say
but you don’t care
you have come in
again
soon you will leave
but not me, her
I find my bedroom
solace and silence
the smallness of me
you have come again
I do not want you
you are not mine, hers
you smother me,
press me into bedsheets
you smell of bull swe...
Saturday 19th January 2019 12:18 pm
Wounded Healer
Wounded Healer
Chestfull of Grief
Subdued Heart
Full of Mischief
Scan my Matter
I am a Thief
Don’t listen to Spirit
Just Seeking Relief
Drowning Dreamer
Trauma of Belief
Rivers to Conquer
I am the Dirt
The Soil that Speaks
Monday 17th December 2018 9:45 am
Portals to Other Worlds
You can find it in the drumbeat of a Shaman
Or within trees which possess doorways of hope
A certain stone can transport terrestrials
A mirror reflects what we know
A panorama roars into our psyche
While smells of childhood sear on our souls
The music we know the words to
even though we've never heard it before
We write a poem sacred in its rawness
Visit church...
Sunday 23rd September 2018 4:30 pm
Dead Wood
Dead wood, no good.
Get rid of the dead
wood that won’t burn
like wet yew branches.
People are dead wood,
like soul callouses.
They cling to you,
bring only judgement.
Spouting forth sin,
or their own piss;
its all the same
when you don’t drink it.
They call you wrong,
say you are useless,
no use for burning.
I smack the dead wood
out of my life,
...Friday 19th January 2018 10:33 am
Remembering
A little poem off the top of my head. Not edited, written v.fast.
Remembering
Why should we bother?
To think about the souls
who fought in WARS
when peace is our goal.
Why should we bother?
To find a hour to spare
To witness their support
when we weren’t there
Why should we bother?
To think about the tears
Of all the men and women
who sacrificed their fears
We should alw...
Saturday 11th November 2017 10:56 am
Walking with my girl
The wind blew us away,
but we stayed sure footed.
Evening drew in
as dark clouds swam
in post storm
Dreams:
a God dwelling sky.
We built shelter
for your game,
The way you faced
the wind
made me so proud.
We the warrior queens,
wanting nothing but this.
By Emma-Jane Stradling
Thursday 5th October 2017 9:54 am
Queen of Cups
Enchanted women enter
Hades fucks Persephone
whilst watching a silver Queen
Re-enter the ordinary world
where Poseidon rules the sea
I dive through opaque water
the salt flushing out my eyes
under the silver silent waves
Wednesday 19th July 2017 7:39 pm
Beautiful
The girl begins to unfold like a snake
unfurling itself from it's resting place.
The arch of her foot, the ringlety hair,
the smooth skin that's yet to be shed.
She emits her stellar energies now.
Her unconscious is blissfully sleeping.
Then they start to tout, with their sales.
Girls on the front of magazines, exposed.
The innocents look on in suspicion.
Is this what ...
Friday 12th May 2017 12:33 pm
SAM
I saw you first when I strolled in,
massive horse, the god of the yard.
You gave us health, you god of healing.
The light streamed in; your heart lit up
just like you were Apollo,
the god of truth, you saw our souls.
You put your head on my shoulder
It was so heavy but I held fast.
You smelt of hay and horse.
Your stamps echoed around the place
your feet as big as di...
Monday 13th March 2017 11:25 am
A star collapses
She speaks up for the thousandth time,
when it's easier to keep quiet.
A star who says what's is in her soul
when you respond with your mouth.
A shard of silver pain in her heart.
But they have no idea.
You say the first thing in your head,
collapse her nebulous boundaries.
She’s a people pleaser, easily moved
by those who would like her to fall.
A nebula that ca...
Tuesday 7th March 2017 11:17 am
Stellatus
We hide our dark matter behind walls of soft red flesh.
Some people deny the existence of the matter.
Some think their's is so beautiful they should be first.
You deny the presence of it, even with my prompting.
I have descended into the dark labyrinths of my soul;
separating and extracting the Constellatus from Con -
‘together’ + 'stellatus.'
‘arranged like a star.'
Monday 9th January 2017 6:40 pm
On the suicide of Sally Brampton
You gave me hope when there was none,
from the misery in the mother and baby units
from my child's extraction, enraged breasts
useless. It was death, childbirth.
I too sat on the beach, at Southbourne
suicidal, with remorse reeking with illness;
I dug my fingers into the dark, cold sand,
and tussled with the need to stay awake.
I suppose the beach at Hastings was ...
Thursday 12th May 2016 4:25 pm
On the death of David Bowie (By Emma/written in 2 minutes when I woke up!)
So I hear from you all that he has died,
the man that touched so many lives.
He has not left you in your heart,
now it's time to do your part,
keep his music alive through the dark.
His shining light will never depart.
He left a legacy to show,
his wishes for those who know.
Never let your creativity die,
From the starman waiting in the sky.
Tuesday 12th January 2016 9:38 am
Love
I want to be alone,
but only within my family.
I want to to teach you
but only with him too.
I want to help myself
but only if you help me.
I want to be confident
but only if you are there.
I want to be creative
but only if you allow me.
I want to be a parent
but only if I’m parented.
I want to be an adult
but only if I can be a child.
I want to feel emotions
but only if you hold me...
Thursday 3rd December 2015 3:26 pm
SCAR TISSUE
Tuesday 3rd November 2015 3:55 pm
28 Years Later
Can you imagine infinity as a 10 year old?
Yet now, 28 Years Later, I think it’s no time at all
I know you’ve been with me, all this while, watching,
I grew from a child, into a girl, then a daughter.
There were times when I wished you weren’t there,
private moments, intimacies, melancholic memories,
I silently searched for you to surprise me,
my wedding, a fatherly hug ...
Tuesday 19th May 2015 12:52 pm
Breathing Liquor
Liquor, such a licentious name,
I hear it whispered on TV,
my hair stands on end.
I move the bottles out of sight,
to negate their seductiveness.
They cry to be held or treasured.
The weakness of wine glasses,
resonating when they are washed.
They are true to their purpose at least.
I pour a scant amount,
measuring with molecular like precision.
I swig it back with...
Monday 23rd February 2015 12:23 pm
The School Run
Swinging upwards,
scathingly steering myself towards salvation.
School Run: teacher testimonials and tallies.
An “Other,”
an outcast from tradition.
Rousing the reluctant offspring,
combative to my requests.
We breakfast briefly,
on little balls of sugary synthetic yellowness
We arrive at school,
greet the countless glamorous goddesses
oozing out of the orifices
...Tuesday 2nd December 2014 4:50 pm
Travelling Home
An evening, sitting, wanting, ripping, blackening.
An acerbic wind.
Wait for the train and the glut of passengers to spill out.
The end, endless encircling madness, himself in the wilderness.
Girls, Judas and their selfish wives, lives pass, suck Jesus.
In his selfish mask.
Tormented, pushed down, I’m full: kill, hell thoughts.
Giggle to stifle grief, uncomfortable familiar family and perfe...
Thursday 28th November 2013 1:06 pm
Am I a Son of God?
I am as blessed as bees benefitting from a bounteous bloom.
I am chosen like choosing a caramel from a box of chocolates.
I am holy like the hopping Robin just ahead of me.
I am forgiven as I forgive those who trespass against me.
I am as blameless as my brother’s baby.
I am adopted as an angry teenager whose assaults are acerbic.
I am wise as worries that have wro...
Tuesday 1st May 2012 4:06 pm
God is looking for action
God is looking for action,
Act,
take steps,
pray,
write a book or a manuscript.
It might make you woozy,
to sign a pact with the devil,
blind panic.
But take that first step,
peeling rust off steel,
deciding you can do it.
Then gaze blankly,
fall asleep,
queue,
lean against a bar,
break a figurine,
take a li...
Wednesday 18th January 2012 6:09 pm
BERBERIS
That mourning I went to the woods,
misrepresented by madness.
Life chastened, clouds crept on whilst I cried up on my cross.
I picked obscure rose petals and placed them in abandoned jam jars.
I trampled on my spirit, a quiet cost.
I found an inner peace, like a pardon.
A new diadem excavated encircled my loss.
I danced on wet grass with God, crown festooned.
I grasped but my hand me...
Tuesday 11th October 2011 10:56 am
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