Shirley's Dishes
Shirley's Dishes
She often found herself washing up
at one in the morning, for she'd never
allow her guests to help, though did
once let me dry, when he had to go
to a meeting, for that couldn't be left
till next day either. I wish now I'd
bought her that tea towel for her birthday
and not the butterfly scarf I decided on
instead. I'm told he...
Friday 19th May 2023 1:41 pm
Interview about my chapbook
https://thewombwellrainbow.com/2023/05/17/wombwell-rainbow-book-interviews-the-second-of-august-by-peter-donnelly/
Wednesday 17th May 2023 7:41 pm
Esther Breuer
Esther Breuer
She’s the heroine I least imagine
to look like yourself - short hair, dark
I think you say, though for some
reason I picture her as blonde.
Yet she’s the one I seem most
to identify with, though
I’m not sure why. An art historian,
not much of a reader, at least
not of Jane Austen, except
surprisingly, according to you
or one of your characters ...
Sunday 14th May 2023 5:17 pm
Meadowsweet
Meadowsweet
I didn’t know what it was like until once
near the pond at Castle Howard
Arboretum my mother said,
Can you see the meadowsweet?
Perhaps I'd have thought it was cow
parsley if it weren’t for its honey scent.
I was reminded of this yesterday
as I glanced out of the train window
and there were stalks of it along
the railway line, flashing by
li...
Sunday 14th May 2023 5:16 pm
Great-Aunts
Great-Aunts
Did your parents know the origins
of your names, or their associations?
Wendy, invented for a story
two decades before you were born;
Joyce, also a surname, often Irish
like your own. Your sister Rose
must have been called after the flower,
for she was never Rosemary, a herb
nothing to do with roses.
Kay perhaps because your mother
was Catherine, t...
Sunday 14th May 2023 5:14 pm
Language and Music
Language and Music
It’s no surprise that I recognise it
whenever I hear it spoken
like I did that Boxing Day
at M&S in Bath, though I hadn’t
heard it for years, and couldn’t
pick out a word - diolch, diawn,
and not at that time of day nostar.
My dad thought it was Polish
but I knew it to be Welsh,
for I used to listen to it spoken
every day in the sho...
Thursday 11th May 2023 6:10 pm
Curlew
Curlew
In Wales they used to fear my call
like the sight of a magpie
or the sound of an afternoon cock crow.
I can’t imagine why they call me gylfinir
there, for it sounds nothing like
the noise I make, cur-lee.
Now they dread the thought
of my demise, rejoice
at my return to the Yorkshire Dales.
Some think my name means running,
which I never ...
Thursday 11th May 2023 6:09 pm
Just A Few Lines
Just a Few Lines
To accompany this year’s Christmas card -
I think you would have liked the design.
It’s as well you didn’t manage to write
to thank me again for the hand cream
I sent you for your birthday, as you
may not have received my reply.
We couldn’t find it amongst your things -
did you take it with you to Cumberland Grange?
Your orchids seem to like i...
Thursday 11th May 2023 6:08 pm
Despite the Myths
Despite the Myths
There's no doubt that A- is Scarborough
where she died at the Grand Hotel,
but was the Weston named after
Agnes Grey's suitor? She loved the sea
as Emily did the moors, Charlotte the city,
yet unlike them she would never cross it,
though her other heroine does.
Even Lucy Snowe never touches
Paris or Rome, or not as far as we know.
When we took ...
Thursday 11th May 2023 6:07 pm
The Other Bennett
The Other Bennett
Is he remembered in Fenton,
the town he left out of his Five
of the Potteries? Or even by guests
at the Savoy who order omelette
with haddock in it? Do readers
of Virginia Woolf know the cause
of her dispute with him,
or even that they had one?
I think many years hence I'll recall
the plot of Clayhanger and why
I read it after Hilda Lessways
...Thursday 11th May 2023 6:05 pm
Mr Brian
Mr Brian
According to him
there were only three forces -
push, pull, and as I
put my hand up and told him -
twist. I was sure
there was a fourth one - bend,
but I was too shy to say that.
He knew the art department
would disagree with him
about the third primary colour
being green and not yellow,
but about the colours
of the rainbow, or the spectr...
Saturday 22nd April 2023 3:22 pm
Half Way Through March
Half Way Through March
I find it’s six years since I saw you
at St Peter’s school. I sat near the front,
you wore a crimson jumper - red your favourite
colour, I think. I didn’t really want to ask
a question at the end, rather to tell you
I was re-reading all your novels in the order
they were written. Not only yourself
but the interviewer too were taken aback
whe...
Monday 17th April 2023 4:53 pm
The Marriott Room
The Marriott Room
I don’t think I’ve been in here
since last time we met - in this place,
two years and two months ago
at your book launch. Second-hand book
sales on Sundays weren’t resumed
once the library reopened for fewer hours.
Today we face each other across a table -
you say as you did then, that I’d been your pupil
a long time ago. I don’t add that it’...
Monday 17th April 2023 4:51 pm
Almond Blossom
Almond Blossom
Your favourite work of art, you say,
but not whether you've done the jigsaw.
It isn't mentioned in your personal history,
which is not, you stressed, a memoir.
Maybe when you've written that it will be.
I'm not sure what you'd say about
the picture, other than that Van Gogh
was joyful with his use of colour.
It's hard to imagine it a ...
Saturday 15th April 2023 3:28 pm
Publication
Delighted that my first chapbook The Second of August has been published by AlienBuddha Press:
https://www.amazon.com/Second-August-Peter-J-Donnelly/dp/B0BV4JF13Y
Friday 14th April 2023 4:46 pm
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