Martin Elder

Biography

Writer Poet and Dr of Hope the story so far.....as a spotty faced teenager back in the mists of time I once wrote a poem about the Vietnam war which has been thankfully lost. I then picked up a pencil again in my late thirties and started writing short stories and subsequently a couple of books. I followed this with an attempt at poetry . However a friend told me that he did not like them. (The poems that is) so I stopped. But the loss of a job back in 2012 stimulated me to write a poem again which was quickly followed by another and then another , sadly I haven't been able to stop pouring out a sea of babble and drivel since. Having tried the public domain few times in 2014 I have continued to subject members of the unwitting public to my utterances and dribblings through open mic gigs in a variety of locations with very few rotten vegetables or eggs being thrown....so far Some work published in Ekphrastic towers with Stockport WOL 2019 and other succeeding publications around lockdown. I have also published my own first collection called Rewind Replay, as well as having read my poetry on a local community radio station. and not enough vegetables to make a stew yet !!

Samples

sleepless unable to settle palisades and fortresses dried lips and flaming dragons maidens often seen but best never spoken all conspire against me make me tired and in a tiz Yapping dogs and sleepless nights visions of things I should have done and need to fix all provide me with early morning frights then catching me unaware a ringing breaks through the final attempts of sleep trying to tell me get up it's half past six He's not the one He's not perfect he's not right he does not fit into her nightmares or her dreams not quite what he seems He's not the one she thought he would be He's not the one to move or shake her tree not the one to make the earth move or her teeth rattle free He's not the one to warm her hearth, her bed or her heart he doesn't give her goose bumps fire up her stove or be her missing part He doesn't buy her flowers, chocolates or cards His ideas are like broken shattered shards of what love should be like But sometimes Just sometimes When she sees him smile She wants to say sit down have a drink stay a while and all that's been cold is warm the stone is chipped away and the blood and feelings begin to flow returning to something she once saw allowing her to break all the rules break all that had formed and become law Sometimes just sometimes she thinks she dares to believe they can be something more than friends and that there is a point and there can possibly be a happy end All our Gods have abandoned us All our Gods have abandoned us Yet we wear them on our sleeves Through the holes in our knees The badges we button up On chains around our necks The colours we display The flags the banners that we wave The stretches the stresses The must haves and the must do’s The teams that we so faithfully follow The words that we chant in stadiums and on the streets In concert halls The pictures that we wear The clapping and the screaming The adoration and the dreaming These are the Gods that we follow The foods and the fantasies The hero’s that we build up And then knock down Because they are out of fashion Seen as an extrovert or a follower of orthodox religion The clothes and the passion Just as long as they stay in fashion The houses and the pads The diets and the fads The glitter and the gold Sometimes we have given them away Determined for a new start Following a more strict regime Only to pick them up again When temptation gets too much All our Gods have abandoned us Save one But we haven’t abandoned them Just him

All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.

Blog entries by Martin Elder

Just in case (17/06/2025)

Love of the cursed (02/06/2025)

Don't look back (27/05/2025)

Call me soon (28/04/2025)

Sleep talking (07/04/2025)

A pocket full of secrets (31/03/2025)

Breaking the ice (20/03/2025)

A tale of two places (31/12/2024)

Mary with child (13/12/2024)

Resigned (12/12/2024)

Read more entries by Martin Elder…

Blog link: https://www.writeoutloud.net/blogs/martinelder

Audio entries by Martin Elder

Marley (19/12/2018)