The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is ‘Tourdion’ by Chris Stevenson. On his profile page Chris, who was born in Lytham, says: ” I was born on the coast, across the road from the windmill and the sea ...  played over 600 gigs rhythm guitar.” He has erased much of his previous work from his profile, saying: "I've deleted  all  the  writing  before 2013, it  was  looking  like wallpaper you  get  too  used  to  passing."

Of the map illustration that accompanies this article, Chris told Write Loud:  “I used to be a marine engineer and my wife insists the world map, which hangs at home, has more to do with the inspiration for all my songs, paintings and writing than ‘any stupid picture of me’ !! ... It's 50 years old and hung on my cabin wall from Liverpool to Japan, Africa and round the Cape”.

We asked him a few questions:

 

How long has poetry been an important part of your life and can you remember why it became so?

Before my O-levels in 1966 my English teacher wanted to give me a better chance of a pass so he put me in for JMB, AEB, and CSE exams. All three had a "write a poem" option, which I did and passed all of them. That was all I passed - I had to stay on to retake other subjects!

 

If you could only have one poet’s work to read which one would you choose?

From Write Out Loud I would choose Marianne Daniels. She writes brilliant, strange imagery. From "living or dead" it would have to be Betjeman because he writes intelligent, honest, straightforward lines, which don't require great analysing to discover if he really is a poet.

 

Do you perform your work and if so, what advice would you give to a young poet just starting out?

I went to Write Out Loud when it was just a read-around in the back room at the Sweet Green Tavern in Bolton and have read at various open mics over the years. I would say to someone starting to write a poem, Don't sit there staring at a blank piece of paper, wait till you react to something in life then go and find the paper, or the paintbrush, or the guitar ... art should be a reaction to something you have to comment on in your own way .. not staring at a blank canvas waiting for inspiration.

 

Tourdion is a lively French dance, popular from the mid-15th to the late-16th centuries. Was it the inspiration for this poem's title?

Yes, it is named after the French dance now, although I wrote the poem long before I came across the dance on YouTube. I was looking at old Normandy French. Because the dance has a "cyclic" format the name fitted my theme. The poem is about life simply being a cycle of birth, reproduction, death, decay in all things including the stars etc - so why fear "man-made" ideas?

 

 

TOURDION

by Chris Stevenson

 

These marvellous inclined planes

that with such precision take

upon themselves

the rite of beauty which

unknown to anyone fall into

some dark void and

with a whisper just before death

accuse and deny in one word the

meaningless eons which have gone before.

 

I was quietly observing the distance

between the stars

when with such a slight force

the years closed in on me and

the gaps between the stars

became negligible and balancing

on this tangent against the planet

I realised the talk of dust was true

and we are soon wind-blown and free.

 

Succour one last hour.

Do it for me.

Such distances between the captives

and the free are

a misunderstood dream where

for a moment we fool ourselves into

another state of grace and believe

that some destiny awaits again

when in truth the lie is an eternity of silence.

 

Satan.

Is the hearth warm?

Do icicles cling to your breath like diamonds?

You’re mistaken if you think I care.

Here stands one who with a single blow will

take the cinders and ash from the pit and with

the blackest storm blind each demon who stands and

waits in every shadow and then with fearful tread

will come for you.