I brought out a book in December.
If you fancy a unusual and mischievous read, it’s available on Amazon, in paperback and Kindle versions, and also at Devizes Books
Thank you for your interest in my work.
*
I brought out a book in December.
If you fancy a unusual and mischievous read, it’s available on Amazon, in paperback and Kindle versions, and also at Devizes Books
Thank you for your interest in my work.
*
A Sonnet for Cynics for Valentine’s Day
*
The Cynic speaks of Love; What lie is this
But lust dressed up in silky swathes of lace
In pretty words, and promises of bliss
Come pouting in her petticoats, her face
All flushed with rouge and scarlet on a smile
With kohl around her cold come-hither eyes
Come lie with me, my love, a little while
She’ll say, and pat the bed, and part her thighs
And flash her stocking tops gone all awry
And secret places oh so sweetly blessed
And you’ll believe, the Cynic said, as I
Who once was by her magic so possessed
In Love, when she is nothing but a whore
That’s forty quid, she said, and that’s the door
*
© Gail Foster 14th February 2018
A rhyme for Valentine’s Day…
On matters of the bible
I’ve been thinking, as you do
That probably, most likely
Only some of it is true
It’s a little bit like Facebook
I think as I scroll past
A meme about Leviticus
With which I can’t be arsed
*
© Gail Foster 12th February 2017
*
In dusty cupboards, far from prying eyes
I hide my dark and private miseries
And dress for town in bright accessories
With reddened lips, and silkly stockinged thighs
And sickly smile, in magical disguise
For there be war to fight on days like these
Dark demons to defeat, and gods to please
And light to draw down from the sullen skies
…
In dusty cupboards, Sorrow weeps for me
There be no place for cowards in the fray
Nor dark despair, nor moaning misery
To dull my fire and fill me with dismay
Or worse, betray me to the enemy
– I’ll catch you later, Sorrow, I’m away…
*
© Gail Foster 28th January 2017
for Steve Doolan
*
Let the world turn as it will
‘Tis all the same to me
Blah Blah Bullshit Nirvana
Sweet, Sweet Epiphany
…
Bring on the empty horses
For ‘tis all a comedy
Blah Blah Bullshit Nirvana
Sweet, Sweet Epiphany
…
We come and then we go
We be and we not be
Blah Blah Bullshit Nirvana
Sweet, Sweet Epiphany
…
I’m a bloke at a bar, I am
A wild bird flying free
Blah Blah Bullshit Nirvana
Sweet, Sweet Epiphany
…
So I’ll have a lime and soda, ta
‘Tis all the same to me
Blah Blah Bullshit Nirvana
Sweet, Sweet Epiphany
*
© Gail Foster 6th January 2017
Photograph of Sister David Lewis reproduced by kind permission of Scott Coleman
…
Sister David Lewis taught for many years at St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School in Devizes in Wiltshire, and will be remembered by many with affection and gratitude.
*
I’m crying for a Catholic nun
Who once was kind to me
As I sat there in my miniskirt
Bad mother, C of E
“Sister David, the police came round
And battered down the door”
“Well, do you know, my dear,” she said
“I’ve heard that one before”
And she blessed me, without blinking
With a smile on her face
And I knew I was forgiven
Hail Mary, full of grace
And I can hear as clear as day
The words she said to me
“In my father’s house, my dear,
There many mansions be”
*
© Gail Foster 29th December 2016
Winter Solstice Sunrise 2016; Avebury, Wiltshire
*
I have waited for you
Where no shadow seeps
Deep in the earth
Where the slow damp creeps
Under the stones
Where the sunlight sleeps
I have waited for you
…
I have listened for you
In the eaglet’s cry
In the echoes of rooks
In the empty sky
In a new-born’s breath
And a dead man’s sigh
I have listened for you
…
I have looked for you
Where the elders grow
Followed your steps
Through the virgin snow
Through groves of yew
And mistletoe
Looking for you
…
I have watched for you
By the door and the gate
Risen up early
And lain down late
Doubted your love
And cursed my fate
Watching for you
…
You said you would come
You said that you will
Appear as the dawn
On the curve of the hill
I have waited for you
Through the dark, and the still
You said you would come
…
I lit you a fire
I kindled a flame
In the fear of the darkness
I called out your name
I thought I was dying
And then you came
You said you would come
…
And here you are
The promise of light
Sweetening silence
And softening night
And all shall be well
And be blesséd delight
You said you would come
*
© Gail Foster 21st December 2016
This week I published two books, which are available on Amazon and through Devizes Books
*
The first, ‘Smoke and Roses’ is saucy, serious, and sweet, and the second, ‘Takin’ the Pith’, does exactly what it says on the tin.
I guess that ‘Smoke and Roses’ is my mythology.
Both contain poems and prose in different forms, and the language is edgy in both.
There will be some content that you have not read.
I hope you like them.
Thank you so much for your interest.
*
Gail
*
What’s it about for them, then
Loneliness, poverty, pain
Bang of the bailiff at the door
Death in a ditch in the rain
…
What is it like for the Joneses
Bigger and better you think
Posh port and pigs in blankets
Sick in the kitchen sink
…
What’s it about for him, then
A clock, and an empty chair
Picture of her on the mantelpiece
Candle smoke curls in the air
…
What is it like for her, do you think
Hairdo and heels and hurrah
Hampers and champers from Harrods
Packed in to Daddy’s car
…
What’s it about for the Christians
Return of the sacred child
Under a star in a stable bare
Jesus, meek and mild
…
What is it like for the Druids, then
Stood in the circle at dawn
Frost on the moss on frozen stone
Lit by the sun reborn
…
What’s it about for the children
Mysterious, glittery, bright
Hope of a mythic benevolence
Come as a thief in the night
…
What is it like for us, then
Rushing and spending and stressing
Cursing the souls in the queue at the till
Kissing a friend with a blessing
…
What will it be like for you, then
What will you will it to be
Riotous ostentation, or
Peace and sweet charity
…
What it’s about for me is this
One white and holy dove
The silence after the shops have shut
And love
*
© Gail Foster 3rd December 2016