Dear Mr. Ó Ceallaigh
I have just read your blog article, "Unicorn Poetry: A Manifesto". I was both amazed and delighted to read it as one could say I have been writing "Unicorn poetry" for over ten years.
My name is Anne Lewis and I am a housewife in Wrexham. My husband is a dog breeder. I have two children called Diana and Sarah. I am 52 years old.
About ten years ago I began to feel very "down". A therapist recommended writing poetry to deal with my depressed spirits. Well, I had never written a poem before but I thought, I will do as the doctor orders. Lo and behold I found myself "addicted" to "the Muse".
I have written hundred of poems in the last ten years. I don't read them to anybody except sometimes my husband. He doesn't reckon poetry much.
I have read your lists of points regarding "Unicorn Poetry" and I believe my poetry fits them all. Regarding a "sense of humour", my children tell me I have NO "sense of humour". I am not sure this is true as I do like Garfield, but nobody has ever called me a "laugh a minute".
I found your web-page as I was "surfing" for poetry about unicorns. Many of my poems are about unicorns. They seem to me a symbol of all that is noble and "high up". I am sending you one such poem and you are welcome to put it up on your website, although I cringe a little at the thought of others reading it. Be gentle readers!
Perhaps there are more Unicorn School poets out there! I hope so! Well, here is my poem.
Unicorn Mine
A poem by Anne Lewis
Unicorn mine, where will you take me tonight?
Unicorn mine, will the moon be dim or bright?
Take me, my Unicorn, far from the busy world's din.
Where does the dream end and the day begin?
Unicorn mine, are you truly flesh and blood?
Unicorn mine, for this world are you too good?
What do you know of sadness and sorrow and sin?
Where does the dream end and the day begin?
Unicorn mine, do you have other riders as well?
Unicorn mine, what wonderful tales you could tell!
Let us ride through that faraway country-- the country within.
Where does the dream end and the day begin?
Does this make it officially a School, then? This all seems to have happened amazingly quickly! Wonderful that there is already a Unicorn Poet. May the Movement flourish in defiance of all the ironic, sarcastic, atonal and politically-preoccupied verse there is around.
ReplyDeleteMy ha'penny's worth is that I really liked this poem. It makes music of meaning, as I would say all poetry is meant to and rhyme and metre are so rare these days that it is always a delight to find it anywhere. I particularly liked the otherworldly refrain, and the third line of the last verse, 'that faraway country - the country within'. That's a great and memorable line in my view.
Is the illustration also Mrs. Lewis's?
It IS truly amazing how quickly Mrs. Lewis got in touch with me, and that she was already writing Unicorn poetry. Knowing the cynicism prevalent today, I fear scepticism on the part of some readers-- which I fear will only increase, as I have a VERY STRONG intuition that futher Unicorn poets are going to contact me.
ReplyDeleteThe illustration is not Mrs. Lewis. Doubtless a busy housewife doesn't have time for painting ANd poetry.
I also liked the poem, and particularly the line you mention! To be honest, I feel Mrs. Lewis still has considerable room for improvement as a poet. I only hope that literary advancement will not injure the naivety and freshness of her artistic vision.
And yes, there is now most certainly a Unicorn School of poetry in existence!
ReplyDelete