Monday 10 September 2018

Poem | Time To Check In







TIME TO CHECK IN


The shop windows are
all orange and Halloween

The toothless plastic pumpkin
grins with a wicked flame

The days get grey
as wrung out ropes

Fire-yellow leaves
become a rotten mulch

Cold coffin toppings and
decay in the gutters

The stars expire and
here comes the dark

It’s the beginning
Of suicide season

My friends feel it
we leave messages
to make sure we’re all ok

“Can we meet for a quiet pint,
just us, and just the one, to catch up
and check in…”

I imagine a death watch beetle
tapping out its vigil to attract mates

Hey you Squirrel Nutkin
did you save enough nuts and seeds?
Will you make it through the long dark?

Last years moth-balled winter coat looks hopeless,
but it's a good job it still fits over everything you're hiding.

Because here comes winter 

Pensioners freeze in their beds
homeless people die in shop doorways
refugees drown in frozen seas
the poor will eat their young

The noisy get busy 
packaging premature seasons greetings
stocking up on mince pies and port
soaking fruit for the figgy pudding

Poor poets drown their sorrows
artists nail down the canvas sails and
musicians hide from baliffs
we all burn your rejection letters for light

The mice come and get thin and hungry
And spiders, here come the spiders

The Colony closed down
the pubs close down
the libraries close down
the circus left town

And they tell us poetry don’t sell
art is the first thing
on the fire.

Here comes the cold, so beware,
wary you don’t get trapped
beneath ice, 
again.

Just hold your breath
and get to Christmas

Just hold your breath
and make it to Easter

No…hang on!

You just have to
make it through January
and fucking death is January.

Then to February
fucking murder
is bloody Valentines

But I heart you!
I really do

And I don’t want to lose you
like I lost the path
And I don’t want to lose you
in the dark.

We don't mean to get lost -
but we don’t always get what we want
or say what we mean.

Goodbye summer

You come down so hard
you go through the ceiling
it's all cobwebs and fog and soup

You've been having trouble breathing
grabbing space to breathe

It's like kicking and punching
under chunks of frozen time

A tired bee is trapped and
banging it's face against time's window 

But I hope you can hear me writing this
I had no credit to hear your message
and you had no money to return my call

Oh my love
I remember this crash

It's that old orange moth eaten jumper
You push your thumbs through the sleeve 

It is that time of letting go
We must make sure we hold on to each other
We must make sure

We meet for
just for the one to
catch up
and check in…

Just the one to
catch up
and check in…

Just the one to
catch up
and check in…

Just the one.







© 2008. Salena Godden  / Edited 2018

Found, unpublished poem, archive piece. 
I think I feel a bit like this every September ... 
This was written 10 years ago,
Please check in with your loved ones, 
Please buy books to support indie artists and indie publishing, 
Sending love and books to you all! Make soup! xxsg 








UPDATE: 
April 3rd 2019





I donated this poem ‘Time To Check In’ to charity and it is now published in #eightyfour by Verve Poetry Press - Eighty Four is a courageous new poetry anthology with works on themes of vulnerability, grief and hope, all proceeds go to @calmzone, launched April 2019 at Foyles, Charing Cross Road: bit.ly/2J7hOt2 - I urge you to read and share this beautiful book.











      




Two new anthologies:


Woman 
Edited by Rita Osei and Michelle Olley, 50 pieces by a selection of 16 female creators from across the globe. Anthology includes published works, repertoire pieces and new verses written especially for this book. Launch party at Vout O'Reenees on September 12th! tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com


The Dizziness of Freedom
A collection of writing on themes of mental health awareness is coming out on Bad Betty Press and launched on September 20th at Rich Mix in London and then followed by various events up and down the UK. Contemporary poets speak out about mental health in this groundbreaking anthology. Edited by Amy Acre and Jake Wild Hall. Foreword by Melissa Lee-Houghton: tickets: https://badbettypress.com











SEPTEMBER 

12 | LAUNCH  'WOMAN' | VOUT O'REENEES, LONDON

19 | ROUGH TRADE BOOKS | BRISTOL 

20 | BAD BETTY BOOK LAUNCH| RICH MIX, LONDON





OCTOBER 

3 | ROUGH TRADE EAST | BRICK LANE, LONDON

4 | TONGUE FU | ARNOLFINI GALLERY, BRISTOL

10 | INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL | BRUSSELS


13 | TONGUE FU | CHELTENHAM BOOK FESTIVAL

21 | HUH | ALBANY THEATRE 









LIVEwire poet - Iona Lee 



Rough Trade Books > www.roughtradebooks.com 

Albums, t-shirts, merch, LIVEwire poets >  www.nymphsandthugs.net 











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