Arts & Literature

Stumpf Fiddles & 78’s

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

The Duke takes to the stage,
Two suits and greying dreadlocks,
In hobo-chic and whimsy.
He owns it, we are his.

Beside him Chip, sidekick
In gramophone adventures,
An ever growing assembly
Of percussive curios.

Stumpf fiddles & 78’s,
Together weaving dreams,
They lead us through forgotten
And delicate shades of rhythm.

And as the applause begins
To fade, we find ourselves
Returned enriched, released,
We find, by a poet’s vision.

Thursday night we spent the evening in the company of the wonderful Duke Special and ‘Temperance Society’ Chip Bailey in an intimate gig in Colours, Hoxton. What a night.
(28.11.25)

© Ben Quant 2025

Spellbound

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

At the play tonight
Gandalf sat down behind me
And magic happened

Went to see the fantastic Nicola Walker tonight in The Unbelievers. Ian McKellen was also in the audience.
(22.11.25)

© Ben Quant 2025

Poem 725 – A Deep Dive Into Numbers

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

I’m losing all my numbers.
They’re falling off the page
and terminally descending,
cascading down the screen.
Perhaps it’s time to cross
them out, ignore them all
and do without? Or should
I take a dive myself
into the title depths
to number them afresh?
I’m not so sure I’m ready
to commit today,
and so I’m standing at
the edge and dipping in
my toe. Tomorrow? Perhaps…

Having filled in the gap previously identified, I’ve realised the numbers still don’t add up. It turns out there are still another 33 numbers missing or thereabouts, scattered amongst my poem titles. If only there was a way to quickly correct them all…
(19.11.25)

© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by lionel mermoz on Unsplash

Poem 433 – Non-Poetry Day

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

Today doesn’t feel like a poetry day,
It feels disjointed, somehow dredged
With all creativity drained away.
Where is the meter in doing admin?
The rhyme in writing rapid emails?
The tempo in ticking off the tasks?
Somewhere along the way the stanzas
Blurred into an endless verse,
A universe of drizzly grey.
It’s not been bad, in fact it’s been
Productive, but efficiency
Has never inspired great poetry.

It’s been another day of ploughing through the tasks (although there have been some meaningful human encounters on the way).
(13.11.25)

© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

Poem 417 – It Is Finished

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

The deed is done,
the audience won, I hope,
the words delivered
without a stumble,
(well just a little one
when I became distracted).
And now I’ll sleep with thoughts
of friends and family in Him.
It wasn’t good enough,
it never is, and nor am I,
but He is all we need.

For the second year running I ended up stepping into the gap when a speaker couldn’t make it to our annual Conference. A late night scrawling turned into a poetry gig with a message – a first public ‘reading’ of my poetry.
(28.10.25)

© Ben Quant 2025

Poem 412 – The Final Word?

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

Tonight we finished Mark,
A tale of breathless action,
Inspired non-violent protest and
Vivid imagination.

That reaches across our barriers,
Draws in outcast and lost,
Embraces the rejected,
Values the poor and last.

The story that is Jesus,
The man from Galilee
Who stood against the Temple,
The powers and hypocrisy.

Was crowned upon a cross,
This sentence makes no sense,
Thus overturned the tables
And died a traitor’s death.

That builds to its crescendo,
Its resurrection scene,
And then abruptly ends.

I’ve been running a group exploring Mark’s Gospel, made up of church goers and non-church goers. It’s been a really intriguing and insightful journey.
(23.10.25)

© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Greg Rosenke on Unsplash

Poem 410 – The Thirty Nine (Poetic) Steps

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

There are thirty-nine steps
From four hundred and ten to fifty,
For each and every one,
A poem is currently missing

A momentary loss of focus,
Or limited concentration?
A lack of counting skills
And failed administration?

Perhaps it’s something wilder,
A case of espionage?
A chase across the country
From spies in camouflage?

No, I finally must come clean,
So here is my confession,
I’ve come to the conclusion
That they were never written.

And so I’m stepping backwards
And filling in the gaps,
That I’ve apparently caused
By this annoying lapse!

I’ve just made the annoying discovery that some of my poems are missing… or in truth, I failed in my numbering and can’t be bothered to go back and correct them all!
(21.10.25)

© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Nick Nice on Unsplash

Poem 713 – The Tree of Life

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

Opening your cover, I fall
into your leaves, cavort
within your canopy.

Peering from high pages
I penetrate horizons,
unveiling fresh perspectives.

I gasp for breath, my mouth
gapes as I drink them in.
I feel my glossary grin.

Amongst your paragraphs,
I find so many marvels
I’m made drunk and giddy.

In time, I turn to find
your spine, your trunk, that holds
these fruitful words together.

Downwards, I trace its bark,
descend its lines, to delve
the deep, dark earth’s embrace.

Following your fingers,
I find forgotten facts
indexed amongst fine roots.

Young sentences disperse,
spinning sycamore wings.

My entry for the poetry competition held by Hertfordshire Libraries this year to celebrate their 100 anniversary. The competition required submissions that were 100 words long.
(09.10.25)

© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Jan Huber on Unsplash

Poem 706 -Blessed are the Poets

/ BenDQ / Leave a comment

Blessed are the poets, those
Committed to verse not violence.
Blessed are the sonnet seekers,
The writers of limericks not slander.
Blessed are the hawkers of haikus
Over the dealers in harassment.
Blessed are the simile speakers,
The makers of metaphor not meanness.
Blessed are the rhymers, rhythm
Keepers, word smiths, dreamers, rappers,
Revealers of a world unseen.
Blessed are the poets.

Written on National Poetry Day, on a day of war in Gaza and Ukraine and an attack on a synagogue in Manchester, whilst the far right rises, and power seeking populists posture. Longing for a better world.
(02.10.25)

© Ben Quant 2025
Photo by Trust “Tru” Katsande on Unsplash