Arts & Literature

Poem 30 – Pavement Picasso

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On the Millennium Bridge
Find the Pavement Picasso
Unlike his namesake
He doesn’t stand tall
In the pantheon of painters
But lies
Prone on the pavement
Stretched out amongst
Passers-by and litter
Blown by gritty city breeze
And exhaust pipes
Prostrate he takes
Flavour drained gum
Carelessly spat
Stuck in the cracks and
With care rarely afforded
To nonbiodegradable detritus
Achieves metamorphosis
Makeover not with
Eye shadow and lippy
But acrylic and lacquer
Turning trash
Into mini-masterpieces
A colourful protest
And through conversation
Community adhesion

One of my favourite haunts is The Globe. To get there we often walk across central London, approaching via the Millenium Bridge. If you’ve got your eyes open, you may spot as you cross, discarded chewing gum which has been painted by the amazing Ben Wilson, the ‘Pavement Picasso’ (see examples on his website: https://benwilsonchewinggumman.com/)

(09.11.21)

© Ben Quant 2021

Poem 29 – I Think?

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Where do my thoughts come from
Are they simply distillation
Of experiences lived and situations seen
A concept torn from conversation shared
Meme like infection spread
Is it true that there is nothing new under the sun
Were they never really mine
Merely a compilation of others’
Mashed, macerated and recompiled
Should I think therefore I am
(As someone once thought!)
Instead read
They think therefore I become
Uniqueness simply a statistical recombination
A regurgitation of what has been before
Is it not possible that in my being
Some organic Hadron Collider
Crashes borrowed insights
And from the impact sparks
Something new
Something me

Sitting down to write today having read a few poems online written by others and mulling over what to write, it struck me how hard it is to write something truly original. The words of the Teacher in Ecclesiastes came to mind:

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.’

Eccles. 1:9

Is it true that we have nothing original to offer?

(08.11.21)

© Ben Quant 2021

Poem 28 – The Library

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A treasure trove full and bounteous
A time machine to find what’s been
A brewery kettle of faith beginning
A peek around future’s bend
A training ground forming bravery
A school in which to fire up brains
A laboratory of facts all bubbling
A dream one day freedom begins

I love libraries. They’ve always been one of my favourite places. Along with bookshops….

(07.11.21)

© Ben Quant 2021

Poem 12 – Magic Words

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Some talk of three magic words
Don’t get me wrong, they’re great
Best followed by two truly meant
‘I love you’
‘You too’
There are another four
Their simplicity deceives
Childlike
Plain
A single breath
They too are words of promise jointly made
Of traveling hand in hand come what may
Of walking into worlds unknown together
For richer or poorer
For better for worse
One lifting the other
The other trusting to be held
A covenant made
‘Once upon a time’

Only time for a quick poem today. Stuck for what to write about I reached for the classic start, only to find it became the end…

(20.10.21)

© Ben Quant 2021

Poem 1 – An Ode to National Poetry Day

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Today is National Poetry Day
So I guess I ought to write a line
Or two
To express what’s on my mind
Or in my chest
Nestled up beside that beating drum
That is my heart

I sit with pen poised above the page
In truth, fingers above the keys
And pause
Searching for a profound thought
To share
But truth be told, except for the decision to write
The cupboard is still bare

Inspired by a combination of Paul Cookson’s daily poems on Twitter and discovering it was National Poetry Day. Wondered if I could do something similar and write one a day for a month or maybe more…
(07.10.21)

© Ben Quant 2021