Poem 326 – In My Shoes

Oct 18, 2024Oct 20, 2024 / BenDQ / Leave a comment

A pair of trainers. Comfortable.
Designed for action or
to signal aspiration.

Italian leather. Sharp.
Cut for the City worker.
Ready for business.

DMs. Scuffed, well-worn.
Also ready for business…
…but maybe not the same sort.

Flip-flops casually flapping.
Imagining lazing on
the beach or chilling out.

Precarious stilettos.
Ready to party, although,
they maybe removed to dance.

Bare feet. Also scuffed, well-worn.
Young, with many miles
already clocked. Tired.

(18.10.24)

© Ben Quant 2024
Photo by Michael Wright on Unsplash

Poem 325 – As If By Magic

Oct 17, 2024Oct 18, 2024 / BenDQ / Leave a comment

Just thirteen episodes in all.
So few and yet their magic reaches
far beyond their number’s sum.

Familiar notes transport me to
a shop that bridges the gap between
my childhood and maturity.

A shopkeeper appears inside.
An enigma: his origin’s
unknown, as is his name and motive.

He passes a coathanger to me
upon which his choice of outfit
hangs each time, a dream ticket.

Accepting without question, we don
the outfit, another’s skin, and find
ourselves metamorphosised.

A red knight, a hunter, a clown,
balloonist, wizard, spaceman,
zookeeper, cook and caveman.

A frogman, cowboy, carpet flyer,
and at last a pirate, before
an encore as a gladiator.

Not surprisingly, Mr Benn was a childhood favourite. More surprisingly, I find myself talking about him at a Churches Together service tonight, asking with Two Monsters.
(18.10.24)

© Ben Quant 2024
Photo Peloponnesian Folklore Foundation, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Poem 324 – Toddlers

Oct 16, 2024Oct 17, 2024 / BenDQ / Leave a comment

Putting out the tables,
hauling down the toys,
vacuuming the carpet.

Laying out a perfect
spread of fun before we
open up the doors.

Dodge incoming toddlers
running fast, heads down,
parents pulled in tow.

Others stand bewildered,
wondering why they’re here,
and who these strangers are.

Seek to find a way to
bring these lives together
and maybe learn to share.

Strive to turn a cry
into a smile and laugh,
and that’s just with the parents!

After clearing tables,
gather for refreshments,
rewind to the beginning.

Wednesday morning is Toddlers morning, when I get paid to work! Exhausting but wonderful.
(16.10.24)

Poem 323 – The Bite

Oct 15, 2024 / BenDQ / Leave a comment

There’s a special kind
of osmosis which occurs when
children and adults are put
in the same room together.

To start with, all seem even
but gradually the children
begin to run and run,
swarming ever faster.

Meanwhile the adults flag.
Their life is drained and soon
the dessicated edges
fray, their clocks wind down.

Could it be that this,
a lusting not for blood
but life, lies hid beneath
the old myth’s genesis.

It never ceases to amaze me how children seem to have such relentless energy. Exhausting!
(15.10.24)

© Ben Quant 2024
Image adapted from a photo by Igam Ogam on Unsplash

Poem 322 – My Diary

Oct 14, 2024 / BenDQ / Leave a comment

Each day more was added,
excited, bubbly, gushing,
full of life and joy.
A drip,
a drop,
a splash,
until the water teetered
and flowed onto the floor.
There, creating puddles,
it demanded that
a health and safety sign
should be erected declaring,
‘Slippery when Wet’.

I’ve just walked back in the rain from a school assembly. It was great fun, in fact I had a whale of a time, however, my diary could have done without it – there are just too many competing good things going on right now.
(14.10.24)

Poem 321 – Circular Motion

Oct 13, 2024Oct 13, 2024 / BenDQ / Leave a comment

I remember the cringiness
of watching parents dance.
Last night I realised
those dancers are now me.

At a party last night, I realised I’m not one of the ‘old’ people dancing…
(13.10.24)

© Ben Quant 2024
Photo by Baptiste MEREL on Unsplash

Poem 320 – Next Time…

Oct 12, 2024 / BenDQ / Leave a comment

The annual attempt to represent
my life within the cellular confines
of an excel spreadsheet.

My comings in and goings out
laid down in stark columns of numbers
and totalled up for all to see.

It’s hard to get excited about
the number of cups of tea, and stamps,
and miles I have consumed.

And so as the deadline looms
I strain to recollect exactly
what I did a year ago.

There, it’s done. Click send and breathe.
Now it’s in the accountant’s hands.
Next time, I promise, I’ll do it earlier.

With the end of the tax year falling near Easter, despite good intentions, I never quite get around to filling in my tax returns when I know I should…
(12.10.24)

Poem 319 – Northern Lights

Oct 11, 2024Oct 11, 2024 / BenDQ / Leave a comment

Last night the Northern Lights stepped out, came south,
a holiday for celestial phenomena,
illuminating skies with swirling swathes
of dancing reds and pinks and greens and yellows.

A one night only premier played out
to astonished audiences gazing upwards who,
gasping, reached for phones and cameras
to capture this extraordinary event.

It seems the entire country stood in rapture,
entire that is except for one, yes me.
I sat inside writing about heaven
oblivious to it prancing around my head.

As it says. Trust me to spend the one night they came my way inside writing sermons in blissful ignorance. Gutted.
(11.10.24)

Poem 318 – Frustrated Dancer

Oct 10, 2024Oct 11, 2024 / BenDQ / Leave a comment

The band begins and feet instinctively
tap and bodies sway, a growing wave.
A primal urge, born in us from before
our mothers wombs. The pulsing of our veins.
This beating echo of Eden’s first heart,
quickens to music’s resuscitating breath.
Frustratingly, as the crescendo starts to swell
the rhythm stumbles and dies in self-awareness.

I went to see Joker: Folie à Deux at the weekend. Reading the reviews, I think I must be one of the few that buck the trend. I loved it (I wonder if not seeing the original makes a difference?) The soundtrack has been stuck in my mind ever since, and its swing makes me wish I could dance.
(10.10.24)

Poem 317 – Yesterday’s Mystery Visitor

Oct 9, 2024Oct 9, 2024 / BenDQ / Leave a comment

I encountered a stormtrooper
standing at our food bank.
I wasn’t expecting that.

He stood expressionless as
they always seem to be.
Who knows what he was thinking.

Was he plucking up
the courage to ask for help?
It isn’t always easy.

Or was he on a fact
finding mission? A watching
brief to assess choices?

Perhaps he was simply lost.
Again, that’s not unusual,
but I’m not so sure.

I didn’t know what to
say and so I asked
if I could take a selfie.

I’d like to think he smiled
under his helmet. At least
he didn’t shoot me back.

It’s a long story…
(09.10.24)

Ode for the Day

An experiment in poetic doodling