Author: gwengrant

Growing older and having survived cancer at 40, a long time ago, certainly focuses the mind on the future and I was very aware of this when I wrote the poem FUTURE TENSE. I've always loved writing and still remember the excitement of the first longer piece of work I did. It was very experimental and I was certain it wouldn't get published. It probably wouldn't have but one of the small magazines, who did such great work for new writers, took that piece and many others. But that wasn't all they did. With infinite kindness, they often pointed out where I could improve my writing. My first book was a picture book, MATTHEW AND HIS MAGIC KITE, but after that, I started wanting to capture the humour and interest of where I lived, so PRIVATE-KEEP OUT came next followed by KNOCK AND WAIT and ONE WAY ONLY. They're not biographies because all I wanted to do was to catch the spirit of those times. It would be good if everyone wrote an account of their lives so their times are not lost. So many valuable histories unwritten and unread. When I was a girl, I loved the American writer, BETTY MACDONALD, with her very funny accounts of her family and her life in the 1940's. But NORMAN MAILER's, 'THE NAKED AND THE DEAD' spun me up to the stars when I stumbled across it in the subscription library I belonged to at fifteen. ERNEST HEMINGWAY's 'CHRISTMAS IN PARIS 1923', was so sublime and beautiful it was like a torch for writers and the Toronto Star Weekly must have published it with joy in their hearts. I wonder if there still is a Toronto Star Weekly?

ENIGMA

ENIGMA

She was a quiet type
Of woman.

Sometimes
Drowsy as a summer bee.

Sometimes
Sharp as a mosquito.

Unknowable
As any sphinx enduring
In a desert

Calling up dark spells
Of old gods.

Glittering
With lies and magic.

Grate her bones.
Find her holding centuries

Within her ancient
Fingers.

                    ©2023 Gwen Grant

LITTLE BLUE CAR
1992 Listed ‘One hundred best British Books.’

 

A SMALL MISUNDERSTANDING

  A SMALL MISUNDERSTANDING

This was the first prayer ever taught us,
Long before we could understand
Or be aware of our need for prayer.

Standing in ragged rows, eyes closed, we began,
‘Our Father, who art in heaven.’
But through a small misunderstanding
This became a little prayer for
‘Our Arthur, who art in Devon.’

Still, even not knowing Arthur,
We were happy that our prayer
Put that little intrepid wanderer
Into such safe and loving care.

                                               ©2018 Gwen Grant

Let’s save the wildlife – African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)

Myrela Sarajevo's avatarMyrela

Deep in the dense, humid forests of West and Central Africa, you can find the elusive forest elephant, one of the two members of the African elephant species. The actual number of wild African forest elephants remains uncertain due to their shy nature, but we do know that they are critically endangered species and have declined by an estimated 86% over 31 years.

The main reason behind the decline is due to poaching, which is frequent, widespread and intensive, especially in Central Africa.As well as elephant poaching, habitat loss and land-use change for agriculture and other land uses have resulted in fragmented habitats and increasing human-elephant conflict leading to losses on both sides. Today, African forest elephants occupy around 25% of their historic range, scattered among 20 different African nations, mostly in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

Izvor informacija: (https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/wildlife/endangered-animals) – Fotografija: (https://www.gettyimages.com)

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  A MINUTE AFTER MIDNIGHT

 Back at last, after no internet for days and days.

A MINUTE AFTER MIDNIGHT

The world is dressing already
For a day of loveliness.

New dreams poised to take over
From all the old dreams
Frayed at the edges.

Hope patching the tattered pieces
Until you can’t even see the join.

                       © 2020 Gwen Grant