Peter Devonald – "Changing the Discourse" Poet in Residence Latest News June 2024
Changing The Discourse
By Peter Devonald
1. Expressive Discourse
Peter Devonald
Is this a poem?
Just because I say it is?
Or does it require more
alliteration and anomalies,
perhaps, or striking metaphors
reduced into a pithy phrase,
a life caught out in shadows,
living more than mere mortality?
We can construct or deconstruct
the signifiers, break down meaning
into succinct lines that chime
with worthy experience;
a discourse fragile as a flower,
blown to the weary winds, so desperate
to be popular it loses itself completely.
Is it still a poem if it sits here, waiting,
for you to imbibe it with some sense
or significance? If you skip these lines,
does it lose its wild potential?
Or does it still need old fashioned rhyme
for you to really tell the correct time,
or is that just another modern crime?
Bound intrinsically to the constructs of culture,
if we follow them or frantically break free,
we are still bound by all conventions, all rules
of punctuation, words and grammar, ties that bind –
perhaps you ask the wrong question?
Perhaps you should actually just ask:
Is this a li(f)e?
Awards - 2024 Commended by the Hippocrates Prize for Poetry/ Medicine. Published in Hippocrates Awards Anthology. 11th Annual Symposium of the Hippocrates Initiative for Poetry and Medicine in Oviedo, Spain, May 23/ 24, 2024.
2. Poetic Discourse
Peter Devonald
Eternity in your Breath
A full moon reflected
in shattered glass,
a sky captivated by
swirling bright lights,
electrical storms change
our brain chemistry
pulled by the moon and tides
we barely control anything,
living distracts us from the sky
pulsing magical greens and reds,
a memory of you, lost in Sirius,
Newton's Cradle clicks and clacks,
grieving is a metronome with no tomorrow
a regret, a pattern, weary with disgrace.
Anthologies / Publications
2024 VIPERS TONGUE Spring Issue edited by Alberta Umber, set up by Billy Childish
https://l-13.org/product/vipers-tongue-1-4-ly-spring-summer-autumn-2023-poetry-and-prose/
2024 Monthly Poetry Corner in Manchester Post and Stockport Post.
Coming soon in the Cultural Supplement: haiku, article and interview.
2024 Counterfeit Heart The Shallot: Journal of Mental Health, Art, & Literature
https://thelayeredonion.com/the-shallot/ - released May 2024
2024 A Necessary Pause in Transmission The Bluebird Word - May
https://thebluebirdword.com/a-necessary-pause-in-transmission-by-peter-devonald/
2024 Journey Itself Is Home and Poetry is Painting Felt Rather Than Seen Stray Words https://www.straywords.co.uk/
2024 The Lazy Sunbathers, April Shadows, Lemon In A World Of Oranges, The Sieve and the Sand Child published in Coffee and Conversations, based in New Delhi & Hong Kong. Thanks to Rashmi Nayar, Shikha Lamba and Ritika Prasad.
3. Transactional Discourse
Peter Devonald
Haiku
Aurora arcs bright
over Devils Dyke with rays
last night’s transcendence
Deconstruction:
The original Japanese form first presented in the 17th century was a pithy discourse against elaborate poetic traditions of the time. Only in the 19th Century did it become known as haiku. Traditionally the form has three lines with subjects such as the seasons, nature, time, landscape and beauty.
First line of Haiku generally presents a striking image, often of nature, evoking an emotional response. Many are a meditation – sitting in nature, aware of butterflies, the way the trees arch, the sun reflects off water, a profound sense of calm.
Second line expands on the theme with more sense of place.
Third line gives a personal viewpoint of the striking image, a deep resonance, a consideration, contemplation and deliberation. Perhaps a pithy statement about life which culminates with an unexpected turn/ action, a new way of seeing the world.
In the West the Haiku follows the traditional form of 5-7-5 syllable pattern, though the original Japanese poetry was about "sound" instead of syllables. It counts On (Japanese prosody) - the phonetic units in Japanese poetry. Counting On in Japanese poetry is the same as counting characters rather than syllables, so when translated they don’t follow the narrow Western view of the form. For example:
Blowing from the west
Fallen leaves gather
In the east.
- Yosa Buson
Toward those short trees
We saw a hawk descending
On a day in spring.
- Masaoka Shiki
From time to time
The clouds give rest
To the moon-beholders.
- Matsuo Bashō
The lamp once out
Cool stars enter
The window frame.
- Natsume Soseki
COMING SOON - 2024 (m)other courage York Literary Review 2024 – theme is Spirit
Publisher : Lendal Press (June 2024) Paperback : 114 pages
Paperback ISBN: 9781915606471 Catalogue number: LP0020 https://www.valleypressuk.com/shop/p/york-literary-review-2024
2024 Reminiscence - Anamnesis issue of Ephemeras Literary
2024 Osmosis - Molecules Unlimited Anthology #1
2024 Tiny Butterfly Effect – SkySurfing, a children’s poetry anthology.
Edited/ compiled by Jonathan Humble through The Dirigible Balloon – December release in bookshops. All profits will go to Juvenile Arthritis Research.
2024 Trees Are Poems, Future Is Green, Beauty Of All Things and Environmental Acts Of Faith published by WS/ Notts Garden Project
https://www.nottinghamwritersstudio.co.uk/projects-and-competitions/
4. (Most) Modern Poems Discourse
Peter Devonald
Moth Wings At Twilight
Start with a striking image,
a wooden glade where cherry blossom falls
like angels watching over us,
perhaps.
Expand on the image,
as angels fly over the city,
look down upon mortality,
fragile as ghosts.
End with transcendence,
as one by one humans fly up,
summoned by the moon and stars
to become moths for a day.
Afterthought leaves a weary taste,
heaven can wait a while longer, longing.