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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing March 2023
The Oboe player, poems by Greta Sykes.
The Oboe player
Tall with a sweet and shy face,
Blonde grey stubble on his chin,
He stands, helpless, almost forlorn
Because of his passion for music,
He looks for a hold in the tram,
Wraps his arm with a caress
Around his woman
The one dressed in red
From top to toe,
After he placed his
Instrument, lovingly,
Reluctantly,
In the locker,
While the tram sways
All of us.
A singular moment
‘There are decades when nothing happens,
There are days when centuries unravel and explode,
And there are singular moments
In which eternity erupts like lightening,
Torching time frames and perceptions,
Such a singular moment
It could be ours.
It could grow
Like a seed in our hearts
And minds,
Clearing the fog of confusion
Letting us imagine our future,
Our life on earth
In peace and harmony.
It is possible,
Imaginative inhabiting
Is living the future
Healed
In our minds
In mimesis.
I step to the window
At shepherd’s dawn
Sensing the rose-coloured rise of light
Rather than seeing it
I step to the window
To make sure the street in which I live
Is still there outside my abode
And my abode is attached
To the earth.
I check the sky for thunder, rain
Or a storm and find Orion
With his shiny belt
Holding watch just
Above me.
I feel happiness.
© Greta Sykes
Poet, writer and artist Greta Sykes has published her work in many anthologies. She is a member of London Voices Poetry Group and also produces art work for them. Her new volume of poetry called ‘The Shipping News and Other Poems’ came out in August 2016. The German translation of her book ‘Under charred skies’ has now been published in Germany under the title ‘Unter verbranntem Himmel’ by Eulenspiegel Verlag. She is the chair of the Socialist History Society and has organised joint poetry events for them at the Poetry Café. She is a trained child psychologist and has taught at the Institute of Education, London University, where she is now an associate researcher. Her particular focus is now on women’s emancipation and antiquity. https://www.gretasykes.com/