The following pages all contain poems, most of them are love poems, but some are about death, and others are about landscapes and other states of mind.
Some of the love poems are are romantic, others are funny or sad or angry, a few are about acts of betrayal.
Many of the poems explore repeating-line forms, either in free verse, or in strict formal structures. There is a triolet in amongst them, a rondeau, a double viator and a pantoum.
I am proud of some of them, and shy about others. Most of them - one way or another - come from the heart.
They are listed in chronological order in each section. You also see them listed in order, the most recent first.
These poems are all about one specific and important relationship; if you read them in order you will find they document the way in which the mind and heart disengage and heal. There is raw pain here, but here is also humour and finally, wry wisdom.
These poems all look at relationships which were unfulfilling in one way or another. Some were unconsumated, or else love was unrequited or unacknowledged. These relationships and relationships-of-the mind involved men who were not single at the time. That said, some of the poems are light-hearted or flippant. What good is love if it is without laughter?
These poems record a love affair that turned out to be far more important than I, for one, expected. Some of them are romantic or humourous, others are erotic, several of them record first denial and then acceptance of the depth of the emotion.
Another record of decathexis. In theory, at least.
One of these poems is frankly gothic, or possibly Gothik. One could have been a Science Fiction short story, but I can't write fiction and I can write verse. A couple should probably be in the Landscapes section, but the landscapes they inhabit are darker than they look.
These poems were all written in response to specific challenges. As a result most of them lack inspiration and many of them are written across the grain of my natural style. However they are interesting as acts of self-discipline and technical exercises. If you will forgive the phrase, I enjoy the challenge.
By contrast this section contains more playful pieces.
Some of these deal with real physical landscapes, others deal with the art of writing poetry itself, and the other places where external and internal landscapes overlap.
If you wish to contact the author please email: [email protected]
All poems copyright © Beth Cargill, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 All rights reserved.