Just to start us off on the right foot, let’s get something straight: I haven’t got engaged. To be honest, I don’t know where the inspiration for this poem came from and, since writing it, I have no idea where it went. I guess inspiration is just like that. I can’t watch a movie or documentary without having a writing idea pop into my head–or even just sit through a lesson, some days, without thinking up an entire novel. Inspiration is strange. But I hope you enjoy this poem!
Tag Archives: poem
Comfort Within Walls
To be honest, I could’ve titled this poem ‘Comfort In Bed’ or ‘Comfort Within The Sheets’ or some other sleep-related phrase, but I decided to look a little further than that. The poem isn’t just about sleep. It’s not even just about the comfort of a bed and the security that blankets and sheets bring. Instead, it is a poem about how the inside world is safe and the outside world is scary and threatening, even if it is in a small way. I think my studies of Tennessee William’s ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ made this idea clear to me, as we always seem to find some sense of safety when we are within walls and separated from the outside danger, whether that is other people, animals, insects, storms, or something else entirely. In any case, please enjoy this poem!
Her Wordless Love Song
This week’s blog post is a poem that recently won Star Gazette Magazine’s Summer Melodies competition in the poetry category, which was really exciting! I was so happy to have my work picked as the winning piece and to be involved with an interesting and inspiring prompt. This poem was largely inspired by the theme of the competition and the idea of nature and love melding together in one beautiful piece. I hope you enjoy it!
Heavy Thoughts
I’ve got a bit of a meta poem for you today! To be honest, I woke up a bit early, sat in bed and thought ‘what am I going to write about?’. I had some work to do and some little bits and pieces to tidy up, but then I sat down and just wrote. This is what happens when I let words just leave me and enter a screen, apparently: some sort of commentary on the actual process and impact of writing itself. Maybe it’s because I’m in a small room with the curtains drawn, so there’s not much else for inspiration – who knows? In any case, I hope you enjoy this poem!
Take Me With You
This poem appeared in OUCH! Mag’s fifth issue, Galaxy, and it definitely fits within that starry theme. But it’s not just about space and aliens, although those elements are definitely within it. I tried to create a deeper story behind the simple want to live among the stars with strange beings from other planets, and I hope that comes across in my writing. Rather than just hope and curiosity, some more negative emotions lurk beneath the stanzas, but I think they all contribute to the overall image: not wanting to be left on Earth when you could be taken anywhere else in the galaxy.
Dear Oskar
No, I didn’t just address a blog post to myself – instead, I wrote a letter-poem to myself! This piece is themed around my lockdown experience, with highs and lows of how life has been. It came runner-up in the Telegraph’s Teen Writing Competition and I’m really proud of it.
Thoughtless
To be clear, this poem is not an attack on my classmates (and not-exactly-classmates, as I’ll discuss) or the bus driver who diligently gets us to college and back in the mornings and evenings. Instead, it is a discussion of the many failings which occur when you force two year groups from two colleges (four year groups in total) onto one bus during lockdown and COVID restrictions. Think of it more as an expression of emotion, rather than a formal letter of complaint – and enjoy!
Tender Choice
I decided to write this poem about the choice between summer and winter and the different types of beauty they both hold. Personally, I find myself switching between which one I like more pretty often (Autumn is probably my favourite season just for being a comfortable in-between). I hope you enjoy the poem!
Flutters Of Memory
This is actually a poem which I wrote for the FOURALL Magazine Spring Internship Program as a Creative Writing Intern, and it was featured in FOURALL Magazine’s sixth issue. I’m pretty proud of it, so I thought I’d post it here too. The poem focuses on memories and draws off of some of my fondest memories with old friends. I hope you enjoy it!
Grey Eyes
Time for a break from the short stories! Get ready for an emotional little poem I wrote called ‘Grey Eyes’, where I experimented with the formatting a little through indenting (completely inspired by my recent studies of Christina Rosetti in college, by the way) and really focused on the placement of the words within the poem. I hope you enjoy it!
Oskar Leonard 