Marriage - poems about marriage, hearts, flowers, clichés. But wait! These poems are not the obvious kind. Instead, we see the fiddly bits of a relationship, the bits that hold the whole thing together. In this episode we wave hello to poems that celebrate a deeper and more patient kind of love.

U.A Fanthorpe transforms the prosaic aspects of long-term relationships into something of mythic level in her poem Atlas. While Dennis Scott struggles to negotiate life with another in Marrysong - its all about perseverance. Oh, and Michael Blumenthal pops up with his poem A Marriage - ceilings never felt so romantic.

Yes, THREE poems in this episode.

The poems can be read here --

Atlas -

https://weeklypoems.brookes.ac.uk/2007/11/19/atlas/

A Marriage -

https://millerbrian.com/stories-n-stuff/2017/1/10/a-marriage-by-michael-blumenthal

Marrysong -

https://genius.com/Dennis-scott-poet-marrysong-annotated

Ep 18 - Pain and pleasure, rain and rainbows, tenderness at the toughest times.

We hold two up to the light and wave hello to Chrissy Banks and her poem The Gift and Nettles by Vernon Scannell. The works consider the way love shows through in challenging times, and how the desire to protect those we love is hard wired.

Nettles by Scannell can be read here https://allpoetry.com/Nettles

The Gift by Chrissy Banks does not appear to be easily found on the internet - fragments Prezi presentations exist, but the poem itself ...

Ep 17 - When we say 'war poetry' we think of trenches, mud and gas. But what happens when the fighting has ended? Who clears up? How do lives go on?

In these extraordinary poems Carl Sandburg and Wisława Szymborska help us think about wars in ways we usually do not. Do we need to remember every battle? Do we need to move on with our lives or is that disrespectful? Against man's absurd behaviour, ultimately nature endures (we hope).

Read the poems here -

The End And The Beginning - Szymborska

⁠https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52955/the-end-and-the-beginning⁠

Grass - Sandburg -

⁠https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45034/grass-56d2245e2201c⁠