Prologue to a Traipsing
Poems and Thoughts from the Anxious Poet
Prologue to a Traipsing
I stand at Ringinglow, looking down
into your streets from this wind
- jagged vantage, and my heart aches.
I have spent so much of my life
feeling what you feel, watching
the way you have tried to stand out,
stand up and be a city worth hearing.
I have set myself to walk through you,
to traipse; not a planned path, following
some mapped purpose, but a wandering.
Your story is my story, you grew me up
with fiery truths and surprising kindness.
I want to hear you tell it again, tell it
as it is now, with all your northern soul.
I’m scared you’ve lost your way,
been hammered by your losses and
don’t know how to mend; I hear the
murmurs of the cholera ghosts above
Park Hill, feel the cracks in Dale Dyke dam,
see the smoke from redundant
picket lines in Templeborough.
So I will traipse from here and follow
the lines you speak, the tracks you offer,
pick up what is discarded and what is
still prized, like an itinerant sculptor
scavenging images to make his art.
Your folded valleys, interspersing trees
and slated roofs, the towers in your centre;
a summons, to face the uncertainty
that you might slide into ignominy,
into that Northern dereliction stalking
our cities and haunting our towns,
to wander towards any hope you offer,
to behold the faces you look out from,
the weather of emotions that touch
those who bump into my pad and pen,
to open the books and ledgers of
your present and see if they add up
to any kind of liveable future.
Let your voices speak, let your streets lead.
You are famed for saying it how it is;
do it now, straight to my face and when
this traipsing’s done I’ll have your truth to tell.
This week sees the launch of my latest collection of poems A Sheffield Traipsing. On Friday March 15th at Kelham Island Museum we had a fantastic night to set the book on its way. I was accompanied by Dusk Over Rivelin comprising of Andy Selman, the writer of many accompaniments for the poems and player of many stringed instruments, Mike Smith on double bass, electric bass and saxophone and Wilma my wife on vocals and tenor guitar. Thanks to the 80 souls who came!
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Prologue to a Traipsing is the opening poem of the book. A few years ago when doing a PhD in creative writing I was encouraged by my tutor to explore the French Flaneur tradition, wanderers about Paris, sitting in cafes and writing poetry . The name Flaneur didn’t seem quite South Yorkshire! So I became a Traipser.I went up to Ringinglow, above the city (see photo) and set myself to traipse all over the city. This opening poem is a kind of manifesto, a statement of intent.
This is the book. I am very pleased with it and proud of it. If you want to purchase the book you can do so exclusively on my website by clicking here -Buy book
I will be posting more here about what I am doing - podcasts and gigs, retreats and walks, as well as poems and photos. I look forward to staying in touch and please buy the book as it contains 8 years of work and much of my soul.
Go well …..