Weekend Creative Corner 21st July

One of my poetry inspirations is U.A. Fanthorpe. The link provides a comprehensive biography, critical perspective and bibliography.

https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/u-a-fanthorpe#:~:text=A.%20Fanthorpe%20only%20published%20her%20first%20collection%20of,Cheltenham%20Ladies%20College%20%E2%80%93%20in%20order%20to%20write.

The fact that U.A. Fanthorpe only published her first collection of poems, Side Effects (1978), when she was nearly fifty is inspiring. She confessed to being ‘a middle-aged drop-out’, having left teaching – she had been Head of English at Cheltenham Ladies College – in order to write. 

I am reading one of her collections, ‘Queuing for the Sun’ published in 2003 by Peterloo Poets. One of my favourites is called ‘Grandfather’s Watch’.

Grandfather’s Watch by U.A Fanthorpe

Grandfather, with his Kaiser Bill moustache,
Who knows only the past and the present,
Trots in his ponytrap from patient to patient,
Charging the poor the least he can.

Tucked in his arm, by the waistcoat tick of his watch,
The child's too young to know who he is,
Nor does she know his enemies: TB, measles,
Pneumonia, the poor man's friend.

He'll never know the future, the National Health,
Antibiotics, sulphonamides, the transplant/bypass world
That she'll grow into. Heathrow, AIDS, computers.
His serious past her sepia history.

The great gold watch stays with her all the time.
Its florid initials. Its waistcoat tick,
Faithful and strong as it always was when he held it
In his helpless hands at the bedsides of the dying.

by U. A Fanthorpe Queueing For The Sun ©️

It is inspiring with the way it captures the man, relationship between grandfather and grand-daughter and the historical time with such respect and warmth. It makes me reflect on how I could write about those I know and love.

What about you?