Tag: Ilse Pedler Vet and poet

What Matters To You Most?

May 15, 2021
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We’ve all had our lives reduced in some way over the last year. Whether it’s a reduction in activity, work, or social life, a reduction in outlook or expectations, or a reduction by loss of someone we’ve known or loved. We’ve all got our stories to tell. How do you process it all? If you’re lucky you’ve got friends, family or animals, the latter have become even more important to us in the last year. I know of someone where taking the dog for a walk was actually a life saver. For me, of course, a major way has been trying to make sense of it through poetry. It brought home to me even more, how poetry isn’t a separate thing, it isn’t something that’s confined to that section of the bookshop you never go, or that part of your English lesson you used to think had no relevance to you. Poetry is all around us, part of everyday life; there are poems on buses and trains, there’s poetry in football chants, you can even make a poem from a shopping list. Poems are unique in the way they capture so much in a few lines. They can contain emotions, situations, history. Poems help us to make sense of things.

Many of my poems over the last year have inevitably been pandemic related. They’ve been reflections on what was lost and how life became unlike anything we’d ever experienced before. As restrictions start to ease, I find myself thinking about stepping back into the world again and how some things are going to feel strange at first. Monday is a real milestone because I’ll be able to openly do one of the things I have missed the most.

May 17th 2021

Prepare yourself for the possibility of unexpected touch,

this may occur in a variety of situations;

care homes, hospices, living rooms, pub gardens, the street.

Wear sensible footwear, there is a possibility you will feel off balance.

Be prepared for unexpected reactions;

laughter, held breath, sobbing.

Word exchanges are permitted,

these may take the form of endearments, expressions of longing,

whispered secrets.

Repeat as appropriate.

Repeat until your arms ache

until your face is wet with tears

until your empty arms are refilled and can hold no more.

The First Line

April 6, 2021

What is the most important part of the poem? the title, the form, the rhyme scheme? The title certainly has to grab your attention, are we more likely to read a poem called  A Martian Send a postcard Home ( Craig Raine) or Summer Sun for example? (apologies to anyone who has written a poem titled this..)

Once you’ve been grabbed by the title, you then read the first line and this is where the hard work of the poet begins because the first line has to hook you into reading the rest of the poem. If you’re not hooked you won’t read on and if you’re submitting poems to busy editors, the title and the first line is maybe all they’ll read, so it has a lot of work to do to make you have to stand out from the crowd.

So what are some fantastic first lines?

‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers – Emily Dickinson

‘Shit are we lost?’ – Debora Lidov, The Drama of the Gifted Hansel.

Wench, yowm the colour of ower town:  – Liz Berry Birmingham Roller

Do not go gentle into that good night – Dylan Thomas

I took God with me to the sheep fair– Kerry Hardie, Sheep Fair Day

They’re all amazing in different ways, some jump straight into the action, some take you by the hand and lead you on, some express something in a way you’ve not thought of before and some set the tone or voice of the poem very firmly as in Liz Berry’s Black Country dialect.

Above all though, they press our curiosity button and make us want to read on.  

Go Graciously

November 27, 2020

It’s not the mistake you make, it’s how you deal with it that matters

This is a saying I used all the time at work and I found how people reacted to their mistakes was often a good judge of character. I preferred working with people who were open and honest; who, when they realised something had gone wrong, apologised for it and asked how they could do better in the future. rather than people who tried to deny or cover up their errors. It’s not easy when we’re embarrassed or ashamed but our reaction is a measure of who we are.

Recent events across the world involving people of power have shown their true character, even though we may have been pretty sure of it before. This is the poem that came out of events in recent weeks.

The photo? It’s a horse gag. Let us never be gagged.

The Measure of a Man

It’s not surrounding yourself with gimlet- eyed sycophants
reclining on cushions in your own private echo chamber,
it’s pulling out the barbs of critics from your skin,
however hard they sting and seeing their truth;
that is a measure of your humility.

It’s not indulging in the gluttony of the feast
grabbing the tastiest titbits of wealth and supremacy,
it’s in the modesty of taking only what you need
and giving the rest to those without hope or privilege;
that is a measure of your morality.

It’s not the self-delusion of seeing the world
through the eyes of your own class or colour,
it’s having the courage to walk unfamiliar streets
and greeting those you meet openly and with enquiry;
that is a measure of your understanding.

It’s not how you accept the responsibility of power
put on it dazzling crown, wield its weighty sceptre,
it’s how you step down from the throne and pass on
those enticing burdens to waiting hands;
that is a measure of your grace.

Do not go ungraciously
history will remember you for it.