Susan Richardson

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=168 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="0ada11c3.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF6600" FACE="Benguiat Frisky ATT" ><B>Artrageous     Women</B></FONT><B> </B> </div> <div>   <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Benguiat Frisky ATT" >Autumn 2001</FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Artrageous Women"><U>Home</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:suerichardson@sacredwrites.freeserve.co.uk" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:suerichardson@sacredwrites.freese"><U>Contact Susan</U></A></div> <div> 'I'm a writer and tutor of writing, currently based in Wales. My most recent publication is a poetic drama, 'Two Of Me Now', about female creativity, as manifest in the lives/ work of Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath. </div> <div> In the past, I've worked as a playwright for 'Something Permanent Theatre Company' and have held several community-based writing residencies. Now, I teach at Cardiff and Swansea Universities and also run writing workshops at a local hospice. </div> <div> Much as I love this work, I often find it difficult to get the balance right, time-wise, between teaching others and working on my own writing. This has led to me thinking more about the writing process and the various stages of emotions which I and, I believe, other creative women go through when writing. 'Pot Luck' and 'Proud Parent' aim to reflect some of these feelings.'<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>Poet Showcase</B></div> <div> <IMG SRC="0acf4010.gif" border=0 width="500" height="1" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Susan Richardson</div> <div> <B>                                    </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FF6600" FACE="Arial" ><B>      POT LUCK</B></FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Rivals, you and I,</div> <div> vying for first prize.</div> <bR> <div> Yours is thin, </div> <div> inflexible,</div> <div> fine porcelain.</div> <bR> <div> Mine's terracotta,</div> <div> smells of earth after rain.</div> <bR> <div> Yours hardens quickly into permanence.</div> <bR> <div> I add water to mine,</div> <div> squeeze it tight to ease the meaning out.</div> <bR> <div> Yours fires white and decorous.</div> <div> It will be terribly useful for holding pencils.</div> <bR> <div> Mine is slang for vase.</div> <bR> <div> Yours is well-behaved enough to win.</div> <bR> <div> Mine will crack some day</div> <div> with the strain of wanting to say</div> <div> more than its form allows.</div> <bR> <div> Strange container,</div> <div> it can't contain </div> <div> itself.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> INCOMPATIBLE</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Flying -</div> <div>      ropes cut,</div> <div>           sandbags dumped,</div> <div>         her silky skin ripples</div> <div>               and fills with sky.</div> <bR> <div> Small and blue, </div> <div> he's tied in five places</div> <div> and made to assume</div> <div> the shape of a strangled dog</div> <div> by a clown.</div> <bR> <div>      She's </div> <div>      an Australian bush fire,</div> <div>           guzzling</div> <div>                 eucalyptus,</div> <div>                roaring</div> <div>         at the water</div> <div>                           that tries</div> <div>               to put her out.</div> <bR> <div> He's a gas fire's simulated flame -</div> <div> trapped</div> <div> in the act</div> <div> of dying.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>PROUD PARENT</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> Your life began as a doodle -</div> <div> in pen and ink, I think,</div> <div> scrawled in tiny scraps of time</div> <div> while my mind was elsewhere.</div> <bR> <div> I survived your brief graffiti phase -</div> <div> urban parasite -</div> <div> feeding off the underside of bridges,</div> <div> crude outlines breeding in the dark.</div> <bR> <div> Now, I'm proud to say,</div> <div> you're quite a work of art.</div> <div> Fine perspective - </div> <div> if a mite on the abstract side at times.</div> <bR> <div> I really should find you a name.</div> <div> Would hate you to get mixed up</div> <div> with the other Untitleds drifting around.</div> <bR> <div> Especially now a glorious future is likely.</div> <div> You have it in you to become an installation:</div> <div> perfect integration of paint and text and sound.</div> <bR> <div> At the very least,</div> <div> you'll be a touring exhibition,</div> <div> with poster versions made,</div> <div> postcards too.</div> <div> All the world will yearn to buy</div> <div> Waterlilies, Sunflowers - and You.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> copyright Susan RIchardson 2001</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>