The Poem: Life's Longest Mile

In September 2007, two of my friends passed away. Both had life threatening conditions and to loose one of them was a bitter blow and myself and my work colleagues were still reeling from the shock when we learnt that the other friend has also passed away. Again, it was the first time I'd experienced death in this way. The first friend to pass away was the only a few years older than me, and the second a couple of years younger.
I've always had my partner, who was a pillar of strength through this, and my family to hold my hand through the grieving process. But this time I didn't feel like they understood. Life's Longest Mile is my tribute to them.

Erin

Read the poem Life's Longest Mile and more Poems written by Erin Cawood at erincawood.co.uk.

The Poem: Insomnia

In the middle of June, I experienced an awful period of not being able to sleep properly. My mind would not shut off and by the time I wrote Insomnia I was physically exhausted. I don't know how people who suffer with insomnia manage, I was actually sleeping. Not properly granted, but not at all? I'd have gone insane.

I was inspired by the fact my body ached

The poem is a bit like a prayer. "Dear Lord, I am so tired." In the beginning there is a frustration about need to relax because the body is tired, and not being able to. This is mixed with the want to carrying and keep going because the mind is still active. This causes a confused stated of mind. The poem goes into with the physical restrictions of the exhaustion. "My arms and legs they ache" and into time and the number of hours sleep "My nights are getting shorter" and I want to address the effect that not sleeping has on your emotions. "I'm so fed up of this disguise" Stanza 1 to 4 repeat the first line of the verse as the last line. But the last Stanza begins "I want a life of zing and zest" and ends "For sleep is my only quest" clarifying that this has been the problem all along.

Erin

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The Poem: Seasons of Love

In the summer of 2000, before my partner and I moved to Leeds, I was studying an AS Level in English Language. My coursework for the class was based around creative writing. I'd already used up 95% of my word allowance on The Basement, when my tutor told me that I needed to submit 2 pieces of creative writing, and that I had all of 2 days to complete a 2ND piece. Argh!

Luckily, I had written a poem for my partner.

Seasons of Love is about being in love is about being in love no matter what the whether is. I started the poem with winter, because the poem was originally written January or February time. It develops in to spring and all the things that we associate with spring and as it rolls into summer the things we would associate with the season, and so on through autumn and winter, Christmas in particular. I repeated the first stanza as the last stanza to give the impression that true love will continue beyond just the one year.

Seasons of Love is still the favourite poem that I have written

Erin

Read the poem Seasons of Love and more Poems written by Erin Cawood at erincawood.co.uk.

Read the synopsis for Erin's Short Story The Basement on Erin's Short Story Blog or Read the story at erincawood.co.uk.

The Poem: Fighting A Losing Battle

For those of you who are just discovering my blogs, I am working on my 1st novel - "Life's A Ball?" that follows the loves the live's and the losses of five women. Within the first few pages of the novel my main protagonist recieves a Valentine's Card from "?" With a beautifully hand written poem.

This poem causes havoc in a later chapter.

To make the scene more believeable and to explain why two incredibly close friends would be fighting over a poem, I had to actually write the poem and form the point of view of the character who was writing it, but without giving away who had actually written it.

The poem is about wanting the person that you have fallen in love with to notice you. The first stanza starts with simple things like wanting that person to talk to you, then I developed the wanting a little deeper more in the 2nd verse to include thinking about you. In verse 3 I added a little desire, and a bit of stalkerish desperation. I wanted a last stanza that would make the characters in the scene (they're all women) touch their chests and heave a love struck sigh . So a added a touch of helplessness that explained the poem before it. Something that told the reader that the sender was Fighting A Losing Battle.

Erin

Read the poem Fighting A Losing Battleand more Poems written by Erin Cawood at erincawood.co.uk.