Lost Chaucer Poem Rediscovered

Whilst researching for my dissertation I've uncovered, in a dusty old poetry collection on the shelves at the Albert Sloman Library at Essex University, a long forgotten Chaucer poem. Really exciting and surprisingly topical. Seems life wasn't much different in Medieval England than it is now!

Snowwe

Walkyng along these frozen streetes,
myne feete doth ayche, myne bownes doth creeke.

Ey canethnot feele myne fyngers or towes,
icicles hangeth from myne nose.

Ey feeles so saddeth ey wannte to crie,
amongst a charnel howse to lye.

Twas happenstance that ey didde fynd,
summe nectar forre myne troubled mynd.

Nothing doth mayke a sadde harte glowe,
than a cocke and balles drawyn inn thee snowwe.

Geoffrey Chaucer 1369

Read My Poem And Buy The Book

I wrote this a couple of years ago and submitted it to a few publications as you do. It has ended up being published in Creel 3: An anthology of creative writing; a product of the Centre for Creative Writing at Essex University. I could not be happier. I read it at the launch evening, along with some other lovely and talented writers and fellow postgrad students. Held at The Wivenhoe Bookshop as part of the Wivenhoe ArtSea Festival, (and published by their own publishing imprint Wivenbooks), you could do worse than visit a brilliant independent family bookshop and buy a copy for yourself.

Questions

If the Jackdaw that struts across your lawn

like a soldier on parade

stopped and spoke to you of his loneliness,

Would you listen?

If you could hear the cry of the salmon

caught in the eagles claws,

Would you care?

If you saw the fear in the eyes of the moth

trapped in the spiders web,

Would you set it free?

Does the noise the doe makes

as she tries to find her way back

to the safety of the herd

disturb you?

When the leaf falls from the tree

do you feel sadness for its loss,

or joy at the change of seasons?

If you had just one wish

from a Djinns lantern

would you ask for your heart's desire

or would you set another free

from the prison of their own longing?

How many lies would it take

to awaken the phoenix of truth

that sleeps on your tongue?

and how many lives will you need

to live

before you can look death in the face

and still walk the path you have chosen?

Have my questions

tightened the rope you bind yourself with

or opened a door to a greater perception?

Only you have the answer.

I am just a white room

on a sunlit day

with a mirror on every wall.

Wherever you turn

you will see your own reflection

looking back at you.

Will you live here?

The Next Performance

As a result of the recent module I studied, as part of my MA Creative Writing at Essex University; titled Writing, Poetry, Performance, created and taught by Dr Holly Pester,  I have decided I will undertake, as my next creative endeavour, the following performance:

As a gesture towards Erica Scourti's Life In AdWords and using the assembly techniques of Kenneth Goldsmith's book Uncreative Writing; through the platform of twitter and linked to this blog, the performance will be called 'Feeding my Twitter feed back to Twitter.'

Each day of May I will compose by 'cut and paste' from the days feed, short, haiku like collages (but not following the 5 7 5 syllable rule), which I will then tweet under the hashtag #twitterfeedcollage and #notmywords. I will also post on YouTube a video of me performing it.

This is all a bit new for me, and comes as a result of my studies of the Writing, Poetry, Performance module and the material we studied, and the subsequent assignment I wrote and submitted. This performance is not part of that assignment, or the module, or my MA studies, and it is not being submitted for marking or assessment. It is just me moving forwards with my own artistic endeavours, trying new things, and having a bit of fun in the process.

It's also a bit of a move away from Facebook as my main social media presence. I have been on twitter for a few years and want to make more of it, and I have set up a YouTube account. I am excited about this, which for me is the main ingredient. So not only can you read me, you can see me. How thoughtful I am.

It's an experiment; designed to lighten the mood and as creative play, although of course I am taking it seriously as an artwork, and am committed to it, and will put my time and effort into it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments as I progress. You can leave comments here or on Twitter. At the end of the performance I will review it to see how I feel it has gone, and will assemble the videos together as one piece; hopefully by then I will have learnt how to do it!.

Feel free to follow this on twitter @JonnaKing.

Go on, you know you want to.