The Poetry of my youth...

The poetry of my youth was a different animal entirely. I flirted with surrealism in various forms, and the content had the ability to fluctuate between starry-eyed optimism and outright pessimism. I decided yesterday, it being a Sunday and all, to pop into the loft and take a peek at the poetry of my youth. It was very enjoyable, and I’ve decided to reproduce for you within my blog some of what I found.

It is worth noting that much of it, including the following short poem/short prose piece, is distinctly different to my current style of writing. I was young, and God knows we all did things differently back then! I was constantly searching for new and innovative ways to create poetry. One way in which I used to attempt to galvanise my work was by skipping meals. I was a very consistent eater. 3 large meals a day, no snacks. I would never and will never touch recreational drugs, but an altered state of mind appeals to a struggling artist. How would skipping a meal affect me? Well I honestly can’t remember writing this so let’s see…

A time and a place (By Malcolm Head)

Bleak. Bleak. And weak…

“There’s a time and a place, it’s not a race”, said one man to the other,

“But life is a race, is it not?” replied the other, “Survival of the fittest? Dog eat dog?”

“Koreans eat dogs” replied the man, as he chopped the crusts off of his cheese sandwich with a razor-sharp knife

Bleak. Bleak. And Weak

“I’ll have a sandwich” replied the other, grinning naively

“You’ll have more than a sandwich”, said the man, turning and stabbing the other with one swift and brutal movement

The other fell to the ground. The world stood still

“Survival of the fittest” said the man to himself. He put down the knife, and went and turned on radio five live to see what the cricket score was. David Gower was at it again. Another 50…

Bleak. Bleak. Bleak…

As I say – it’s very different to my current stuff. But it’s odd, because I can’t imagine ever writing something like that. Skipping a meal really did pull something from within me that I hadn’t seen before. It was like an out-of-body experience. Needless to say the next morning I had more than a bowl of cornflakes to get myself back in shape! (To be fair I usually have more than a bowl of cereal anyway. I tend to have 3 weetabix - thin covering of semi-skimmed milk, no sugar; then 3 pieces of white toast - one just butter, one Jam, and then the other varies depending on mood and/or availability of Jam)

More of my old stuff to follow soon…

Best

M