Richard Whiting

Richard Whiting Poems

A daylight-spanning
squabble-fest for food.
Apples upturned and hollowed,
slightly tipsy, wobbling
...

(For Ian Curtis)

for now, the high bidder
I sit, looking out under grey skies
...

You don’t need to know
how I ended up in the mire.
That’s another poem.
What I can tell you
...

And so
on the third day of April
they angle in
low over Landguard Point
...

I wish that I enjoyed life
as much as you.
Welcome in,
you thrill-seeking
...

He stood at my door
with clipboard and oversized rosette.

Ah, he said, Mr Whitting
...

On May 19th 1942, a recording was made in a Surrey garden, of a nightingale in song. Shortly into the recording, a squadron of 191 Lancaster and Wellington Bombers flew overhead. Undaunted, both the sound-recordist and bird carried on to produce a beautiful, yet chilling sound-poem which was later broadcast by the B.B.C.

Eleven of the aircraft flying overhead, did not return.
...

Lennon stands in the queue:
It must be around Christmas 1980,
but one can only guess how long
these things take;
...

Spring. I gather fruit
born on the warm wind
of its opening salvo;
Pine-cones crackle
...

A gentle chyme;
a woman mixes water-colours
for a sunset sketch
her table of bottles
...

Richard Whiting Biography

Born in Suffolk in 1964, Richard Whiting reads regularly at Poetry Aloud, a Cafe Poet's group based in Bury St Edmunds, meeting @ Benson Blakes, St John's Street on the last Tuesday of every month except December.)

The Best Poem Of Richard Whiting

Murmuration

A daylight-spanning
squabble-fest for food.
Apples upturned and hollowed,
slightly tipsy, wobbling
towards bread-crust, peanuts
lawn-probing
for meal-worm, crane fly
sun-catching iridescence
emerald jewels
pinned to television aerials
roost-ready
an overload,
a tipping-point



they
rise
launched!


Left they fly in a faded blue
tunic of sky.
Their leader suddenly last,
turn, tu
r
n

caught in
a red sun
right they fly
trail up,
filter
d
o
w
n

spi
ra
l

beard whiskers
swirling
in
bath water
bountiful business MADE
of the dusk sky.

Mesmerised by murmuration
we follow them

with partial
success

across autumn's
rapid loss
of light,
A moon's
momentary
measles

they
c
a
s
c
a


d



e




past, Away and back

And gone.

I re-write the words
of their wanderings
across an empty sky
wondering what
this all could mean;

Warmth, security
fraternity?

the only legible sign
is the certainty,
that we the watching humans
have no monopoly
on fun.

Richard Whiting Comments

Richard Whiting Popularity

Richard Whiting Popularity

Close
Error Success