Colette Bryce

Colette Bryce Biography

Colette Bryce (born 1970) is a critically acclaimed poet from Derry, Northern Ireland.

Bryce lived in London until 2002 when she moved to Scotland. She moved to the North East of England in 2005. Bryce was a Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Dundee from 2003–2005, and a North East Literary Fellow at the (University of Newcastle upon Tyne) from 2005–2007. Bryce lives in Newcastle upon Tyne and works as a freelance writer and editor. She was the Poetry Editor of Poetry London from 2009-2013. She received the Cholmondely Award for achievement and distinction in poetry in 2010.

Colette Bryce Poems

The Best Poem Of Colette Bryce

Great North

Although we may have bolted from that sad cliff
of our imminent decline, we are not Paula Radcliffe.

And though we may have startled
at the starting pistol,

with its jolt
of explosive (fired by Sting), Usain Bolt

we are not,
by a long shot.

And even though we purchased the slim new book he
called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, we are not Haruki

Murakami,
most definitely
not. Wired to our iPods,
we are your average, middle-aged bipeds:

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half-trained, stiff-hinged, pegging up the course,
as likely overtaken by a pantomime horse

as a Lady Gaga . . . In the name of God!
In the name of a small but worthy charity, we plod

on, to the finish and vitality,
fleeing those intimations of mortality.

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