Robert Sheppard: New 'Charlotte Smith' version published in Smithereens 2

http://smithereenspress.com/publications/slm2.html

http://smithereenspress.com/images/slm2.pdf

I have a poem in Smithereens 2 which may be accessed or downloaded at the addresses above. It is one of my versions of the Sussex poet Charlotte Smith, a part of the ongoing ‘English Strain’. Good to publish it outside the UK!

 Ye vales and woods! fair scenes of happier hours

Uplands and Downlands, those scenes of Cowboys

and Indians enacted behind fishbox barricades

in Father’s waistcoat and Mother’s high heels,

and gulls’ feathers, and beads, you bore and saw them all…

Whilst I was writing these poems I commented on the process here. The most recently published part of The Englis Strain is Hap, which may be read about (and purchased) here.