Welcome to kerry rawlinson!

Canadian poet kerry rawlinson has taken a different approach to the 1940s contest, blending her words with the words of the songwriter she celebrates.

Man in a Shed

A Composition of Song Titles, in Tribute to Nick Drake, 1948-1974

“Now we rise

and we are everywhere”.

Through alchemy perhaps, in clothes

of sand, anguish from the morning

composed Magic,

            with the shed door closed

and the pink moon in Mayfair's

northern sky. The place to be:

hanging on a star.

But he'd been smoking too long with

cello song, floating with the River Man.

He played to the fruit tree, to the rain,

            rarely leaving—

but one Sunday when a bird flew by,

we opened the door of the shed

and he was dead.

The poor boy bequeathed us his

harvest breed: the gift

he never chose.

            Strange meetings;

knowing fingers strolling down the highway,

transposing the voices in his head

to milk and honey.

He tried to fly, Rider on the wheel, into

a truer heaven; to break through

and open up the things

            behind the sun. But Tomorrow

is a long time. He found nothing

on the way to blue; and no-one.

-Wait!

Time told me that’s not your epilogue! I cry—

but I’m too late.

The day is done.

Five leaves drop

onto a black-eyed dog,

in a time of no reply.

~~                                            ~~                                            ~~

Song titles by Nick Drake written in black; original poetry in purple.

            

Decades ago, autodidact & optimist kerry rawlinson gravitated from sunny Zambian skies to solid Canadian soil. Fast-forward: she follows Literature & Art’s Muses around the Okanagan, barefoot. She’s won contests (e.g. Geist; Postcards, Poems & Prose; Fusion Art;) and features lately in Pedestal, ReflexFiction; pioneertown; Centrifugal Eye; Minola Review; CanadianLiterature; AdHoc Ficion; Adirondack Review; amongst others. Visit: kerryrawlinson.tumblr.com

Kerry is also one of the artists in Catfish McDaris' Resurrection of a Sunflower!  Catfish and publisher Marc Pietryzkowski have done a fantastic job with this anthology.  For more information about it, see this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998847607

You may know Nick Drake's "Pink Moon":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXnfhnCoOyo

"Northern Sky" is from an earlier album of his: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3jCFeCtSjk

"River Man" is from his first album:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idcaRTg4-fM

I'll finish with his "Day Is Done":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2jxjv0HkwM

Enjoy!

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Editor's Note:

I don't want to detract from kerry's poem, but I feel that I must comment on the recent, horrible events in Charlottesville, Virginia.  I pray for this country  that we and our leaders do better. We must build a just society where all of us can flourish. We must strive against racism.  We must get back on track.