September exposes the python winding its way
A concrete world, of slabs of stone with
Daunting streets and the chill of the coalface Continue reading
Christopher Titmuss Dharma Blog
A Buddhist Perspective
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Poems and Prose
Six Much Loved Sonnets of William Shakespeare. To Nourish Your Soul and Shed Light on your Life
I have selected six of my favourite poems of the 154 poems in the Sonnets of William Shakespeare. These sonnets shed light on your life, reveal the beauty and expose the dark corners. Continue reading
Anonymity. A Poem
A role, an identity, a function,
a disguise to mask the blessing
of an anonymous way of life
of my refuge in unknown fields. Continue reading
An Ode to Brighton Beach
Moonlight falls deep into green sea
waves inscribed en route
pebbles wait in their stillness
Jesus and Mary Magdala
cross-legged, under pleasure pier
with view of hammered rust.
Photos shows Brighton Pier (Sussex, UK) and burnout pier further down the beach. A symbolic duality of the world.
Bather skims pebble on water,
Smooth, slim, round pebble
plop, plop, plop,
until the precious moment,
washed, willing and sinks
even as moonlight fades
Words nestle in the deep
erupt from sea-sons bound.
ebb and flows to ears
A solitary figure feels
and steps out of shadows
an inheritance beneath the feet.
Are you waiting in the queue to dive?
A Poetic Reflection on Poem
Poem explores depth of experience.
Moonlight goes beneath the waves
Jesus-Mary Magdala sit beneath pleasure seeking pier
out of reach of rusty relic
bather dives into water
stone sinks into the sea,
words emerge from the deep
and flow as waves to our ear
sea-sons – Jesus-Mary, sons of the sea.
a solitary figure, with no shadows
stands at water’s edge
knowing inheritance of earth/water
Are you ready to dive into the deep?
Who Would Want to be Famous? A Poem. A Comment on a Slapping Incident at the Oscars in Hollywood in March 2022
I read an online news report this week of a famous person in the entertainment business slapping another famous person in the same business over a remark at the Oscars in Hollywood.
Their fame has not reached into my living room. I am not familiar with the two men. The report revealed the emptiness of the media wallowing in the insensitive and uncomical comments of one famous person and the aggressive reactivity of another.
Show business converts people into products. The business encourages them to draw attention to themselves, so the stars increase their market value. The craving for attention can gradually become a dominant form of behaviour.
I wrote this poem in 2014 for people to read aloud to themselves who want to be famous.
WHO WOULD WANT TO BE FAMOUS?
I have become a star of my own show,
I want to get myself a status high,
a possibility of what could be.
I rise and rise, then must fall, then I die.
I have no clothes to add to my person.
Why dress myself up seeking name and form?
Why does the cat walk while the dogs do bark?
Then all these thoughts become a hounding storm.
What will I be? How will I be? Will I?
What burrows down into recesses lame?
These dreams can act like sucking ticks on blood,
and scratch again on claims to gain and fame.
Is future life a type of running scared?
Why can’t we make desires come to stick?
I throw my thinking back and forth so much.
Are all my hopes and hooks a cruel trick?
This longing goes,
No more this clueless view,
I wake to this endless splendour at hand,
admit beyond is closer than I thought,
such completion does shatter dreams so bland.
Poems from the Edge of Time
Christopher Titmuss
193 pages
£9.95
Published 2015. Available on Amazon.