Wednesday 13 May 2015

THE SAP SIMPERS ON

Yesterday I received an email containing an invitation to submit to a competition. One of the categories was for poetry. Now I do not enter competitions* and I do not think I write poems but I do write words that can look like them. And as I was hanging around not sure what to do next I decided to submit one of the things I had.  I came across SO SAID THE SAP and decided to use it. Doing so also reminded me where I had got the title for the blog and what it had meant at the time.

I also listened to the recording of the words on Bandcamp and if anyone is interested they can be heard on there by using the following link https://sheilakcameron.bandcamp.com/album/so-said-the-sap

I have moved the selection of spoken words to which they belong (there are 30 items) to first place on the Bandcamp page for easy access. The image - a collage - which goes with it can be viewed there. It was also included in another post on this site but (again for ease of access) I may as will include it at the foot of this one


SO SAID THE SAP

These words
May not
Be heard
As rap
But they
Were written
By a sap

Who could not see
That need and greed
Can oft times quell
True love's appeal

Who could not see
That what they saw
Was victim of
Their deepest flaw

A tendency to keep
Repeating
What they had
When four or more

Around that time
The date's not clear
But what they got
Was stark - a fear

Of losing what
They had and whether
Light or dark
The fear was bad

Or bad enough
To find a place
In everything
They did - a trace

Of fear ran through
Their every move
And kept them tied
To anxious mood

To hesitating
Stepping back
Scared of falling
Off the track

That others rode
With engines stoked
With words of love
Of praise of hope

That all would play out
Good and true
That what they had
Would see them through

But being sap
Does not require
To also breathe
A bitter fire

Upon all those
Who have it good
Although a bit more
Sharing would

Improve the lot
Of those who feel
They never got
Their early needs

Met in ways
That set them free
Of fear - the sort
I'm citing here


So said the sap
The day they found
Love does not always
Leap and bound

To fill the heart
And head with joy
Sometimes its crap
And but a ploy

To satisfy the selfish needs
Which found a place
When grief destroyed
Those tender moments
Soft and kind
Which we all need
If we're to find
Within ourselves

A peace of mind




*A correction. I did inadvertently (one of my favourite words) enter TWO INCHES TALL in the Spoken Word category of the Independent Music Awards and it was - remarkably - successful. But that was a long time ago in 2012