ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Who me? Born in 1962. Wrote prolifically as a teenager, heavily influenced by books & the music of the time. Stopped writing for 20 years more or less. But started again... Some of the work here dates from the "early period" - 1979-1982. The rest is since 2000. I`ve no idea whether I`m a better writer now or then. Maybe I was never any good! I`ve always wondered. Feedback most welcome...
I've not visited this site at all since January 2006 as I shortly after discovered the unfettred joys of blogging. I'm still writing and actually had a very good summer of writing. I'm posting a recent poem here now but all my recent work is available on my blog - take a look - http://peter-rivendell-poems.blogspot.com/
[December 2006]
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (53) A Bright Blue Cloudless Sky (Poetry) A cheery work about emotional displacement, I suppose is one way of putting it. But whatever you think. [184 words] Across Fields (Poetry) - [25 words] [Relationships] Adventure Playground (Poetry) - [113 words] Afraid Of Buildings (Poetry) Written one unhappy morning, but I got a poem out of it... [132 words] Arriving (Poetry) Just a poem about the way I`ve been feeling lately. [65 words] At Sea (Poetry) - [39 words] Best Friend (Poetry) Sometimes you can`t even choose your friends. [62 words] Catch The Moon (Poetry) An uncertain tale of "forbidden" love. [92 words] Confusion 1 (Poetry) A game with destiny? You decide. [169 words] Curiosity Of Nations (Poetry) The destruction of an old way of living leads to escape and renewal. [254 words] Decisions (Poetry) - [59 words] Decisions Of Allegiance (Poetry) As a teenager, I revealed my most precious secret to my best friend - my love for him. He rejected me. That painful experience influenced some of the thoughts in this poem. [150 words] Deep Water (Poetry) Just another day. I know this feeling but we`re not close friends, fortunately. [107 words] Distortion (Poetry) Written about a million years ago, but still makes a kind of sense...? [129 words] Drowned (Poetry) A lyric for a love song of sorts - [293 words] Echoes On Water (Poetry) - [19 words] Expedition (Poetry) A view of the future? Or a view of the past? Is there any difference? [170 words] Falling (Poetry) the first poem I wrote after years of not writing... it`s about a feeling that I often have lately, that somewhere along the line, something`s gone horribly wrong and I can`t quite put my finger on it... [132 words] Flow (Poetry) - [106 words] Flowers That Only Last A Day (Poetry) - [40 words] Global Warming (Poetry) - [64 words] Gone (Poetry) Being miserable is the new black. [197 words] Heart Of Our Home. (Poetry) Betrayal is not always the greatest betrayal. [83 words] I Wait (Poetry) Another tale of urban anxiety... probably as much a song as a poem. [133 words] In Memoriam (Poetry) Short and bitter-sweet. [38 words] Isolation (Poetry) A poem about... [26 words] Magazine (Poetry) This poem was inspired by the Berlin novels of Christopher Isherwood (which inspired the musical "Cabaret"). It`s a story set at the moment when you realise that while you`ve been oblivious to events ... [251 words] Marching Band (Poetry) When love fades... a lyric as much as a poem... [96 words] Nightscape (Poetry) - [100 words] Nightwalk (Poetry) About walking alone at night. That`s it. [193 words] Opening Up (Poetry) Am I no longer enjoying my job...? [198 words] Paused In Traffic. (Poetry) The January blues, I guess. [100 words] Performers (Poetry) When you feel like an outsider, sometimes you hope no one ever notices... Written when I was 18. Seems strange to me now, but can just about remember feeling like this - glad I was able to write it do... [239 words] Pierrot (Poetry) A love letter, after a fashion. [196 words] Pushing The River (Poetry) - [39 words] Random Acts (Poetry) Written by writing lines at random and then organising them into a more "organic" kind of flow - and somehow, it tells a story and makes sense. Just an experiment, but a telling one? [204 words] Sarcophagus (Poetry) Grief and betrayal in a bleak landscape. [204 words] Scared (Poetry) - [74 words] Scratched To Grey (Poetry) ... being in love with someone who can never love you back... [145 words] Sequence (Poetry) Playing and losing a game with fate. [202 words] Silent Command (Poetry) - [208 words] Swimming Against The Tide (Poetry) - [90 words] The Fundamental Loneliness And Futility Of Our Lives In The Context Of The Vast Infinity Of Time And Space... (Poetry) A feeling. [28 words] The Storm Inside Him (Poetry) The Storm Inside Him [108 words] The Trees (Control) (Poetry) It`s up to you to decide. I know what I think. (Title: Control - but that was already taken) [161 words] Thoughts Of A War (Poetry) Leaving home... [240 words] Threats (Poetry) Sometimes, even in a crowded place you can feel totally alone... [73 words] [Gay & Lesbian] Trapped In The Masque (Poetry) A dark hymn for troubled times. [120 words] Triptych (Poetry) Three linked poems about alienation. [339 words] Two (Poetry) Just a fragment... but it tells the whole story. [24 words] Unending Rain (Poetry) Crime doesn`t pay. [76 words] Wave (Poetry) - [34 words] When Winter Comes (Poetry) The struggle to connect. [148 words]
The Beating Of Wings Peter Rivendell
A sound like the beating of wings,
Doing a haphazard dance against a clouded sky.
Oil-filmed water with undisturbable depths.
Questions that could not be asked or even thought,
A new kind of deception scared him into thoughts of leaving.
What would it take to provoke him into action?
Plagued by a kind of misery he felt so entirely his own,
In possession of nothing so much as those things he could never own.
Driven by an ambition that offered him nothing but a bleak inability to act,
Scared to look around in case there was nothing holding him to the past.
Aware of shadows in the darkness,
His only company in a solitary inner life so painstakingly constructed;
Protection from the intemperate weather of other people,
The purest emotion he could feel without losing it all.
A desolate soul in a winter landscape,
Or moving in slow motion through a crowd,
Merging through other people without making any contact or impression,
Words swam through him like fish in a deep pool,
Separate, directionless, linked yet never quite touching;
A random dance of seemingly perfect choreography.
Would he ever understand or know those intricate movements?
Those gently effervescent strands of energy that protect from collision,
Sensed like a tiny stampede through the hairs on the back of his hands.
Sometimes he felt like he was just screaming,
Terrified that he actually was screaming,
Traumatised by the feeble sobs which he would sometimes find breaking out,
Distress etching itself into his face.
Breathing, all the medicine he could allow himself to trust,
Trying so hard to look as if everything is all right.
Knowing nothing is.
Fearing nothing ever will be again.
The beating of wings.
READER'S REVIEWS (7) DISCLAIMER: STORYMANIA DOES NOT PROVIDE AND IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWS. ALL REVIEWS ARE PROVIDED BY NON-ASSOCIATED VISITORS, REGARDLESS OF THE WAY THEY CALL THEMSELVES.
"Wow. I am in awe. This is wonderful. I love your style! One thing- I think you mean "traumatized". Write on!!!!" -- Tessa.
"Thanks for your kind words. It`s always great to get some feedback. You made me check - distrust my spell-check even, and "traumatised" is the usual UK spelling..." -- Peter.
"I always marvel at the depth of your writing and this is no exception. Good work as always Peter." -- Just A Guy.
"UK, huh? I'll keep that in mind when I read your works. Love those accents!" -- Tessa.
"Very descriptive but to the point that I lost interest and couldn't follow your images. I caught up again with your thought process towards the end and it made me think of a terminally ill person that is being kidnapped in a dying vessel. Very intense.. " -- D. G. Williford.
"Intersting poem and quite touching. You do feel what the individual is going through and you can feel the angst and pain. I like the poem and feel that the writer has great potential." -- Jason.
"I appreciate your taking time to review some of my work. Your comments were kind and well received. This particular piece, "The Beating of Wings", I enjoyed two-fold: The steady breeze of imagery throughout, and the personal connection it made with me. I am no critic, therefore I will not try to offer any criticism beyond what I've already said, but I will offer you words which help guide me through the practice of writing: WRITE AS IF YOU ABSOLUTLELY UNDERSTAND THAT YOU OWN IT. You may already be doing so, if not, I have found this particular thought to be most comforting. I hope you will as well. Though I have not read all of your posted work, I have enjoyed that which I have read. As for your return to writing, welcome home." -- STORM, West, Texas, USA.
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