We really are into the home straight of things now, but it’s a relay, not a sprint (I’ve really butchered that idiom, and I’m not sure how apt it even was to begin with) and so therefore I’m once again curling into the handover box and passing the aliminium baton of poetry (there goes another one) to the esteemed Mr. Alan Buckley, who is opening today’s Door for us.
The Cat
was what I nicknamed you,
you with your nine lives:
you’d been through so many
bone marrow transplants
I kidded myself you’d
go on forever, somehow
always one step ahead
of your own long shadow.
As with all of the Guest Poets to have featured on the Poetry Advent Calendar so far, I’m utterly delighted that Alan has been kind enough to let me host his work. A poet, and a gentleman, of the very highest calibre, I would implore you to track down Alan’s other verse, which is currently to be found in two pamphlets, as well as scattered across every anthology worth its salt. In all seriousness, there was a period of about six months where I couldn’t pick up a poetry compilation in Waterstones without finding one of Alan’s inside – and that is far from a criticism. I’m thrilled beyond words that the Advent Calendar now boasts a bona fide Buckley too.
Alan’s first full-length collection, Touched, is published next June. I am already incredibly excited, in a wishing-the-days-away kind of way. I cannot recommend it enough. Also, a grateful shout-out to Kate Raworth, who photographed the above portrait.
A reminder that there’s still time to donate to the Poetry Advent Calendar JustGiving page, raising funds for Crisis at this crucial time of year. We’re 430% of the way towards our target, which is ineffably magnificent, and if we could nudge it towards the 500 mark, it would probably make my year.
Thank you Alan. Five days to go…
Owen x
The Poetry Advent Calendar 