(SILVIA PIO, edited by)
William Thirsk-Gaskill has contributed to the Poetry Twinning “Da Terre a Terre” with the poem Eleven colours of loneliness. When asked to tell Margutte something about himself, he sent the following:
«I am an emerging writer based in West Yorkshire. My published work so far includes short fiction and poetry. I performed poetry and fronted the Grist poets at the 2012 Ted Hughes Festival. I co-host a monthly local radio programme of music and writing with Gaia Holmes.
In 2010, I began to study creative writing with the Open University. My early career was helped through association with Grist Books, a venture supported by the University of Huddersfield. Grist has published one of my short stories and three of my poems, as well as the novella, Escape Kit. It is through the promotion of a Grist poetry anthology that I gained experience of performing poetry. In 2013, I did a 50-minute solo performance at the Ilkley Literature Festival, which included poetry and prose life-writing. I believe that a poet does not really know what a poem is supposed to sound like until it has been read aloud in front of an audience. I am fascinated by the ways in which different audiences react to poetry.
Most of my work is in free verse. I do use rhyme, metre and repetition, but rarely in a regular scheme. Most of the subjects in my poems are my own experiences, particularly of family, relationships, and bereavement. Eleven Colours Of Loneliness is a departure from my usual style, because it is written in the second person, rather than the first person, and it is in the form of a list of sentence-fragments, rather than being whole, grammatical sentences.»
William Thirsk-Gaskill had three short fiction works published in print and his poems have appeared in anthologies. More short fiction and poetry can be found online: www.5minutefiction.co.uk and http://andotherpoems.wordpress.com. He performed in a number of festivals and initiatives.
He appears once a month as co-host with Gaia Holmes on Themes for Dreamers, a 2-hour community local radio programme broadcast on 96.7 FM from Halifax and on the internet: www.phoenixfm.co.uk
He is an active member of the Black Horse Poets, a group which meets once a month at Henry Boon’s on Westgate and is sponsored by Mary Creagh MP.
http://iamhyperlexic.wordpress.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpMPmTwz-uk (04:17)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SNSyNauApw (02:50 and 03:26)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvH0e0VtyQQ (03:26)
Eleven colours of loneliness
I
The shiny, pinkish-red, mass-produced, repetitive strain injury of Saint Valentine’s Day.
II
The indelible, haldi-coloured curry-stain on your new trousers, that you can’t remember the cause of.
III
The unopened, metallic-silver of a condom-wrapper with a “use-by” date of 4 years, 11 months and 26 days ago.
IV
The dazzling, yellow-white of trying to hide inside a paperback on a stony beach with some-one who can’t stand you, but won’t leave you alone.
V
The freshly-squeezed orange as the hotel waiter takes away the other place-setting at your table, while you sit down to the pre-paid breakfast that you don’t feel like eating.
VI
The folded white of the recently-laundered, unused, cotton handkerchief in your pocket that you want to offer to the woman in the next seat, who has just hung up on her mobile phone conversation.
VII
The scintillating, multi-coloured, projected fantasy of the adverts before the main feature at the cinema, for which you buy a ticket for the film you want to watch, with no sweets, no nachos, no ice cream, and no cola.
VIII
The obscure, magenta haze of quaffing red wine in a corner-chair at a party.
IX
The hand-dyed indigo and emerald-green of a poncho in a shop in Hebden Bridge that you have the money to afford, but no-one to buy it for.
X
The state of being content with your own company for a few hours or more, of which you get to decide the colour-scheme.
XI
The gunged-up, unsanitised grey of the plastic control unit for the self-operated, intravenous morphine-pump.
Da Terre a Terre, the Twinning Goes on
Da Terre a Terre
30/8/2014 Wakefield Library, Wakefield One
The Wakefield Poets
John I. Clarke:
Each translation is a new creation
I Figli di Mondovì
Poets from the World
Jimmy Andrex:
Poetry is the Idea of Something Coming into Being out of Nothing