by Stevie Smith (1902 - 1971)

#poetry #steviesmith #alone #ironic #notwaving #quote

"Harold's Leap", Stevie Smith
Birmingham Pen Co - Bee Balm
Midori Cotton
Leonardo Momento Zero Grande 2.0 <M> Sea Anemone

"Harold's Leap" has been an earworm for me for decades. It was published in 1950, in a collection of the same name.

#poem #steviesmith #englishliterature #fountainpensandink

#StevieSmith #poet #novelist

cover of the Virago Modern Classics edition -- 3/4 portrait, eyes steadily right, of a young white woman w centre parting and bobbed hair, Catherine Carrington) by Dora Carrington.

Stevie Smith's Novel on Yellow Paper, or Work It Out For Yourself (1936), is a surprise in the places it goes to socially (ideas of friendships & love), ethically & historically. Hard to place in relation to other writing of its decade, sliding to war, as she recognizes. An original. #StevieSmith

The burnt-out remains of an old mansion, covered in scaffolding and reflected in a lake.

A Stevie Smith poem ("The pleasures of friendship are infinite") etched onto a metal plaque with a shopping parade behind.

A sign saying "Masons Corner" on wet street corner with late-evening luminous clouds behind.

the burnt-out shell of 16th century Broomfield House, Palmers Green; Stevie Smith plaque, Palmers Green; Masons Corner, the end of Green Lanes, six and a half miles from where it began at Newington Green. [2/2]

#Hoxton #WoodGreen #PalmersGreen #StevieSmith #BroomfieldHouse #Enfield

There is a face I know too well, A face I dread to see, So vain it is, so eloquent Of all futility. It is a human face that hides A monkey soul within, That bangs about, that beats a gong, That makes a horrid din. Sometimes the monkey soul will sprawl Athwart the human eyes, And peering forth, will flesh its pads, And utter social lies. So wretched is this face, so vain, So empty and forlorn, You well may say that better far This face had not been born.

#Poetry
#Poem
#BlueskyPoetry
#StevieSmith

The Face by Stevie Smith

Stevie Smith English poet Stevie Smith was BOTD in 1902. Born Florence Smith in Kingston-upon-Hull in Yorkshire, her father abandoned the family when she was a child, and she spent three years in a sanatorium b…

English poet and Maybe Gay Stevie Smith, best known for her poem “Not Waving But Drowning”, was BOTD in 1902. #steviesmith #bornonthisday #maybegay

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.

Poems: www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/stevie...

✒️ #StevieSmith, English poet and novelist, was #BOTD 20 September 1902. #Poetry #Literature

Oh I am a cat that likes to Gallop about doing good So One day when I was Galloping about doing good, I saw A Figure in the path; I said Get off! (Be- cause I am a cat that likes to Gallop about doing good) But he did not move, instead He raised his hand as if To land me a cuff So I made to dodge so as to Prevent him bringing it orf, Un-for-tune-ately I slid On a banana skin Some Ass had left instead Of putting it in the bin. So His hand caught me on the cheek I tried To lay his arm open from wrist to elbow With my sharp teeth Because I am A cat that likes to gallop about doing good. Would you believe it? He wasn't there My teeth met nothing but air,

#Poetry
#Poem
#BlueskyPoetry
#StevieSmith

The Galloping Cat by Stevie Smith
(Part 1 of 3)

Should I have added a #StevieSmith hashtag to get a better response?! 😁

#StevieSmith #DrowningNotWaving #Poetry

There's only author you need to read as a writer and that's James Joyce.... not forgetting also Dylan Thomas, Flann O'Brien and Stevie Smith's Novel on Yellow Paper. Er, yes, think that's about it.

#jamesjoyce
#flannobrien
#steviesmith
#dylanthomas

Stevie Smith: Not Waving But Drowning review - riding the wave Last year, Wendy Cope’s poem, "The Orange", went viral on TikTok. I’m not totally certain how a poem goes viral, but it did – and there’s nothing we can do about it.

★★★ Stevie Smith - Not Waving But Drowning

Riding the wave of viral poetry, and #WendyCope? This slim and stylish new edition can't quite dispel some lurking doubts: Jack Barron on the 'deeply subtle poetics' of #StevieSmith, and ‘popular’ poetry.