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Poem of the Week: ‘On The Move’ by Chris Woods

On The Move

We are packed together
like the contents of a suitcase.
We cannot move.
We have to move
to another house.

We haven’t enough rooms.
We haven’t enough room
to swing a Katy,
who offers me a house
from her Early Learning Centre Liftout Puzzle Board,
as well as her Wendy House;
detached, in need of little upkeep,
in need of little people.

We are packed together
like the contents of a suitcase,
ready to go,
ready to be picked up,
in need of a holiday.

There will be room on the beach,
a living room,
a sheepskin rug of surf
in front of a Living Flame sunset,
quiet pictures,
flying seagulls hanging against the green wall
of a cliff

and Katy will build us a castle.


Chris Woods has written a poem that, like the collection in which it is featured, makes interesting use of the relationship between stasis and movement. His imagery is sharp, striking and accessible, and the line breaks here propel us to think about how images are related, so that we may read forward, and read back. His collection, Dangerous Driving, is a meditation on movement and everyday life in which images often surface as “strange light” (‘The Alzheimer Sea’). Reading the collection is a sensory experience – Woods’s poetry makes you feel like you’re moving with it.

By Louise Essex

Dangerous Driving is available to buy on our website here.

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