The Universal Language of Poems that Speak to the Heart

I was delighted to attend the book launch of such an inspirational and creative soul - Cherry Coombe. She has a raw honesty, both written and spoken, to inspire and ignite a creative flame within. Having recently taken part in one of Cherry’s unique ‘Write Yourself Happy’ creative word shop days which enable you to make deep self soul inquiries, I was uplifted by her humour and total love of life and of people.

This vivacious, self confessed reluctant poet fills each page with raw emotions laid bare in her new book of poems, ‘On The Boats’, which she refers to as 'A Tragi-Comedy -it’s a tonic and I find myself laughing out loud regularly to her more quirky and well noted observations of the minute of human life. ‘On the Boats’ is a real feast - I’ve been just letting the pages fall open and enjoying each to unfold as the emotional gem that it is and allowing it to really resonate with me. I wonder at the universal language of poems as they can get right to the heart of the matter and touch our own.

With Cherry’s kind permission, I share her poem as it is so relevant:

Virtual Reality

Sometimes I forget

the boss is not my friend,

nor daughter confidante

and head my email ‘fuck’

an accident derived

from living a virtual life,

one in which I can’t erase, explain

or give another name,

rephrase, un-send,

convey the sense, instead,

that what I dread, today,

is being written off

denied a right to say,

‘let me start again,

let me send my love

another way’.

This poem’s sentiment may well be one to dwell on for you too, to find the silver lining - might there be a benefit in not sending a digital missive immediately, by delaying pressing the send button on occasion? To curb the knee-jerk reaction of your forefinger? How many times can our words in concise texts be misconstrued for instance? My best communications this year have been in landline conversations - sadly, a dying art and a seeming luxury in this digital age of instant chatter. I have chosen to live without a mobile phone this year to see if I can sift out the anti-social white noise - it’s work in progress .

Thank you Cherry for your infectious ‘joie de vivre’ and I look forward to many more exciting and inspiring encounters. I salute you, a worthy Happiness T’sar of Buckingham University.

‘On The Boats’, A book of poems can be purchased on Amazon now and to find out more about Cherry’s creative writing wordshops ; www.cherrycoombe.com