w i n t e r w o r d s
For Anthroplay's last project of 2023, we challenged our talented Associate Artists 23/24 to write us a poem, drawing inspiration from the Winter season.
Whatever you're up too, we hope these scribbles bring you some creative warmth to lighten up these dark, chilly days.
Big up and big thanks to our wonderful Associates, you can find their poems below...
Baby, it's cold. by Joe Tapper
Light clocks out early to beat the traffic and darkness starts the grind.
Up they rise, 4pm, the dead. To haunt for longer. My feet are cold.
The rusty turbine creaks, aches, stutters and breaks without the flow.
Don’t remind me. There are times the chill itself is cause for wonder—
fresh mornings striking noses with sharp-gasp reminders of aliveness,
when children fall with snow and land in spaces made for them.
Those of us whose upper lips grow further stiff at frosty looks
know winter as a violent lack. I tear inside and oh,
it’s warm. The embers render full embrace and my clamped jaw thaws.
The dressing gown and evening coffee offer knowing nods as I bathe
in double-glazing, coat shunned in casual un-covering, the corner
of a blanket lifted like a spirit calmly daring rest.
What luck. Coming face to glacial face removes all question
and moves us in double-oared strokes towards huddling.
(in a parallel universe, where the doctor is also santa) by Poet the Jules
(in a parallel universe where the doctor is also santa)
i sit on david tennant's lap and tell him i want
my own TARDIS for christmas/
he’d understand because he also has two hearts
and friends who don’t stick around
i’d watch sunsets on jupiter/ put a tree up on mars,
boogie with microorganisms/ name a few stars/ i’d sit
on the edge of the universe staring into the dark/
where nothing has happened yet
there is a spark in my snowglobe existence/
a trillion light years away where our house was/
it's our last christmas dinner/ i’m at the window
from the outside looking in/ even with my own
time space machine/ i want to live it all again
HYN, NBD by Jaskaran Kaur Sahota
Reborn again
At midnight
Every night.
The precipice of
Everything & nothing
Every dawn.
Flamboyant flames
Pink skies
Every bright.
New Year,
New Me
Every day.
Bodies Aligned (or, Free Palestine) by Kylo the Kid
Close your eyes, take off your shoes, your jewellery, the things that pierce your skin, and lay
naked in the sand. Feel your heartbeat to bone in your chest, the ebbs and flows of the light
that is called life, the life of your body. Touch it, but gently, for it is fragile, as it is the body of
your siblings. Your siblings of the rubble.
For they are you.
Wrapped up in flesh and blood and joys and dreams, that lay muddy now, under blotted skies
and twisted lead. A loss so deep, there can be no breath, for all that you have ever known has
gone, accept…
touch gently, for our bodies stretch across space and time, and blood and bullets, we lay
naked in the sand.
Do you feel it? Do you feel them? Your siblings of the rubble.
You do not need the things you think you need; you only need the things we share.
Hold them, as you hold yourself, fight for them, as they’d fight for you,
and bare witness,
to your siblings of the rubble
Hot Chocolate and Sympathy by Josh Anderson-Grey
In the corner of the café, I let out a sigh
As I gaze out the window, looking up at the sky.
The hot chocolate before me is getting cold in my mug.
Lord, I need someone to give me a hug…!
Going to Costa would have cost a lot,
But this cheap, lukewarm stuff will not hit the spot.
I resign myself to spend the evening alone,
Then in march my colleagues: Jez, Gary and Tone.
They say, “Kwame, we’re sorry about your wife.
We loved Yetunde; she was always high on life.
We know today was her birthday. Say the word, and we’ll go,
But you need to know that we’re here for you, bro.”
The lads are in my corner, showing me brotherly love
Like angels in disguise, sent from above…
Fleeting and beautiful things by Yasmin Beck
leaves turning auburn and yellow and brown
the sun melting through clouds
pavements glittering, tenderly embraced by frost
cold kisses kindled by warmth of breath
champagne diamonds floating in glass
watching you laugh with your whole heart
holding your hand as your wonder paints the sky
dancing with you in the kitchen
with mouthfuls of love and inspiration
with passing scents of lavender and red wine.
Flowers will bloom again in spring.