Autobiography

Anthony Wilson, , , , , , , ,

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I wrote a book with my coat

 

I wrote with the coat of my childhood

and I wrote with the coat of the prophets

 

In it the coat of my father

and his father swaying in church

 

My mother spoke French with her mother

and I tried to write with their coats

 

the words hello and goodnight

their hurt goodbyes at the airport

 

They were never part of my coat

though owned by my coat as I wrote

 

I would now like to write my book

with a coat that is not my coat

 

perhaps the coat of the sea

the coat of a stone or a painting

 

Goodnight little coat little coats

I am grateful for all you have given me

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Published by Anthony Wilson

I am a lecturer, poet and writing tutor. I work in teacher and medical education at the University of Exeter. My anthology Lifesaving Poems was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2015. In 2012 I published Riddance (Worple Press), a collection of poems, and Love for Now (Impress Books), a memoir, about my experience of cancer. The Wind and the Rain, my sixth collection of poems, is available now from Blue Diode Publishing. My current research project, funded by the Foyle Foundation, is Young Poets' Stories: https://youngpoetsstories.com/. This blog is archived by the British Library.

4 Comments

  2. Did you write this poem? It’s brilliant, I love it.

    ref your latest post, often you tap into exactly how I feel, and that post (the latest one) was a prime example. I thought I had given up commenting on people’s blogs, but not this time!

    Thanks, & best wishes, Caroline

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

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