Tara Staunton Aspiring poet, photographer and genetic scientist. Lover of life, art, literature and sunshine

The fall, and rise.

 _

I fall and fall, time seems still

All sound muted

The world some harrowing illusion,

Now to me so ill suited.

 .

Half in dream, I see a face,

Sweet patron of the brave.

I am part now of this, bellowing ash

Cold grey tears rain down

The moment of ill thought comes,

As comrades around shout and frown.

 .

Lifted up, touch me not ill fated ground,

Carried now by the brave.

 .

The pain overwhelming, yet I cannot cry

Sweet goddess guiding

Through harsh unforgiving desert wind,

To save my life, away they are finding.

 .

Unconscious thought, she comes

Elegant and wise

A child in her loving hand she shows me,

I awake to life in relief and surprise.

 .

Brothers and loving wife greet me,

Delight fills their faces brave.

 .

At my kiss, wife cries in love

Her stomach, my pressing hand

A child in her loving womb she brings me,

My vision now I understand.

 .

I rest and dream of her,

Benevolent Britannica the brave.

 .

I fight and win, to new health time moves

All cheers roar

The world, my wife and son, beautiful and real

To me now everything I life for. 

I grin and gnash my teeth,

The bones cackle and crack within me.

Half lost in dust,

Half lost in shadows,

Half lost upon this lonely shelf.

Cast like Orion to the edge of heaven,

To gloom with pitchy breath,

And peer at shining life, through sightless sockets.

 _

I groan and grind my teeth ,

The bones cackle and crack within me.

Forgotten by temperance,

Forgotten by all it seems,

Forgotten even by me.

A steadfast soul that cannot fly,

A fleshless head, broken from necks touch,

Condemned to stillness and speechless thought.

 _

I grin and gnash my teeth,

The bones cackle and crack within me.

A head once revered on shining shoulders,

A head once fluent in verse and speech,

A head digested by nature, rotted to bleached bone.

Left now, a mere trinket of life,

Denied times end and suspended,

In scorn, out of angels reach.  

The sand has ran through.

Your flaxen curls lie still.

I lie next to you, still too.

My hands, cold and blue, embrace your fingers.

 _

We degenerate as one,

Dust to dust.

 _

Your soft white lips, are turned towards my ear,

But no hot breath escapes them.

My forehead leans upon your chest,

No strong heart beats, you are at rest, now stirring not.

_ 

We are nout but heavenly skulls,

Earthworms delight.

On your lips, a farewell kiss quivers,

A final loving squeeze frozen, our bodies tense to death.

The call came and we were gone

Heart strings entwined, souls bound as one, towards it we arose

Hand in spirited hand we forever are, a death as sweet as life we chose.

 _

We earthly dwell in this lonely hilltop house,

So full, but so empty of warm bloods heat.

 _

Beautiful is deaths blush upon our aged cheek,

Still locked in our last embrace.

We sleep, to silent for life.

All encased in oak, husband and wife, how true eternal vow.

We are together, and the face of god shines on us now. 

This night we are walking

So lightly do we tread

So as not to scare the bluebells

Or wake the beasts ahead

 .

On the previous evening

As our mother lay to die

She said a lady with a pail

Had told her to say goodbye

 .

She cried “Oh daughters please don’t mourn

For my life has been so long

Do not look that way my son

Blessed is the angles song

 .

I see it all so clearly now

The answers are to come

Maiden, mother and then to crone-

In my last spirits come, I am not alone”

 .

So we smiled and laughed

And all was light and gay

But then the shudder of death did come

And her spirit flew away

So that night we went to sleep

And sweet dreams did the spirits give

That showed our mother in her prime

Showed us that her soul did live

 .

So this night we are walking

So lightly do we tread

Our mothers casket on our backs

The moon, lighting the kirkyard path ahead

I go, I fly,

My sweet soul and I.

_

Between the scented smells,

Of newly sprung bluebells,

Watch for me on mountain heath,

Between the fountains of your belief,

 _

I am a fay of Fairee blood,

I dwell in worlds beyond the wood.

 _

Beneath the air you breathe,

And sod you walk,

Is the place were my feet stalk,

 _

Meet me in the enchanted glen,

And there, my love, we shall kiss again. 

“A piteous crowd of devils

To soft your blue eyes

To see their sinful mirth

Their indulgence in all proud majesty of greed” 

.

A sweet whisper in mine ear

Oh protector of me

This vile destitution fills me with fear!

The grey tear filled eye that ponders me,

Sharply averted by kind squires glance.

.

He hurries me through,

This forgotten city.

Death hold’s their hands, but to drunk in

Squalor to see even burning hells flame!

.

“Oh softly maid

We are beckoned to green mans court

I take you on to lake and forest

And warm springs delight”

. 

We rush fourth, to sweet elderflower gate

Nature welcomes us lovers fair,

Soft light and safety, from worlds grim vice.

In his arms I fall, and curl, and sleep,

Forever now in love, and nevermore to weep.

.

Is that you, my fair love,

Who steadily breathes,

Is it you sweet bodies warmth,

I sense in the dark,

Are those your white fingers,

That caress the doors edge,

.

I call to you,

But silent you remain.

.

Why my dear love,

Do you linger so still,

Does the cold rush of the night not,

Blush your skin blue,

.

Come my love,

through the half open door.

Come sweet apparition,

and be cold no more

Thou knowest why, the skull grins and the stone bleedeth,

is thou not but aware of wicked deeds, lieth you not, in wait like a tiger scorned, ready to tear the handsomed flesh of the noble creature, that creature so full of beauty in hoof and stride- does thine heart not beat and mourn at the misgivings of thine own pride! So fickle is thine ways, so sterile are thine actions.

Time moves fast-

Look now upon the trees listen thee at the lark, sing now with the brook, bend thou to the rose. Understand that the moon doth change the tides, and the sun doth make the flowers bright. Wed yourself, like a blushing bride, bask in natures light. Accept that this is not the end, suspend your darkness in this hour.

- The forever wind will carry your epatah, accept this and it will not turn sour.

You need not know the secrets yet, it will all be- to soon to come,

the wood will beckon when it will

and your time will be done.

We constantly hear stories about the fabled ‘Youth of today’ in which these infamous scoundrels prowl our streets in the dark hours, cider bottle in hand, intent on frighting the old folk, the ones who assure us that this sort of behavior would never happen in ‘their day’. Though I firmly believe most people look upon the past with rose tinted glasses, and do wrongly demonise teenagers in most cases, I feel there may be some truth in their words. The fact is it didn’t happen in their day because there were places for them to go.

In the teenage years of my grandparents in the 1950’s there were places for the youth to convene; pub owners would turn a blind eye to the 16 year olds keeping a low profile in the corner and dance halls would attract over a 1000 young people every Friday night. The most famous dance halls in Liverpool were the Locarno and the Grafton. In their heydays in the 50’s/60’s young people from all across Liverpool would queue up to get into the venues; which had resident live bands all night. Sadly nowadays the Grafton lies empty, and the Locarno is used on the rare occasion as a cage fighting venue. It amazes me that we still have gangs of youth wondering around the streets looking for a place to sit when there are venues like these standing empty along with hundreds of disused pubs that so easily could be opened for them to go to, for a night out.

The Locarno was originally built as a theatre in1905 and housed a purpose built animal circus and a variety theatre, with its 3 balconies and stalls it could house up to 3750 people. After 1930 ownership changed hands and it had various different uses up until the end of the war in 1948 when it was converted into a ballroom. The Grafton ballroom was built next door to the Locarno in 1924 and ,according to conversations I had with the older generation, was always the second choice when you couldn’t get into the more upmarket Locarno.

In the ‘good old days’ the city end of West Derby road was a buzzing collection of small pubs surrounding the dance halls, where the youth would get their pre-dance shandy. Now, after a hearty demolition process, all that stands is the dance halls them selves and two derelict buildings across the road, falling apart in the midst of an overgrown and untidy wasteland. Why has our council let this happen to this once lively area and why are these buildings not put to some good use?

One of the main causes of anti-social behavior, suggested by the charity 4children figures, is boredom. When commercial bars have set up nights and dry bars for under 18’s in the past , young people have came from all over the city and venues have been overwhelmed. It stands to reason therefore, that if commercial centers were open for young people that they would be very lucrative for the investors and provide the youth in our community with safer places to socialise. If the Lorcarno and Grafton where re-opened for under 21’s it would provide a marvellous venue because of the buildings size and facilities. Parents would know where their children were and since venues catering for young people have to have a curfew closing time, events would end 11 o’clock allowing for people to get the bus home together safely. Having such places as the Grafton and the Locarno open for these purposes would probably reduce anti social behavior in many areas of the city, it would certainly mean that our young people are safer and not out on the streets at night but in a supervised place.

The question now is, how can we persuade investors to open more entertainment venues specifically for young people? Obviously in these times people would fear the use of drugs and illegal alcohol use etc. But with proper, organized supervision and co-operation between police and venue staff, problems would be kept to a minimum. The way forward would be the co-operation of parents, police and the council youth service to get more youth focused commercial venues open across Liverpool. I feel that doing this would help the city greatly and create a knock on affect that would reduce crime and benefit all of the city’s youth

Ever think that spending your evening at an art gallery would be rather boring? Think again, Last Night Tate Liverpool held Late at Tate’s ‘Fools spectrum’ in which audiences where introduced to a wide Variety of exiting visual art performances from some very colourful characters!

The event was to celebrate the recent colour chart exhibition which includes many famous art pieces from artists such as Damian Hirst, Dali, Duchamp and many more. The night was produced by Hope Street Limited in partnership with Tate Liverpool and was directed by Cocoloco a street theatre company. The whole evening was fantastically bizarre and audience members could really get hands on, in a literal sense, a whole wall was dedicated for the public’s handprints, with pots of paint handy the wall soon go filled up and by the end of the evening was an amazing piece of artwork in its own right.

There were many spectacles for attendees to enjoy including ‘puking clowns’ that spat out colourful paints onto canvases to create artworks, there was also a life drawing session in which people were encouraged to draw on a live model. When entering lifts poetry was read to you, you also had the chance to get your fortune read with colour charts by the mysterious fortune teller in the Tate cafe area.

This evening was well more than the usual perusing of art pieces with wine glass in hand, hearing only the occasional cough and mutter of an opinion, the whole gallery was buzzing with an electric atmosphere as everyone became enthralled by the acts on show, overall there were 40 performers each of whom gave 100% making the night absolutely incredible and leaving audiences wowed.

Late at Tate’s are free for all, and you only have to pay a small amount to see the special exhibition on the 4^th floor. The colour chart exhibition is well worth the visit, each floor of the Tate is packed with amazing artworks at the moment and there is even a dance floor that you can pull some moves on if you’re feeling up to it!

Tate is a definite must to visit this summer. If you want you can get updates and watch out for more spectacular events at Tate Liverpool by following them on twitter-http://twitter.com/tateliverpool.