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MM
Marie Marshall
Member since April 8, 2011
Member for 15 years, 1 month
member
6
Poems
83
Comments
3
Followers
Most recent
Railway footbridge, Perth (from 'A woman on the Edge')
My careful paces, three to the second, carry me
across the worn, regular plates of the footbridge; a slight give,
spring, a dull noise that dies, and if I pause to look
over the rail into the slack, dark backwater,
the black-to-silver flash of heron-bait fry
flickers against the turvy tree and the negative sky.
I know that by the hedges at the far side of the bridge,
where an old gate leans, black flies will be haze-hanging,
trailing their lazy legs in the air, and that I might be taken
by the sudden ambiguity of a butterfly, resting
on a stoical stone, all red-gold-in-shadow.
Read the rest of the poem Show less
Yet to come, but first a one-boy riot of slapping trainers
in a terrified sprint to win the far side before a train comes,
oh the clangour of drowned bells his feet make; be quick, be quick!
Who knows what cracks may open and
what worlds may be tumbled into if the monster should arrive;
would the boy be left senseless, eyes a-distance,
or a wicked, smiling changeling, or a pair of empty shoes?
Is there such magic, such old, unwritten wizardry in the everyday places?
I have no idea, but he has me running fit-to-win as well!
Marie Marshall’s timeline
- April 2026
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08 WedAnniversary
15 years of membership
- April 2021
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08 ThuAnniversary
10 years of membership
- April 2016
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08 FriAnniversary
5 years of membership
- April 2012
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08 SunAnniversary
One year of membership
- May 2011
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10 TueReceived a critique
on Railway footbridge, Perth (from 'A woman on the Edge') from @scribbler
"I really like this. Peaceful tranquility overcome by contagious panic lol...................scribbler" -
10 TueReceived a critique
on Railway footbridge, Perth (from 'A woman on the Edge') from @Kailashana2
"Marie, your work intrigues me. ~A" -
08 Sun
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07 SatCritiqued
"i, love and you" by @CCfire
"Oh! you mentioned her name that day as if a rusty pot sprung a leak- the magic boiled dry M" - April 2011
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29 Fri
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24 SunReceived a critique
on eucalyptus viminalis from @CCfire
"Marie, your scottish sense of humor is showing :P" -
23 SatReceived a critique
on eucalyptus viminalis from @scribbler
"This gives a whole new meaning to "tree hugger". I think the idea of love turning wooden is great............scribbler" -
23 SatReceived a critique
on eucalyptus viminalis from @CCfire
"come read when I saw the title :) and I love the joining of the tree genus with the human one and the aroma's of the eucalypti are well known, so much so they put it into a liniment they call Goanna Oil lol which litera…" -
23 SatReceived a critique
on eucalyptus viminalis from @magics02
"I have to come back for second read but I caught the essence in this write and the image of it all says much. Good job Marie Blessings Mona" -
23 Sat
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23 SatCritiqued
"like jack, he said the road had a beat" by @CCfire
"... of Bukowski and Lane A Smith, and that is despite the differences. I don't know whether that is good or bad. There are times when I really appreciate the way your poetry peters out at the end, as though we are looki…" -
23 Sat
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23 SatCritiqued
"god didn't make gardens" by @CCfire
"This is a little gem, but again another poem where the title sits uneasily. Have you ever considered doing without separate titles and letting your first line be the title?" -
23 SatCritiqued
"slender trap" by @CCfire
"I'm not crazy about the title either, but sometimes a title that sits uneasily can mean that the poem itself is pulled forward by its own word-power. I wonder how much longer we poets are going to keep using nature-imag…" -
22 FriReceived a critique
on we hit skid row from @Race_9togo
"I like this take on "Hark". You capture Bukowski's flavor very well. My scottish grandmother used to tell me that the nursery rhyme refered to theives: some were innocent beggars dressed in rags, the theives with jags…" -
18 MonReceived a critique
on A young woman who loved me spoke Welsh to me from @weirdelf
"I take nothing back. Smart, sensual and delicious." -
17 SunCritiqued
"Charismatic Poet" by @loved
"I'm not sure if I rightly understand your response. No one can be totally aware of the background of a poem, of course, and works of art are always open to interpretation by a viewer or reader. If you're responding to m…" -
17 SunCritiqued
""Love is gentle Lust is wild" Revised for a Song" by @Barbara Writes
"It's a rhetorical device http://virtualsalt.com/rhetoric2.htm#Antithesis" -
16 Sat
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15 Fri
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15 FriHighest posting month
April 2011 — 5 poems
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12 TueNew follower
@CCfire
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12 TuePosted a poem
(deleted poem)
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11 MonNew follower
@Pamela A. Lamppa
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10 SunNew follower
@49reasons
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10 Sun
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10 SunFirst publication
A young woman who loved me spoke Welsh to me
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10 Sun
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10 SunPosted a poem
A young woman who loved me spoke Welsh to me
"A young woman who loved me spoke Welsh to me;" -
08 FriJoined Neopoet
Membership begins
First poem published 2 days later.
About Me
About me
I'm middle-aged, I started writing (my first novel) in 2004, and also write short stories. It was about 2005 when I first tried poetry. I have published about 150 poems since then. I am Associate Editor of 'Sonnetto Poesia' (while it lasts) and 'Canadian Zen Haiku' magazines, and am also helping to select the poetry for the anthology 'The Phoenix Rising from the Ashes'. I have no qualifications to write other than being fluent in my native language. You can find out about my book of poetry, 'Naked in the Sea' here: http://nakedinthesea.webs.com
Location: by Dundee, Scotland, GBR
Favorite Poets
I try not to be influenced; I like the work of Chez Harvey and Lane A Smith
I admire Richard Siken but don't often like his work. I admire Lisa Jarnot. I can take Carol Ann Duffy and Liz Lochhead in small doses. I am in awe of Shakespeare
Yeats
and Dylan Thomas. I think Robert Browning and Philip Larkin should have been strangled at birth.
Recent Work
Contest Wins
This member has not yet won any contests.