Join the Neopoet online poetry workshop and community to improve as a writer, meet fellow poets, and showcase your work. Sign up, submit your poetry, and get started.
professor
Member since January 25, 2008
Member for 18 years, 4 months
member
91
Poems
1,278
Comments
4
Followers
Most recent
Patches
It started when
the coat was almost new,
caught on rust-streaked spikes
of a school-ground prison…..
Patches!
Invisible at first,
an extra pocket
or designer label;
no one suspected
hidden damage.
But the scar remained,
quickly joined by
brothers, sisters,
uncles, cousins.
Read the rest of the poem Show less
Then strangers
drove their opinions,
and other more physical
appendages,
through its crumpled fabric;
patches and coat
indistinguishable,
buttoned up tight
to keep everything out.
Razor drawn thighs
in clenched relief
as the dark-coated men
emerged from
the hidden recesses
of your tattered Psyche,
threatening with fingers
and twisted mouths
into huddled corners.
Terror patched
by white coats,
needles and
thought numbing pills.
But still the coat remains,
resisting the cold
of endless winter nights.
The patches have held,
and somehow sanity
of a kind has emerged
to convince those who
see beneath the fabric,
stitched and laddered
beyond any kind of
outlandish fashion,
that there is always
a way to foster hope.
professor’s timeline
- January 2023
-
24 TueAnniversary
15 years of membership
- January 2018
-
24 WedAnniversary
10 years of membership
- September 2014
-
05 FriReceived a critique
on Patches from @Janice Pearce
"Simplicity vs complexity, Great poem all the way around Professor" -
05 Fri
-
04 Thu
-
04 Thu
- April 2014
-
05 Sat
- January 2013
-
24 ThuAnniversary
5 years of membership
- October 2010
-
30 Sat
- May 2009
-
24 SunCritique milestone
1,000 critiques given
- January 2009
-
24 SatAnniversary
One year of membership
- October 2008
-
15 WedHighest posting month
October 2008 — 6 poems
- April 2008
-
06 Sun
- January 2008
-
26 SatFirst critique offered
on "Gemstones" by @poewriter58
-
26 SatFirst publication
Images of love
-
24 ThuJoined Neopoet
Membership begins
First poem published 1 days later.
About Me
About me
I am a Professor in Neuroscience and Medicine (Psychiatry and Neurology) in the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and at Huaxi and Provincial Hospitals in Chengdu. I am from the UK (Cambridge) originally but have now decided to live and work for the rest of my life in China. I actually have an Arts rather than a Science background and have been writing poetry since I was a child.
Location: China/Sichuan/Chengdu, CHN
Favorite Poets
Yeats
Elliot
Auden
Keats
Shelley
Byron
Recent Work
The Drowning Pool
Posted:
Blue Angel
Posted:
Midnight sea
Posted:
Staircase to memory
Posted:
Portrait of a dying child
Posted:
First day of Autumn
Posted:
Hollow men
Posted:
The Healer
Posted:
Come play this old piano
Posted:
Monastery
Posted:
Contest Wins
This member has not yet won any contests.