40 Poems of Lent: an introduction & roundup

While blithely pondering what I could give up for Lent (it has to be something I care about, I thought), I had several ideas, (something realistic, though) including CBeebies (realistic but challenging) and take-aways (something I’ll enjoy reinstating).

Nothing really fit.

Then I saw a tweet from @leedsbookclub about having previously done a Lenten poetry challenge. Bingo! I love the idea.

OK it may feel a little indulgent (poetry! Every day!) but Lent IS accidentally fairly indulgent really. It’s choosing something indulgent, and then indulging in the power and privilege to forgo it for a finite period of time.

So, here begins another attempt at sharing a poem a day with you. I intend to compile a list below here as I go, so eventually this will become a roundup for the full period. Who knows, I might even make it to the end this time!

1. Primrose by Alice Oswald
2. It Wasn’t the Father’s Fault by Rita Ann Higgins
3. Tribute by Sophie Hannah
4. Cathedral by Sinéad Morrissey (plus ‘Love, the nightwatch…’ because I couldn’t choose)
5. The Hedgehog by Polly Clark
6. The Mourner by Zoe Brigley
7. Budgie Finds His Voice by Wendy Cope – plus two short ones, and a guest appearance from Ted Hughes.
8. The Darkness of her Meekness by Selima Hill
9. Red Ridinghood’s Plan and Mermaid by Moniza Alvi
10. Child Burial by Paula Meehan
     **ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: challenge one quarter completed!**
11. Liberation by Ros Barber
12. Winter’s Tale by Carol Ann Duffy
13. Mademoiselle Mal Chance and Things I’m Cool With Now by Naomi Foyle
14. August by Esta Spalding
15. On The Layout of a Ventricle by Ruth Padel
16. Salvage by Jane Draycott
17. Piano Lesson by Eva Salzman
18. 1981 by Colette Bryce
19. Before the Wind by Kathleen Jamie
20. Psoriasis by Sarah Maguire
21. Child and You’re by Sylvia Plath
22. An Arundel Tomb by Philip Larkin (Guest post by Nicky Rowbottom)
23. The Present by Michael Donaghy
24. Civilization by Ian Duhig
25. Newly Born Twins by Helen Farish
26. Animals by Frank O’Hara (Guest post by Vanessa Napolitano)
27. Promise by Jackie Kay
28. Fathers by Joanne Limburg
29. Moon Hymn by Alice Oswald
     **INTERLUDE for World Poetry Day – includes John Osbourne Seamus Heaney, Sinead Morrissey and Wendy Cope **
30. There’s Birds In My Story by Leontia Flynn
     **ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: Three quarters complete!**
31. Centaur by Chase Twitchell
32: A Game of Marbles by John Burnside
33. Dart by Alice Oswald
34. Mrs Noah: Taken After the Flood by Jo Shapcott
35. Man and Boy by Patience Agbabi
36. Head of English by Carol Ann Duffy
37. The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams and The Green Wheelbarrow by Ian McMillan
38. Eunoia by Christian Bok
39. Mother-Love by Christine Coleman
40. Sonnet by Michelene Wandor