Leilanie Stewart

The Robin Hood book launch event was held on Tuesday 24th July at the Centerprise Trust in London. There was a good turnout of contributors reading their published poems from the book. It was great to get back into reading my poetry live – since doing radio and open mic events in Cambridge in 2009, I hadn’t done any readings for an audience. It was also fun to have my work appear alongside some major names in poetry, such as Michael Horovitz, and to learn a thing or two about reading to an audience from great performers such as poet and actor, Keith Chopping.

Alan Morrison, editor of The Robin Hood book is fighting the good fight against austerity. Aside from inspiring readings on the night, there was a sadder note to the evening as we found out that the venue itself, The Centerprise Trust building, is on the soon-to-be-closed list. Hopefully enough funding can be raised to secure such a place that caters to both local and international cultures. It would be a shame to lose a culturally dynamic venue hosting a library, cultural cafe, bookstore and venue for spoken events.

Realms of Man by Joseph Robert / Metamorphosis of Woman by Leilanie Stewart – a reversible poetry collection.

Stale-Mate

(page 6 – Metamorphosis of Woman by Leilanie Stewart)

You were playing chess with my soul

I saw you eat the pieces

As you went along

I watched the black and white squares

Slide into the abhorrent depths

Of my subconscious

*

You took my knight, but it’s okay;

I have another

I’ll have my revenge

I’ll stamp those L-shaped patterns

All over your sadistic mind

I can see that it’s going this way

So I’ll finish it off-

I didn’t checkmate your wicked heart,

That happened long ago

And anyway, it’s too cliché

*

My pawn’s at the other side now

Wait until my Queen brings forth

A whole new reign of terror

On your brutal, tyrannical ass.

—

In Pagination

(page 2 – Realms of Man by Joseph Robert)

Pile up enough lies,

And they pay you.

*

Pay the stonemason,

And he’ll chisel what have you.

*

Forget that dame,

And you’ll live yet the while.

*

Black-lipped from guzzling newsprint,

And piping hot toner.

*

Wide-margined, double-spaced,

And big-fonted fool!

*

You cheat no one of a tree,

But the forest.

This month my poem, Anxiety Society, appears in The Robin Hood Book. Funny enough, my latest poem comes at a good time, since I was disenfranchised on May 3. Of course, the government are happy to post me all their political junk mail, but when the time comes, not my actual ballot. I should’ve expected this… but clearly, I’m not as cynical as I thought! Grr… time to get philosophical again, I guess. In the words of Rab C Nesbit when confronted by a pushy canvasser, ‘what do you need this useless article for?’