A seasonally adjusted poem is my offering this week. I found a poem I had written during my time living and working in New York called Raw Beauty. It encapsulates a stranger's Christmas gift in the depths of a miserably cold day, in a rather dreary location.  Inspired by Linda Mitchell's mash up poem last week, I decided to mash my poem with a short, evocative Christmas poem by UK poet, Wendy Cope. I enjoyed the weaving process. Season's greetings all. Vanderbilt Avenue bus shelter Raw Beauty - A Christmas Poem After Wendy Cope At Christmas little children sing and merry bells jingle I'm standing at the bus stop On Vanderbilt Avenue Stick trees line the street Silent soldiers on a bleak avenue   In a feeble shelter Three women stand I huddle in my flimsy coat Nearby An icy wind Rampant, raw Slaps my face With a bully’s rage The cold winter air makes our hands and faces tingle Above the wind And the ugly song of the traffic I hear whistl...

  I recently purchased a copy of Wendy Cope's anthology, 'Two Cures For Love-Selected Poems 1979-2006. Wendy Cope is an English Poet who delights in quirky, observational poetry appealing to the reader's emotional self. A witty, contemporary poet, she cleverly mixes humour and serious thought provoking  moments in her wide ranging works. Wendy Cope also likes to experiment and play with form. I like that very much... I found myself most beguiled by the poet's treatment of nursery rhymes. In two of the poems she re-imagines these classic rhymes under the influence of master poets like William Wordsworth and T S Eliot.  This sparked an idea and I began to imagine an encounter between John Keats and the legendary nursery characters, Jack and Jill. Here is the resultant poem: John Keats Encounters Jack and Jill Twas the season of mists When two ascended the hill To fetcheth water in a pail One Jack One Jill Jack did tumble Breaking his crown Resulting in a burning forehead ...