Post-weekend Poetry 130: Saudade by Samantha Connolly

Welcome to Post-weekend Poetry and the one hundred and thirtieth poem in this series. This week’s piece is by Samantha Connolly.

Saudade

The ground floor windows are reminiscent of the library

Where they met.

Should be a reason not to choose the place –

should be.

And yet…

The same dark stained wood and mosaic tile around the glass

‘Bela’, you used to say as you ran your finger along the grain.

The day outside is splashed with water,

crystal clear and cold and dripping.

Dew still on the grass and leaves

No breeze.

Bright, high sun.

It stirs something inside her.

A dull grey falls on the hush of the house.

She hears their laughter.

I asked Samantha what prompted this piece and she said…

I’ve always loved libraries. Preferably the type with high arches, dark wood panelling, that kind of thing. Maybe throw in a nice weighty antique globe. To me there’s nothing more romantic. Recently I’ve been contemplating getting old and the fact I don’t really mind, but isn’t it a bit of a shame? It made me get all whimsical about past trips to libraries and galleries when I liked to think the whole world was a romantic playground. I decided I wanted to write something about nostalgia and loss, and wrote Saudade. In the poem I’ve chosen to use a lost love in representation of loss of youth. In it, a relationship has ended and she is searching for a new home, and finds a house that reminds her of when they first met.

Thank you Samantha. I loved the description… very atmospheric.

Samantha holds a degree in English Literature with Film Studies from Kingston University, London, which she gained at age 30. Since then she has spent the last nine years writing seriously, having undertaken a fiction writing module via Open University and completed her first young adult fantasy novel, The Sister Worlds.

Samantha began telling stories from a young age, hiding herself away for an hour or so here and there while she spun her tales, living by her imagination (as much as possible within the bounds of reality!) whilst growing up. She began writing the odd poem during her teens, but it wasn’t until her late twenties whilst at university that she understood her true love for writing.

Her tastes are eclectic, not only in her own writing, but in the form and genre of the writing of others. She is inspired by Virginia Woolf and Christina Rossetti, amongst many others, including the work of Jane Austen, Philip K. Dick, Ellen Miller, and Zeruya Shalev. She has most recently been drawn to the work of Abraham Verghese. Her love for the magical and fantastical in fiction is relentless; she has particularly enjoyed the work of Suzanne Collins and Veronica Roth in this respect, and once studied Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep in relation to Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner. Samantha also has a strong interest in human relationships and mental health, and a love for the innocence of young children and the life and hope they instil in tired-out grown-ups.

With experience as an editor, proofreader and researcher, Samantha is well accomplished and finds this useful when writing and, of course, editing her own work.

Her proofreading and editing experience comprises a website research and editing project for the charity Re-Cycle, the proofreading and editing of a website story – also for Re-Cycle – together with the editing of their August and September newsletters; also a novel, short story, and flash fiction piece for author Elizabeth Los, a novel excerpt for author & translator Jasmine Heydari, and the website area and biographies for global broadcast production company Clean Cut Media Ltd. She has also draft written for the Facilities section of Clean Cut Media Ltd’s website. Samantha has read and edited various documentation including minutes, website material, presentations and more, as part of her administrative background.

Samantha has work published to include various poetry, short stories, blogs and articles, and she previously ran a creative writing group on a voluntary basis for Mungos charity.

She is currently writing her second novel and working on a series of children’s books for illustrator Ella Parry. She regularly writes fiction pieces both for her own website, and to be entered into various competitions.

If you would like to contact Samantha, please do so here. Her website is http://inkfeatherpen.wix.com/inkspiredwrite.

If you’d like to submit your poem (60 lines max) for consideration for Post-weekend Poetry take a look here or a poem for critique on the Online Poetry Writing Group (link below).

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