Better Not

By Hugo Steere

a tes beaux yeux! is a toast,'to your beautiful eyes'It was taught to me as a boy by my swiss aunt on family holidays in Switzerland. It is also the title of the poem which began this collection.Seeing a gifted young actress brilliantly perform her first major role on stage,I knew what the substance of the poem was about.It was a celebration not only of her beautiful eyes but the strengh and sensitivity of her acting.This combination set a fire alight that spawned a large number of poems,some of which are in this collection.Poems on Life and the Sacred followed naturally.They played the role of otherness, some in fun,like 'Chairman of the Board', some in sorrow, like,'The empty room'. These poems are as close to me as someone can get, they show how I view a woman who I admire and will surely never meet but one I wish to honour in verse.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hugo Steere
• Release date: Oct 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301298280

Hugo Steere

Born in fifties Britain Hugo Steere enjoyed a happy chilhdood punctuated by the delights of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew and the open spaces of Richmond Park, west of London. After his education in Wales and Devon he returned to live at Kew in the early eighties. Both the Gardens and Park became a rich enviroment for a would be poet. But it was in later life having been attracted to the appearence of a young vivacious actress that he started writing poetry in earnest. It was the beginnning of what was to become his first collection,'Better Not' She became a poets muse and inspired many of the poems in the book, though they never met. Although he has lived in Devon with his wife and two children for many years, London is in his blood,a place of belonging,somewhere that will always be home territory

Book preview

Better Not

Hugo Steere

Published by Hugo Steere at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Hugo Steere

The right of Hugo Steere to be identified as the author of this work

has been asserted with the copyright,

Designs and Patent Act 1988

About the poems

…before the tune’s completely lost

frozen out by numbing days

where nothing breaks the heart

as ghosts of you appear and fade through a lovers gate

No Refrain

Inspired by the vivacity a gifted Actress, ’Better Not’ is the first collection of poems from Hugo Steere. Written in Devon, England between September 2010 and April 2012, Steere beautifully exposes the ubiquitous yearnings of a heart troubled by distant joys. His poems on Life and the Sacred complete an engaging volume of poetry.

An eclectic, soul-searching collection of poems that reveal the desires of a tender heart

and exposes the darker vagaries of life.

Alison Summerfield Poet

Privately poignant, yet public in emotion, I challenge anyone not to tune into these poems which will haunt you, move you and make you see the world in a different light.

Sophie King Author

Contents

Love Songs

i

A Gentle Madness

Snows in Summertime

A Father’s Farewell

For Rachel

At Greywell

Star Gazer

In a Bleakworld

Our last Fuck

No Refrain

Paralysed

ii

à tes beaux yeux!

Carpark Attendence

Off Limits

Magic Giver

Perfect Peonies

At the Lights

c’est d’la faute

Sucking up the Sweetness

Life

Low Tide at Kew

Bluebell

Nude Woman

Name Change

Shuttingdown

Builders Lunch

Banker Bashing

Before the Verdict

Punting in her Pigtails

The Pencilist

On Paddington Station

My Hairdresser

Chairman of the Board

On the Bonnie W SOH

Dream Weaver

Sacred

The Casting Vote

The Empty Room

Girl at Evensong

A Man called Simon

Prayers

Remembering Lot’s Wife

Liverpool at Advent

On Byrd

Freaks

Love Songs

1

A Gentle Madness

I wait for darkness

don’t you

the closing off

the chance to find the loves

that in the tearing day

vanish like the morning dew

and with a breath are gone

there never was a meeting on an autumn bench

shadowed by the lime trees

from the dairy window view

and in this evening’s summer

I think of you

dancing always dancing on the corner

this way

that

this way that

your night time man to cherish

pressing hands behind your back

enticing colours with the black

I’ve been there too

a star lit walk beyond Worlds End

hands in hair

before the swelling Putney