The Flared Black Skirt: Selected Poems

By Mary Joseph

In this insightful and thought-provoking selection of poems, the reader is taken on a journey through life and death, love and heartbreak, joy and hardship: in other words, human existence in its myriad aspects.
Written in deceptively simple language and often in the form of homilies and riddles, these poems cast the familiar in an unfamiliar light.
Skilfully employing repeating patterns, personification and metaphor, the author offers a compelling reflection on who we are and how we navigate the world around us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Release date: Apr 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9781398406179

Mary Joseph

Mary Joseph lives in London, England. She shares her busy schedule with family and friends while working in the financial service of a private company, enjoys looking after her bunnies and being a musician. She decided to write this book and share her passion with her readers.

Book preview

Oh Death who are you?

Oh you encaged black and white bird

Oh you who have taken life away

You feared by men, feared by all

You who said no to tomorrow

You whom darkness belongs to

Oh you powerful one, you friend of nobody

You unkind to human life, unkind to human body

You the one that puts end to pain to cause pain

You older than all others, than life

Oh you who will die last

You whom everyone bows down to

You who invite all to live with you

Oh death who are you?

Dark prison

I am in pain inside this dark prison

I am thirsty, please give me peace

I have no peace, no hope for tomorrow

Please set me free, I am desperate

I am in deep darkness, I suffer much

I thought I knew it, I thought I have seen it

I want to die but there is no death

My soul is tormented day and night without sense of time

My soul is troubled in much distress

Inside here only memories

Wiser I should be, foolish I was, now is just too late

In this dark prison of fire there is no way out

In this place of sorrow only pain and distress

As a loud music I hear the cries of my soul

I hear the cries of the doomed the pains of the dead

I am in here forever

A man’s gift (his talent)

Pay attention to me oh you gifted one

Be aware of me you called talented

I am the reason they love you so

The reason