Social Climbing and Other Poems: Poetry, #4

By Laura Lyndhurst

I had no plans, after publishing Poet-Pourri, to write any more poems; at least not in the near future. But while I was in the prepare-to-publish stage of that book, I made the acquaintance of photographer Clive Thompson and his large archive of photographs, put together over quite a lot of years. Scanning through these on the internet I found the picture of a discarded Father Christmas chocolate-bearing Advent calendar, which immediately said 'poem material' to me. I wrote the poem and presented it to Clive, who loved it; and there was born the idea of a collaboration, my poetry written to the prompts of some of his photographs.

The photographs I have used for the pandemic-themed poems were taken quite some time before that ominous word had become a part of all our daily lives, but they seemed to fit the subject and I therefore took the liberty of utilizing them in that way.

 

The results of my poems joined to Clive's photographs I present here, as Social Climbing and other poems. It may not be the catchiest of titles but it works for me, and for Clive, and for you also, I hope. Enjoy.

 

96 pages approx. Reviews on Goodreads.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Laura Lyndhurst
• Release date: Sep 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9798224886715

Laura Lyndhurst

Laura Lyndhurst was born and grew up in North London, England, before marrying and travelling with her husband in the course of his career. When settled back in the UK she became a mature student and gained Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English and Literature before training and working as a teacher. She started writing in the last few years in the peace and quiet of rural Lincolnshire, and published her debut novel, Fairytales Don't Come True, in May 2020. This book forms the first of a trilogy, Criminal Conversation, of which the second is Degenerate, Regenerate and All That We Are Heir To the third. Innocent, Guilty, the first of another trilogy, continues the story told in these three books and leads on to The Future of Our House, which is followed by Uphill, Downhill, Over, Out as the sixth and final book to end the series. Laura also developed a taste for psychological suspense, which led to the writing and publication of You Know What You Did, to which What Else Did You Do? is the sequel. Laura has also published four small books of poems, October Poems, Thanksgiving Poems and Prose Pieces, Poet-Pourri and Social Climbing and Other Poems.

Book preview

SOCIAL CLIMBING

and other poems

Laura Lyndhurst

and

Clive Thompson

Poetry Copyright © 2021 Laura Lyndhurst

Photos Copyright © 2021 Clive Thompson / Alamy

All rights reserved

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

Imprint: Independently published

Cover design: Laura Lyndhurst using background-g058f9901e_640.jpg from Pixabay and

Red Shoes image from © Clive Thompson

Acknowledgements

I owe eternal thanks to my friend and mentor Nancy Bonnington, who got me started on writing poetry and without whom my career as a poet would never have happened.

Thanks finally to all those who have read and enjoyed my poetry to date, encouraging me to continue to write in the genre.

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Author’s Foreword

I had no plans, after publishing Poet-Pourri, to write any more poems, but then I met photographer Clive Thompson and his large archive of photographs. Scanning through these I found the picture of a discarded Father Christmas chocolate-bearing Advent calendar, which said ‘poem material’ to me. I wrote the poem and presented it to Clive, and there was born the idea of a collaboration, my poetry written to the prompts of his photographs.

Those I have used for the pandemic-themed section were taken some time before that ominous word became a part of all our lives, but they fitted the subject so I took the liberty of utilizing them in that way.

I present them all here, as Social Climbing and Other Poems. It may not be the catchiest title but it works for me, and for you also, I hope. Enjoy.

Laura Lyndhurst

August 2021

LIFE’S A BEACH

The Naked Truth

Like bookends they sit, each reading their own personal tale of

comedy and tragedy, the space between the covers including

chapters of joint history. The narrative moves back and forth

between both voices, his and hers, from opening Exposition

through to middling Complication and on towards an ending,

Resolution, which they haven’t quite reached yet.

Through Meeting, Dating, Mating, with Marriage in before that last;

there’s Pregnancy, Delivery, sub-sections a and b and c, all set out

in chapters called Maternity and Paternity. Infancy and Primary,

Secondary, University, all take their alloted places via Housewifery

and Wage-Slavery. Eventually came Nest-Emptying, followed very

naturally by greatly-wished Grand-Parenting.

The final chapter’s writing now, Elderly, including Holiday, a section

to include a