Venturing into a New Field...

A journey into poetry begins

Welcome to a new field,

Photo by Federico Respini on Unsplash

For a while now I have wanted to branch out into some poetry. My highest marks in English at school were for my poetry - it seemed to come naturally to me (but my aptitude with capital letters and punctuation - the bane of my English teachers life - now that is another story!). A few readers have also been kind to comment that I have a poetic style in my essays, so I guess the poet in me is trying to break forth in to verse and stanza - and I should probably let it.

And I will.

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Essays will continue to be the bulk of my writing here on Over the Field, but from time to time¹, I will publish Anthologies from the Field, sets of three poems, that will mostly be of the same broad theme. Anthology No. 1 which I am currently working on will be a set of Autumn poems - as today at least, the weather is certainly telling me Autumn has arrived.

In each Anthology, the first poem will be free for all. The subsequent poems will be behind a paywall for paid subscribers. This is important for me in this time of uncertainty as I navigate what is next post-university. Writing gives me something to do and a bit of income - so I am immensely grateful to all who have supported my work. Mindful of the fact that we are entering uncertain economic times and that many of my readers already pay for a number of other Substacks, I have endeavoured to keep my subscription fees low. But now - enough of that, let’s get to some poetry.

To start off my journey into poetry, I thought I would begin with a poem that defines my philosophy. For my long-time readers you will be aware my defining philosophical endeavour is to explore who is the Good Farmer, what defines him (or her), and what does he do? I think you will find in this first poem² of mine - a theme setting poem if you like - a partial answer to this question.

I hope you enjoy it

Hadden

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The Two Farmers

Standing ready with horse and plough,
the little old farmer whispers 
softly to his land: 
"This might hurt a little, but I'll try to be gentle."

Up high in his tractor -
music and AC blaring - 
the man does not notice his land,
nor the scars he is leaving.

(Hadden Turner, Chelmsford, 2023)

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To complement this poem, here is my first and theme setting essay for the benefit of new subscribers.

1. Perhaps once a month

2. Poems in my anthologies will be of varying length and style