Richard Lister | Poet | Workshop Facilitator | Coach

Poetry Walk

Edge & Cusp

I like to draw readers into stories of intriguing characters, images and places. In my recent collection, 'Edge & Cusp', my poems have been said to 'capture life like a vibrant painting, giving you the time to examine and ponder the hues of existence in all its beauty and tragedy'.

Crackling creativity

Perhaps you are wondering how to inspire and engage new, younger and more diverse people to join your poetry group or come to your literary festival? I suggest you give them a chance to take part. Not just by asking a question. Give them a chance to get stuck in and have fun writing poetry, whether it's for the first time, knocking off the rust or refining their gift. To help people do just that, I run fun, creative and down to earth workshops:

'Really enjoyable' 'Stimulating' 'Thought-provoking'

 
Poetry Walk

You can take your pick from workshops such as:

 

Or you could request something bespoke. If you'd like an exploratory chat, you can contact me on richardnwlister@gmail.com

Poetry to explore and enjoy

My work is published in twelve international magazines including Acumen, Orbis and Ekphrastic Review and is carved into the Radius sculpture. I coach leaders to bring life-giving transformation in the UK, Asia and Africa.

Here are some selected poems:

Contents
Turner's flight
There's no smoke for the fool
Alight
Listen

Turner's flight

Fishermen at sea, 1796 by JMW Turner

As a youth he learned
how watercolours spill
through canvas grain and weight,
now oils shiver in his hands.
He paints the waves
clear enough to glow

yet with such thump and throw
that they could snap apart
these men upon the rocks
or upturn their craft and fill their throats:
it's a hungry skill to steer at night
and grasp the fish to string out life.

Four fishermen, hunkered in their boat,
sodden, sullen, red-raw hands yanking
at a rope or deftly parting guts
and flesh, sail unaware across
the starting line of Turner's flight
from solid land to paint with light, just light.

Published in Acumen Issue 106

There's no smoke for the fool

who lives in a glasshouse
but gathers no moss.
He's stuck, parched, wilting
and mimes to each passerby
through panes stippled with algae
that he's frustrated
by forever tending tomatoes.
Oh how he longs to inhale
the finest smouldering sphagnum. —

A workman, bad as he is blind,
always a fag in his hand
has sawed, spliced
and hammered for weeks
to build this catapult.
King or not, he cannot stand
his one-eyed neighbour.
Hurling these stones
will make that clear.
—

A leopard is easily
parted from her spots
if the bath is hot enough.
It's all part of her Pamper Package
along with a massage stone
expertly rolled across her muscles.
It's exhausting trying
to catch birds in the bush:
now is the time to unwind.
—

Familiarity breeds time
under the warmth
of a red incubation bulb:
splicing globules of seconds
with a Sheffield Steel scalpel
till they coalesce
into whole Sunday afternoons.
Each strand sags like spaghetti
made by too many cooks.
—

Many hands make light
before a fall. Young women
with singed leather gloves
gather each particle
of fizzing star spawn.
They set the cliffline ablaze
so no-one tumbles over –
for the seas have not yet been filled
to swallow their pride.

Longlisted for the Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year 2022

Alight

A line as delicate
as a spider's sigh defines
the edges of this pansy.
Eight imperial purple strokes
draw the eye. Beyond sight
ultraviolet landing lights have enticed
an Early-Nesting Bumblebee,
his hairy body perfect for cold
spring air. He dips his proboscis
and sips, nectar scaled to his tongue.

Published in 'Edge and Cusp' Cover Story Books 2022

Listen

You are also welcome to listen to some of my poems which are on Poetry Worth Hearing: