About Me

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Bristol , United Kingdom
I'm co-director of the Leaping Word Poetry Consultancy, which provides advice for poets on writing, editing and publishing, as well as qualified counselling support for those exploring personal issues in their work - https://theleapingword.com. My fifth poetry collection, Learning Finity, is now available from Indigo Dreams or directly from me.

Friday 24 June 2011

Sharing, fellowship and that sort of thing

Communion is an act of sharing.  So I'm sharing the title poem of my collection of poetry, which was inspired by the chance sighting of a 15th century mural warning against the perils of Lust, on the wall of the nave in St Winifred's Church, Branscombe. 









































Communion


She lifts her veil of lace,
her eyes are narrowed and her face
upturned for kisses,


and as she draws her lover in,
he binds her close
with promises. Yes,

they will prey,
but on each other
on this holy feasting day.


They don’t appear
to feel the Devil’s spear
thrust into their sides,

don’t realise
that they're a warning
painted on this ancient wall


to a score of generations
against temptations
of the flesh. Instead,

they’ll partake of each other
in red mouths of sandstone spires,
in sumptuous, honey-coloured quires,

in sanctuary, chapter house and chantry,
once used as store for vestments,
warm with candlelight and incense,


in drowned and sinking chapels
filling up with sand and lapped
by worn stone steps.

In sacred glades and nymets
beneath the fan-vaulting of trees,
she’ll smile and slither to her knees


on mossy hassocks, last year’s leaves,
like her dress of lovat silk
snagged on a hook.



Deborah Harvey © 2008 , 2011


Would also like to share how much I'm enjoying being here, tucked in between Thomas Hardy and Seamus Heaney:






































If you like my poems, the collection is now available to buy.  Please contact Indigo Dreams for further details, or, if you would like a signed copy, email me at deborah.harvey@ymail.com.  Price is £7.99 inc p&p within the UK, £8.50 inc p&p to the rest of Europe, £9.50 inc p&p to the rest of the world.

'Deborah Harvey's ... poems are raw and true. She is the real thing'      Hugo Williams



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