Tuesday Poem: “Au Charbonnage” by Laurice Gilbert
Au Charbonnage
November 1880
Dear Theo
I am drawing again.
Here is a sketch of
The Colliery,
the miners’ tavern at Laeken,
It is in good repair
don’t you think?
The miners are poor
and in need of salvation.
I have given them
my money, my clothes,
my food
and God’s word.
The converts are
elusive and I’ve
lost a bit of weight.
.
© Laurice Gilbert
Published in My Family & Other Strangers, 2012
Reproduced here with permission.
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As I noted in last week’s Tuesday Poem post, I am currently running a series of poems in response to works of art, which will include a note from the poet. This week’s poem and note is from Laurice Gilbert, whose bio appears below.
You can see an image of Au Charbonnage here.
Poet’s Note: from Laurice Gilbert
“All my Van Gogh poems are named for the paintings that they are written in response to. The date beneath the title is when the painting was completed. I set out with the intention of writing enough to make up a chapbook on their own, but life got in the way, which is why a small section of them has ended up in my collection, My Family & Other Strangers. Some have also been published in Shot Glass Journal, and I still have a few that haven’t seen the light of day. I haven’t entirely given up on the chapbook idea.”
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About The Poet:
Laurice Gilbert is President of the New Zealand Poetry Society, with poems published in many New Zealand journals and anthologies, Island (Australia), The Book of Ten (UK), Shot Glass Journal, Fib Review and Sugar Mule (online). She is the current Featured Poet International at Muse-Pie Press, and with her first collection out of the way, is working on a joint collection with Portuguese poet Hugo Kauri Justo.
To find out more about Laurice and her work, click here: About Laurice.
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To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub—and link to other Tuesday Poets posting around NZ and the world—either click here or on the Quill icon in the sidebar.
Interesting idea for a poem series; I’ll have to check out Laurice’s Van Gogh series elsewhere too.
Love this idea, Helen, posting poems inspired by visual art. Great for the coming weeks and months!
Glad you like, Michelle.:)