As a writer, a poet, I’m sure you spend as much time as I do, looking at strangers and wondering, imagining what their life is like. It starts young and never leaves you, the stories we weave.
The first time I remember being fascinated, I was reception age – 4 or maybe 5.
Angela McCormack had dislocated my arm and I was on a bus and on the way to casualty with my Mom, crying as it hurt so much, but I couldn’t take my eyes off this strange looking man, silhouetted against the window, the outline of his hat strange and unusual. It didn’t even have a bobble on it.
By the time we had got off the bus, he was a murderer, a saint, an artist and I don’t know what else.
Fifty years later I can still remember him and his glowing outline and remember the mixed-up stories he inspired.
May’s challenge is to imagine your own be-hatted stranger and tell a tale about him, he may be kind or cruel, old, young or in-between, it is up to you. But write a poem, tell his tale and share it with us all.
To be clear:
- Give your poem the name of the stranger or a wee description that fits
- Write a poem that tells his tale
Rules:
- There are no length constraints
- You must be a Cult Member to submit your poem – sending it to competition@hedgehogpress.co.uk
- Send the poem by 11.59pm on the 31st of May 2023
The best poems/responses will be included in a wee Stickleback as soon as possible.