The summit of High Pike, photographed by Ronnie Auld

You are logged in as: Guest
About Mungrisdale Writers The Mungrisdale Writers are a group of creative writers who meet fortnightly at the Village Hall and Recreation Rooms, Mungrisdale. Our members come from a variety of backgrounds and as a group we are interested in a broad range of topics. Some of us have written for publication but others are novices. We find the group both stimulating and entertaining and the Village Hall a wonderful place to work. Our writing is inspired by the ever changing seasons, the beauty of nature in our Cumbrian setting and the life and people around us. Angela Locke, our tutor, guides us on our creative and meditative journeys. Her encouragement helps us develop confidence to move forwards with our work.

(If you interested in developing your own creativity then come and join us. All that is needed is a pen and paper and a desire through sharing and friendship to become involved in a journey of self discovery.)



*****

Following the success of Mungrisdale Writers publication
DATING@60 and other TRIBULATIONS,
We are pleased to announce our first


POETRY COMPETITION
Winners

Full details are to be found on our News Page

First Prize of £100 went to Chris Davis for The Erl King

 

The Erl King

The pigtailed child, and the tall man

(handsome, upright, someone to trust)

walk down Shady Lane

as day turns to night, as the moon

swings into view, replacing the sun.

He is telling her stories

to lighten the last lap home.

She is holding his hand, for fear,

And for love of the sound of his voice

Caressing his much loved crimes:

Adelaide Bartlett, Lizzie Borden,

Rillington Place, Brides in the Bath,

Florence Maybrick. Best of all, worse

than all of them, Jack the Ripper

slashing his tarts. She’s seen the pictures:

blood-boltered bodies gutted like kippers.

“Go on, go on”, she says, needing more

blood and gore, vivid enough for a packet

of nightmares: women dissolving in acid,

stabbed, bludgeoned, vomiting arsenic,

murderers caught, hanged by the neck

until they were dead. The child enthralled.

Her father enthralled. They are avid

for evil, for the dark side of the moon.

Chris Davis