One of the great unanswered questions of the millennium still looms large as more poems are spotted on the footpaths of New Frankley in Birmingham: Just WHO is Poet Monkey RA?!
Dace Parkes spotted these new works chalked onto footpaths around Frogmill Road today (Friday 1st June).
Last week two poems – a moving piece describing life through the eyes of a Syrian child and a love poem – were discovered on paths near Balaam Wood School and in Forestdale Park.
Dace spotted two chalked inscriptions today – one a short statement on the journey of life and the other the musings of a hedgehog looking for love!
Dace said she and her 6 year old daughter enjoyed finding the poems on their walk to the playground, saying: “We absolutely loved it!”
Today’s discoveries:
One for the Kids
Minnie the Hedgehog
My name is Minnie and I’m as old as my spikes
And I noticed on Facebook my photo got a lot of likes
So here goes:
My name is Minnie and I am a hedgehog
People say I’m prickly but I’m not prickly at all
Only when I’m frightened and I roll up in a ball
I’m very beautiful and not very tall
I love slugs and cat food and late nights out
You can often see me snuffling about
It’s not that I have a cold or flu
It’s just what we hedgehogs do
We sniff out our food
We are not being rude
So if there are any hedgehog out there who want to be my mate
Then message me on facebook and we can make a date
Love Minnie
Poet Monkey RA
You can read the full poems from last week below, in pictures or text. If you know who wrote these or you have seen any other poems written anywhere in the area, please let us know!
The thoughts of a ten year old Syrian child
WHEN
When will I be able to wake up and not hear the sound of gunshots
When can I stop avoiding the [alleyway] were the [corpses] of my neighbours do rot
When will I stop thinking today’s the day I die
Waiting for death as every hour ticks by
When will I find my father and my mother
Who will look after the child with no mother
When will the school open again
When will I be free of this mental pain
When will I stop being a pawn in a political game
[Enemy] to no one target to all
[Nowhere] to hide as the bombs fall
Who will count the cost of those who fall
Reduced to nameless statistics
Born dead in the land of the mystic
No dignity in life
No dignity in death
Fighting for life from the very first breath
When will I be a child again
Playing happily in the rain
When will I be seen as a human being
If you had seen what I have seen
Been the places I have been
Watching someone destroy your dreams
I will always be [here]
I will always hear
My neighbour’s screams
But I have to dream
Will I ever be able to wash away the stench of death
And replace it with the scent of the Damask rose
What the Moon Saw
I kiss your neck as you gaze at the stars
Standing here like Venus and Mars
Dressed only in the moonlight
Flesh pressing flesh as we stand and caress
Comfortable and happy in this state of undress
My lips capture every breath as you breathe
This place I don’t ever want to leave
I love you more than there are stars in the sky
Without your love I would surely die
I see the tears form in her eyes
Distorting the reflection of the new sunrise
And for that moment there is nothing else in this universe but you
Wrapped in the contortions of love
Our silhouettes picked out by the moon above
And there on that night I learnt the true meaning of love