I Am Anaya Poet Free verse

Notes About The Poem

It’s an old belief that those with red hair have fiery tempers.  “Red Hair” shall be the theme this month.  Ginger heads or “Ginger” is the term, sending the word “red” packing.

chemical symbol=arsenic

The Death of Chatterton by Henry Wallis 1856

Alas Poor Chatterton

Torn are the pages of a callow poet’s scripts and poetry 
whose temperaments in intensity brews, obscurity he owns
this lad of seventeen summers, by deluges done in,
unfortunate understanding and  s
                                                   u            
                                                      c   c   o  r   beyond his reach

Could it be his fiery red hair complements his fiery despair?
Flames of passion forged and fashioned from fragments
of wholeness denied blamed
Treacherous wrath resilient with bounds
and a harsh fixation that poison can cure
A martyr of poetic unjust, starved wooing words   
spurned disdainfully by ruthless curs
O the valor oft times dons the mantle of resign, 
sobering, despairing leap away, away 
from the s c o r c h i n g   i n f e r n o
internal, and into the great expansive beyond

Alas, at Sir Wrens St Andrew’s, 
there lay the flesh of a premature eternal rest 
and then, to bones yet destined to become fully-fledged

         w       p  o  i  s   o  n       t
            h                              h
                y                      y
                          t  s
                    h     ?      e
                 e                   l
             n_                        _f

an arsenic end, 
steel grey runs through veins
conscious elements eminence 
Farewell to his anguished soul,
for his is a romantic eternal g’bye
fiery passions, temperate, b’fore him
an endless sorrowful slumber 

A forger’s legacy

Elinoure and Juga Rowley works
War irks, such irks
Scarlet drips his corpse
O beloved knight in shining armor,
sisters’ pleas _/\_ raven’s mimicry 
What war brings is not bright

“Virtue’s race
Is run in paths of pleasantness 
and peace
though narrow, yet sufficient for the few
who have this Pearl of Price
alone in view”
                —Thomas Chatterton

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Robert Gorelick March 9, 2026 at 12:10 PM His tragic death lived up to the Victorian ideal of unrequited young romantic love. Rare and well done! :-") Robert I Am Anaya March 10, 2026 at 1:10 PM Robert, thank you. The research was fascinating, the actual figure in the painting is the painter's friend posing as Thomas Chatterton.

Paula Goldsmith March 8, 2026 at 10:16 AM WOW!!! Your "Alas Poor Chatterton" is a wonderful/powerful/creative write. Words hold power. What a great picture. Have a very blessed day/week writing away........ I Am Anaya March 8, 2026 at 11:44 AM Thank you for reading, a serious poem on the suicide of a "starving artist" I felt such sorrow for the poet & a tragedy ignored. Go néirí leat, Paula

Yann Rolland March 7, 2026 at 8:57 AM great poem, poetry can visit darkness, poet can be fragile , thanks poet for the reading I Am Anaya March 7, 2026 at 9:11 AM Thank you for a beautiful comment, pleasantries you express are most appreciated!