Simon Fletcher – Essentials

Simon Fletcher is a Poet, tutor, top chief of Offa’s Press and organiser of City Voices – one of the longest running poetry events in the region. He’s been instrumental in nurturing talent, interest and passion in poetry in Wolverhampton and the wider area for decades. In short, a bit of a local legend. We asked him for his reaction to Black Country smells and memory and he sniffed out a sequence of haiku.

 

Essentials

 

scent of vanilla

drifts across the Mander’s air

Gregg’s custard slices

 

Zuri’s spice café

cumin, turmeric, sweet daal,

a fresh cup of chai

 

mouth-watering, spring

minted lamb, chilli spare ribs

at Kirk’s the butchers

 

Banks’s brewery

the most olfactory factory

deeply malted grain

 

in Bantock’s garden

lavender clears the head, gives

a fresh perspective