Illustrating the Poetry of Belinda Bradley

I was commissioned by Belinda for this event back in 2010, along with fellow illustrator Robin Clare who illustrated one or two of Belinda's other poems. (All illustrations below are by me.)

 

Items Found on Public Transport (by Belinda Bradley)

A Barbie birthday cake,

a “Nobody Likes Me” CD

by Alice Cooper,

a Misty Pink lipstick,

thirteen stick insects,

a mouldy cheese sandwich,

a goldfish named Slurpy,

a Nokia 1208 mobile phone,

a 2 year old,

a silver trombone,

a dinosaur bone,

a packet of brown rice,

six dead mice, white,

a “Kiss” wedding dress,

a prosthetic leg,

a last will and testament,

a copy of “Harry Potter

and the Philosopher’s Stone,”

£30,000 in used bank notes,

a black brolly,

a cat called Holly.

............

  

 I Remember (by Belinda Bradley)

I remember...

the bus

red,

covered in cobwebs

in the garden shed.

I remember....

the blossom

pink,

daisies

on the olive sink.

 

 I remember ……

my ragdoll

blue,

school shoes

shiny and new.

I remember ……

the white swans

on the wall,

threadbare carpet

in the narrow hall.

I remember……

my grandma

calling a dress “a frock,”

and saying

“you are soppy” a lot.

I remember……

ballet lessons

and tap,

looking in the mirrors

thinking I looked fat.

I remember……

the first time I was alone

with a boy in my room,

my dad asking

“is he going home soon?”

I remember ……

the day

my twin sister left,

how I wept

and wept and wept.

............

  Through the window of the Manchester train  (by Belinda Bradley)

  
I watched her walk away,

a nondescript figure

on an empty platform.

I saw her sure-footed steps

as we sped past,

watched the draft lift

my sister’s thick brown hair.

Her lasting impression

fossilised in the changeable air.