This poem, originally published on Every Day Poets, takes its inspiration from a 1931 creative map (produced by artist Edward Bawden) which now hangs in Scarborough Library.

Looking at a Print of Scarborough

This picture reminds me of the smell

of seaweed in cliff gardens at low tide,

when sunshine felt like a warm new suit all over,

and the open-top bus ride tousled our hair.

On the beach, eating ice creams,

we stared deep into donkeys’ eyes

to see their souls, sure they sensed ours

in the quiet tide beneath everything.

Lying on our stomachs, watching the sea,

I kept you safe like the castle keeps safe

its bay with rocky shoulder and encircling arm.

I touch the glass that separates the print from me.

There’s a slim airspace between today and yesterday.

I know I can always reach you there.

Stuart Larner

Another previously published poem.

Map Reading

“This is where we started from,” you say.

A feeble line, on uncertain ground,

Wispy as your hair once on my coat.

“This is where we think we went,” you say.

A wavering contour took us round

And back – though no higher, yet so close.

“This is where we meet again,” you say.

Looking for pointers is how we found

Each other, when thinking we were lost.

Stuart Larner

first published Kansas City Voices (Volume 10),2012

In acknowledgement of the Rio Olympics,
a poem reprinted from EDP magazine:

Pool Lifeguard

From my high chair I watch them

splash and kick, push and drift.

That’s how they measure progress here.

A passer-by might often think

my life is sunshades and casual cotton.

But swimmers know my legs

are bared for instant rescue.

My whistle halts their risky tricks:

I can save lives without moving,

but, surprised, they freeze as if I’d killed them.

Stuart Larner

another poem reprinted from the 

Every Day Poets website

Invitation to the Dance

Our words drown in disco sound.

All week this beat had leaked

from loose earphones on rush-hour trains.

Tonight you fluoresce. In strobing light I see

parts of your self you’ve brought from home:

keepsakes from the past,

keys to the present,

charms for the future.

All piled here between us.

May I dance with you round the bag?

Stuart Larner

my new book, written under the nom-de-plume Rosy Stewart. co-authored with Rosie Larner.

Hope: Stories from a Women's Refuge

The story of three women who track down perpetrators of domestic violence. A series of their cases.

The Shop That Isn't There

‘Next to my barber’s, was there a matchbox seller’s?’

‘Oh no,’ she said. ‘That was the tripe-dresser’s.

The other side sold extreme umbrellas,

Two doors down from the laundry-presser’s.’

‘But wasn’t my short-back-and-sider’s once there,

Amongst that row that has been pulled down?’

‘Not quite,’ she said. ‘It was ladies underwear –

This barber’s of yours was in another town.

Remember where you bought the sugar cutters?

That roof’s come down, the shop’s in wrecks.

Superstore now, once a fruit and nutter’s,

Whilst ladies’ and gents’ turned to unisex.’

So I won’t worry over what’s lost and gone

When I’m not sure what was there on day one.

Stuart Larner

previously published on Every Day Poets

Courtship by an Equilibrist

Is your love life sometimes like walking a tightrope stretched out in public view?

poem published by Every day poets in 2013

Courtship by an Equilibrist

A secret street performer,

Without coin-inviting cap or sign.

You can’t see me. You don’t know yet

That I’m here, the balancer in your life.

Zephyr amongst the crowd, I launch

Soap bubbles which float unseen

To pop their good luck on you.

Did you feel that touch on your arm?

When all your traffic lights were green

And your phone calls went through – 

That was due to my juggling with

The junction boxes of your days.

Soon you’ll spot me in your thoughts:

No longer an act, I’ll be risking it all.

There’s danger in the next steps on the line.

Hold tight that line. Don’t let me fall.

Stuart Larner