MEMBERS of a poetry group in Malvern are sharing their work with Gazette readers each month.

We will feature a poem by a member of Spoken Word, a group that meets every Thursday at 7.30pm at Abbey Road Coffee to perform their work.

For more information on the group, email arcspokenword@yahoo.co.uk

Rem, by Brian Graham

I met a man named rem.

You may have seen him.

You may have waved.

You may have chatted.

You may remember rem.

He spent last winter in the bus shelter

On the Wells Road.

In the bus shelter on the Wells Road

Is where he lived

This man I met named rem.

Sometimes I’d buy him a coffee.

Sometimes he’d get me one.

We’d talk; not for long but

We’d talk

And give each other a hug,

Give each other a hug

Me and this man I met named rem.

And over the months he changed.

He had less and less control,

Less and less control.

Over his mind he had less and less control.

Fear and anxiety assaulted him.

They gripped him.

This troubled soul named rem.

He grew his beard long

And had a preoccupied look.

Used alcohol to self-medicate.

Alcohol was his meds.

He took to aimlessly walking,

Aimlessly he walked.

And when I saw him last

I asked “where are you sleeping?

Tonight, where do you sleep?”

I asked this troubled soul rem.

And rem shrugged his shoulders

“I don’t care” he said.

I don’t care anymore”

And this was the last I saw of him,

This troubled soul named rem.

I meant to ask those who knew him,

I meant to ask “have you seen rem”

But it never quite happened.

I forgot to ask, “how’s rem”.

My friend Maria once told me

She wants her ashes spread.

Spread over earnslaw quarry,

Its where she wants her ashes spread.

And it was to here that rem went

It’s where he went to die.

And so, this life is over

For this troubled soul named rem

Steph who told me the news,

Told me the same day some more.

Another man had just taken his life

Just down the road,

Just down the road in great Malvern

In great Malvern where I live,

I never drank a coffee

With this troubled soul

But I did share coffee

With a troubled soul;

With a troubled soul named rem.

Richard Bach once wrote

“do not be dismayed at farewells

For meeting again, in moments or in lifetimes,

Is certain for those who are friends”

That’s what Richard Bach once wrote.

And I pray that this is true

For rem

And for all troubled souls like rem.