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1902.  Monet’s staying at The Savoy

in the same rooms

occupied by Whistler a few years ago

and successfully avoiding

the denotive shackles of too exact a realism

in his paintings of The Thames,

busy adding extra bridges –

all his boatmen are named Charon

ferrying the dead  

from shore to shore


Only winter will do for Monet

London wrapped

in that mysterious cloak of fog

and mist

created by London’s basin situation

Only in winter

can Monet paint the Thames

without risking the overabundance

of verisimilitude

though unlike Turner

he does not resort to the trick

of making the world taller, buildings,

mountains, waterfalls,


but like Turner and Whistler

he offers us

(and so will Dufy)

a world (a Thames) of radiant precision


Look sharp Billy! Four portions of everything for M’sieur Monet!

Four portions of everything on the menu for M’sieur Monet!

Published in ‘Four Portions of Everything on the Menu for M'sieur Monet!’

(Indigo Dreams Publishing, August 2016)

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Four Portions of Everything on the Menu for M'sieur Monet!

By Penelope Shuttle. Published by Indigo Dreams Publishing, August 2016

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Back in 2005 Penelope attended a Study Day at Tate Britain which focused on the Gallery’s current

major exhibition, Turner, Whistler, Monet. She made some notes, filed them and promptly forgot about

them. A few years later they came to light in a notebook. Suddenly she found herself writing about

Monet in London. Monet was a man with a very hearty appetite.


Penelope had gone to the Study Day on her own, but more usually visit places with friends, or with

her daughter. In one of the poems Penelope was accompanied by her Great Aunt Wave, and it is 1955.

The common thread of the pamphlet is the visits she made and those experiences she encountered.  

Sissinghurst, Paris, Lapland, Galway, Wales, and Rome, are some of those places explored. A set of

travelling poems capturing a sense of the energy she felt at each different locale.


Visit Indigo Dreams Publishing website

White rose day

in a white garden

summer wilding in and out

of the pergolas of white jasmine

vestal hedges

and pom-pom dahlias

so lets sleep

have a little zizz

for a week or so shall we

in the white rose white rabbit garden

ah but he’s not hurrying now

he’s too sleepy

the lime-tree walk reveals

its keen green sense of humour

but then it yawns oh it yawns

sleepy questions flora and fauna never ask

are and are not answered

sleepy afternoon of Cloth-Hall dreams

boat-house snores

green scarab beetle winging-by

taking flight from Lady Macbeth’s robe

in the white and wealden garden

why not have a lovely snoozy little sleep

at Zizzinghurzzzt

where the spiders reel in their sleepy suppers

and what was I sayingggggg

White Garden

Published in ‘Four Portions of Everything on the Menu for M'sieur Monet!’

(Indigo Dreams Publishing, August 2016)

PURCHASE
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Cornwall Contemporary Poetry Festival

Will be held in Falmouth, from Thursday 22

to Sunday 25 November 2018

Penelope Shuttle has made her home in Cornwall

since 1970 and the county’s mercurial weather and

rich history are continuing sources of inspiration.

About Penelope | Penelope Shuttle
Will You Walk a Little Faster? | Penelope Shuttle
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