Thursday September 19 Stevie Smith

We come up on the great English author and poet Stevie Smith. She was born Florence Margaret Smith and went by the name Stevie, she was born Sept 20, 1902 and died March 7 1971. She chose the name "Stevie" after a jockey she admired and her friends began calling her this name and she felt it would be a good pen name.

she described the world in which she grew up in the poem "A House of Mercy"

 It was a house of female habitation,
Two ladies fair inhabited the house,
And they were brave. For although Fear knocked loud
Upon the door, and said he must come in,
They did not let him in


and then there is of course her powerful poem,

Stevie Smith photo courtesy of poetryfoundation.org

Not Waving, but Drowning

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.