The Space Between Worlds - A Month of Daily Poems Day 3 (Video Poetry Reading)

This poem is one of a series of poems that I wrote based in the ancient world. It is written from the perspective of someone in the Viking society and it deals with the transitory point between life and death.

The Space Between Worlds is a Ghazal, which is an ancient form of Arabic poetry. Its most well-known proponent is the Persian poet and Sufi master Rumi who was born in 1207. Rumi's Ghazal, and his poetry in general are amazing and encapsulate the mysticism of both divine and human love perfectly. If you want to read more of their work you can find it here.

The Ghazal as a form is expressed by in line rhymes and a repeated refrain at the end of each two (couplet) or three (tercet) line stanza. I decided to use a three line stanza, otherwise known as a tercet. This gives the poet more space to breath, and as I've deviated a little from form this was essential. Ghazal are traditionally made up of a sequence of independent stanza, which can all sit on their own as mini poems. As I wanted to tell a story and build a narrative this was difficult. I feel like I may have achieved independence for most of the tercet but one or two run on from each other to build a story within the structure of the poem. I did stick rigidly to the form in regards to the third line refrain which should be of one to three words that repeat, in this case branches of heaven.

I made this 3speak exclusive video reading as poetry is historically a spoken format, and is often more effective when performed by the writer. I especially wanted to perform this poem given that Norse mythology lies at its heart and to honour the Skald's (Norse poets) oral tradition.