Sue Norris,   poet, U.K.

God Given

You God,
given me
a head
that thinks different,
I look after,
clothe it,
wash it,
feed it,
as if it it's something not me.

As if it was you, God.

As it is; as it is.
A fog to me; a fog.
A mysterious mist
that's got blood, bone, skin,
movement and a voice coming from somewhere;
thinking up in the regions too.

The pain, the hurting too,
you gave, God, to me
to look after.

God, you gave me wonderings.

(1993, Ref 88/20)
Printed the June 1994, BAFA newsletter, page 15.

Where are you?

You don't know the you
I lost.
You have gone out.
Worse still,
your sayings, things,
that not be good for me.

Where are you?
As I look,
only your body and head is.

(1993, Ref 95/3)
Printed the June 1994, BAFA newsletter, page 15.

Sue Norris, poet.
Written by Jonathan Griffith, U.K.

Born in 1948, Sue's life is much shaped by a subtle disability. She has difficulty handling information about context, both in receiving and giving it, both in practical and social matters. Everything tends towards terrifying uncertainty and constant misunderstanding, but she is intelligent, perceptive and very sensitive, as her poems show.

Her difficulties were unrecognized and her education was abysmal, but her thirst for knowledge and understanding is insatiable. Given liberating support holds things together for her, she achieves great things.

In her poetry she can often encapsulate an idea of a moment without it loosing its unity and her vision is striking. She wrote her first poem in 1981 but needed a computer system able to look after her work automatically before she really got going in 1989. Since then she has written thousands of poems of many kinds and rising quality.

However this achievement is very fragile. It is a constant battle to find and maintain the level of support she needs if she is to have a life with much meaning for her.

She has been a Bahá´í for 5 years. She is also a Quaker, another group who accept and appreciate her special vision. Friends from both work together to give whatever support they can.