This Heart
Poems from the universe inside
Published on 21. May 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
140 pages
978-1-80432-382-3 (ISBN)
Description
Poems that arrive like gentle reminders that life is happening - right now, right here - and it's trying to tell you something.
Following the quiet cult success of Julian of Norwich's Teabag - described by Bono in the New York Times as his 'favourite book no one's heard of' - poet and broadcaster Martin Wroe returns with this luminous new collection. His work bridges the spiritual and the secular with the grace of someone who's not trying to win an argument - it just tells the truth beautifully and often makes you laugh along the way.
This breath that calls to stillness
This heart that holds a universe
This fleeting understanding
That both are still expanding
Every day is a poem. The trees bowing to each other in the breeze. The cyclist pedalling through the air. That song about you on the radio. A robin waiting for you to answer her question. A loved one whose life is disappearing. Poem or prayer, psalm or song, all the same exercise in getting silence to cough up some truth. Every day is a poem. And everyone we meet.
This heart does not exist
This heart is a metaphor
This heart is a poem
The truest thing of all
Following the quiet cult success of Julian of Norwich's Teabag - described by Bono in the New York Times as his 'favourite book no one's heard of' - poet and broadcaster Martin Wroe returns with this luminous new collection. His work bridges the spiritual and the secular with the grace of someone who's not trying to win an argument - it just tells the truth beautifully and often makes you laugh along the way.
This breath that calls to stillness
This heart that holds a universe
This fleeting understanding
That both are still expanding
Every day is a poem. The trees bowing to each other in the breeze. The cyclist pedalling through the air. That song about you on the radio. A robin waiting for you to answer her question. A loved one whose life is disappearing. Poem or prayer, psalm or song, all the same exercise in getting silence to cough up some truth. Every day is a poem. And everyone we meet.
This heart does not exist
This heart is a metaphor
This heart is a poem
The truest thing of all
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Glasgow
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 141 mm
Width: 200 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
196 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80432-382-3 (9781804323823)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Martin Wroe lives with Meg, a painter, in North London where they find life in an eccentric community located around a small church. A former staff writer on The Independent and The Observer and a chair of the Greenbelt Arts Festival, Martin is an associate member of the Iona Community, contributes to BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day, and is the author of Julian of Norwich's Teabag. He was late to realise that religions are poems and now tries to make one every day.
Content
THIS HEART
This heart 10
This heart that holds a universe 11
This now
Terra Divina (William Blake remix) 14
Robin 15
Blackbird 15
Swallow 16
Parliament 16
And also with you 17
Nature poem 18
Iceberg 19
I never knew 20
Glorious weather 21
The end of myself 22
Surround sound 23
Tent 24
This here
It arrives 28
Noises off 29
Pane 30
Location 31
Now 32
'Vast new reserves discovered' 33
Grumbling 35
Here's the thing 36
Everyday election 37
No charge 38
Rhythm with blues 39
Detectorist 40
Each day 41
You are being held in a queue 42
This love
Everyone a candle 46
First person (Poem on Mother's Day) 47
Old friends 48
Call the midwife 50
My third marriage 51
If you liked this ... 53
Being there 54
Who's Elvis? 55
Legacy 56
Assemble 57
I would love to live 58
This way
Prayer heard outside court at the immigration hearing 62
The repair shop 63
On guard 64
Out in the back 65
The squeeze 66
Bubble 67
Product recall 68
Thoughts and prayers 69
Sink 70
Poem started on a birthday 71
Taking my prayers for a walk 72
This story
Tradition 74
Fear not 75
The book 76
Gazing at a star (Christmas poem) 77
Ring out the old 78
Spiritual not religious 79
Epiphany 80
How to become an insider 81
Forty (Poem in Lent) 83
easter revolution 84
Church noticeboards 86
Priest 87
Retreat 89
The day the weeks meet 90
More 92
This end
A quiet word 94
Elastic snap 96
Spring 97
Taking mum to the doctor 97
Hazardous 98
One in the morning 99
Home from home 100
My back has gone 102
Affronted 103
What are we going to do? 104
Unlock 105
Lowering 106
Same seat as you 107
Seven blessings when you lose someone you love
(A funeral poem) 108
Alive 110
Scattering 111
The light we shared (A parting poem) 112
Fall 113
Gone 113
Sign of the peace 114
This home
Life writing 116
Catch 116
Why the rule? 117
Stand 118
Candle 119
Warmth 120
The fix 120
Guidance 121
This is a poem about death 122
Almost nothing 123
Life, a customer satisfaction survey 124
Call it 126
Psalm 23 (remix) 127
(Psalm for a) home 128
Listen now! 129
Thankful 130
This life (Some afterwords) 131
Sources and acknowledgements 137
This heart 10
This heart that holds a universe 11
This now
Terra Divina (William Blake remix) 14
Robin 15
Blackbird 15
Swallow 16
Parliament 16
And also with you 17
Nature poem 18
Iceberg 19
I never knew 20
Glorious weather 21
The end of myself 22
Surround sound 23
Tent 24
This here
It arrives 28
Noises off 29
Pane 30
Location 31
Now 32
'Vast new reserves discovered' 33
Grumbling 35
Here's the thing 36
Everyday election 37
No charge 38
Rhythm with blues 39
Detectorist 40
Each day 41
You are being held in a queue 42
This love
Everyone a candle 46
First person (Poem on Mother's Day) 47
Old friends 48
Call the midwife 50
My third marriage 51
If you liked this ... 53
Being there 54
Who's Elvis? 55
Legacy 56
Assemble 57
I would love to live 58
This way
Prayer heard outside court at the immigration hearing 62
The repair shop 63
On guard 64
Out in the back 65
The squeeze 66
Bubble 67
Product recall 68
Thoughts and prayers 69
Sink 70
Poem started on a birthday 71
Taking my prayers for a walk 72
This story
Tradition 74
Fear not 75
The book 76
Gazing at a star (Christmas poem) 77
Ring out the old 78
Spiritual not religious 79
Epiphany 80
How to become an insider 81
Forty (Poem in Lent) 83
easter revolution 84
Church noticeboards 86
Priest 87
Retreat 89
The day the weeks meet 90
More 92
This end
A quiet word 94
Elastic snap 96
Spring 97
Taking mum to the doctor 97
Hazardous 98
One in the morning 99
Home from home 100
My back has gone 102
Affronted 103
What are we going to do? 104
Unlock 105
Lowering 106
Same seat as you 107
Seven blessings when you lose someone you love
(A funeral poem) 108
Alive 110
Scattering 111
The light we shared (A parting poem) 112
Fall 113
Gone 113
Sign of the peace 114
This home
Life writing 116
Catch 116
Why the rule? 117
Stand 118
Candle 119
Warmth 120
The fix 120
Guidance 121
This is a poem about death 122
Almost nothing 123
Life, a customer satisfaction survey 124
Call it 126
Psalm 23 (remix) 127
(Psalm for a) home 128
Listen now! 129
Thankful 130
This life (Some afterwords) 131
Sources and acknowledgements 137