Video Poems
Click on any title below to watch a video performance:

* Macduff
* Osric
* Citizen (Julius Caesar)
* Clown (Antony & Cleopatra)
* After the Play (Peter Quince)
* A Refusal to Mourn the Death
of a Child
* Through a Glass Darkly


3 Copyright Free Christmas Sonnets

Through a Glass Darkly:
this triptych of Nativity sonnets can be performed, broadcast or printed by anyone without breach of copyright. The text of these 3 sonnets can be found here. All other poems on this site and in In Small Measure remain the copyright of Christopher Whitby. Permission to print, perform, broadcast or otherwise use any of them can be obtained by emailing info@openpoetry.org.uk.

Christopher Whitby biography

Following the publication of In Small Measure (May 2011 – see Open Poetry at www.openpoetry.org.uk), this site has changed. Rather than a broad selection of sonnets and other poems, one of 8 poems will be randomly selected for display each time this page is loaded. Over time, the stock of 8 poems used in this selection will also be changed.

Much of my poetry is intended for oral delivery and acting, as well as for reading and some video performances are available by clicking on the links in the right-hand column.


Old Flame

For God's sake, Peter, look at me. Do I
still own the face you loved? I'm forty-two,
with children of my own. I don't know why
you've come... Oh no, oh not for them... If you
so much as dream of that, you can fu— fly
off back to Neverland for good. Make do
with what you've got — eternal youth. Just try
to come to terms with it. Just think it through.
I'm sorry, I'm not meaning to be rude
but face it, we were always worlds apart.
There is no meeting point. You just delude
yourself to think I'd keep you in my heart.
If all our thoughts were wishes, we'd still not make them rhyme.
Not growing up's your penance. Doing so is mine.