Di’s interest in poetry began when she attended Moira Andrew’s poetry group in Falmouth, a group sponsored initially by Poetry Space which met in the library. Already an accomplished non fiction writer, Di took to poetry very quickly and wrote some very moving pieces. With Moira’s encouragement she began sending them out to magazines and online publications. In 2012 Di had her first poem published on this website.
Kit Hill – Cornwall
Do you remember
the tread of Prehistoric Man
who hunted your slopes,
ate your berries,
raised children,
buried their dead?
Do you still hear
screams of dying soldiers
who battled Saxons
in your foothills
but lost forever
Cornwall’s independence?
Do you recall
the hymns of miners
who burrowed into you
or recollect the pain
of cordite in
your granite bowels?
Or are you
content with change?
Your rain-filled quarry
a lure for dragonflies
beneath towering rocks
on which adders hiss,
while above you
buzzards and kestrels soar,
and Modern Man
explores your trails
on foot or horseback,
oblivious to your past.
Di Coffey
Di also contributed to the anthology we released that year: Through a Child’s Eyes and she and I met for the first time at The Penzance Festival celebrating the launch of that book with other contributors and my co-editor, Moira Andrew.
Di became so enthusiastic about writing poetry that she wanted to help the mission Poetry Space has, of widening participation, and she volunteered not only to spread the word but to be a guest editor for an edition of Poetry Space Showcase in 2015. When I visited Di at her home in early February 2015, she had recently been diagnosed with secondary cancer from the breast cancer she had suffered from as a young woman, many years before. Di was philosophical, concerned only for her grown up children and not for herself. She said she had enjoyed a good life. I very much admired Di’s spirit as I knew that she had spent many years caring for her husband who had suffered with Multiple Sclerosis.
In June that year I published Di’s pamphlet collection: A Tugboatman’s Daughter. Di sold this in aid of Multiple Sclerosis Society UK.
Di pictured here, far left with other contributors to our Through a Child’s Eyes anthology.
As many will know, Di was a political activist until her death. She was well known for her posts on Facebook where she always spoke up for injustice of any kind.
On 19th April this year, our beloved Di, died in a hospice in Cornwall. She had been actively posting on Facebook until her last few days, bravely saying goodbye to everyone who knew her and giving us all a chance to say our last goodbyes to her.
As Poetry Space meant so much to Di, I shall be announcing the launch of The Di Coffey Poetry Space Prize later this year. This annual prize of £200 will go to someone using poetry within their local community in a way that benefits well-being and widens participation in poetry. I shall be inviting nominations for this in the Autumn this year.
Red umbrellas
(For Di)
sadness
seeps from winter clouds
in fine silver-grey ribbons
flutters
across my eyes
and sharp knots of sorrow
finger my heart
language
no longer works
words like metastasis
grow legs
jump out of locked boxes
kicking and screaming
as we stand helpless
and soaked to the skin
none of us
can know how it feels
we can only wait
beside you
in the rain
bright red umbrellas up
sheltering you
from the worst
of the storm
Moira Andrew
