Debbie Harry, Blondie

She’s the Maid of the
May, dancing
with the chimney sweeps,
wreathed and writhing
under artificial moons,
stumbling out of mythology
into history. Impish, fructifying
this cloying, curling crown
she clipped and sports,
she abdicates expression
for delighted conduit.
She
hands over the song to us.

Patti Smith

She’s taking on archetypes
she can’t now read –
though she will.

Vatic wisdom
before the chants and crashing
of waterfalls.

Electric sunset on
her plaits. Nymphs
from the erotics of Sappho.

A demisemiquaver of
hirondelles quickening.
Chinese women from ancient paintings.

Trev Eales is a photographer specialising in live music who lives in Cumbria. For over 20 years, beginning in the early 1990s he photographed for WOMAD. Over the past 10 years he has contributed as a photographer and reviewer to a variety of online publications covering major UK music festivals such as Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds.

Robert Sheppard is a poet who lives in Liverpool, UK. His most recent publication is Hap: Understudies of Thomas Wyatt's Petrarch from Knives, Forks and Spoons Press. His selected poems, History or Sleep, is available from Shearsman. 'Charms and Glitter', is due for book publication soon. Robert Sheppard met Trev Eales at a Thin Lizzy concert in Norwich in 1974. Sheppard blogs at robertsheppard.blogspot.com and tweets at @microbius. He talks about his latest writing in a recent interview with rob mclennan.

Medha Singh is Music Editor at Queen Mob's Teahouse. Send her your reviews at music [at] queenmobs [dot] com.