‘Amoretti’ was the title of the cycle of poems by Edmund Spencer describing his courtship and marriage to Elizabeth Boyle. It was derived from the Italian tradition of the same name and published in 1595. Here Paul Abdul Wadud Sutherland writes a modern cycle of twelve-line poems on a similar theme.

‘Joy and delight are his time signatures, stained with a certain sadness…Such subtle touches of beauty captured with such a delicate fragility…all the fierce gentleness that is his hallmark’ 

Dónall Dempsey

​

Excerpt:

​

Somewhat after the Chinese
 
Since you’ve disappeared
I’m always gazing through glass
wishing you’ll emerge.
 
Between cloudy cars
along any windowed street
when I pass I search.
 
In plush coffee bars
I check thronged seaters, spin round
each time the door swings.
 
Such words I’ll summon
when you come in. You’ll blush, smile,
amazed, I still care.