Audrey Ardern-Jones
Biography
Audrey Ardern-Jones trained as a nurse and enjoyed a wonderful career. She is currently the Artist in Residence at the Trust where she has worked for most of her career. This role includes supporting all the arts. She was shortlisted for the Flambard Poetry Prize in 2014. She has been commended and a prize winner in various competitions including The Troubadour International Poetry Competition 2016 and The Robert Graves Poetry Competition 2017. She has been published in several anthologies and journals. She is the founder member of The Poetry & Music Ensemble. Four of her poems have been set to music by the composer Lucas Jordan. Her debut collection ‘Doing the Rounds’ was published in August 2019 by Indigo Dreams Publishing.
The Poem
The Elephant of Madurai
We queue to meet him, he greets us, his trunk tickles our skirts,
he bends his knee, lowers his tusks, smiles with his eyes closed.
Today’s a day for devotees’ photo-shoots – bundles of rupees
for keepers Sanjay and Ravi – he strikes the perfect pose.
He’s worshipped in this sacred place, at weddings he’s adorned
with umbrellas of peacock feathers and jewelled gold throws.
At night a trumpet sounds in the temple grounds, his minders
say it’s his soul let loose, free and like a lemon moon, it glows.
Lord Ganesha monitors his Godliness – a deity with words
of wisdom, resplendent and holy in prayerful repose.
I long to touch his flap-wide ears, flick the tassel on his tail,
stroke his stipple-grain skin and wash the dust off his toes.