Meet The Poet: Lucy Heuschen

Lucy Heuschen is a British poet living in Germany with her family and rescue dog. She returned to writing poetry after a two-decade legal career and a life-changing cancer diagnosis. Lucy’s poetry has appeared in numerous journals and literary magazines and she has contributed to anthologies from Hedgehog Press, Dreich, Yaffle, Orchard Lea, New Contexts and Black Bough.
Lucy is the founder and editor of The Rainbow Poems (an online community for anyone experiencing life change or uncertainty) and the Sonnets for Shakespeare project. She leads the Poetry Society Stanza for Germany.
Visit www.therainbowpoems.co.uk or connect with Lucy on Twitter @Rainbow_Poems or Facebook @RainbowPoemsUK.

To buy a print copy, an e-copy or a signed copy of We Wear The Crown in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support: www.therainbowpoems.co.uk

What does your memory smell like?

My childhood memory: dogs, horses and my grandmother Kathleen.

Grandma had a wonderful scent and I think it never leaves you, that association of a person’s smell with the feeling of being held and accepted. She always said it was some perfume from the “Avon Lady”, who sold beauty products door to door back then. Maybe a bit of home cooking mixed in there, as she was an amazing cook. To me, she smelled of pure love.

My childhood dog, Pippa, was a rescue from Battersea Dogs’ Home. I am still seeking another dog as wonderful, all these years later! That unique “wet dog smell” equals happiness for me. As for the horses, well, I could not afford one growing up, so I worked from age 13 at the local riding stables. This was part of my early programming, to put in the work to achieve your goals. That instinct has stayed with me, not always for the better.

My later memories could probably be summed up as wet wipes (I have two sons quickly growing up) and paper (both for my work as a lawyer and what I do now, writing creatively).

What do you want your future to taste like?

Apples, because they surround us in the fields in our part of the Rheinland. I can’t imagine ever leaving my adopted homeland. To me, apples taste of freedom and closeness to nature. They can be sharp sometimes, but they are always welcome as a reminder to eat healthily and look after myself.

Favourite line of a poem right now?

“This bowl, life, that we fill and fill”.

From the poem “Lessons In The Orchard” which Carol Ann Duffy wrote for the Charleston House Festival in Sussex. I often admire (rather than love) her work but this poem speaks to me of home, family and curiosity about our world and the creative process. Also, see above about the apples!

The poet/the poems that give you life?

As the founder of The Rainbow Poems (an online poetry community for anyone going through life change) I tend to seek out poets who write about, or through, grief, loss, endings and beginnings.

Ruth Stone, whose poem “Train Ride” is probably my favourite, inspires me with her long, eventful life and determination to keep going. She said that her poems came thundering over the fields to her and she often “ran like hell” to catch them in time, just catching them by the tail. I imagine her creative process as energetic and full of a wild joy.

Danusha Laméris, whose poem “Small Kindnesses” first attracted me, has written a wonderful collection called “Bonfire Opera”. It’s full of tender little moments and beautiful observation.

What is your why?

My answer to this question has changed radically since my breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Before, I worked long hours as a lawyer in London and had little time for anything else. It wasn’t a healthy way to live and actually now I look back and wonder what the point of it was – living only to work, not the other way around.

My M.O. these days is “Do what I can – rest when I must – love without end.” These goals can help me through even difficult days and keep me motivated. The instinct to help others is a river that runs through me and I struggle to say no to things, whether that’s family, friends or writing commitments. Finding some kind of balance is important.

About We Wear The Crown

We Wear The Crown is my debut pamphlet which was published in summer 2022 by Hedgehog Poetry Press. It’s about my journey from the moment when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, when I wanted to smash everything, to the end of active treatment and beyond.

This “afterwards” is the part I find most important to discuss, because it often isn’t. The post-treatment void, when you’re let loose from the healthcare system that has supported you but also dictated your daily life. A person may still be dealing with symptoms and medications, yet perhaps understandably, some people just want to believe that you are “cured”, back to “the old you”.

With this book, I wanted to honour the loss, the burden, the uncertainty that a cancer diagnosis brings, but also to say: we are beautiful and worth celebrating, completely so, with all our frailty and our scars.