Seeing the world

[k-j]

Dad said simply reading about the world
was no substitute for seeing it. So I furled

my sleeping bag with a book of poems in it,
locked myself in my room, and a minute

later it was 1300 years ago,
and I was walking in the springtime with Li Po

to watch the young Yangtze broaden
with melting snow. I saw Spain with Lorca, and with Auden,

smelt blood in the dust of Madrid,
held my breath as hope and history fled.

I kept my head as Anne Boleyn died
with Wyatt looking on by my side,

I sat with Kipling in the suffocating Raj,
passed by Plath at Berck-Plage,

and hymned London with sundry Eliots and Blakes.
On trips to the Lakes

I read Frost at Midnight, and at midnight, Frost,
and I've lost count of the days I lost

in Armagh or New England with Muldoon,
his fat, pale, face a full moon,

like something out of Edward Lear,
impossibly far away. But with me, here,

and as certain as the sun, splintering the grey
of the night, igniting another day.

[camus]

"While you just stayed in your room
I saw the crescent
You saw the whole of the moon!"

Good read, I love reference poems.

[cameron]

Excellent piece of work kj. My only problem with it is the final couplet which seems to me a little limp/inconclusive.

Reminded me of Taste by RS Thomas, although not as dour. (I looked but couldn't find a copy of this on the internet.)

Cam

[Arcadian]

kj,

so you should be well read ?

metred couplets with rhyme too ( not banging you ears as in a sing song )

I agree with cam last couplet it lacks punch ( i had to read it twice to concur ) - but otherwise a very good piece kj


adept!

Arco

[k-j]

Thanks guys. The end is a problem, and I agree it needs to be more decisive. I often struggle with wrapping poems up - wrapping anything up, in fact. I used to have an RS Thomas <i>selected</i> but it got left behind with a load of other books in a warehouse in Kirby and I forgot to pay the rent so I suppose it's been auctioned, or given away, by now. Oh well. I'll look it up at the library.

[Bombadil]

I feel fucking illiterate. But I like the piece.

To me, very reminiscent of The Neverending Story.

[BlueForAQuarter]

A bit pretentious for my tastes, though I do love:

"I read Frost at Midnight, and at midnight, Frost,
and I've lost count of the days I lost"

That sits on the tongue nicely. Good read for someone who'd enjoy this kind of thing, I imagine.

[k-j]

Thanks Keith / BFAQ.

BFAQ, was there anything in particular that struck you as pretentious, or was it just the concept, or the tone, or what? The last thing I want is to sound pretentious, so let me know!

[BlueForAQuarter]

I'm sure it's just me feeling inferior, but it seemed to go on and on with the references. Reading through, it got to the point where one might think, "Ok, we get the point. You're well read. Thanks." I don't mean to be too critical... like I said, it's probably just me.