Today's poet

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Originally Posted by Alf

That's sad news about Clive James illness. Here's one he wrote in 2009.



Beachmaster

Scanning the face of a crestfallen wave
He sees his life collapsing to a close,
A foaming comber racing to its grave.
But after that one, there are all of those:

The ranks of the unbroken, the young men
Completely green, queuing to take their turn
To die so that the sea might live again.
That much it took him all his life to learn.

Propped on her elbow in the burning sand,
The latest Miss Australia views it all
As one vast courtship. With a loving hand
She strokes her thigh as one by one they fall,

Those high walls in the water. Look at her,
But shade your sad glance carefully, old man –
For she will never see you as you were,
A long way out, before the end began.

Clive James

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Breathtakingly beautiful...think i may have to familiarise myself more with his work

here is an excerpt from clive james "vertical envelopment" a rather log but brilliant poem...


Taking the piss out of my catheter,
The near-full plastic bag bulks on my calf
As I push my I.V. tower through Addenbrooke’s
Like an Airborne soldier heading for D-day
Down the longest corridor in England.
Each man his own mule. Look at all this stuff.
Pipes, tubes, air bottles. Some of us have wheels.
Humping our gear, we’re bare-arsed warriors
Dressed to strike fear into the enemy,
But someone fires a flare. Mission aborted.
On the airfield, the chattering Dakotas
Have fallen silent. Jump postponed again.
Stay as you are. Keep your equipment on.
When cloud and wind are OK in the drop zone
We hit the sky and leap into the dark.
Meanwhile just hunker down and get some sleep.
Look on the bright side. Everyone’s still here.

http://www.clivejames.com/poems/clive/vertical

Really wish I was in London tonight. There is going to be a rain of poems at the South Bank as part of poetry parnassus. Good old Simon Armitage is helping to organise the event.

http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co....-poems-1000249

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Originally Posted by freckle

here is an excerpt from clive james "vertical envelopment" a rather log but brilliant poem...


Taking the piss out of my catheter,
The near-full plastic bag bulks on my calf
As I push my I.V. tower through Addenbrooke’s
Like an Airborne soldier heading for D-day
Down the longest corridor in England.
Each man his own mule. Look at all this stuff.
Pipes, tubes, air bottles. Some of us have wheels.
Humping our gear, we’re bare-arsed warriors
Dressed to strike fear into the enemy,
But someone fires a flare. Mission aborted.
On the airfield, the chattering Dakotas
Have fallen silent. Jump postponed again.
Stay as you are. Keep your equipment on.
When cloud and wind are OK in the drop zone
We hit the sky and leap into the dark.
Meanwhile just hunker down and get some sleep.
Look on the bright side. Everyone’s still here.

http://www.clivejames.com/poems/clive/vertical

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Just read the full version, as you say freckle, brilliant, thanks:)

Whizz pop!
I forget time
I forget responsibility
For the troubadour
considers us mere mortals
(fell) poets

Simon Armitage's book "Walking Home" is finally out... a riveting read so far!

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Originally Posted by stevefoster

Just read the full version, as you say freckle, brilliant, thanks:)

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Glad you liked it steve, its very poignant but so well observed, hope you are well

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Originally Posted by Hes

Really wish I was in London tonight. There is going to be a rain of poems at the South Bank as part of poetry parnassus. Good old Simon Armitage is helping to organise the event.

http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co....-poems-1000249

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sounded brilliant!

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Originally Posted by freckle

Whizz pop!
I forget time
I forget responsibility
For the troubadour
considers us mere mortals
(fell) poets

Simon Armitage's book "Walking Home" is finally out... a riveting read so far!

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So did you get a mention freckle ? I thought that would be the first bit you turned to :D

Bell Heather

People make songs about your big cousin
Extravagantly sprawled over mountain after mountain
They tear him up and he goes off to England
On the bumpers of cars, on shiny radiators.

But you're more beautiful and you blossom first,
In square feet and raggedy circles.
Your blue travels a hundred yards
That are a main road for bees.

If I were an adder, I’d choose you
For my royal palace. My sliding tongue
Would savour the thin scent
Of your boudoirs and banqueting halls.

A modest immodesty is a good thing,
Like blaze of blue on a rock face.
I’ll try it myself. Will the bees come,
The wild bees, with their white noses?

Norman MacCaig

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Originally Posted by freckle

Glad you liked it steve, its very poignant but so well observed, hope you are well

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I'm well marra, hope you are too.