A poem that I read today by Mac

jisbell00 · Wed Dec 06, 2023 8:41 am

Very nice! i like the leather skin at the end, which speaks to bookbinding, to my mind.

Cheers,
John

nash · Thu Dec 07, 2023 9:37 am

Thanks very much, Mac. That's really kind! Thanks, John!

Thu Dec 07, 2023 1:01 pm

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/ ... -zephaniah

jisbell00 · Thu Dec 07, 2023 2:05 pm

Brilliant. I'd forgotten Benjamin Zephaniah, thanks for reminding me.

Cheers,
John

Thu Dec 07, 2023 3:12 pm

Sadly he passed away today John.

jisbell00 · Thu Dec 07, 2023 3:48 pm

Oh, that was today. May he rest in peace. I saw from the article that he had died, but without a date.

Sat Dec 09, 2023 11:54 am

https://allpoetry.com/Pheasant

jisbell00 · Sat Dec 09, 2023 12:13 pm

Aargh. She is always scary. Here's a personal favorite: https://www.blueridgejournal.com/poems/sp-moon.htm

Cheers,
John

Sat Dec 09, 2023 2:04 pm

I suspect the message of the pheasant poem was directed at TH. The message of the yew tree is 'blackness'. Indeed!

jisbell00 · Sat Dec 09, 2023 2:56 pm

People like TH -Heaney did The Rattle Bag with him - but I've not liked his work much since undergrad days. It seems very blustery to me - "terrifying are the sleek black thrushes on the lawn." No Ted, they're not. Plath OTOH is amazing, she doesn't need to beat her flanks into a lather to be scary.

Cheers,
John

Sat Dec 09, 2023 3:40 pm

I know what you mean John, though I do like some of his poems:

https://allpoetry.com/Full-Moon-and-Little-Frieda

jisbell00 · Sat Dec 09, 2023 3:58 pm

That is nice, isn't it? I especially like this: "A cool small evening shrunk to a dog bark and the clank of a bucket." That's poetry, that is. That's why I read the stuff!

Cheers,
John