The Day Flies Off Without Me
The planes bound for all points everywhere
etch lines on my office window. From the top floor
London recedes in all directions, and beyond:
the world with its teeming hearts.
I am still, you move, I am a point of reference on a map;
I am at zero meridian as you consume the longitudes.
The pact we made to read our farewells exactly
at two in the afternoon with you in the air
holds me like a heavy winter coat.
Your unopened letter is in my pocket, beating.
-- John Stammers
Another one from the minstrels. This is a very poignant poem. I like poems like this that offer you a single moment of a much larger implied narrative and this particular poem resonates with love and loss. I also am very interested in the symbolic value of a plane (especially as someone who grew up on an island) - traversing the air: a separating, yet mediating space - in airspace there are no islands, everything is joined but everything is also apart. I'm not familiar with John Stammers but I think he is just my kind of poet and I will have to get to know him better. If you click the link above, there are some more of his poems online that you can read.
4 comments:
I'd just like to know how come you are reading poetry when the rest of the world is going bonkers with Christmas-and-end-of-year-mad-panic-rushing-about-stuff??? xx
It's my brief moment of sanity in an otherwise crazed and mildly alarming world. It's like an antidote to K-Mart.
Yes, I can see how that would work.
I went to his site - his poetry is terrific stuff. I especially liked the poem about organic food, very amusing!
Have you ever read any Kevin Ireland poetry? I've set quite a few of his pieces to music, they are beautiful and quirky. He is a NZ poet. You might enjoy "A Serious Literary Slip."
Merry Christmas to you and the beautiful family xxx
thanks Maria, I'm always on the lookout for a new poet. Reading more poetry might be my new year's resolution.
Merry Christmas to you too and your boys. Kiss clever Alexander for me.
xx
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