FALLS THROUGH FRANTIC AIR

I think I mentioned last post that I am not writing much at the moment. This is partly because I am focussed on compiling a new collection, one that will have illustrations by Alison Wilson. It should be out by Christmas. Watch this space, details to follow. 

I was looking at a couple of old poems the other day that were written fourteen years ago on a visit to Barcelona and decided to revise them. They are both incidents I saw on the Metro. In the first a woman dropped her wedding ring.

BARCELONA 2009

ring around her finger

a circle she fiddles with

turns this way that

slides up and it

falls through frantic air

bounces on the carriage floor

the man in the next seat

smiles, retrieves it

the gold glints

between his finger and thumb

sat opposite I invent reasons

love long gone infidelity

anger or some secret regret?

I ask what it means and

you tell me: Stuff happens

sometimes there is no meaning

then it is our stop

and we exit the Metro

I thought the poem needed to breathe, it was too concentrated. [You can read the published version here.] I always try to pare my work down to the bare essentials but I wondered if I had removed too much. 

This second poem is from the same trip and again I thought it required space. Perhaps the location had influenced my lay out, the cramped tunnels of the Metro?

6. Road Poem

they kiss

he boards the train

does not look back

at her expectant face

an almost sigh

split second space

then she walks

you tell me:

we are observing a failed romance

we walk along the platform

I hope she does not speak English

When I reread the poem what struck me was my embarrassment, I did not want the woman to overhear our conversation, as she seemed weighed down by her own circumstances. Sadly the book these poems are from is out of print.

The immensely talented Pollyanna has just released a video for her song Brighton. Wonderful stuff, especially the line I can feel the privilege of being a stranger, pure poetry!

Until next time.