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Culture vultures

Get tips on theatre and art from other Mumsnetters on our Culture forum.

Have we had a favourite poem thread?

130 replies

turquey · 14/12/2004 15:06

Or is that a bit pretentious?

Well the favourite classics thread got me thinking so here's mine:

Bat - DH Laurence
'The expense of spirit in a waste of shame' sonnet - Shakespeare
Dulce et Decorum Est - Wilfred Owen
Lament - Dylan Thomas
The Waste Land - TS Eliot

OP posts:
edodgy · 23/07/2005 23:02

First Day at School

Roger McGough

A millionbillionwillion miles from home
Waiting for the bell to go. (To go where?)
Why are they all so big, other children?
So noisy? So much at home they
Must have been born in uniform
Lived all their lives in playgrounds
Spent the years inventing games
That don't let me in. Games
That are rough, that swallow you up.

And the railings.
All around, the railings.
Are they to keep out wolves and monsters?
Things that carry off and eat children?
Things you don't take sweets from?
Perhaps they're to stop us getting out
Running away from the lessins. Lessin.
What does a lessin look like?
Sounds small and slimy.
They keep them in the glassrooms.
Whole rooms made out of glass. Imagine.

I wish I could remember my name
Mummy said it would come in useful.
Like wellies. When there's puddles.
Yellowwellies. I wish she was here.
I think my name is sewn on somewhere
Perhaps the teacher will read it for me.
Tea-cher. The one who makes the tea.

spidermama · 23/07/2005 23:02

My DH wants to add this one. He's the poetry lover.

To My Daughter by Stephen Spender

Bright clasp of her whole hand around my finger,
My daughter, as we walk together now.
All my life I'll feel a ring invisibly
Circle this bone with shining: When she is grown
Far from today as her eyes are already.

Blubbing hopelessly now.

Janh · 23/07/2005 23:11

There is a lovely Roger McGough one called Cinders (I think) about taking his daughter to the pantomime when she was about 5 and he was about 55 (will he still be there when she grows up...) - I have it in a book (Defying Gravity) but can't find the book atm. He read it when he was on Desert Island Discs.

likklemum · 23/07/2005 23:32

If is a brilliant poem. Think i might use it at my ds's naming ceremony. Although I'm not sure I could get the last line out for tears as it almost brought me to them just then! I like John Agard, but don't have any poetry books at the moment (unless nursery rhymes count?). I also love 'When Daddy Fell into the Pond'

TinyGang · 24/07/2005 00:33

Excerpt from one of my favourites - Three Women by Sylvia Plath. A very long poem, so couldn't copy it all.

Who is he, this blue, furious boy,
Shiny and strange, as if he had hurtled from a star?
He is looking so angrily!
He flew into the room, a shriek at his heel.
The blue color pales. He is human after all.
A red lotus opens in its bowl of blood;
They are stitching me up with silk, as if I were a material.

What did my fingers do before they held him?
What did my heart do, with its love?
I have never seen a thing so clear.
His lids are like the lilac-flower
And soft as a moth, his breath.
I shall not let go.
There is no guile or warp in him. May he keep so.

ellceeell · 24/07/2005 09:12

'Bloody men are like bloody buses -
You wait for about a year
And as soon as one approaches your stop
Two or three others appear.'

Wendy Cope

spidermama · 24/07/2005 12:21

LOVE the excerpt Tinygang. Mmmmmmmm!
Unfathomable that she came to the end she did with her little ones yet so small.

mumbee · 24/07/2005 15:13

Thank you edodgy for first day at school.remind me of mine and Ds will start in reception class in September at a new school (Dd in yr2).

HappyHuggy · 24/07/2005 18:25

SLOW DANCE
This poem was written by a terminally ill young girl in a New York Hospital.

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into
the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask, "How are you?"
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short
The music won't last.

Ever told your child
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not seen his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let the good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say hi.
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower.
Hear the music.
Before the song is over.

sparklymieow · 24/07/2005 18:29

I have SLow dance on my fridge

HappyHuggy · 24/07/2005 18:56

Have you ever found a friend that just touches you deep inside
You feel a special bond that you simply cannot hide
You give them a piece of your heart, a view of what you are
Sometimes they live to close to you, sometimes they live too far.

It really doesn't matter, you were friends from the start
Soon you realise their memory is a piece of your heart
You feel like they're an angel, placed here just for you
You are always amazed at the sweet things they do.

You don't have to see them or talk to them everyday
To know that God has sent them in His own special way
How else could you explain this friendship and deep love
It must be an angel, sent from heaven above.

How can you love someone you've never really seen
The question you may ask, Is this just a dream?
Soon you realise, your feelings are quite sincere
Your friendship will continue year after year.

Funny when you talk you both seem to disagree
I think your the angel and you think it is me
When you really look at it, you have to smile and say
The touching of our souls has taken place again today.

Tonight as i said my prayers, i prayed for my friend
I could not hardly wait until we talked once again
For God showed me the answer, it was really quite simple
A soul never sees a face, it would not recognise a dimple.

The feeling of love one feels for another friend
The feeling of wanting to be with each other again
Is the inner joy, that God places there
The love one feels on top of heaven's stairs.

So if you are lucky and you have found such friend
Remember it is God, who lives deep within
It is God's wishes, to one day look and see
Angels hugging Angels, perhaps it's you and me.

HappyHuggy · 24/07/2005 18:57

Dont drink and drive

I went to a party,
And remembered what you said.
you told me not to drink, Mum
So I had a Sprite instead.
I felt proud of myself,
the way you said I would,
That I didn't drink and drive,
though some friends said I should.
I made a healthy choice,
and your advice to me was right
as the party finally ended,
and the kids drove out of sight.
I got into my car,
sure to get home in one piece,
I never knew what was coming, Mum
something I expected least.
Now I'm lying on the pavement,
And I hear the policeman say,
The kid that caused this wreck was drunk,"
Mum, His voice seems far away.
My own blood all around me,
as I try hard not to cry.
I can hear the paramedic say,
"This girl is going to die."
I'm sure the guy had no idea,
while he was flying high,
because he chose to drink and drive,
now I would have to die.
So why do people do it, Mum
Knowing that it ruins lives?
And now the pain is cutting me,
like a hundred stabbing knives.
Tell sister not to be afraid, Mum
tell daddy to be brave,
and when I go to heaven,
put "Daddy's Girl" on my grave.
Someone should have taught him,
that it's wrong to drink and drive.
Maybe if his parents had,
I'd still be alive.
My breath is getting shorter, Mum
I'm getting really scared.
These are my final moments,
and I'm so unprepared.
I wish that you could hold me Mum,
as I lie here and die.
I wish that I could say I love you, Mum
So I love you and good-bye.

helsy · 24/07/2005 19:01

Anything by John Hegley, Henry Normal.
"Warning" by Jenny Joseph.
milly and molly and maggie and may by ee cummings - had it at our wedding but I still get the names in the wrong order.

Donbean · 24/07/2005 19:44

If i could capture the moment of your birth
or the happiness that filled me with your first cries
then i would encase it, to gaze upon
its shining light in moments of unquiet.

If i could weave a blanket from the
purity of your heart and soul
and spread it over the earth so that all
might know this hope and joy.

You are here now to set your
stamp on the world.
While i live i will try without intrusion
to guide, guard and protect you.

Ever watchful yet not hindering your progress
and when my weary bones are to dust
my love will surround you, from the shadows.

No idea who wrote it,found it in a mag about 15 years ago. I framed it and gave it to my God daughter.

marthamoo · 24/07/2005 20:00

My favourite is An Arundel Tomb by Larkin which is already on, further down the thread. I also love Prufrock, which spacedonkey has put on.

So... may i feel? by ee cummings will have to do!

may i feel said he
may i feel said he
(i'll squeal said she
just once said he)
it's fun said she

(may i touch said he
how much said she
a lot said he)
why not said she

(let's go said he
not too far said she
what's too far said he
where you are said she)

may i stay said he
(which way said she
like this said he
if you kiss said she

may i move said he
is it love said she)
if you're willing said he
(but you're killing said she

but it's life said he
but your wife said she
now said he)
ow said she

(tiptop said he
don't stop said she
oh no said he)
go slow said she

(cccome?said he
ummm said she)
you're divine!said he
(you are Mine said she)

And also The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference

spidermama · 24/07/2005 20:33

Anyone know the one about the plums in the ice box? I can't remember who wrote it but I love it.

Janh · 24/07/2005 20:34

This is just to say
I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

William Carlos Williams

spidermama · 26/07/2005 21:22

That's the one. Thanks Jahn.

.... and for all you rebel MNers...

The Laws of God, the Laws of Man.

The Laws of God, the Laws of Man.
He may keep that will and can;
Not I: Let God and man decree
Laws for themselves and not for me;
And if my ways are not as theirs
Let them mind their own affairs.
Their deeds I judge and much condemn,
Yet when did I make laws for them?
Please yourselves, say I, and they
Need only look the other way.
But no, they will not; they must still
Wrest their neighbour to their will,
And make me dance as they desire
With jail and gallows and hell-fire.
And how am I to face the odds
Of man?s bedevilment and God?s
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made.
They will be mater, right or wrong;
Though both are foolish, both are strong.
And since my soul we cannot fly
To Saturn nor to mercury,
Keep we must, if we can,
These foreign laws of God and man.

AE Houseman

happymerryberries · 26/07/2005 21:33

I Am Not Dead
Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there. I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow;
I am diamond glints of snow;
I am the sunlight on ripened grain;
I am the gentle autumn's rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush;
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds encircled flight.
I am the soft star that shines at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there, I did not die.

hatstand · 26/07/2005 21:36

The pig, if I am not mistaken,
Supplies us sausage, ham, and bacon.
Let others say his heart is big -
I call it stupid of the pig.

Ogden Nash

happymerryberries · 26/07/2005 21:40

Therefore, to be possess'd with double pomp,

To guard a title that was rich before,

To gild refined gold, to paint the lily,

To throw a perfume on the violet,

To smooth the ice, or add another hue

Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light

To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish,

Is wasteful and ridiculous excess.

hatstand · 26/07/2005 21:41

Binkie - that Keats is fantastic. The Pig isn't my favourite btw. I do rather love it though and happen to know it off by heart

hatstand · 26/07/2005 21:47

ok poetry boffs. I was trying to find / remember an old favourite of mine the other day. All I can remember is that it is a wonderfully vivid portrayal of a group of horses on a frosty morning. it could be by Edward Thomas but I might be getting confused. anyone know the one I mean?

snafu · 26/07/2005 21:57

Talking of Wendy Cope, I have a soft spot for this one:

Names

She was Eliza for a few weeks
When she was a baby -
Eliza Lily. Soon it changed to Lil.

Later she was Miss Steward in the baker's shop
And then 'my love', 'my darling', Mother.

Widowed at thirty, she went back to work
As Mrs Hand. Her daughter grew up,
Married and gave birth.

Now she was Nanna. "Everybody
Calls me Nanna," she would say to visitors.
And so they did-friends, tradesmen, the doctor.

In the geriatric ward
They used the patients' Christian names.
"Lil," we said, "or Nanna,"
But it wasn't in her file
And for those last bewildered weeks
She was Eliza once again.

There's another rather good one about obsessively looking someone's name up in the phone book but I can't remember it...

snafu · 26/07/2005 22:00

Wild Nights! Wild Nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!

Futile the winds
To a heart in port, --
Done with the compass,
Done with the chart!

Rowing in Eden!
Ah! the sea!
Might I but moor
To-night in Thee!