Andrew,
a lovely story. Your reference to 'that one reader' caught my eye. It
reminds me of Denise Levertov's poem The Secret, where just 2 readers &
their response to a poem of hers becomes the stuff of the new poem. Most
interestingly, their response (the secret of the poem) is never revealed to
either poet or reader, an enigmatic twist which makes the poem work at
different levels, I think.
Louise Thomason.
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Burke <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, 28 August 2000 1:24:am
Subject: Re: Food for thought
>I really liked _Poem for a Shallot_ by Katherine Gallagher: crisp and sharp
>of image. Here's an earlier poem of mine which was anthologised in a
>collection called Summer Shorts, with a Food theme (FACP), then in my
>Mother Waits book (again, FACP).
>
>
>Andrew
>
>
>
>Sunday Roast
>(for my mother)
>
>In this room I surround myself
>with books
>open like birds in flight
>
>Through my door a smell
>of roast
>takes me back to childhood
>
>brothers and sisters and I
>roamed the house
>asking Mother for lunch
>
>as roast potatoes spat
>oven door
>opened and slammed
>
>gravy's deep brown consistency
>stirred
>with a flat wooden spoon
>
>Six streets away at Freshwater Bay
>Yacht Club
>Father stood 'just one more
>
>for the road' Oven was
>turned down
>afternoon grumbled on
>
>pale-faced plates on the table
>knives and forks
>straightened again and again
>
>I still have the iron
>Father flailed
>his carving knife at
>
>in a swashbuckling rhythm which
>called us
>to lunch 3:45 Sunday
>
>Today I hunger for us
>to be
>impossibly together again
>
>I close my books and go
>walking
>this grey day in Spring
>
>
>A lovely story goes with this poem. A local school teacher "did" this poem
>with his Year 11s (that's about 16 years of age) at a ritzy girls' school,
>and asked them to write an analysis or response to it. One girl wrote that
>the poet had chosen his verse shape to reflect the two parents standing
>each side of the child to protect him. The thought never struck me, but I'm
>glad I did it that way, even if only for that one reader.
>
>Andrew
>
>
>
>
>----------------------------------------
>Andrew Burke Copywriting
>[log in to unmask] Creative Writing
>http://www.bam.com.au/andrew/ Editing
>----------------------------------------
>
>
>
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