Hi Christina,
Glad you liked this. It has been revised over the weekend and does bring in
the link between Hart Crane (The Bridge)and Walt Whitman (Brooklyn Ferry) in
different places at different times. The title actually came before the
poem, which is unusual for me and as in life other things started to fill
the vacuum. Not a lot to do with The Winter's Tale apart from the line
before the stage direction. The title is an overall metaphor if you like.
I'm trying to move away from poetry being anchored in total reality as this
is limiting. Mind you I've had a large dollop of Pablo Neruda lately, it's
catching. I suppose the poem is about how we try and escape from reality and
how it pursues us. Oh, on the acknowledging Shakespeare. I had a poem
published recently that was based on Eliot and the editor didn't want it. I
think the view would be better without in case you seem patronising.
bw
James


>From: Christina Fletcher <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Exit Pursued ByA Bear
>Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 12:29:17 EDT
>
>Interesting poem, James.  It works in a curious way for me.  First the
>title.
>  Well, of course, it's great: how could it not be?  It's a title that
>makes
>me want to read what follows.  But I wonder if/how it connects with The
>Winter's Tale apart from the end of the poem (as a play) because I don't
>remember the play.  Again, the references to Whitman and Hart (Crane?)
>leave
>me wondering whether I'm missing a lot of the poem because the references
>don't mean much to me.  So my first reading leaves me with the
>uncomfortable
>feeling that I'm probably missing a lot (particularly as you use their
>first
>names and assume that the reader knows who you're talking about).  I don't
>think that matters greatly in some cases.  For example, if it's something
>that can be relatively easily found in reference books.  But here I'm
>confronted with the possibility of having to read the complete works of two
>poets and The Winter's Tale in order to (maybe) be able to understand your
>poem properly (whatever that means).
>If I put that to one side, I like it a lot.  Perhaps it could do with the
>odd
>snip and tightening up but the overall effect is deliciously surreal: on
>the
>one hand almost comical, on the other extremely threatening and
>frightening.
>If it were mine, I think I acknowledege Shakespeare under the title (that
>would connect with the ending too) and just write poets or writers instead
>of
>Walt and Hart.  But it's not mine and you must do what you think right.
>bw
>christina
>
>
> > .
> >
> > EXIT PURSUED BY A BEAR
> >
> > He came across a bridge and wondered
> > if in crossing
> > it would be his exit
> > in much the same way
> > as Walt and Hart before him
> > over Brooklyn
> > for even here there was the crosswind
> > that levelled diversity
> > brought goosepimples
> > to the most fair complexion
> > and ratled the fabric of waterproofs
> > to the extent that they were exposed
> > above the thick stone parapets
> >
> > The bear was still some way behind
> > and party to only a faint scent -
> > just the way he liked it -
> > though still could imagine
> > the bulk of bone and flesh and fur and how
> > it would lumber with true implacability
> > across the tundra of his bare urban landscape
> > to find him convinced
> > that even crossing water would not make a difference
> >
> > He hesitated
> > like many before
> > and only saw the maw and the tooth and claw
> > in the nick of time
> > able to make his exit
> > though still pursued
> > over the bridge
> > into later scenes and acts
>
>




bw
James


_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx