a world weary shopping list which is mesmeric up to the point when you
mention email' and suddenly become self-conscious at which point the poem
rather loses its way
Terri )O(
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sally Evans" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2002 5:24 PM
Subject: Hyperpoem: A New Song for Simeon
Hyperpoem: A New Song for Simeon
(And I have known them all already, known them all)
And I have known them all already, known them all:
the logs lying on beaches in Australia,
the ships going through the Panama canal;
the elephant playing with paints provided
by the recipient of the Indian equivalent
of an arts council project grant;
the great films and the worthy books
the words in the books and the cumulative effect
of the cellulose frames in the film;
the lame excuses and protestations
the mussels in the river without pearls
and the mussels destroyed for pearls
the stag baying on the hillside
the ant scurrying under the antirrhinums;
the stories of survival at sea written
by those who have actually survived;
the walls of castles become insecure with age
and the neglect of the owners;
the turrets of castles built high and mighty
on the skyline;
a football crowd of Scots going home
after being defeated by the English;
the cousin, the second cousin, the business associate,
the intractable daughter and the aunt,
the pampered animal and the stray aniimal;
the records played loudly and regularly on the radio;
the musicians on city pavements carrying their
odd-shaped musical instrument in cases;
the leaves falling off the forest trees,
and those that remain on their trees;
the children filing into school, and the soldiers
scattered over the battlefield;
water turning to ice, desired and not desired;
mankind who cannot be called happy until he is dead,
but often makes a good job of the impossible;
the boat coming in to the beach, the long crossed letter,
the aeroplane, and the email,
[this poem may be extended by the reader,
but wonąt be because he has already heard enough]
And I have known them all already, known them all,
no end to them
till there is only one surprise left, if it is one,
and it isnąt the world which will end.
Sally Evans
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