Shah,
I appreciate a reflection of how the poem comes across and don't mind if the
reader comes up with their own interpretation. If they do it doesn't mean
that the reader "hasn't got it". It's just something for the author to think
about when they next write a poem.
For me the second part of the poem expresses a parent's anxiety about the
world that their growing children will soon move into. It has a magnetic
pull, it's uncontrollable and it's scary. Of course it has lots of good
things too, the possibilities of friendship and so on but the physical
substrate I chose for the poem was richer in negative images.
The eco-degradation is in there too. Around where I live the litter is very
close to the road. It falls off remarkably quickly, almost like a tree line.
Plenty off people walk far from the road, into the grassy hills but they are
not litter droppers apparently. There seems to be a massive overlap between
the people that are not prepared to walk far and the people that drop
litter. The breaking of bottles into shallow streams is particularly
pernicious, because the sharp fragments of glass are near invisible and the
thought of them deters paddling. The percentage of people that are prepared
to do this (from careless exuberance I suppose) is small but once done by
this small minority the effect on the majority is lasting.
Colin
----- Original Message -----
From: "c s shah" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2003 5:23 AM
Subject: Re: newsub/downstream
> Colin, very nice depiction of eco-degradation and with it casualness
> creeping in human nature.
> The poem can be cut at places for more desirable impact.
> c s shah
>
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