I like the long lines.
I find this a moving poem, setting the twenty first century whch is what the
tourists see (and are part of) against the idealism and courage of the
student(s) in the 20th century.
the length of lines seem to accentuate the spectrum of history and the
quanititative nature of the city crowds.
bw
SallyE
on 17/8/04 1:47 am, Bob Cooper at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> OK, here's another for some C&C:
> (And I'm hoping the formatting works on your screen. There's lots of long
> lines - only the last line is shorter!
>
> Prague In Midsummer
>
> I almost cry in the thirty-degree heat below the National Museum
> at the shrine to Jan Palach – his small photograph and dates at our feet,
> and the faded strewn flowers – where tourists pause, smile at camcorders
> and speak American with the statue of Wenceslas in armour behind them
>
> and behind the Bermuda shorts, the Hawaiian shirts, a statue taller than the
> king,
> a steel-wire sculpture of a young woman’s legs, her panties below her knees,
> and beyond pavements cooler than the heat of where we stand
> are the crowded street cafes where tables wobble under pizzas and beer,
> the shopping arcades, bright-lit casinos, all the baseball hats in bars,
>
> but way above us, through the Museum’s open windows on the top floor
> there’ll still be hushed people who’ve seen the paleolithic hand-sized venus
> who gaze down on the square - we don’t see them, they don’t see us
> just the 21st Century the young student died for, small people moving
> and the long naked legs, the almost lost knickers.
>
>
>
> If I were to read this poem I'd probably mention that Jan Palach died at the
> spot I mention in 1969.
> I guess a search via Google may tell you more about him - and I might well
> offer more information in a gloss at a reading as well...
>
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