Yes its a lot clearer now,
In the first version I thought you meant the 21st century was rubbish so the
young student died in vain. Now you have spelt it out it is less obvious
whether you are for or against the new century, but then, how do we know how
it will turn out yet?
A good poem - and worth the long lines.
bw
SallyE
on 1/9/04 10:48 am, James Bell at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Hi Bob,
>
> Long may publishers groan. The always have, often to their own detriment. I
> like this very much. It has great humanity, and sensuality, fronting the
> backdrop of such a magnificent city as Prague.
>
> Great stuff and good luck with whoever you offer it to.
>
>
>
> bw
> James
>
>
>
>
>
>> From: Bob Cooper <[log in to unmask]>
>> Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Prague In Midsummer (revised)
>> Date: Wed, 25 Aug 2004 13:12:39 +0000
>>
>> So, here's what's turned out after a lot of work.
>> It's still got long lines - and it's still in 4,5,5 lined stanzas
>> (And, Oh, how publishers groan when they see how it's been written!)
>> (and any further comments also welcome!)
>>
>> Prague In Midsummer
>>
>> I almost cry in the thirty-degree heat below the National Museum
>> at the shrine of Jan Palach – his dates and small photograph
>> almost obscured by flowers – where tourists pause, smile at camcorders
>> and speak American with the bronze Wenceslas statue above them
>>
>> and behind the baseball caps, the Hawaiian shirts, a steel-wire sculpture,
>> taller than the saint, of a young woman’s legs, her panties below her
>> knees,
>> and beyond pavements, cooler under the shadows of awnings and trees,
>> are the crowded street-cafes where tables wobble beneath pizzas and beer,
>> the rock music in shops, dark casino doorways, sweating bouncers outside
>> bars,
>>
>> but way above us, through the Museum’s open windows on the top floor,
>> there’ll still be hushed people who’ve seen what’s displayed, read the
>> signs,
>> who now look down on the Square – we don’t see them, they don’t see us
>> just the 21st Century the young student died for, such small people moving
>> and the long naked legs, the almost lost knickers.
>>
>> Bob Cooper
>>
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