Hi grasshopper,
Thanks for your questions!
The first one about intentional ambiguity... H'm, I think part of the poem's
structure and style is creating a kind of headlong rush through images, so
I'm not being over specific about what prompted the tears, but I'm trying
the describe what was there when the tears came, so I'm happy with how
you're reading it.
And your questions about the way the poem ends! Now that's where I'm still
working hard - still trying to rid my mind of an ending that didn't work too
well! I keep taking the last 3 lines for long walks, on long train journeys,
and seeing if anything will turn up. I guess I need a lot of silence, and
energy, and skill to make the leap between the museum's windows and the
legs! I'm still trying!
And, sadly, I don't think the legs are available on the web! But you could
try putting Art Factory Prague into google and see if pages appear that
describe the whole project. It seems the city takes Sculpture very
seriously.
Hey this poem's needing a lot of work, but I feel it could be worth it.
Thanks,
Bob
>From: grasshopper <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Prague In Midsummer (revised)
>Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 19:17:49 +0100
>
>Dear Bob,
> I wonder if the ambiguity at the start is intentional -was it the heat
>or
>the shrine that made you almost cry? I suppose this might not be a question
>for people who really love the heat and like to sizzle like kippers until a
>grill.
>Also I wasn't sure about 'they don't see us' -why would the people looking
>down from the Museum not see you? In fact you go on to say that they do see
>you, as small people. I'm assuming you mean the distance means the people
>below aren't seen as individuals, but I feel perhaps that could be made a
>little clearer.Would it really be a general feeling of the people looking
>down that they were only seeing the 21st Century ? I could accept it easily
>the other way round, if the narrator were looking down,because of his train
>of thought, but isn't it a stretch to assume that perception to all the
>people looking down from the windows?
>I enjoyed the poem, and was intrigued by the description of the 'knicker
>sculpture'. Have you got a link to a photo of it?
>Kind regards,
> grasshopper
>
> >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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