Hi Matt,
This is a fine poem!
Like others I'm tripping up over unwiting witnesses!
The way you don't give me any information about the woman who gave Corkscrew
lane a bad name in intruiging me as well... I'm thinking, "Should I know who
this woman was? Have I forgotten some big news story, or some story that's
as bizzare as flying saucers caught on camera?" I guess I'm also intruiged
because Corkscrew Lane is such a fine name for a street - if the name
"Windsor Crescent" or "Larch Avenue" was there I wouldn't be thinking as
much about it... I'd then probably just think: "Yes, everywhere's got some
person who had their 15 minutes of fame for something they now regret..."
And I really like the way it ends.
I've often thought of poems as "polaroid pieces" when I scribble something
down almost as it's happened - and could also talk of other poems that could
take as long as a huge mural or landscape to write (sometimes a whole
collection of poems gives the same impresion as a mural, as well!). I like
the way, as a sub text, you're affirming a link, for me at least, between
artists working with different mediums.
Bob
>From: "Merritt, Matt - Leic. Mercury"
><[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: New sub: Developments
>Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 12:33:53 -0000
>
>Developments
>
>Years he waited in vain for something unseen
>to emerge from the emulsion under safe light.
>In the early days, the loved one, long departed,
>leaning into shot over someone's shoulder,
>
>or the woman who gave Corkscrew Lane
>its bad name, ghosting past unwitting witnesses.
>In the 70s, of course, it was spacemen and saucers,
>and he would scan the skies above wedding scenes
>
>for signs of life on other planets. Now he enjoys
>the digital delay, that frozen second between
>button and display. Sometimes no amount
>of experience can prepare him for the way,
>
>in six expensive megapixels, late sun picks out
>the blush on a wintering goosander's white breast,
>where moments earlier there was only a man,
>a settling pool, a monochrome afternoon.
>DISCLAIMER
>Any opinions expressed in this email are those of the individual and not
>necessarily those of Northcliffe Newspapers, Leicester Mercury Group,
>Northcliffe Retail or Northcliffe Accounting Center. This e-mail and any
>other files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of
>the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person
>responsible for delivering to the intended recipient, be advised that you
>have received this e-mail in error and any use is strictly prohibited. If
>you have received this e-mail in error, advise the sender immediately by
>using the reply facility in your e-mail software. This message should not
>be
>seen as forming a legally binding contract unless otherwise stated.
|