Hi Bob,
Thanks for the kind comments - "unwitting witnesses" will have to go, I
think.
I sort of wanted Corkscrew Lane to intrigue a little, but maybe not so much
that you're worried you've missed something else! I meant the woman to be a
ghost of some sort, one of those local legends with an unhappy story behind
it. I'm not sure about the road name - we have a real Corkscrew Lane near
here, which is reputedly haunted (although by Civil War soldiers), but I
think I used it because, like you, I liked the sound of it.
I hadn't thought of the Polaroid comparison, but of course it must be very
similar to what happens with digital cameras. I suppose I was just thinking
of the way that you set out thinking you're capturing one thing on camera,
on paper, whatever, and find there's more to it than you realised.
Thanks again for your help.
Regards,
Matt
-----Original Message-----
From: The Pennine Poetry Works [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Bob Cooper
Sent: 25 November 2004 13:51
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: New sub: Developments
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.
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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
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