Hi Sally,
Not sure whether I've got anything useful to add. Like Mike I found the
narrative a bit confusing at times, but that's maybe just on first reading,
and I'm certainly intrigued enough to keep reading it to see what else I can
make of it. And obviously, something of an air of mystery is a good thing,
given the subject matter.
I agree with Terri that "I'm glad my father didn't tell me. I'm glad I know
now" detracts from the final two lines.
Good read though, and worth persevering with, IMO.
Regards,
Matt
-----Original Message-----
From: The Pennine Poetry Works [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Sally Evans
Sent: 05 December 2004 20:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: New Poem: Mr Ford
Mr Ford
Mr Ford's spectre paced his basement room.
A fire-place. Lined with books, it must have been.
Its window opened to a hollow green
rocked and stocked VIctorian garden.
That's who he was: VIctorian, gardener,
cleric, and father (I think it was of ten).
He claimed peace to study there and then,
the spacious chamber entered from the kitchen
by stone steps. The room was used in our day
only on Wednesdays by the Brownies.
A big, heavy billiard table
slunk to one side, unused (there was a cue).
The boarded floor was dry, the rug threadbare.
We sometimes put ice-cream blocks on a stair
to keep them cool. The sweet green smell
of apples on the ledges, and a wine rack,
cobwebby, unused. A locked old door
led to a room with a frightful secret
we couldn't ask about, were stone-walled
if we tried. A flicker of silence
was seen in our parents' eyes.
Decades later, I learned it was a prison,
a murder, a hanging, a very young girl.
I'm glad my father didn't tell me.
I'm glad I know now. I sometimes wonder
if that's why Mr Ford hid from his children,
or if it was before their time.
Sally Evans
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