yes, I suppose a branch is still a branch, no matter how broken, Patrick. 'Stub' I selected to imply the ratty shaft of a once mightier bough and also to hint at how it is 'stubbed' into the ground by grinding its pointy broken bit in.
I'll take advice.
Bill
On 01/08/2012, at 4:41 PM, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Bill-Poor Goldman's road no more gold! A stub!
> Perhaps poem could do with a bit of editing?
> Cheers P
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Bill Wootton
> Sent: 31 July 2012 23:11
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: unmarked man.snap
>
> unmarked man
>
> it's been a month now.
> i've erected a little cairn
> of stones to surround
> the uprightish grey branch stub
> i propped there last week
> in the closing crater
> which once housed
> the steel pole
> which announced
> Goldmans Road.
>
> The sign was never all that flash.
> North winds would push it
> parallel to the bitumen.
> Whacking it round
> with that broken branch
> from time to time,
> forced a realignment.
>
> but now, aroused
> by car tyres,
> then settling,
> only loose stones and gravel
> mill about in the area.
>
> looking up at the road opening,
> i wonder if it too will soon close over.
> then i'll really have trouble
> getting home.
>
>
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