Like the trundle of the poem, Max but final stanza doesn't work for me. Could it just stop at 'ask my wife'?
Bill
> On 28 Nov 2013, at 10:41 am, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I know the feeling, Max.
>
> Minor is good. And welcome home asap...
>
> Forgetful or no, but then what kept you awake was remembering....
>
> Doug
>> On Nov 27, 2013, at 1:57 PM, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Best wishes Max dos should go in with you!!P
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
>> Behalf Of Max Richards
>> Sent: 27 November 2013 19:43
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: 'What Woke Me?'
>>
>> What woke me?
>>
>> Not the silence of the dogs,
>> delivered yesterday
>> to their carers,
>>
>> not the dawning city day
>> of trams and early
>> morning workers.
>>
>> Not the regular breathing
>> of my sleeping wife
>> late to bed preoccupied.
>>
>> Not certainly that I felt
>> completely rested
>> and ready for a new day.
>>
>> No, a phrase lodged
>> in my mind from last night:
>> Thursday I have surgery.
>>
>> (Minor, guys,
>> a mere 'procedure',
>> sent home pronto.)
>>
>> Not till afternoon, luckily.
>> Pack a few things,
>> catch a Malvern tram,
>>
>> alight as instructed,
>> check in composedly.
>> Yesterday they phoned
>>
>> asking about allergies,
>> medications,
>> tobacco, drink habits,
>>
>> could I walk up
>> three flights of stairs?
>> and did I have Alzheimer's?
>>
>> No, I said, rather too firmly.
>> I should have said:
>> ask my wife.
>>
>> And if she'd said Yes,
>> I could have shouted:
>> Not me! her! her!
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
> http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
>
> Latest books:
> Continuations & Continuations 2 (with Sheila E Murphy)
> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=962
> Recording Dates
> (Rubicon Press)
>
> Art is always the replacing of indifference by attention.
>
> Guy Davenport
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