Thanks Andrew for this. New to me. Loved 'the worse for war' and 'rusty red like dried-up wounds'. Strong sense of the times.
Bill
> On 8 Jan 2015, at 11:57 am, Andrew Burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Max, reminded me of Malouf's poem, The Year of the Foxes - available at
> http://www.poetrylibrary.edu.au/poets/malouf-david/the-year-of-the-foxes-0226014
>
> Andrew
>
>> On 8 January 2015 at 06:02, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Ah, but are you sure she found no ONE?
>>
>> Memories abound for you, Max, & intriguing too...
>>
>> Doug
>>> On Jan 7, 2015, at 8:45 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> Wynne
>>>
>>> In the small car my aunt drove,
>>> her midlife accomplishment,
>>> there would come to our house
>>> with her withered friend
>>>
>>> Mrs Wright (painful to behold
>>> with her fox-fur over shoulders
>>> lopsided, her twisted stick),
>>> Mrs Wright's daughter,
>>>
>>> a woman like a rare
>>> draped statue, the outline
>>> of her breasts level
>>> with my pubertal eye.
>>>
>>> Wynne. She had little to say,
>>> nothing memorable,
>>> in a subdued voice;
>>> smiled - never laughed.
>>>
>>> Why did people defer to her,
>>> praise her auburn hair? -
>>> yes, it was - unusual.
>>> Hair soon fades from gold to dull.
>>>
>>> (I was once little Snowy -
>>> now I was lanky Mouse,
>>> a boy invisible to her
>>> in this quiet house).
>>>
>>> The middle-aged were on her case.
>>> Poor Wynne - if she doesn't
>>> marry soon...! she's no life -
>>> the shoe shop; poor Mrs R. -
>>>
>>> sinking to a whisper -
>>> adopted her, you know! -
>>> insurance against neglect
>>> in her old age. She sat well,
>>>
>>> she stood well on heels
>>> higher than the others'; dressed
>>> better than the middle-aged ladies.
>>> Aunt drove them home -
>>>
>>> somewhere pokey where
>>> visitors weren't invited.
>>> Miss Wright never met her
>>> Mr Right. Those breasts
>>>
>>> found no takers. At length alone,
>>> mightn't Wynne, single woman,
>>> have felt in her breast a pang?
>>> looked into adoption?
>>
>> Douglas Barbour
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuation 2
>> (UofAPress).
>> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
>>
>> that we are only
>> as we find out we are
>>
>> Charles Olson
>
>
>
> --
> Andrew
> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
> 'Undercover of Lightness'
> http://walleahpress.com.au/recent-publications.html
> 'Shikibu Shuffle'
> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/new-from-aboveground-press-shikibu.html
>
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