Ha, Bill, that 'Shames' section was the part I appreciated the best!
Strange who we all read the same poem differently (so much theory wrapped
up in there).
Andrew
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On 21 January 2016 at 09:02, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Like this, Max, not least for the apparent tensions between the speaker and
> she who must be in present. I wonder about shames shifted/past shame but
> it's a good wonder. Uncrowded now is all right.
>
> Bill
>
> On Thursday, 21 January 2016, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > This old! -
> >
> > no wonder
> > I live more
> > in the Then
> > than the Now.
> >
> > Now - so
> > elusive;
> > next - so
> > unlikely.
> >
> > This old
> > has-been
> > knows better
> > than to complain -
> >
> > just keep me
> > on standby,
> > ye powers that be.
> > I’m walking
> >
> > now somewhat
> > steady, alert,
> > ready, expecting
> > the worst,
> >
> > confident
> > the best
> > though past
> > lingers still
> >
> > awhile on call
> > or unsummoned
> > flooding up
> > as if re-lived
> >
> > old pains even
> > revalued
> > shames shifted
> > past shame
> >
> > eclipsed strangely
> > by gratitude
> > to have lived
> > and survived
> >
> > so long amid
> > sweets and sours
> > feasts and fasts
> > sunsets and some
> >
> > winter dawns,
> > long summer days,
> > moon’s every phase.
> > This fine rain
> >
> > brings back rains
> > finer. Those far-off
> > locomotives
> > calling now
> >
> > summon the past
> > to re-enter places
> > as when new.
> > Passers-by glance
> >
> > at an old man
> > holding himself in
> > without seeing how
> > he’s held together.
> >
> > Stepping along,
> > that old, this old.
> > - All this I said to her
> > disapproving ear.
> >
> > She said:
> > living in the present -
> > nothing’s
> > more important!
> >
> > You don’t have
> > to be a has-been,
> > doting on
> > your past time.
> >
> > Nostalgia!
> > such a weakness…
> > a weakening
> > pastime.
> >
> > Memories make
> > a deceiving refuge,
> > hidey-holes
> > for misfits.
> >
> > Yes, she added,
> > much of the past
> > we shared, good
> > to recall at times -
> >
> > but here, now,
> > together, doesn’t
> > all this crowd
> > out all the rest?
>
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
Books available through Walleah Press
http://walleahpress.com.au
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