She may not be well-known on this mail-base, but Elma Mitchell, who died on
Wednesday, November 22nd, was a poet of integrity, insight and often irony
and humour. She was very much loved in the South-West where she had made her
home.
Her funeral is at 11.30 on Thursday, December 30th at Taunton Deane
Crematorium.
Troth
I lie in your hand now like a mirror bestowed
On a woman about to visit her own wedding
To see what face she carries to that condition.
I lie in your hand now like a single pebble
Picked from the ruck and shattering of the beach
To live (in virtue of colour, shape and streak)
A lifetime in a quiet bedroom window;
A habit of the eye, and stroked and held
Familiar, and possessed, and loved as such
Yet bringing to mind the huge and shifting sea.
(from The Human Cage 1979. Peterloo)
Frequently anthologised, Elma's own collections, all from Peterloo, were;
The Poor Man in the Flesh (1976)
The Human Cage (1979)
Furnished Rooms (1983)
People Etcetera (1987)
Tilla Brading
|