I obviously missed this earlier, L.
I like its trajectory from then to now implied.
But 'Each guards its news’ leaves me a bit quizzical about Elidus’s misanthropy, which I hadn’t felt to this degree before (I don’t think).
D
On Jan 8, 2015, at 3:46 AM, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Few boats put out; and fewer now arrive.
>
> It is seasonal *and* it is permanent.
>
> Once there were more than one a day, with hopes
>
> of new buildings and new businesses. Today
>
> it is unusual seeing outsiders;
>
> and winter makes it worse. All this I'm told;
>
> though there is evidence: decay, poverty
>
> and fear in the midst of signs of past prosperity.
>
>
>
> Some still come. Two were here this afternoon,
>
> staring at maps, at us, asking for beds.
>
> No one tells me anything. Each guards its news
>
> in case there is profit, the fools. Blank looks
>
> become smug looks, bags jangling with bright coins
>
> hidden by hastily gathered clothes. Their greed
>
> seems habitual. There is no desperation
>
>
>
>
> [Elidius is one of the names of one who may have lived at some time after
> the Roman period on Scilly, or, as it then seems to have been called,
> Ennor. There is no evidence of him apart from the earlier name of St
> Helen's island, where it is said he may have been buried, Insula Sancti
> Elidii. His feast day is 8th August. Until now he has had no hagiographer. ]
>
> Apologies for posting a day late
>
Douglas Barbour
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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
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