Favourite Poetry
(I never said I was high brow)
Love 20¢ The First Quarter Mile
All right. I may have lied to you and about you, and made a few
pronouncements a bit too sweeping, perhaps, and possibly forgotten
to tag the bases here or there,
And damned your extravagence, and maligned your tastes, and libeled
your relatives, and slandered a few of your friends,
O.K.,
Nevertheless, come back.
Come home. I will agree to forget the statements that you issued so
copiously to the neighbors and the press,
And you will forget that figment of your imagination, the blonde from Detroit;
I will agree that your lady friend who lives above us is not crazy, bats,
nutty as they come, but on the contrary rather bright,
And you will concede that poor old Steinberg is neither a drunk, nor
a swindler, but simply a guy, on the eccentric side, trying to get along.
(Are you listening, you bitch, and have you got this straight?)
Because I forgive you, yes, for everything.
I forgive you for being beautiful and generous and wise,
I forgive you, to put it simply, for being alive, and pardon you, in short,
for being you.
Because tonight you are in my hair and eyes,
And every street light that our taxi passes shows me you again, still you,
And because tonight all other nights are black, all other hours are cold
and far away, and now, this minute, the stars are very near and bright
Come back. We will have a celebration to end all celebrations.
We will invite the undertaker who lives beneath us, and a couple of
boys from the office, and some other friends.
And Steinberg, who is off the wagon, and that insane woman who lives
upstairs, and a few reporters, if anything should break.
Kenneth Fearing
We Shall Not Escape Hell
We shall not escape Hell, my passionate
Sisters, we shall drink black resins-
We who sang our praises to the Lord
With every one of our sinews, even the finest.
We did not lean over cradles or
Spinning wheels at night, and now we are
Carried off by an unsteady boat
Under the skirts of a sleeveless cloak,
We dressed every morning in
Fine Chinese silk, and we would
Sing our paradisel songs at
The fire of the robber's camp
Slovenly needlewomen (all
Our sewing came apart), dancers,
Players upon pipes: we have been
The queens of the whole world!
First scarsely covered by rags,
Then with constellations in our hair, in
Goal and at feasts we have
Bartered away heaven,
In starry nights, in the apple
Orchards of Paradise
-Gentle girls, my beloved sisters,
we shall certainly find ourselves in Hell!
Marina Tsvetayeva
"L'enfant Glacé"
When baby's cries grew hard to bear,
I popped him in the Frigidaire.
I never would have done so if
I'd known that he'd be frozen stiff.
My wife said, "George, I'm so unhappé!
Our darling's now completely frappé.
Harry Graham
Oor Dentist
Oor dentist's name is Mr Keith.
He tells me I should clean my teeth
Twa times a day or even mair.
He pits me in his muckle chair,
Wheechs me up intae the air
And says "Noo, this'll no be sair."
Arghhhh!
And when my mooth is open wide,
He speirs at me whaur dae I bide,
Or hae I had my holiday
Tae Disneyland? Whit can I say?
A skinlin probe inside my mou,
The moothwash sweelin, gars me grue.
Arghhh!
Thanks tae the dentist, says my Ma,
Ye'll no hae falsers like yer Da.
Lydia Robb
Lament for a lost dinner ticket
See ma mammy
See ma dinner ticket
A pititnma
Pokit an she pititny
Washnmachine.
See thon burnty
Up wherra firewiz
Ma mammy says
Am no tellnyagain
No'y playnit.
A jist wen'y eatma
Pokacrisps furma dinner
Nabigwoffldoon.
The summin sed Aver near
Clapsed
Jistur heednur
Wee wellies sticknoot.
They sed Wot hepind?
Nme'nma belly
Na bedna hospital.
A sed A pititnma
Pokit an she pititny
Washnmachine.
They sed Ees thees chaild eb slootly
Non verbal?
A sed MA BUMSAIR
Nwen'y sleep
Margaret Hamilton
The Labour Party is a demographic socialist party. It believes that by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone, so as to create for each of us the means to realise our true potential and for all of us a community in which power, wealth and opportunity are in the hands of the many not the few, where the rights we enjoy reflect the duties we owe, and where we live together, freely, in a spirit of solidarity, tolerance and respect.