Oct 2015
Haunted by you, Keats
lost in my Autumn days' revel
I reach for '' dull'' rhymes
to chain my English with their wiles
wondering if you'd bow down
before the poets of performance & free verse
or else lament the passing of the days of old
the Seasons are still changing,
true weather is ever unforetold
few write of Greek myth now
& Chatterton is all but forgot
in this new England
where the spoken word is more favored
than the blessed page
& ever stranger tastes invade
& seize the poet's lyre
I, being but a traveller unto
this land can but aspire
to touch it with my verse
before you, Keats, I bow down
to your ' Eve of St Agnes', sonnets
to your ' Endymion'
I read you & am seized by song
Oh bright star of poets,
listen - may you ever reign!
lost in my Autumn days' revel
I reach for '' dull'' rhymes
to chain my English with their wiles
wondering if you'd bow down
before the poets of performance & free verse
or else lament the passing of the days of old
the Seasons are still changing,
true weather is ever unforetold
few write of Greek myth now
& Chatterton is all but forgot
in this new England
where the spoken word is more favored
than the blessed page
& ever stranger tastes invade
& seize the poet's lyre
I, being but a traveller unto
this land can but aspire
to touch it with my verse
before you, Keats, I bow down
to your ' Eve of St Agnes', sonnets
to your ' Endymion'
I read you & am seized by song
Oh bright star of poets,
listen - may you ever reign!
John Keats was an English poet who wrote in the 1800ds..
Chatterton is Thomas Chatterton, a poet from my fair hometown of Bristol in the South-west of England who lived between 1752-1770.
In this poem I make an allusion to a couple of Keats' most famous sonnets one which starts as ' If by dull rhymes our English must be chained'
to another one which starts as ' Bright star! Would I were steadfast as thou art' & was written for his love, ***** Brawne...
I have a certain respect for performance poets/poetry & free verse, as I occasionally perform my poetry & write free verse myself but at the same time I cannot help but feel that we are slowly at risk of 'losing' something special e.g poetry the way it used to be in the days of old.
Chatterton is Thomas Chatterton, a poet from my fair hometown of Bristol in the South-west of England who lived between 1752-1770.
In this poem I make an allusion to a couple of Keats' most famous sonnets one which starts as ' If by dull rhymes our English must be chained'
to another one which starts as ' Bright star! Would I were steadfast as thou art' & was written for his love, ***** Brawne...
I have a certain respect for performance poets/poetry & free verse, as I occasionally perform my poetry & write free verse myself but at the same time I cannot help but feel that we are slowly at risk of 'losing' something special e.g poetry the way it used to be in the days of old.
