Day 45 - Valentine (Carol Ann Duffy)

Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy

 Not a red rose or a satin heart.

 I give you an onion.
 It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
 It promises light
 like the careful undressing of love.

 Here.
 It will blind you with tears
 like a lover.
 It will make your reflection
 a wobbling photo of grief.

 I am trying to be truthful.

 Not a cute card or kissogram.

 I give you an onion.
 Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
 possessive and faithful
 as we are,
 for as long as we are.

 Take it.
 Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring,
 if you like.
 Lethal.
 Its scent will cling to your fingers,
 cling to your knife.

Finally caught up!

I had abandoned this for a while, but I've just caught up on my posts. I've decided that it is quite a random selection of poems so, starting tomorrow, I'm going to have a theme each week. As tomorrow is Valentines Day the theme will be love. I generally cannot abide Valentine's Day, mostly because I've never managed to be with anyone on that day but also because it's a commercial crapfest. But there are so many poems about the matters of the heart that it seems an ideal opportunity. And I've recently (and quite unexpectedly) started thinking about someone in that way so the poems could be resonant to my situation. Although if that were true they'd probably be love doomed to failure poems!!

Day 44 - I carry your heart with me (EE Cummings)

I carry your heart with me by EE Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Day 43 - The Subway Piranhas (Edwin Morgan)

The Subway Piranhas by Edwin Morgan

  Did anyone tell you
  that in each subway train
  there is one special seat
  with a small hole in it
  and underneath the seat
  is a tank of piranha-fish
  which have not been fed
  for quite some time.
  The fish become quite agitated
  by the shoogling of the train
  and jump up through the seat.
  The resulting skeletons
  of unlucky passengers
  turn an honest penny
  for the transport executive,
  hanging far and wide
  in medical schools.

Day 42 - For Whom The Bell Tolls (John Donne)

Not technically a poem, but I love this. My mum has a framed poster of it in her toilet so I've been able to recite it from a very young age.

For Whom The Bell Tolls by John Donne

No man is an iland, intire of it selfe; 

every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; 

if a clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, 

as well as if a Promontorie were, 

as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; 

any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; 

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee...

Day 41 - The Good-morrow (John Donne)

The Good-morrow by John Donne

 I wonder by my troth, what thou and I
 Did, till we lov'd? Were we not wean'd till then,
 But suck'd on country pleasures, childishly?
 Or snorted we in the seven sleepers' den?
 'Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be.
 If ever any beauty I did see,
 Which I desir'd, and got, 'twas but a dream of thee.

 And now good morrow to our waking souls,
 Which watch not one another out of fear;
 For love, all love of other sights controls,
 And makes one little room, an everywhere.
 Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
 Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
 Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.

 My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
 And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
 Where can we find two better hemispheres,
 Without sharp north, without declining west?
 Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally;
 If our two loves be one, or, thou and I
 Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die.

Day 40 - Warning (Jenny Joseph)

Warning by Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.