Being as I am directly in the middle of my Christmas examinations, I thought it would be a splendid idea to write a poem. It is a simple poem in three parts. It's not quite finished, I'm happy with one of the verses and unhappy with the other two. See what you think anyway.
5.11
1
I waited up last night for the early call from
and this morning I heard the news.
I am different in this radio static
today, the beginning of Christmas exams
and somebody lighting firecrackers outside my school.
2
There is a parcel waiting at lunchtime
labelled Air Mail. I tear it open. Six copies
of the book inside and my name is on the cover.
The solipsistic joy of letters
how suddenly your name means more when it is
printed in some font that’s not your own.
3
And you send me a message on MySpace
to say that I should come see you sometime.
Let nothing ever stop this sense of reaching out
this endless connection, this effortless tide of
being, of being more than one.
12 comments:
Congratulations on your publication!
I want a copy. I will pay.
Nice poem, will come back and look harder at it when the plebs are not clamouring so.
like it. Verse 3 especially. What is your publication? Congratulations. There's nothing like seeing a book of your own.
I think you've got a number of us ready to queue up for the publication :). There are some wonderful observations in this poem. I especially like the line 'I am different in this radio static' from the first stanza, and the last three lines of the poem capture a yearning I can definitely identify with.
I have been a little premature in my revealing the book's existence to you guys, and also might have cracked it up somewhat. But hey. Poetic licence.
One of my short stories won a competition with the Guardian and Bebo.com and was included in a collection with the other 20 winners. That was when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Now, they've sent me six copies, so I presume the whole thing is moving ahead somehow and will eventually appear in shops and so on, at which juncture I'll let you all know the titles. And an Amazon link ;)
Regarding the publication of your story. In my opinion, it's not your best work... but it's still better than everybody else's! :)
Congrats! Very well done... how did you manage to work your examinations in ?
Ken: Given that this statement is more or less visible to the book-buying public, I didn't want to say anything too derogatory, but you're absolutely right. The story is actually kind of terrible. But then, I wrote it when I was fifteen, which was pretty much forever ago.
Dave: Examinations?
... Oh, *those* examinations ;)
Actually, I'll probably make a post when I get the results to complain about how it's impossible to live a trillion lives at once, but at this point I can say confidently that if I fail, it is entirely my own fault.
Yes I like the last verse best too.
As for exams...there's nothing wrong with a bit of failure...in the right places.
x
Nice one! I also really like the last stanza, especially the ending.
I've enjoyed the first verse the most, how it reads like a prologue to an event, and heightens the anticipation for it. I could hear the radio static and the segue to the firecrackers; both make me think of one's pulse rate when excited. ;) Cheers.
The rhythm, the musical effect of these three stanzas is really good.
They're lighting fireworks (or whatever; bangers?) outside our school, too. There's a bin smoking every second say.
oh, and ... A little late, but well done! Wow.
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