Despite having two people in this household that really
do love each other, the only valentine card that was send and stands on the top
of the cupboard is from Jakey – a dog that we sponsor through Dog’s
Trust. It’s a big pink card with “Love You” on the front and “Thank You
For Being Mine” in the middle. There is an apology somewhere in the
letter Jakey wrote about us not being able to visit him as he is wary of
people.
The other cards didn’t get bought or send because being
so busy in the days leading up to St Valentine’s day, we both agreed to
postpone it until the Saturday. A posh meal out and some pampering was promised
but never happened.
One of my poetry friends bought a poetry book by Carol
Anne Duffy. He reasoned that if she was the current poet laureate then
she must be the best poet in the land. He read us one of her poems –
“Valentine” ending with his comment –“What was all that about?” It had
something to do with an onion that made you cry. I googled a few
web-pages, mainly the GCSE revision sites, that attempted to explain the
imagery. I wasn’t far off when I made the connection between onions and
Shrek and layers.
I have to admit that I prefer Jakey’s sentiments on love to
Carol Anne Duffy’s. Although I write
poetry, I am not a great reader of poetry. I am very much like many
people who don’t “get it”. I buy poetry books on occasion, not because I love
poetry but more out of a sense of obligation.
If I want people to read my poetry, I feel duty bound to read poems
other people write – but I don’t always enjoy it! You see, when I write a poem I know what I
want to say. When I read a poem someone else has written I can’t always work
out what they want to say - like Carol Anne Duffy and her Valentine.
A week or two ago I bought a poetry book “The Heart’s
Time” by Janet Morley. I hadn’t actually intended to buy it. The
CLC Bookshop Facebook page listed resources for Lent and the book was among them.
Poetry and Lent seemed the perfect combination and I went to the shop to have a
look at it. They didn’t have the book but assumed that I wanted a copy
and ordered one for me. It turned out that I did want to have a copy
after all.
The poetry isn’t Janet’s but taken from all kinds of
poets – including Carol Anne Duffy – my own comment after reading “Homesick”
was “What WAS that all about?” It’s a book about Lent meditations linked to the
poems, and Lent hasn’t started yet but I can’t leave a new book unread.
Each meditation begins with a poem. Janet Morley
then draws out spiritual truths from the poem. She also points out some
of the symbolism and imagery that I would have missed. I have a tendency
to underline bits here and there.
I would like to think that I am now writing better poetry
but that wouldn’t be true. I am not hard-wired to be deep and symbolic.
I can’t write what I don’t really understand and have no desire to hide what
I understand in images that confuse. No onions and very few layers.
What it really boils down to is…I am not very clever so
what I write isn’t really clever either. But it works for me.
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