looking for this poem
poet is probably Roger McGough
I cant find it on the net..
urgent
it might be in a book called 'touched with fire'
It is by McGough, but still under copyright, so no copies to be found on the internet.
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The oldman in the cripplechair
Died in transit through the air
And slopped into the road.
The driver of the lethallory
Trembled out and cried: 'I'm sorry,
But it was his own fault'.
Humans snuggled round the mess
In masochistic tenderness
As raindrops danced in his womb
* * *
but something else obsessed my brian,
The canvas, twistedsteel and cane,
His chair, spreadeagled in the rain,
Like a fallen birdman.
Roger McGough
Hmmm. Well may he write '* * *'.
I suppose, but can't be sure with something that looks so authorabandoned, that 'lethallory' is someone's mistranscription of 'lethal lorry'.
But 'his womb' ??!
Was RMcG trying to write a piece of sciencefiction futurespeak?
You are saying is is an example of ekphrasis? A poem about another work of art, such as a painting or sculpture? If so, I would be interested in knowing the referenced work.
The 'raindrops danced in his womb' seems suspect to me as well, because of change in meter. I feel sure brian is a typo for brain, but the form chosen is also strange. Rings a bell, but I can't place it, I mean. Three three-line stanzas each rhyming aax and the separated fourth one with four lines rhyming aaa(a?).
Certainly doesn't sound like Roger's usual light verse stuff.