Uneducated

 

The mature student has soft,

almost German blonde hair,

but an English accent

I imagine as laced

with mauve plums and brandy.

 

He keeps flicking back to the film,

'Ulysses'. He asks

if we know the story of Ulysses,

a classroom bursts

into my mind: a chalk drawing

 

of a Minoan sailing ship

but that's all. I am fourteen.

My Granddad sips some Claret

at the mahogany table.

He speaks of the story

 

as the sun melts

over the peaceful Cornish valley

and the sparrows in the sycamore

sing into the gathering dusk

of my adolescence.

 

My friend left school at fourteen 

but she nods. Her voice,

torn as war, or a broken home,

'Cause I do, it's about Odysseus

decade long journey to Ithaca.'

 

Tears blister my eyes as I think,

in the lethargy of my learning,

in the spaces between what I hear,

there is a futility that many

would have feasted on what I had.

 

Reviews

[Poeticpiers]

Looking back is always a nostalgic process I indulge myself occassionally but I know my memoeries have been skilfully re edited subconsciously to show me in a better light

[Kevin Vorshak]

You really weave a great story, so vivid. The flashback is beautifully presented. You have an amazing talent.

[Brjden (Bridge-Den) Cre..]

An incredible mind! An absolutely incredible mind you have. Great imagination and creativity.

[Donald Meikle]

As I too look back on it we were poor and yet so rich in time to look, and then in comparison to some, rich with only time to look back. You feather urge me to count my blessings Sel

[fireblossom]

He speaks of the story as the sun melts over the peaceful Cornish valley and the sparrows in the sycamore sing into the gathering dusk of my adolescence.

I truly love this descriptive passage. Just one in a wonderful poem. Your poetry springs from a unique point of view. You stand still and watch slowly. The scene impresses itself into you. This gives you clarity. A great gift for a poet to have. This gives you the IT factor. As in...you have it...the thing we can never seem to describe. It sets good poets apart from great ones.

[W.k.kortas]

So many seemingly disparate things-- Odysseus and an unhappy youth, Cornwall and Ithaca--woven together so seamlessly, so artfully that it makes a body wonder just how one goes about doing something this well. Top-drawer, first-rate stuff.

[Hedra Helix]

wow you write with so much mind, pictures from the most simple to the most violet and textured.

This was beautiful.

[Ed Hart]

you draw us into the deep thicket of yourself, but you paint with a feather...it's ghostly, evanescent, secretly revealing, sure, accomplished...

[Emily B]

oh, Sel, I didn't expect the feast and famine theme. It worked out so beautifully. All the imagery was so serene and lovely. Oh, my, your works never disappoint.