Thursday 4 June 2015

Endings

The theme for our weekly Poetry Group was suggested by Sandy and she put forward Keats' use of the phrase 'negative capability' as the basis for our meditation and inspiration.  Keats only used the phrase once in a letter, but it has come to be seen as a defining concept for his work.
     This site gives what I think is a convincing discussion of some of the aspects of this phrase: http://www.keatsian.co.uk/negative-capability.php.
     I am not sure if the poem that I wrote actually illustrates or relates to the theme, but I did write it while considering the implications of what the words might mean.
     I think that there are some contradictions in the poem and some useful conflicts - at least from my point of view, or perhaps I should say from the point of view of the poet who wrote it!


Endings



Some culture’s cheap and deep.

I remember well the
taste and texture of the penny
gum, together with the paper bits
impossible to clear.

And chewing, chewing, chewing
‘til the jaws began to ache,
just for that moment when an
unvoiced exhalation rounded
to perfection: skin-thin the gleam
and candy-stretched to spherical;
defying all the forces in the universe
to take it down. 
                        A momentary
pause.  And the inevitable itch
to tempt domestic fates as
just-a-little-more seemed
reasonable.

My mouth is empty now,
but in an accent, quite precise,
I can fill it up with words that
mimic intellect to fight against
the dark and memories
of bubbles burst.



There seems to be a slightly archaic air to the use of vocabulary in this poem and, although my childhood is some way away, it is not quite so distant as it sounds!  I think that I was trying to get some aspect of distance into the words while still feeling that they were authentically mine.