Poems about Poetry
Tracks in the Private Country
by T. Wignesan
The memory in need
Is the implacable enemy of the creed,
Waits and watches its foe
The all-clawing frenzy on tip-toe;
Quiescent in the instant’s repose
The thud of flurried gnawing years evoke.
The poet in his solitary moments, spoke
Those whispered words, memory’s secret ear yoke.
His wares, his scares, ailments and balms
Suddenly at the oasis of his thirst, awoke
Transilluminating the hard wad of his private notes,
Clutching at the infant’s murmurous innocence
The clear innocuous dogma of cries;
While his immodestly preened notes of travesty
Hark back; and the first poem playfully struck
Teaches him now too late the laugh, the critic’s qualms.
Just as the poet had wandered away from childhood,
So will the child thwart the unspoilt man
And shyly, shyly he turns away from the poet
Coming in like a stray camp-follower to brood.
For who may ask which the supreme poet
The child’s sweet ineffable musings disrespect
While language etherises meanings proudly sown:
The title in two is halved – one the art, one, lone.
And the man, memory’s ill-begotten infant
Lurking round the corner, pranks the urgent moment
Or two – then restores the poet to the poem.
T. Wignesan
Copyright ©:
T. Wignesan, 1957 – First pub. in “Discus”, University of Frankfurt, 1960 (from the collection: Tracks of a Tramp. Kuala Lumpur-Singapore: 1961)
A few random poems:
- The Copper Beech by Marie Howe
- Man’s Knowledge – Ingorance in the Mysteries of God by William Drummond
- On Edges
- Владимир Высоцкий – Возле города Пекина
- Song—A Lass wi’ a Tocher by Robert Burns
- El Cafetal by Rafael Guillen
- A Japanese Wood-Carving poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Lines written on a Bank-note by Robert Burns
- Низами Гянджеви – Там, где лик ты светлый явишь
- From The Long Sad Party by Mark Strand
- Loitering with a Vacant Eye poem – A. E. Housman
- On The Way To The Bottom by Shel Silverstein
- Young Love poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Casualty by Winifred Mary Letts
- Private Property
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Consider This And In Our Time by W H Auden
- The Common Life by W H Auden
- Cocaine Lil and Morphine Sue by W H Auden
- Christmas Oratio by W H Auden
- Carry Her Over the Water by W H Auden
- Canzone by W H Auden
- Calypso by W H Auden
- Base Words Are Uttered by W H Auden
- Autumn Song by W H Auden
- August 1968 by W H Auden
- Atlantis by W H Auden
- As I Walked Out One Evening by W. H. Auden
- As We Like It by W H Auden
- As the poets have mournfully sung by W H Auden
- Are You There? by W H Auden
- After Reading a Child’s Guide to Modern Physics by W. H. Auden
- Academic Graffiti by W H Auden
- A Walk After Dark by W H Auden
- A New Year Greeting by W H Auden
- Continual Conversation With A Silent Man by Wallace Stevens
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
