Tuesday 30 August 2011

edwin morgan

The Glass

To love you in shadow as in the light
is light itself. In subterranean night
you sow the fields with fireflies of delight.

Lanarkshire holds you, under its grim grass.
But I hold what you were, like a bright glass
I carry brimming through the darkening pass.

9 comments:

Rachel Fox said...

Now see, why doesn't everyone rhyme? It's just so lovely.
x

Dominic Rivron said...

Funnily enough I was just thinking about the word brimming.

One of the things I love about EM is this: I don't know much about the background to his work but it seems he just wrote unselfconsciously, never worrying about which pigeon hole he was sitting in. Flicking through his Collected, there are pages and pages of "experimental" poetry, pages and pages of more "traditional" poetry and all sorts in between.

swiss said...

i had an interesting conversation about rhyme and metre jst the other day. are you finished jury duty? may be up your way this week

swiss said...

i think that notion of thinking about a word and then taking it where it takes him is very edwin morgan. i think looking at his work it's easy to see a joy about it

Rachel Fox said...

Yes. I have visitors but I'm sure they'd be happy to meet you. Shout when you're on the way.

x

Andrew Shields said...

Reminds me of what Marilyn Hacker said about her "formalism": she's just a hedonist who enjoys the pleasure of rhyme.

This poem becomes even more resonant when thinks about it in terms of "the love that dare not speak its name." I'm reminded, then, of Steve Earle's line about why he likes living in Greenwich Village:

"I need to be able to walk out of my door and see a same-sex biracial couple walking down the street holding hands. That makes me feel safe."

swiss said...

i am loving both of these quotes!

Marion McCready said...

love this Morgan poem, he's so distinct isn't he, you can hear his voice when you read it

swiss said...

it is just a lovely wee perfection of a poem in every respect. the more i look at it the more i enjoy it