Poetry Day

Stevie Smith - Not Waving But Drowning

Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.



I know I have posted the next two poems many times before. But they fit my mood today. Also I am including one verse from another poem that is simply brilliant. The poem is too long for me to care to type it out, so check it out on your own if you fancy.

The Road by Russel Edson

There was a road that leads him to go to find a certain time where he sits.

Smokes quietly in the evening by the four legged table wagging its
(well why not) tail, friendly chap.

Hears footsteps, looks to find his own feet gone.

The road absorbs everything with rumors of sleep.

And then he looked for himself and even he was gone.

--Looked for the road and even that...

The Fall by Russel Edson

There was a man who found two leaves and came indoors holding
them out saying to his parents that he was a tree.

To which they said then go into the yard and do not row in the living
room as your roots may ruin the carpet.

He said I was fooling I am not a tree and he dropped his leaves.

But his parents said look it is fall.

The Dainty One by Russel Edson

"...One feels that things are about to change. I have felt this way all my life. It
is a readiness that robs every act of meaning, making every situation
obsolete, putting the present into the past..."