READING P. D. JAMES IN SAN FRANCISCO
This month's poem was chosen by Alex Smith who says of it,
" It's a finely balanced poem on several levels. It can be read as a study of loneliness in an hotel (looking into the fridge, but feeling 'at home' with P D James writing about the Norfolk coast); it is also offers a wide-ranging comment on our culture, Western culture that is, and shows how fragmented it is, how off-centre much of the time and often irrelevant to an individual's way of life: the Pacific Seaboard, Jesus, P D James, Elton John and Diana, but with no sense of crowding the poem or name dropping. The names jolt the reader as they slide by, and this has much to do with the way the poem is crafted. Beautifully sculpted."
READING P. D. JAMES IN SAN FRANCISCO
Downstairs at the Monticello
I sip a fine Sonoma Valley Chardonnay
and read P. D. James.
Her man is on the Norfolk coast again
while I am on the Pacific seaboard
thousands of miles west,
on another planet.
His clues, as ever, allow him
to piece together a complex jigsaw
of a universe where
effect follows cause
as night follows day,
where any disruption
to the moral order
is strictly temporary.
Here my mini bar
is stocked with lethal substances
(so a warning sign reminds me
every time I’m tempted by a Scotch);
my TV orders me to open my heart
to Jesus, embrace eternal life;
and a man, who has
surely inhaled something,
mistakes me for Elton John;
thanks me for the song
I wrote for Diana.
" It's a finely balanced poem on several levels. It can be read as a study of loneliness in an hotel (looking into the fridge, but feeling 'at home' with P D James writing about the Norfolk coast); it is also offers a wide-ranging comment on our culture, Western culture that is, and shows how fragmented it is, how off-centre much of the time and often irrelevant to an individual's way of life: the Pacific Seaboard, Jesus, P D James, Elton John and Diana, but with no sense of crowding the poem or name dropping. The names jolt the reader as they slide by, and this has much to do with the way the poem is crafted. Beautifully sculpted."
READING P. D. JAMES IN SAN FRANCISCO
Downstairs at the Monticello
I sip a fine Sonoma Valley Chardonnay
and read P. D. James.
Her man is on the Norfolk coast again
while I am on the Pacific seaboard
thousands of miles west,
on another planet.
His clues, as ever, allow him
to piece together a complex jigsaw
of a universe where
effect follows cause
as night follows day,
where any disruption
to the moral order
is strictly temporary.
Here my mini bar
is stocked with lethal substances
(so a warning sign reminds me
every time I’m tempted by a Scotch);
my TV orders me to open my heart
to Jesus, embrace eternal life;
and a man, who has
surely inhaled something,
mistakes me for Elton John;
thanks me for the song
I wrote for Diana.
Cynthia Buell Thomas
Tue 9th Jun 2009 16:34
Mr. Page, beyond its excellent poetic craftsmanship, I found this poem very thought-provoking. The prior comments are great. In addition, I appreciated the juxtaposition of the structured 'story events' (where cause and effect are strictly organized, manipulated, to create the ultimate desired 'effect') with the real world situations where cause and effect are multiple choice.