Thursday, July 23, 2009

Friday feeling

Maybe it's because family are visiting, but there's a certain Friday feeling in the air today :-)

So, at last week's reading in the Irish Writers' Centre, my personal highlight was a love poem read by Richard Halperin: he had planned a series of poems for the reading, and suddenly broke off to share 'Presence'*, quoting an opinion that it was impossible to write a modern love poem, and begging to differ:

Presence

When I shut my eyes I see you
When I close my ears I hear you
When I miss a train you’re on it
When I catch my breath you are it
When I’m asked my name and go blank
I say yours

by Richard W. Halperin

Sigh... just love it; the room seemed to draw a collective breath of wonder in the aftermath. And that evening, the conversation kept swirling back to the poem, and it lingered in my mind, so I brazenly asked for a copy. Turns out, it's Richard's personal favourite, of all his own work. Happy sigh.

And speaking of modern love, this link was tweeted by Jonathan Carroll this morning. I suspect it's impossible to see such carefree-ness on such a day of love and not to break into a wide beaming smile :-)



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*'Presence' appears in THE SHOp: A Magazine of Poetry, No.27, p.23 (Schull, Co. Cork: Summer 2008).

3 comments:

TomRourke said...

Yes, it is a great poem and it certainly charged the air in the room.

TomRourke said...

Just got around to playing the video, and you're right about the smile. The Slightly Bemused But Good Sport award has to go to the Minister.

Orlaith said...

I thought those guys were so brave to start things off like that. Quite audacious!