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).
