Friday, 14 August 2009

This old house



AN OLD HOUSE IN SIBIU
Not for nothing does
one layer of brick grow thicker
carrying a need
not to budge at all.


Then another,
small, mouldy
slips into the frame.

The bastards who lived here;
elements - the hydrogen and helium,
iron and uranium of the human soul -
trace tourists' started eyes.



That rather poncey poem was written when I was musing on the relationship between poetry and science as conceived in Eastern Europe, which of course is not a poncey thing to think about at all.
The above house in Sibiu is four hundred years old and probably going to end up as a shop selling amber or mobile phones or something.

2 comments:

  1. Hello, Mike.

    I really like this poem, great imagery, kind of made ME feel as if I were crumbling.

    I was just getting up to date with your blog, and wanted to say hello too.

    I have been really busy with research (something I never thought I would actually take seriously.)

    I shall be active on Firstclass again as of October, so expect some nonsensical mail.

    Judging by the amount you travel, I would surmise that you do not stay in one place long enough in order to grow old - as I hear ageing is a very stationairy affair - clever Mike.

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  2. Hello Mr Raven Hansman!

    First Class eh? what course? Level 3 Crumbling or Crumbling for Beginners! Whatever, good luck.

    I am old sometimes and sometimes I am not. As opposed to Emmenthal which is always 'oled.

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