apparently April is poetry month?

[janne_d]

In any case, I haven't posted any poetry for ages and I was thinking about this one the other day:


Toad

Stop looking like a purse. How could a purse
squeeze under the rickety door and sit,
full of satisfaction, in a man's house?

You clamber towards me on your four corners -
right hand, left foot, left hand, right foot.

I love you for being a toad,
for crawling like a Japanese wrestler,
and for not being frightened.

I put you in my purse hand, not shutting it,
and set you down outside directly under
every star.

A jewel in your head? Toad,
you've put one in mine,
a tiny radiance in a dark place.

-- Norman MacCaig

Comments

[dubhartach.livejournal.com]

Despite being made to dissect some of his work at secondary school I still have a lot of affection for MacCaig.

This is lovely - thank you!

[janne-d.livejournal.com]

I think the only one that we had to dissect of his was 'Aunt Julia' which we all detested. I appreciate it now, but I can never quite forget the mickey-take version a clever bod did of the first bit when I read it!

There are a few by MacCaig that I really like though - he has a lovely way of putting things.