Wednesday, 30 June 2010
On Going by Owen Sheers
It’s been a slow news day here at the GFG luxury penthouse suite in Thanatology Towers. So here’s a very good poem by Owen Sheers. If you like it, buy the collection. It’s called Skirrid Hill and it’s published by seren.
On Going
i. m. Jean Sheers
There were instruments, as there always are,
To measure, record and monitor,
windows into the soul’s temperature.
But you were disconnected from these.
and lay instead an ancient child,
fragile on your side,
your breath working at the skin of your cheek
like a blustery wind at a blind.
There was only one measurement
I needed anyway, which you gave,
triggered by the connection of my kiss
against your paper temple
and registered in the flicker of your open eyes,
in their half-second of recorded understanding
before they disengaged and you slipped back
into the sleep of their slow-closing.
Categories: funeral poetry
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There are 6 comments
Your Comments
Claire Callender said...
made me cry
Amber Thomas said...
dont really understand the poem…
Amber Thomas said...
Can someone give me a brief explination please?
charles said...
Hello, Amber. The poem is i. m. – in memoriam. It is in memory of Jean Sheers – the poet’s mother, perhaps. She has been disconnected from her monitoring machines and is lying in a foetal position, dying. Even though she is very close to death, she nevertheless recognises the poet, albeit it only momentarily. This is important to him. It is a sad poem, of course, and very stark, yet full of love and sadness and honesty.
I hope this helps.
Amber thomas said...
thankyou charles, this was very helpful
charles said...
A pleasure, Amber.