Christmas Poem 2012 by Todd Swift

The Fourth King

I could have done more, following that star;

pausing, let my eyes wander, at the oasis, though,

to other, closer flashings. Light on the gold

around a girl’s throat. The pomegranate’s myriad

redness, interior stars clotted into fruit;

the way that water when it rises from a well

weighs nothing in its sweet necessity. The swell

of her breast as she breathes. Night cold as a blade,

and all the other stars, though never as bright,

strangely alluring in their alternative light.

So, I stayed days and nights among the travellers:

some with tangled slaves; others rich in stories

alone; our opulence was limited by our place

in the desert; we would fast again before winter

had brightened off, as each chose when to leave

this slivered ideal of a paradise, no larger than

a small market in a dusty town; but flourishing

this time in green and moist insouciance, turned

against the blurring white hot outwards at our faces.

Had I known what the others found in that barn

I might not have traded places. Their shy sunburnt

gaze fell upon a tiresome greatness demanding action;

satiated, I stayed put in some small Eden to grow old,

never wondering what the child said or did or knows.

new poem for Christmas by Todd Swift

Comments

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se....

Poetry vs. Literature

Poetry is, of course, a part of literature. But, increasingly, over the 20th century, it has become marginalised - and, famously, has less of an audience than "before". I think that, when one considers the sort of criticism levelled against Seamus Heaney and "mainstream poetry", by poet-critics like Jeffrey Side , one ought to see the wider context for poetry in the "Anglo-Saxon" world. This phrase was used by one of the UK's leading literary cultural figures, in a private conversation recently, when they spoke eloquently about the supremacy of "Anglo-Saxon novels" and their impressive command of narrative. My heart sank as I listened, for what became clear to me, in a flash, is that nothing has changed since Victorian England (for some in the literary establishment). Britain (now allied to America) and the English language with its marvellous fiction machine, still rule the waves. I personally find this an uncomfortable position - but when ...

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you..."

In terms of great films about, and of, love, we have Vertigo, In The Mood for Love , and Casablanca , Doctor Zhivago , An Officer and a Gentleman , at the apex; as well as odder, more troubling versions, such as Sophie's Choice and Silence of the Lambs . I think my favourite remains Bram Stoker's Dracula , with the great immortal line "I have crossed oceans of time to find you...".

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