More for Helen of Troy E-Book

Simon Mundy

• Herausgeber: Seren
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 31

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

More for Helen of Troy, Simon Mundy's new collection of poems from Seren, is suffused with the atmosphere of the landscapes that inspire him, the lush countryside of Powys, and a number of islands all over the world:Genada, Jamaica, Shetland, Italy. It is also deeply involved with many questions of desire: for the ideal of a beautiful woman, as 'Mermaid'; for the hope of a good state, as in 'The New Senedd, Cardiff' for the vision of a pristine country and seaside, as in 'Radnor Songs' and 'Aspects of Sea'. The tension between all these ideals, between lofty aims and inevitable disappointments, come together in the main title sequence, where an entire society must scheme and suffer for the allure of Helen. Helen is also emblematic: both a legendary figure and a imago for women from all times: pursued, desired, lonely, restless, she haunts the imagination of the poet. Sometimes keenly satirical, as in 'Society Haiku', and often poignantly lyrical as in 'Translated Daughter', these poems are both pointed and enjoyable.

Leseprobe

More for Helen of Troy

Also by Simon Mundy

PoetryLetter to Carolina By Fax to Alice Springs

More for Helen of Troy

Simon Mundy

Seren is the book imprint of

Poetry Wales Press Ltd.

57 Nolton Street, Bridgend,Wales, CF31 3AE

www.serenbooks.com

Facebook: facebook.com/SerenBooks

Twitter: @SerenBooks

The right of Simon Mundy to be identified as

the author of this work has been asserted in accordance

with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

© Simon Mundy, 2012

ISBN: 978-1-85411-578-2

e-pub 978-1-85411-600-0

Kindle 978-1-78172-004-2

A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted at any time or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright holder.

The publisher acknowledges the financial assistance of the Welsh Books Council.

Cover art: Photograph ‘Deceptive Beauty’ © Ewgeniya Lyraswww.ewgeniyalyras.com

Printed in Bembo by the Berforts Group Ltd, Stevenage

Contents

More For Helen of Troy

I. Before and After the Abduction

II. Perfect Nights

III. Hair Day

IV. Deceptive Beauty

V. Parade

VI. Menelaus’ Song

VII. Paris’ Song

VIII. The Soldier’s Song

IX. Menelaus Reports

X. Valediction

Mermaid

An Incident of War

Four Lyrics

Topkapi Cat

A Prayer for a New God-daughter

Afternoon Excuse

Society Hakiu

Translated Daughter

Olympic Love

The New Senedd, Cardiff

A Vote for Absence

Lines…

Citrus

Windows

Collusion

Radnor Songs

I. The Buzzard

II. Four

III. Summergill

IV. Flat Out

V. Radnor (New)

VI. Radnor (Old), Church and Harp

Presteigne Festival/Gwaithla 25 Years On

The Island I-X

Invocation

Later

Fifth Sense

My Independence Day

Gently, of course

The End of the Exhibition

Aspects of Sea

I. Beside

II. Under

III. On

IV. Above

Acknowledgements

More for Helen of Troy

I

Before and After the Abduction

Such a clear division, surely impossible

That life can be so definite, so ordered

By one night, one dream remembered through the bruises,

The hands and worse carrying me away,

Discussing me inside and out,

Killing the pleasure of my secrets,

The frenzy of his misunderstanding

Becoming the public truth.

I have begun again, not at the beginning,

But instead at the moment when beauty

Became the source of conquest and Eros

The cruel god, instrument of Aphrodite’s revenge.

This must not decide my story, shroud my breath

Forbidding ecstasy. I will shake the dark spots from the sun.

II

Perfect Nights

As the fruitless hours wore on

In a foreign town

She could hear the absent men in battle,

Disputing her favours, her qualities,

The entrances and storerooms of pleasure

She tried to keep hidden on parade.

Lying awake and naked but mercifully

Alone she imagined distant alliances

Forged as her messages

Fell on listening ears

Inspired to faster rescue than could be managed

By the rancid men

Squabbling on the beach at dawn.

Then there would be perfect nights

Secure, warm, dark, rich and out of exile.

III

Hair Day

The braiding could take a morning

From dawn, when the other women

Yawned, too stiff to flaunt their lesser virtues,

Through the brilliance of the southern sun,

Its brightening echoed in the lightening

Of her strands from reddish gold to almost white.

Only far below, the place of Paris,

Did a dark shadow expose the soul,

Even that mown and ordered

To obedient falsehood.

IV

Deceptive Beauty

She carries all the contradictions

Of peonies, body and soul,

Bloom and stem, held proud in Spring,

First and fast to rise. Her face a glory

Budding in a perfect moon, a mystery

So contained, complex in hidden folds,

So fecund in astonishing conclusion.

In full June panoply she seems

Gaspingly beautiful, her white cheeks

Tinged with pink, her neck flecked

With clever hints of colour, her scent