April is National Poetry Month in the US. There's a site - run by Be of Bebere.com - which she put up specifically for the purpose: it's Like Waiting for April. Pay a visit. Send in a poem. WotN has. Meanwhile, I shall offer a couple of short items here today as part of (US) National Poetry Month. In one of the established traditions of normblog, these are poems by Sophie Hannah. Both are from her last collection, First of the Last Chances (Carcanet, 2003) and with permission. The first poem I take to be descriptive of a common human experience:
The Guest Speaker
I have to keep myself awake
While the guest speaker speaks.
For his and for procedure's sake
I have to keep myself awake.
However long his talk might take
(And, Christ, it feels like weeks)
I have to keep myself awake
While the guest speaker speaks.
Next up, although not written for today's event, a poem suitable to the occasion.
Royal Wedding Poem
I have attended weddings in the past
Where I'm the only person in the room
To harbour an intransigent and vast
Landmass of spite towards the bride and groom.
I have attended weddings with my coat
Buttoned against the hot, ecstatic horde
Throughout the service, wearing a remote
Glaze to appear above it all and bored.
At last, a marriage I can celebrate:
No choruses of 'Oh, you have to come!',
No one I liked once but have grown to hate
But must make small-talk with to please my mum.
Weddings involving nobody one knows -
What a good plan. I'll vote for more of those.
Both poems by Sophie Hannah, people. For more about her and her work, see here.