Yes, the poetry reading is speeding up, and I have successfully read through book 2 of the Penguin Modern Poets. This time, yet another three male versifiers – as one commentator pointed out, there aren’t a lot of women poets in the series.
The second book from Penguin again picked at least two hard-hitters: Kingsley Amis (1922-1995) of course is best known for prose (Lucky Jim was his breakthrough title) but I’m not sure if I even knew he was a poet too; Dom Moraes (1938-2004) was a name new to me completely so this would be a voyage of discovery; and Peter Porter (1929-2010) is a poet I was aware of but I couldn’t have named any of his work.
So the book opens with Amis, and wow! I was actually quite stunned by the opening poem “They Only Travel” – one of the best poems I’ve read in a long time. It’s a striking verse where Amis demands to be taken “where the good times are” and with repeated motifs really lodges in the brain. In fact, I liked all of Amis’s poetry which I really wasn’t expecting; he writers about love, life, books, travel, and all in a direct and yet poetic way. This is pretty much the kind of verse I like and I really took to Amis in a big way – maybe I should read some of his fiction now!
Dom Moraes was born in India but wrote in English (I guess because of his English education) and had a fascinating life, if you have a look at his Wikipedia entry. His poems covered more exotic locations than Amis, but again dealt with love, relationships and landscape. The language was perhaps less direct and sometimes verging a little more to the longer narrative or ballad form; some poems were very beautiful, “From Tibet” and “The Visitor” springing to mind in particular. I liked Moraes’ poems and I think anything less dense that Durrell is going to be ok!
Finally, Peter Porter – of Australian extraction, but based in Britain, he won stacks of awards and is obviously highly regarded. I read through his work enjoying it very much – there’s a sardonic edge to much of his verse which appealed, and he’s happy to critique the everyday and the quotidian – when I got to the poem “Your Attention Please”, which was like being hit on the head, wham! It’s a remarkable piece, written in 1961, about the arms race, and it took me rushing back mentally to the time a couple of decades or so later when it really did seem a possibility that there would be a nuclear war, and we were issue with survival guides that were less than useless (think Frankie Goes to Hollywood and “Two Tribes” for another angle on this). It’s a clever and chilling piece of writing and a reminder of the power a piece of poetry can have.
Another thought occurred to me when I did some research into the three poets here, particularly Porter; the biography of him mentions that his first wife tragically committed suicide in 1974, and he often explored this in his work. The Penguin book was of course published years before this, in 1962, so in many ways these books are giving us a different way to look at these poets and their work; in many cases they’re still at early stages of their careers and it’s fascinating to see what poems were considered representative at that time.
It’s really hard to pick out one poem to share here, because “They Only Travel” and “Your Attention Please” are very much completing for inclusion – but in the end I thought I would choose the Porter, with the recommendation that you also search out Amis because I found his poetry very, very good indeed!
So, with two successful poetry books under my belt, I’m looking forward to volume 3 – George Barker, Martin Bell and Charles Causley!
Your Attention Please by Peter Porter
The Polar DEW has just warned that
A nuclear rocket strike of
At least one thousand megatons
Has been launched by the enemy
Directly at our major cities.
This announcement will take
Two and a quarter minutes to make,
You therefore have a further
Eight and a quarter minutes
To comply with the shelter
Requirements published in the Civil
Defence Code – section Atomic Attack.
A specially shortened Mass
Will be broadcast at the end
Of this announcement
Protestant and Jewish services
Will begin simultaneously –
Select your wavelength immediately
According to instructions
In the Defence Code. Do not
Take well-loved pets (including birds)
Into your shelter – they will consume
Fresh air. Leave the old and bed –
ridden, you can do nothing for them.
Remember to press the sealing
Switch when everyone is in
The shelter. Set the radiation
Aerial, turn on the geiger barometer.
Turn off your television now.
Turn off your radio immediately
The Services end. At the same time
Secure explosion plugs in the ears
Of each member of your family. Take
Down your plasma flasks. Give your children
The pills marked one and two
In the C.D. green container, then put
Them to bed. Do not break
The inside airlock seals until
The radiation All Clear shows
(Watch for the cuckoo in your
perspex panel), or your District
Touring Doctor rings your bell.
If before this, your air becomes
Exhausted or if any of your family
Is critically injured, administer
The capsules marked ‘Valley Forge’
(Red pocket in No. 1 Survival Kit)
For painless death. (Catholics
Will have been instructed by their priests
What to do in this eventuality.)
This announcement is ending. Our President
Has already given orders for
Massive retaliation – it will be
Decisive. Some of us may die.
Remember, statistically
It is not likely to be you.
All flags are flying fully dressed
On Government buildings – the sun is shining.
Death is the least we have to fear.
We are all in the hands of God,
Whatever happens happens by His Will.
Now go quickly to your shelters.
helen
Sep 23, 2015 @ 08:34:06
God, that poem is chilling.
I’m really enjoying this series and fear it is going to prove expensive for me! I’d never heard of Dom Moraes. (Or Martin Bell.) I wonder if you’ll come across some poets who have slipped out of public consciousness already.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 23, 2015 @ 09:13:02
It is – very, very powerful and effective. I’m no poetry expert but some of these names do seem to have slipped out of the mainstream and it’ll be interesting to see what their work is like.
Liz Dexter
Sep 23, 2015 @ 10:41:03
Whoa – I remember “Your Attention Please” from that era in the 80s (my own Nuclear War poem will remain unshared). A good set of reads there, I think. Did you read them straight through, or interspersed with other books?
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 23, 2015 @ 11:04:48
It’s an amazing piece of work, isn’t it? I liked this set of poems a lot, and read them interspersed with prose – it allowed me time to digest the poems and made me not rush them too much! 🙂
Anokatony
Sep 23, 2015 @ 23:23:59
I must check out this series. I remember trying out the poetry of Kingsley Amis and not liking it much, but that was a long time ago.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 24, 2015 @ 05:57:30
Poetry is such an individual thing – I think a particular verse either speaks directly to you or doesn’t. But this is a very good series and also a good way to explore new-to-you poets.
Sarah
Sep 24, 2015 @ 11:06:49
Goodness! the young Kingsley Amis looks uncannily like the Manchester United manager, Louis Van Gaal. I know I have a copy of this book somewhere, as I remember the feather on the cover. I shall dig it out for a read forthwith.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 24, 2015 @ 14:05:26
He was very suave, wasn’t he? And doesn’t Martin resemble him?
camilledefleurville
Sep 25, 2015 @ 14:18:18
Without relevance to this blog…
I follow you. I see when you leave comments or “likes” on my bog and thanks to the little bell or square telling us that someone has written but when I want to go on your site, WordPress tells me iit has been deleted. Fortunately I found you through Google. Thank you for comments and likes. And I will go through Google each day to find you!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 25, 2015 @ 15:26:29
Thank you! I don’t know why this happens, though people have said it before – but I’m glad you can find me eventually! 🙂
Cavershamragu
Sep 25, 2015 @ 16:07:37
Charles Causley once came to our school in Singapore! Sorry, not that relevant, but thos einstant flashbacks from 30 years ago can be pretty darn powerful!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 25, 2015 @ 20:24:10
How exciting! I must get started on book 3! 🙂
Kat
Sep 26, 2015 @ 02:41:30
Lovely poetry! I have never read any of Kingsley Amis’s poems, though coincidentally I just reread Lucky Jim. Anything that inspires you to read poetry is a good thing: I have some tiny Everyman volumes of American women poets I keep meaning to get to. I do like the look and sound of these Penguins.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Sep 26, 2015 @ 07:57:56
They’re a manageable size. which is good, and as you say, anything that gets you reading poetry!
Sex and murder in suburbia | Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings
Jul 25, 2016 @ 06:22:12
David Taylor
Jan 17, 2018 @ 08:06:28
I first came across this edition of penguin poets in the late fifties. Three really very sensitive poets, brilliant, witty and thoroughly enjoyable. Morae’s literary style so very lyrical yet deep and relevant to that which is buried deep in the subconscious. Perfect examples are Dracula and The Visitor.
Kingsley Amis’s, They Only Move.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 17, 2018 @ 09:29:03
I found Amis an unexpected treat – the whole series has so many wonderful voices to discover.