Professor Jones Lectures on Death and Dying


from the ABC set 1 Viva Pathways

There are many kinds of death
and each one a child's.
He quotes from Lucretius
When death is, we are not.
At his right hand I drift
through the last taboo
unafraid of expiation.

We students at least mull
on the train together and agree
the world and its men are distracted.

The pastimes of kings;
home makeover magazines
like a bar-room fantasy -
step through the page

Outside it rains
interminable time or nothing.

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Comments

purlock | December 4, 2008 - 17:08

I like this! The tone is spot on - a measured combination of bar-room chat, anecdote and philosophical musing. The only thing I don't like is the ending, the last line. I sort of feel 'interminable time or nothing' is too much. I'd go for 'interminable time or something', which is more off-hand, and makes sure you don't end the poem with too grand a statement.