Professor Jones Lectures on Death and Dying

Cherry

By poetjude

Wed, 03 Dec 2008
  • 1210 reads
1 comments
 

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.

Certificate U
Poem
3 Viva Pathways
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by purlock on
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.