Sunday 18 December 2011

Hunting

On a train to London
he goes a-hunting
between coffee cups,
iphones, apps.
Outside, backwards, fly
- green fields – blue sky.

He’ll need a large pool of luck,
all his courage,
to look out - into
faces;
longing for eyes in the glass of a window,
hoping to catch a truth.
at

11 comments:

  1. Bill Martin18 December 2011 at 20:36

    I like this poem. It speaks to me of the isolation we feel in the midst of the urban landscape, the longing we have in our souls regardless of our station. The poem as a whole takes me to many remembered journeys, though I have never been on a train to London. On that read, the train seems a figure for the passage of years.

    Thanks John!

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  2. Davanna19 December 2011 at 00:36

    I agree with what Bill said above. It speaks to the anonymity of modern life. We can get into the ignoring habit. And it does take some amount of courage to bust through that.

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  3. BHA19 December 2011 at 04:54

    I love this poem. Thanks for sharing...

    Via @Culturatist

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  4. Edward19 December 2011 at 07:56

    I also agree with the isolation in the teems of humanity theme expressed previously...also love the subtle interplay between the stolen liquidity of emotional connectivity and that of glass...thanks for sharing...Edward

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  5. Moon Child20 December 2011 at 20:22

    Beautiful play on words.

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  6. Anonymous20 December 2011 at 20:31

    So beautiful. Often when I'm sitting in a train or car, I wonder at the lives of people as I catch glimpses of them or their rooms through the windows. I wonder about what they are doing and how they're doing and what challenges they face.

    I am also struck by the colors that pass him by so quickly and "backward." How bright them seem? How time has left them behind? The question is, were these "blue skys" and "green fields" ever his? Is their brightness, fleeting? Is his hope in the fleeting glimpses of the passing eyes that he searches?

    I also love one of Prometheus and Antigone's children's remark about "the stolen liquidity of emotional connectivity and that of the glass." Brilliant.

    Elaine Sangiolo
    Book Marketing Manager: Cathedral of Dreams, A Kingdom's Possession
    Booktrope Publishing
    www.booktrope.com
    www.booktropepublishing.com
    @inkdipped

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  7. Anonymous22 December 2011 at 20:08

    Excellent. I like your way with words.

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  8. egb9 January 2012 at 00:32

    Sadly, George Bernard Shaw was a strong proponent of eugenics.

    I don't know how to deal with that.

    Ed

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  9. zorlone13 March 2012 at 02:27

    Its a sweet short poem. With awesome use of imagery.

    Cool!

    Z

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  10. Nephy's World9 July 2012 at 08:42

    The poem didn't speak to me of social isolation or any of the fancy stuff above. Maybe I'm not intellectual enough and am I the only cynical one who construed that they were hunting for something other than truth?

    It was a cool poem though

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  11. helen31 May 2014 at 18:04

    Love it ... the truth alludes me at present

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