Not much to say about this one other than it’s a cluttered poem for a cluttered topic – as with yesterday’s, I was thinking a lot about what to bring into the work and what to leave out, and the pressure of that synthesis, again widening out from the personal to the civic. A couple of references are to plaques and signs in the city centre, and some of the reflection on change in the city over the centuries is broader, perhaps a little too broad. This feels to me like quite a ragged piece, but working out how to trim it down is perhaps something I can only do once I’ve got it all on paper and considered what’s actually important and not, the point being that this is a point about not quite knowing that in the first instance. I’m also experimenting with a blend between mundane frames of references and more conventionally poetic reach, and don’t feel certain the balance is right. Feel free to let me know what you think!
