Ted Walter
After Singer Sargeant
The stream reflects the sunlight as they sit
or lie contentedly, white damask cloth
crumpled over flattened grass, a hamper
gaping under blue and naked sky, talk
desultory now, glasses in slim hands
tilting lazily, long sleeves unbuttoned
at the wrists, a parasol letting fall
a kissing shadow on fair skin, the artist
only, concentrating. He captures this.
He stops the stream, will not let go
the sparkle on this wave, the curling
hair beneath a wide straw brim, nor lose
the far gazing of one pair of eyes,
an attentive inclination of the head,
almost a listening beyond the crowd
that fills the furthest bank - a hint
of motley under distant trees -
as if, alone, she hears the future guns.
or lie contentedly, white damask cloth
crumpled over flattened grass, a hamper
gaping under blue and naked sky, talk
desultory now, glasses in slim hands
tilting lazily, long sleeves unbuttoned
at the wrists, a parasol letting fall
a kissing shadow on fair skin, the artist
only, concentrating. He captures this.
He stops the stream, will not let go
the sparkle on this wave, the curling
hair beneath a wide straw brim, nor lose
the far gazing of one pair of eyes,
an attentive inclination of the head,
almost a listening beyond the crowd
that fills the furthest bank - a hint
of motley under distant trees -
as if, alone, she hears the future guns.
Ted Walter was born in England in 1933. He has tutored adult education classes in creative writing since 1976 which led to his taking on the role of ‘Poet in the School’ since 1981. His latest collection, Blue Moon is published by Willing Words.
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magazine list
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- Lamport Court
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- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
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- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
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- Poetry Salzburg Review
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- Private Tutor
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- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
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- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
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- Ugly Tree, The
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- Yellow Crane, The