Maggie Sawkins
Further Adventures of The Little Box
In memory of a poem by Vasco Popa
Dear Mr Popa
Since you are dead
I am writing with news of The Little Box.
When we first met (as a preface
to a book on how to cobble up a poem)
it was like looking into the face of a smile.
In July The Little Box and I attended
an event at The Botanical Gardens.
Though we were placed between lines
from Paradise Lost and The Song of Quoodle,
and the wind made the microphone groan
and the paper shake, you'll be pleased to hear
we held our own.
After, as we sat back on the grass,
and Naming of Parts boomed
through the speakers,
people came up to ask about The Little Box.
I explained I didn't know what it meant
only that it made me smile.
Then yesterday, this:
After a brainstorm brought nil response
from my session with the mentally ill,
I took out The Little Box and sifted
its emptiness into the silence.
When I looked up your words were resting
like butterflies along their shoulders,
and on each face was a smile.
Sleep tight, Mr Popa,
I'm taking good care of The Little Box.
Since you are dead
I am writing with news of The Little Box.
When we first met (as a preface
to a book on how to cobble up a poem)
it was like looking into the face of a smile.
In July The Little Box and I attended
an event at The Botanical Gardens.
Though we were placed between lines
from Paradise Lost and The Song of Quoodle,
and the wind made the microphone groan
and the paper shake, you'll be pleased to hear
we held our own.
After, as we sat back on the grass,
and Naming of Parts boomed
through the speakers,
people came up to ask about The Little Box.
I explained I didn't know what it meant
only that it made me smile.
Then yesterday, this:
After a brainstorm brought nil response
from my session with the mentally ill,
I took out The Little Box and sifted
its emptiness into the silence.
When I looked up your words were resting
like butterflies along their shoulders,
and on each face was a smile.
Sleep tight, Mr Popa,
I'm taking good care of The Little Box.
Maggie Sawkins' pamphlet, Charcot's Pet, is published by Flarestack Press. Her work is included in Four Caves of the Heart, an anthology of women's poetry published by Second Light.
Page(s) 9
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- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
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- Poetry Salzburg Review
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