Valerie Clarke
Madly singing in the mountains
Po Chu-I (9th century) based on a translation by Arthur Waley
We all have limitations. Amongst mine
is the habit of verse writing. Abandoning
earlier passions this one remains. When
extolling the beauties of forest and mountain
I raise not a glass but my pen, recite paeons,
at the drop of a hat, on the virtues of friends.
How life changes. I find myself languishing,
retired out of London. Such a pain
to exist without praise or platform.
Now, feeling a poem coming on,
I ascend to the highest point of Leckhampton*,
sing to the grass, a passing aeroplane,
never to men with their mocking:
'Look at that ass. What a madman.'
*Leckhampton Hill, Cheltenham
Valerie Clarke won the Blue Nose Competition in 2001 and her collection, Dance of Love and Death, was published by NPF in the same year.
Valerie Clarke won the Blue Nose Competition in 2001 and her collection, Dance of Love and Death, was published by NPF in the same year.
Page(s) 10
magazine list
- Features
- zines
- 10th Muse
- 14
- Acumen
- Agenda
- Ambit
- Angel Exhaust
- ARTEMISpoetry
- Atlas
- Blithe Spirit
- Borderlines
- Brando's hat
- Brittle Star
- Candelabrum
- Cannon's Mouth, The
- Chroma
- Coffee House, The
- Dream Catcher
- Equinox
- Erbacce
- Fabric
- Fire
- Floating Bear, The
- French Literary Review, The
- Frogmore Papers, The
- Global Tapestry
- Grosseteste Review
- Homeless Diamonds
- Interpreter's House, The
- Iota
- Journal, The
- Lamport Court
- London Magazine, The
- Magma
- Matchbox
- Matter
- Modern Poetry in Translation
- Monkey Kettle
- Moodswing
- Neon Highway
- New Welsh Review
- North, The
- Oasis
- Obsessed with pipework
- Orbis
- Oxford Poetry
- Painted, spoken
- Paper, The
- Pen Pusher Magazine
- Poetry Cornwall
- Poetry London
- Poetry London (1951)
- Poetry Nation
- Poetry Review, The
- Poetry Salzburg Review
- Poetry Scotland
- Poetry Wales
- Private Tutor
- Purple Patch
- Quarto
- Rain Dog
- Reach Poetry
- Review, The
- Rialto, The
- Second Aeon
- Seventh Quarry, The
- Shearsman
- Smiths Knoll
- Smoke
- South
- Staple
- Strange Faeces
- Tabla Book of New Verse, The
- Thumbscrew
- Tolling Elves
- Ugly Tree, The
- Weyfarers
- Wolf, The
- Yellow Crane, The