It’s only these last couple of years that I’ve begun to appreciate Poetry and that has been mainly through my time with, The London Buddhist Centre in East London, where there’s a high regard and encouragement for the Arts as an important factor in human wellbeing.
I love the ability of good Poetry to connect with my emotions and often to say so much with so few words and of course poetry and imagery make good companions.
From time to time I’ll post Poems that have touched me for a variety of reasons.
While I know my parents didn’t intend to ‘fuck me up’ as Philip Larkin reflects. They did, through their behaviour, indeed create a lot of difficulties for me throughout my life.
Now as an older man, I’ve had an opportunity to reflect on things, that may have been going on for and between them, that I would have had no knowledge of as a child. Therefore, I can confidently say today, they did their best given their situation and environment they found themselves in and I’m grateful for that.
This Be the Verse
They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.
But they were fucked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.
Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.
Philip Larkin