[Roger Slater]

In the NY Times.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Thank you, Roger. I've often met him in the UK literary magazines and long been an admirer of his work. A fine article.

[Edmund Conti]

Thanks, Roger. I think I've got him mixed up with somebody else, but not sure who.

[John Whitworth]

Clive James is also a fine poet.

Leçons des ténèbres

But are they lessons, all these things I learn
Through being so far gone in my decline?
The wages of experience I earn
Would service well a younger life than mine.
I should have been more kind. It is my fate
To find this out, but find it out too late.

The mirror holds the ruins of my face
Roughly together, thus reminding me
I should have played it straight in every case,
Not just when forced to. Far too casually
I broke faith when it suited me, and here
I am alone, and now the end is near.

All of my life I put my labour first.
I made my mark, but left no time between
The things achieved, so, at my heedless worst,
With no life, there was nothing I could mean.
But now I have slowed down. I breathe the air
As if there were not much more of it there

And write these poems, which are funeral songs
That have been taught to me by vanished time:
Not only to enumerate my wrongs
But to pay homage to the late sublime
That comes with seeing how the years have brought
A fitting end, if not the one I sought.

[Jayne Osborn]

(I popped the accents in the title for you, John, and removed your apology that they were missing.)

Thanks for the link, Bob. I've always been a fan of Clive James. After reading the article I decided to buy his book on poetry. I received an automatic discount from Amazon (can't remember what for, now) so I only had to pay roughly a third of the proper price and it will arrive on Monday; I'm looking forward to it.

I think the first poem of his that I ever read was "The Book of my Enemy Has Been Remaindered" which you can find here
It's deliciously wicked!

Jayne

[John Whitworth]

Thank you, Jayne.

The biplane of my enemy is going down in flames

That is a line of mine. Nicked, as you see

[ross hamilton hill]

Just to correct something, Kogarah where Clive James grew up is not a 'poor suburb' it's middlle class and a bit ordinary but it has both a river and a bay and a wonderful elevated outlook. I can imagine Clive would have had a typical Aussie childhood there, adventurous and full of fun. The poet Kenneth Slessor also came from that area and went to school in Kogarah.

[John Whitworth]

You may be right but that's not how James describes it. According to him it was all bush.

[ross hamilton hill]

John, there would have been a lot of open land back then, I was born 8 years after Clive and lived in the inner city and yet at the back of our place was a chinese market garden. Sydney then was a large town rather than a city and Kogarah would have been a new suburb. I was trying to say it's a very pleasant area, overlooking Botany Bay and having a large river, The Georges River running through it. I think Clive's childhood was blighted by the loss of his Dad and that coloured his memoirs. I used to work in Kogarah and often wondered if I might be walking past Clive's childhood home as not much has changed, although all the bush has gone. As you might have guessed I am a great fan.

[John Whitworth]

And of course his wonderful memoirs are unreliable. Like all poets he is an inveterate liar. Like me? Yes indeed. Just like me. I appreciate you posts, Ross and am glad you are another member of the Clive James fan club. What a pity he cannot be with us longer.