[Jodie Reyes]

I'm willing to bet that there's an old topic on the British poet Elizabeth Jennings, but was wondering what people have thought of her. My mentor introduced me to her work about ten years ago back home in the Philippines, but I haven't heard anyone mention her here in the States.

DELAY
by Elizabeth Jennings

The radiance of the star that leans on me
Was shining years ago. The light that now
Glitters up there my eyes may never see,
And so the time lag teases me with how

Love that loves now may not reach me until
Its first desire is spent. The star's impulse
Must wait for eyes to claim it beautiful
And love arrived may find us somewhere else.

[Tom Jardine]

Wistful.


Thanks.

[Margaret Moore]

Jodie,
Many thanks for popping this one up. I had read little of EJ's work (apart from a few widely anthologised pieces) until about six months ago when a member of the poetry reading group I'd organised chose to lead a session on some poems by her and the -very different - Carol Ann Duffy. Have yet to check but feel sure there must be some EJ poetry and biographical material at the British Council site and elsewhere on the Net.

In some ways she remained childlike - splurging out when funds allowed on tiny ornaments which occupied every surface in her modest Oxford lodgings.This fascination with the minute is exemplified in

The Diamond Cutter

Not what the light will do but how he shapes it
And what particular colours it will bear,

And something of the climber's concentration
Seeing the white peak, setting the right foot there.

Not how the sun was plausible at morning
Nor how it was distributed at noon,

And not how much the single stone could show
But rather how much brilliance it would shun;

Simply a paring down, a cleaving to
One object, as the star-gazer who sees

One single comet, polished by its fall
Rather than countless, untouched galaxies.

Margaret.

[Janet Kenny]

Margaret,
I have known people who combine verbal sophistication with childish visual unsophistication. They have always bemused, charmed and annoyed me. One of my favourite English teachers was like that. A very interesting observation. Thank you.
Janet