Unloving – Carol Ann Duffy
Learn from the winter trees, the way *Biblical allusion/ consider the lily of the
they kiss and throw away their leaves, field/ replicates the format
then hold their stricken faces in their hands
and turn to ice;
or from the clocks, *’or’ – indiscriminate / suffering is
looking away, unloving light, the short days ubiquitous
running out of things to say; a church
a ghost ship on a sea of dusk. * ghost ship=symbolic of abandonment
Learn from a stone, its heart-shape meaningless,
perfect with relentless cold; or from the bigger moon,
implacably dissolving in the sky, or from the stars, *unyieldingly, unbendingly
lifeless as Latin verbs. *simile
Learn from the river,
flowing always somewhere else, even its name,
change, change; learn from a rope
hung from a branch like a noose, a crow cursing, *simile- lexical field of death
a dead heron mourned by a congregation of flies.
Learn from the dumbstruck garden, summer’s grave,
where nothing grows, not a Beast’s rose; *Biblical allusion-Satan
from the torn veil of a web;
from our daily bread: *Biblical allusion – Lord’s Prayer
perpetual rain, nothing like tears, unloving clouds;
language unloving love; even this stale air
unloving all the spaces where you were. *anaphora
Learn from the winter trees, the way *Biblical allusion/ consider the lily of the
they kiss and throw away their leaves, field/ replicates the format
then hold their stricken faces in their hands
and turn to ice;
or from the clocks, *’or’ – indiscriminate / suffering is
looking away, unloving light, the short days ubiquitous
running out of things to say; a church
a ghost ship on a sea of dusk. * ghost ship=symbolic of abandonment
Learn from a stone, its heart-shape meaningless,
perfect with relentless cold; or from the bigger moon,
implacably dissolving in the sky, or from the stars, *unyieldingly, unbendingly
lifeless as Latin verbs. *simile
Learn from the river,
flowing always somewhere else, even its name,
change, change; learn from a rope
hung from a branch like a noose, a crow cursing, *simile- lexical field of death
a dead heron mourned by a congregation of flies.
Learn from the dumbstruck garden, summer’s grave,
where nothing grows, not a Beast’s rose; *Biblical allusion-Satan
from the torn veil of a web;
from our daily bread: *Biblical allusion – Lord’s Prayer
perpetual rain, nothing like tears, unloving clouds;
language unloving love; even this stale air
unloving all the spaces where you were. *anaphora
