Monday, April 27, 2009

reading, passing, Satan

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Readers in the sun on the South Bank of the Thames.

Looking up for a moment towards the sun I catch sight of tiny seeds floating beneath their downy parachutes, metallic, like silver flies.

It took me a few days to realize that Lucy Kempton's poem in response to the question,Who will police the policemen? contained a quotation from the Book of Job. " ... he goes
'to and fro upon the earth
and up and down in it.'" In this way, she associates Mr Punch with Satan, before introducing the question put by God to Satan , And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?' It is that question, which a new poem in the series, published today in Compasses sets out to answer (see link on right). Although it is a mere man, not Satan to whom the question is addressed and who answers it.

1 comment:

Lucas said...

Fascinating post - I think the deck chairs and their occupants perfectly capture the atmosphere on the South Bank last Friday.

Thanks also for pointing out the reference to the Book of Job in Lucy's poem.