London has been a city inspiring to writers in every era since it was a Roman colony. I was hoping I would experience this side of London, the London of Chaucer, Dickens, and Jack London, who was an American writer inspired by both the grace and grit of London\u2019s streets. I was not disappointed. Here are three unedited poems I have written so far in London.<\/p>\n
The first poem was clearly written after our trip to the Proms at Royal Albert Hall. I was struck by the interaction between the audience and the musicians, something pretty much unseen at classical concerts in the US.<\/p>\n
Concert Night<\/strong><\/p>\n On a summer\u2019s eve in Albert Hall<\/p>\n The second trumpet player slowly grew a beard<\/p>\n The cellos moaned a melody of courtly love<\/p>\n Somewhere in the balcony a woman coughed<\/p>\n The children felt sleepy<\/p>\n A flute missed a note<\/p>\n And in the background the bass drum<\/p>\n Sat quietly<\/p>\n Waiting to release<\/p>\n Its<\/p>\n Potential.<\/p>\n The next poem is a little rougher. It was based off an exhibit I saw at the Tate Modern and heavily influenced by the massive amount of theatre I have seen in the past few weeks. The instillation I am refereeing to was a big ruffled red theatre curtain that was closed and would never open. It was interesting, especially when juxtaposed to the lively theatre community in London. This one does not have a title yet.<\/p>\n What is behind the curtain that will never rise<\/p>\n In the theatre of what-will-be?<\/p>\n Maybe there is already a play of sorts<\/p>\n Running in the darkness behind the thick velvet curtain<\/p>\n And we will see nothing but this thick velvet curtain<\/p>\n And wonder if you can ever truly lay with beauty<\/p>\n But not realize that<\/p>\n The world is a stage and beauty is a motif of love<\/p>\n And all the while behind the curtain<\/p>\n (that is the opposite of transparent )<\/p>\n The silence goes unbroken<\/p>\n And the audience listens to make sure<\/p>\n That the only little soliloquy barely being breathed<\/p>\n Was inside themselves<\/p>\n The last poem is the ubiquitous East End during the Victorian era poem. I was especially interested by the church that until recently was the center of drug addiction in the area. The allusion to the church in the poem is based on that one. Also talking with some members of the Jack the Ripper tour group about the history and looks of that area helped me to write this.<\/p>\n Visions of White Chapel<\/strong><\/p>\n All covered with shit and spit and stale beer<\/p>\n Whose alleyways were filled with misery and decay<\/p>\n Where even the churches hunch and cower<\/p>\n To keep their bells below the skyline<\/p>\n And there is no place like London<\/p>\n Where the underground ends and the streets<\/p>\n Lay barren below fog and soot<\/p>\n And here are the seamen, drunk on rum<\/p>\n Here are the cock-sure wretches of night<\/p>\n Here are the ladies with thighs so red<\/p>\n Here are the hopes of London<\/p>\n Poured with relish<\/p>\n Into the<\/p>\n Street<\/p>\n Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" London has been a city inspiring to writers in every era since it was a Roman colony. I was hoping I would experience this side of London, the London of Chaucer, Dickens, and Jack London, who was an American writer inspired by both the grace and grit of London\u2019s streets. I was not disappointed. Here […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6687],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2010-matthewg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3682\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}