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Sonnet 89

I passed her on the footbridge (underneath,
the cars rushing pell-mell to Hades’ mouth).
Backwards flowed time then as I scoped her face:
lineaments of smack; thin, whorish, thief
up for the morning from the blighted south,
Hartcliffe or some such godforsaken place.
I watched her back recede towards St. Pauls,
then trudged away to heed, hard by the stews,
the elegiac spirit’s fluted call.
Euterpe, was that you, alone and bruised?
Beweep, Mnemosyne, her fallen state.
No more in Frome shall disport lissome nymphs;
’tis all old mattresses and plastic crates,
and scripts defaced by palimpsests of chimps.

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Smack: colloquial term for heroin.

Hartcliffe: isolated and desolate suburb of Bristol.

St. Pauls: inner-city district of Bristol.

Stews: brothels; refers to the several massage parlours located in Old Market, just across the other side of Riverside Park from the footbridge.

Euterpe: the Muse of classical poetry.

Mnemosyne: the mother of the 9 Muses.

Frome: Bristolian river, running underneath the M32.

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Richard Craven is an Anglo-Canadian former academic philosopher.

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6 Responses

  2. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Richard, I cannot believe I missed this gem of a sonnet full of rich and heart touching images that pack a powerful punch. I love the way you elevate the street sleaze to literary levels and into the realms of faded beauty. “Euterpe, was that you, alone and bruised?/Beweep Mnemosyne, her fallen state.” is very clever and moving. This inspiring sonnet is well worth several readings. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Dr Richard Craven

      Thank you Susan. I esteem you as a poet, and cherish your compliments. Elevating street sleaze to literary levels is very much my stock in trade as a high burlesque satirist.

      Reply
  3. Adam Sedia

    This is an absolutely brilliant piece! It reverses the traditional octave-sestet arrangement of a sonnet (and I read in that “backward” structure a reflection of the poetic subject). The language is gritty, utterly realistic, but the references to Euterpe and her mother reveal an entire “higher” plane of reading the poem. This is some of the finest craftsmanship I’ve seen recently. Excellent work!

    Reply
    • Richard Craven

      Thanks very much indeed for the kind words Adam, and kudos to you for spotting the backward structure. The phrase “backwards flowed time then” can itself be read backwards without loss of sense.

      Reply

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