A Suite of Poems by Dorothy Porter for Poetry Month

In this new morning
it is love
that makes me chatter

moving, light as a monkey
I’m giving, giving
off a hectic joy

that could only be love
in all its raving generosity.

Thank you, my darling,
for exploding in my heart

so when you leave me
mute and sober
once and for all

I will remember the talk
and coffee and giddy
peace of this morning.

Please, darling, please
read between my lines

I am a fabulous script
elephant heads, spear points,
sheaves of wheat and strange what-not

I am all yours
Please, my lovely last-chance girl,
read between my lines.

It is rare for me
to write a poem
in absolute silence.

No music.
No throttling heart.

Just faint early birds
and a grey early
sky.

I’ve given up
this serpentine fight.

No one won.
And I’m flooded
with peace and
gratitude
for that.

This poem was written in the back of A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology, edited by Czeslaw Milosz. I discovered it 27/7/22.

In Dot’s usual fashion she had written in the front of the book the circumstances of its purchase: 12/11/02, Readings, at ‘Andy’s “The Prosperous Thief” reading’.

Rather than her usual copious annotations, just one poem is marked: ‘Madly Singing in the Mountains’ by Po Chu-I. She writes, "I have known this wonderful poem for years. I just keep bumping into it." (20/11/02.)