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Spring Song, Paul Jennings
Apr. 3rd, 2006 05:21 pmOf the Spring would I sing, now that every living thing
Is a rocket-burst, a sun-flash of Creation;
These metaphors, I hope, will conceal that I'm a dope
When it comes to name and local habitation.
Oh, that bush of whatsaname is a mass of golden flame
And the snowy almond makes my heart feel merry-
No, wait a bit- I think that the almond is the pink,
This one is labelled Prunus (is that cherry?)
...
I am clueless but poetic. I am not apologetic,
A flower quite transcends the name it bears
And in Spring, let experts note, though they have the world by rote,
My stimulus from primulas is similar to theirs.
(My favourite line from this poem is "As sticky buds get buddleia my nature lore gets muddlier". Paul Jennings's humourous journalism- he was writing from the '40s to the '60s, mainly- is one of my guaranteed spirit-raisers. The columns are difficult to find good short quotes from, because the whimsical effect tends to build up slowly through the whole piece, but his poems are instantly catchy. "There's nothing manly, I repeat,/In always having cold wet feet;/ Galoshlessness is foolishness when sharply slants the sleet" [from "Galoshes"] always comes to my mind in 'orrible weather.) The columns are collected in a series of books starting with Oddly Enough, which aren't too expensive second-hand. There was also a Penguin selection called The Jenguin Pennings.
Is a rocket-burst, a sun-flash of Creation;
These metaphors, I hope, will conceal that I'm a dope
When it comes to name and local habitation.
Oh, that bush of whatsaname is a mass of golden flame
And the snowy almond makes my heart feel merry-
No, wait a bit- I think that the almond is the pink,
This one is labelled Prunus (is that cherry?)
...
I am clueless but poetic. I am not apologetic,
A flower quite transcends the name it bears
And in Spring, let experts note, though they have the world by rote,
My stimulus from primulas is similar to theirs.
(My favourite line from this poem is "As sticky buds get buddleia my nature lore gets muddlier". Paul Jennings's humourous journalism- he was writing from the '40s to the '60s, mainly- is one of my guaranteed spirit-raisers. The columns are difficult to find good short quotes from, because the whimsical effect tends to build up slowly through the whole piece, but his poems are instantly catchy. "There's nothing manly, I repeat,/In always having cold wet feet;/ Galoshlessness is foolishness when sharply slants the sleet" [from "Galoshes"] always comes to my mind in 'orrible weather.) The columns are collected in a series of books starting with Oddly Enough, which aren't too expensive second-hand. There was also a Penguin selection called The Jenguin Pennings.
