Monday 16 November 2009

November Poems 16

Clouds of Character Consciousness


the book is closed, the jacket on

inside, like people caught in a 'freeze time' spell,
the characters stop what they were doing and wait.

Are they happy, reliving their stories over again?
Would the reader prefer they do something different?

Are they conscious of the world outside their pages?
Do their thoughts coalesce like clouds above the covers?

I picked up an Enid Blyton the other day – the same edition
I read as a child in the sixties with 2/6 on the corner
of the dog-eared cover.
And disregarding the upper-class hints of post-war racism,
I was transported back to an England where it was safe
to leave your door unlocked
and the postman always said 'hello'
where children could roam the countryside without fear
and the lady at the post office knew your name.

And I decided the it was better they didn't change
I don't think they'd like it here.

6 comments:

spacedlaw said...

Sometimes I close a book, hoping that the heroes will take advantage of the respite to think and realize the error of their ways. They seldom do however. I suspect them of using the interval to play sudoku or have a quick smoke instead.

Rachel Green said...

Exactly! They should make constructive use of the time they're not 'working'

aims said...

Smiling - I love the thoughts projected here. Having a smoke or playing games - very lovely as well.

Staying in the past. Sometimes I wish I could have - in parts of it anyway. The parts where I could dive into a (warm) lake and swim to my hearts content. Sigh...those were the days.

Rachel Green said...

Aye- it's surprising what I miss from childhood.

Unknown said...

I do this, too! Wonder what the characters are up to when I'm not spying on them. Sort of a literary Toy Story where they have all opportunity to change their paths... only really they can't, can they?

Rachel Green said...

They are limited by the Fate we gave them.