Tuesday Poem: “For A Song” By Barbara Strang
For a Song
To my father
After it ended
the war was still on
around our house
in the thin-lipped silences
and grown-ups dressed in uniform colours,
navy, khaki, brown.
My father had been there,
didn’t talk about it
we children rifled
through fat albums
on the bottom shelf
snaps of trucks and desert sand,
young men in lemon squeezers,
hearty blokes who still came round.
My father had been there,
didn’t talk about it
he withdrew fat volumes
of war histories from the library
to find what it was about.
……………..~
My father had been there,
didn’t talk about it
told us he’d lost his fiddle in Crete,
bought one better for a song in Malta.
My father had been there,
didn’t talk about it
he woke from dreams
of German planes
of climbing mountains
alone by night
watching
for a ship out.
.
© Barbara Strang
Published in The Corrosion Zone, HeadworX, 2011
Reproduced with permission.
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About The Poem:
Last week I heralded my intention to start a new Tuesday Poem feature series, this time looking at poetry themed around “war.” The series was sparked by my recent BookSworn post, When Characters We Love Die, in which I discussed some of my thoughts around war and realism in relation to fantasy fiction—and even as I wrote it, I was thinking that in many ways, poetry has encapsulated the capture of realism in relation to war during the past century.
In 2011, I was honoured to launch Barbara Strang’s The Corrosion Zone, a fine volume of poetry. “For A Song” is one of a sequence of poems about Barbara’s father and specifically addresses both aspects of his war experience (I understand that “of climbing mountains //alone by night” refers to Crete) and also the aftermath of war, as seen through Barbara’s eyes, as one of his children.
I am delighted that Barbara has agreed to let me feature “For A Song” today as the start of the “war” series.
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About The Poet:
Barbara was born in Invercargill. She is a published and award-winning poet and haikuist. She has had two well-received collections of her poetry published. The first, Duck Weather (Poets Group) appeared in 2005, and The Corrosion Zone (HeadworX) in 2011. She is the leader of Airing Cupboard Women Poets and editor for Sudden Valley Press. She edited the NZ Poetry Society’s 2009 and 2010 anthologies. The various awards she has won include the Aoraki Festival Contest, 1998, the NZ Poetry Society’s International Haiku Competition, 1997 and 2003, and the Takahe Cultural Studies Competition 2002. Barbara has an MA in Creative Writing from Victoria University, and she lives at McCormacks Bay, Christchurch, New Zealand.
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Great to see you on TP Barbara. A very readable poem this one. The way you parallel the curiosity of the kids rifling through ‘fat albums on the bottom shelf’ with the/your father who
‘withdrew fat volumes
of war histories from the library
to find what it was about.’ says it all really. Thanks for posting this Helen
yes great – thanks
A wonderful piece that captures the ‘isolation’ that seems to have been the experience of so many people who have returned from ‘active service’.
Thanks for sharing the poem. Having been a fan of Sassoon and others this is a delightfully NZ take on the awful experiences of war.
I’d love to retweet this.. you need a ‘Twitter’ link on your blog page 🙂 He! He!
Robin
Thanks for your comments, Helen, Robin & Jennifer: “For A Song” was definitely a ‘must feature’ poem for me.