By A wishful thinking editor re-spelt
my name with a T and changed a poem’s
final words from ‘a tramp woman nurses
an infant/under a tumbling sky’ to
‘under a trembling sky’. Humbling to find
an editor’s chance(?) choice of epithet
happier than mine own! Mine was truer.
One winter night, I was changing trains at Crewe
and a red faced fellow traveller
sang, “…not her beauty alone. ‘Twas the truth
in her eye made me love the Rose of Tralee”.
His pale wife shivered by their cardboard case.
His breath condensed like the whitest of roses.
beautybreath.cardboard suitcasechanging trainscondensedCreweeditorepithethappierhumblinginfantnursespalered facedrosessangshiveredtramp womantravellertremblingtruertruthtumblingwinterwishful thinking‘Rose of Tralee’
Alex Cox
February 15, 2011David
My wife was appalled that your poem was re-edited.
And she is an editor!
Keep up the good work
Alex
David Selzer
February 16, 2011Quite right! The editor concerned was Gillian Clarke, now National Poet for Wales (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillian_Clarke). ‘Trembling’ is an unlikely typo for ‘tumbling’. However, I found it then and still do oddly touching. I have no idea why.
John Huddart
February 15, 2011That is a great last line! May no editor change it.