when history
is in dispute
who can you
trust but Kleio
she was
there and if not her
then one of
her sisters
her kinship
is wide enough
to draw in
the world
it's not in
the telling
but in the
unravelling
who speaks
true who does not
one will
claim celebrity status
say fame is
the key to import
another says
the least known
are the most
trustworthy
for they
have nothing
to gain or
to lose
the poets
too stay firm
to their
metre there since
the
beginning of time
history in
the making
is a
troublesome way to go
for only
later can we see
the made and
the unmade
so unravel
your tales
and I will
weave them anew
Ah. So good, Sue. I am enjoying these poems so much. And so different from mine! :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete...I meant to say that it's a heady ride.
ReplyDeleteAnd curious, isn't it, how the whole opens up. When I was writing it I felt that (for once) I wasn't writing against, but was writing for. I suppose this is a good type of madness.
ReplyDeleteYes agree, I have found the process really interesting and now have a kind of double sequence, poems about the specific Muses abd another train about how they are feeling responding to the current situation eg the Muses sacked, in hiding etc. Not quite finished with it yet but now know the overall shape.
ReplyDeleteI really like this poem - the final stanza a lovely finish
ReplyDelete- just a thought - history is textual. Havelock argued that the change from oral (Kleio) to literate modes of expression produced profound change, from an action orientation to enabling reflection and analysis - a 'weaving anew'? The word text deriving from texere, to weave)
Thanks for that John. Etymology is so fascinating! Re oral, yes have thought and written quite a bit about this shift.
DeleteThis is such rich territory, Susan, loving the Muse sequence.
ReplyDeleteI still have a few more to go...
Deleteenthralled here:)
ReplyDeleteThanks Efi.
ReplyDelete