Tuesday Poem - An instance of the genre by Vincent O'Sullivan

An instance of the genre

You can't help liking this grey-haired

never-quite-pretty woman who tells

you, 'Frankly,' as she says, aware

the word is fondling a hedgehog

should you trust it too deeply, 'Frankly,

I love being middle-class. I vote

of course we all do, I've only to see

a flood halfway up a village wall

and I'm phoning with a donation. I

have the local bookshop automatically

deliver the three best books

of the month according to the list

they get – good bookshops do.' I

like the way she tells you, straight

out, how well the children prosper.

She uses expressions like 'A-team'

and 'B-team' without a hint of either

swank or rancour, and assumes you

understand the praise her husband

gleans on the back of quite justified

glamour some years back is only as

it should be. She smiles, she knows

there's a dash of irony with any

success, she says, 'Luck? Of course

luck's crucial.' I know if I wrote

this out as accurately as I can

to the way I heard it, the reader

as likely as not may imagine

there's a slinking figure somewhere

not being quite straight on what

the story is. I appreciate why

you'd think so, geared as we've

been for decades on the lookout

for subversion. In even the most neutral

phrase say, 'You can't help liking...'

This poem is from Vincent's latest book – The movie may be slightly different - published by Victoria University Press 2011. It is such a strong, rich book, from cover to cover, it is jolly hard to pick just one. All the poems seem to work together and ring each other's bells. Not that they don't stand alone. One of the best books I have read for yonks. Almost carelessly generous.

http://www.victoria.ac.nz/vup/2011titleinformation/moviemaybe.aspx