Art and poetry on page and stage
10
Donald Gardner
The Unwelcome Dinner
It was intended to have been a delicious dinner invitation.
Posh, in a hotel, in The Hague,
with alumni from my old university.
Five courses, two glasses of wine free, seventy-five euros.
I could meet some people I would never normally see!
Book well in advance, said the letter,
to avoid disappointment.
Cancel with two days’ notice or we’ll have to charge you.
Otherwise you’ll have to pay
I turned it over night and day –
I’d booked – but was my heart really in it, this classy binge?
Was it really me?
At the last moment
I didn’t go.
Paid for not going.
Paid for no dinner.
It was worth the price.
Reading the Poet as his Poetry
decided to take a look
at the poet not the poetry
to read the poet
as his poetry
gave him three marks out of ten
for lifestyle
hardly an innovator,
though he made a great nuisance of himself
raided the larder at 1 am
for supplies of marmite-flavoured twiglets
committed mixed metaphor
in relationships
mistook people for each other
kissed his enemies
did he influence
future generations
did he pass on the message
of the great tradition
adding his own thumbprint
to magnificence
no he came down
late for breakfast
forgot to return
borrowed money
on his bicycle
knocked down old ladies with shopping carts
his poetry was marvellous
passed him
like an Aston Martin
on the motorway
leaving him standing
no apparent connection