Someone Else

One of the interesting aspects of capturing one's own thoughts in writing is being able to look back to what was going on in the head of a former self. Today I came across a poem I wrote some years back, in January 2003, if I'm not mistaken, after watching a school assembly celebrating the CNY of that year. (Of The Goat, I think.)

I find it difficult to connect with this former self, I must say, but find myself admiring at least one turn of phrase. Not so sure of the rest, I'm afraid. But here it is, for what it's worth:

Chinese New Year - School Celebration

Theirs is not a subtle art.

Garish, vulgar, a tumbling broad clownishness.

Too red. Too yellow. Too bright. Too much

For a world already too busy.

But then to realise even their biggest gesture

Possesses a precise grace

And speaks across the stage, speaks across

Spring to new Spring, offering the miracle

Of the world's newness and promise

Of illusory prosperity for those whose

Lot will never be to prosper - these who capture

In their chaos of pinks, greens, blues, yellows, reds, golds

The promise of a world more brave, more true:

The vibrant tumbling dance of what is ever-new.