Section 4 Exercise 8 Loss of a childFlint
Read Roland Flint’s poem. You can access an interview with Roland Flint by linking to http://www.bayweekly.com/year98/lead6_15.html where he briefly mentions the loss of his son.
Study questions are below.
Roland Flint, A poem called George
A poem called George, sometimes
Before he died, my son made up this poem:
There once was a boy
Who went to the market
And bought some hot chocolate
And put it in his red pocket
I said, it’s fine Ethan, especially that red pocket—what do you call it? He said, what do you mean? Most poems have names, I said. And he said, ah…George.
And when he heard me repeating the story of this poem and its naming, he said, sometimes I call it Jack.
That wasn’t his best poem. Like me he didn’t intend his best poem: we were walking beside the tidal basin just past dawn, the cherry trees in bloom, the sun bright and the blossoms reflected in the still water. He pointed down and said,
Look, water in the trees
I thought I would steal the title, my lost boy, to be with you in your poem, but it’s made me see I’m going to have to write that poem I do not want to write, named Ethan. Say it Dryad Press: Washington DC & San Francisco, 1979
Study Questions
- How does ‘water in the trees’ relate to the father’s experience of his son’s death? How does the title of the poem relate to the last line of the poem?
- The son’s death is mentioned only once in this poem. What feelings does the poem convey? What feelings does it evoke in you? How does their expression compare with those expressed in Paula Meehan’s poem?
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