Curl Up On Cold Stone Steps Poem by Terence George Craddock

Curl Up On Cold Stone Steps

Rating: 4.3


in the cold snow gales of winter storms
in bone biting numbing inhuman cold
the poor may curl up on cold stone steps

the poor fall asleep never wake exposed
in snow rain storms famine cruel wars
countless poor fall forgotten unnoticed

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
Written in April 2014 on the 30.4.2014.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Terry Craddock 13 May 2015

Dear John this is the highest praise I have ever received from a fellow poet and almost the only praise, therefore I am deeply touched and thank you with deep and humble appreciation. Normally I receive only hostility and criticism, because I write upon both pleasant and unpleasant themes, and unpopular or controversial topics often create strong emotive responses, due to the style and tone I wrote within, but you are correct such poems were intended to be an insight and testimony to this age of flux within which we live. I do not expect to be successful as a poet in my lifetime, and again you are correct I write for the future. My wife ranges from indifferent to my writing to extremely hostile, my elder sister is similar, and no friend or family support or encourage my writing; I have with a single exception no New Zealand readers of my poems, but I do have a few readers in America and another few in several other countries, this is probably because I usually write upon global themes and not typical New Zealand topics of trending interest. I desired to write among my poems slices of life and 'State Of 20th Century Man' written in January 1982, upon the then taboo topic of youth suicide and 'Stanley's Plight' written in April 1985, a light piece of humour, written about hiding the tool box of an apprentice engineer after his return from a block course, when I worked in the Ministry of Transport Marine Division; both on my other poemhunter site, already depict life events of a time past. I will communicate directly with you John to continue this conversation. Best Wishes and Warmest Regards Terry

8 0 Reply
John Richter 13 May 2015

Terry, I saw one of your comments on another person's poem and was intrigued. Stopped by to read a few of your poems,10 or so, in a string somewhere here in the middle. I believe you are a prolific poet. And your style is relatively constant, and while your topics range so incredibly variably I think you focus on the day to day things of our society and our lives in our time.... There's a certain connection there with readers and I think you are a wonderful poet. If I didn't think that then I wouldn't be writing this. Now for the hard part. When I look back - (and that is what people are going to do with your poetry - No matter how successful you become as a poet during your lifetime it will pale in comparison to the effect it will have after you are gone.) I think about what it is about earlier poets that I truly enjoy. Certainly the day-to-day experiences of the poet is fascinating - Did Shelley really murder his first wife wherein the deepest coffers of my mind suspects? Your poem Daily Communion exuberates the daily trek of yourself, or I, or any member of our generation. And so in itself it is certainly interesting. But there is something deeper than just that, the physical properties that tag parts of our days... The car in the driveway, the smell of fresh cut grass..... We take these things for granted but 200 years from now it will be a different story. People may only have a general idea about what a car was, or cutting grass. And so these things are hooks to future readers, little pieces of life that their imaginations will fancy.... And then some! What is deeper than that? What is deeper than just listening to the sound of Emily Dickinson's horse drawn carriage tumbling across cobblestone streets at a quickened pace as described so delicately in her poem 'One Need Not be a Chamber To Be Haunted.'? True, such imagination brings her words to life, seeing the fear on the horse's face, the angst of the driver as he loses control of this deadly chase... It gives us such a wonderfully beautiful image of Emily's daily life. But the poem is so much deeper than that. For within the walls of her spirit, her fears and love are splayed wide open, enveloping the chambers of her mind with the ghosts of her lost loved ones, leaving her alone, vulnerable and extremely human. The romanticism of the poem is that her life was so different from our own, where we may stop in the coffee shop every day to pay for our overpriced coffee, going to town once a month was an entire excursion for Emily. Yet though our differences in daily life are so incredibly vast we still remain vulnerable, and just as human as she in our love and in our losses... That is the punch of the poetry. I wouldn't be writing today if I didn't think you have the potential to do that with every one of your poems Terry. Your poem 'Dead in Death Dearly Departed' is on my list of the most masterly crafted poems I have ever read.... If I could give you any advice it would be to study that poem and repeat it's virtues and emotions over and over again - in everything you write. Whether it includes a car in the driveway or cutting grass or not.... Really impressed by your work.

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