Metal Detector Poem by Douglas Scotney

Douglas Scotney

Douglas Scotney

Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. Resides in Adelaide

Metal Detector

Rating: 5.0


A fairy is a stretched avatar
tricked up to look tall on stage
by dwarf sets and fantastic architecture,
in this case, low-clipped bushes
of lavender and rosemary
and a post-modern playground
of a dish for swinging,
furniture for clambering
and a cows-head for see-sawing;
all set in sand.


A fairy has a febrile mind:
whatever it is not doing
is done by human kind.
A fairy that is not frolicking,
like the one that just came fossicking,
is human in my mind.

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
what makes a human being?
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Bri Edwards 24 November 2013

this is (also) somewhat of a mystery to me. but a kind of enjoyable one. i looked up avatar and am not sure which is meant here. i did have a brush with wondering if this poem had anything to do with gays........as fairy has been used to refer to them. maybe, again, my being from another former british colony, not australia, runs some interference for my attempt to understand. but, DON'T WORRY, i don't plan to lose sleep over this. thanks for sharing. :)

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Dr Dillip K Swain 06 September 2021

A wonderful poem! Informative.....5 stars

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Edward Kofi Louis 20 July 2016

All set in sand. Nice work.

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Michael Walker 01 September 2015

Good analogies between fairies, dwarves and human beings. M. Walker.

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Gajanan Mishra 25 November 2013

dish for swinging, I like it, thanks.

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Bri Edwards 24 November 2013

metal detector? a way to figure out which is human and which is avatar?

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Douglas Scotney

Douglas Scotney

Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. Resides in Adelaide
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