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Michael Shepherd - Just 22 miles of water

2014-06-12 3 Dailymotion

‘To understand all <br />is to forgive all ‘ – <br />that’s one French saying <br />that doesn’t seem to have <br />crossed the few miles of <br />‘The English Channel’, or <br />the Straits of Dover or <br />‘The Sleeve’ or the <br />‘Passage of Calais’ or <br />however the French translates – <br />with the Normans; so <br /> <br />perhaps they left it behind <br />at the Conquest along with <br />Armagnac and crepes and <br />their blonde mistresses <br />and never went back for it <br /> <br />like I wonder if that blunt <br />English saying, <br />‘Those who can, do; <br />those who can’t, teach; and <br />those who can’t teach, <br />become critics…’ <br />ever made it across La Manche <br />to that civilised nation where <br />critics, teachers, and the mind <br />are held in such respect; but <br /> <br />suppose we equate football <br />and poetry here: <br />football supporters know their <br />playing days are over, if <br />they ever happened anyway; <br />they aren’t equipped to teach <br />except their sons, for some <br />happy time; and so they <br />hold to their precious love of <br />the beautiful game <br />by criticising the team, <br />the manager, and especially <br />the ref. Shoot the ref. So <br /> <br />maybe it’s because <br />you, and you know who you are, <br />felt you couldn’t be <br />the great poet which you so wanted <br />to be, and found you <br />couldn’t teach, that <br />because you truly, deeply <br />love poetry and all <br />it stands for, and need <br />to preserve that love, you <br />criticise poetry so savagely here <br />in England, and <br />are hated for it; <br /> <br />strange isn’t it that <br />a few miles across the Channel <br />from aggressive England <br />you’d be feted, revered, honoured, <br />as staunch upholder in critical essays <br />of the ever-renewing greatness of <br />French literature… <br /> <br />I’ll settle for understanding all and <br />forgiving all<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/just-22-miles-of-water/

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