Let's not go into the matter of that <br />dark wood in our back garden which <br />shames us in the eyes of our <br />prissy neighbours (we call it <br />our 'poetic arbour', where <br />camelopards roam) - <br /> <br />mowing the lawn - that's all I can manage <br />between poetic stints: <br />it's hell when you put it off - <br />the wife, the pointed looks from <br />those prissy neighbours, the <br />pricks of social conscience, and <br />the guilt...oh the guilt... <br />sins of omission, all that stuff, I'm <br />in and out of the confession box... <br /> <br />then when I get round to it at last <br />it's purgatory - the grass is long, <br />gets in the rollers at the hub, it's <br />wet at the roots, tears when it should cut, <br />bald brown patches revealed - <br />the neighbours' children do their <br />'watch and pretend to hide their suppressed <br />laughter with a hand and a smirk' act... but <br /> <br />it's sheer (sheared?) paradise when <br />it's done and I can look the neighbours <br />in the eye and dare them to <br />make some pointed remark in <br />the guise of compliment - how I hate <br />this pre-modern irony, Juvenal started it... <br /> <br />all this to get a whiff of paradise... <br />and now it's just rained this morning and <br />the bloody grass looks unshaven <br />already... lawnmowing, it's just <br />one eternal round - look, <br />the neighbour's out already with his <br />swanky new machine; it's <br />a real human comedy <br /> <br /> <br />(thanks to Adam and The Poetry Society for the initial inspiration)<br /><br />Michael Shepherd<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/0300-dante-on-mowing-the-front-lawn/
