Veronica Forrest-Thomson was the author of three poetry collections and the influential critical work Poetic Artifice: A Theory of Twentieth-Century Poetry.
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
Contours—Homage to Cézanne
Pattern, like a magnetic field, is passionate in restraint; limits compress significance; framed energy is sealed. Objects, having nothing to express except themselves, attain intensity in assumed balance, which alleges, […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
Cordelia: or, ‘A Poem Should not Mean, but Be’
To those who kiss in fear that they shall never kiss again To those that love with fear that they shall never love again To such I dedicate this rhyme […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
Canzon
for British Rail Services Thou hast committed fornication Sols sui qui sai lo sobr’afan qe.m sotz I know I am not the only to suffer the pains of love. But […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
Sonnet
My love, if I write a song for you To that extent you are gone For, as everyone says, and I know it’s true: We are all always alone. Never […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
The Garden of Proserpine
Th’ expence of spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action and, till action, lust Until my last lost taper’s end be spent My sick taper does begin […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
The Lady of Shalott: Ode
The child in the snow has found her mouth, And estate-agents must beware; For if what we are seeking is not the truth And we’ve only a lie to share, […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
Not Pastoral Enough
—homage to William Empson It is the sense, it is the sense, controls, Landing every poem like a fish. Unhuman forms must not assert their roles. Glittering scales require the […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
Pfarr-Schmerz (Village-Anguish)
Making love & omelettes For every poem ought to contain at least one zeugma we may discern a very palpable corner of a sheet. Like love it It ought to; […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
Epitaph for an Un-Named Priestess
There are not enough nouns around which to create images. For verbs express activity and the act is unambiguous. Experience is an active verb. Mummy and Coffin of an Un-named […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
Subatomic Symphony
I Subatomic particles revolve in supersonic whirls, inaudible to the eye for their frequency’s too high, invisible to the ear as light can make them disappear. Resting in their mass […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
Christmas Morning
A gull curved like a boomerang slants the sky, tilting the horizon with surge of snow muffling eye and ear. Its thin scream rattles the rigid twigs. Trees stand shrunk […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
In This House
All the photographs are faded. All the clocks are slow. Last year’s words lie stale like smoke on used up air; the piano keys are touched only to be dusted. […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
Point of View at Noon
Stilled by weight of sunshine fixing their contours in a mould of light, lime trees have gestures as convulsively immobile as a Byzantine ikon; and mosaics of mottled leaves are […]
Veronica Forrest-Thomson: A Retrospective
Identi-kit
Love is the oldest camera. Snap me with your eyes. Wearied with myself I want a picture that simplifies. Likeness is not important provided the traits cohere. Dissolve doubts and […]