AucklandPoetry.com presents Poet Resident JAN OSKAR HANSEN on http://OSKAR.AUCKLANDPOETRY.COM

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

the death of an author

The Death of an Author

 

John Updike is dead, can’t say I know much about him

I may have read one or two of his books but he didn’t

leave a lasting impression as Hemingway did.

 

One of my neighbours has died too, I saw him every

day walking past my house with his old dog and a basket

in his left arm, with wine and a bit to eat.

 

He was going to his little field, doing some weeding but

mostly just drinking looking at the way birds flew, patting

his dog’s head and snoring gently under of a tree.

 

There was something about his eyes, like some inner

suffering had made him look holy, say, as an idealized

picture of Jesus on the cross.

 

I’m going to his funeral tomorrow morning, at 67 he was

bit young for death I thought, a new face will come and

take his place; but who is going to look after his old dog?  

 

 

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