Allowances

A puzzling poem in this weeks New Yorker by John Freeman, but presumably not the Georgian poet.  That John Freeman died in 1929 and no-one reads him now?

The NY says this one’s the editor of the literary magazine Granta and author of The Tyrrany of Email.  Here is an interview.

He makes a poor start, in the interview, not the poem, blaming lack of newspaper book reviews for the alleged fall in book sales. Sales aren’t falling. They’re just moving to internet, and the same with reviews. But he’s not just old fashioned – The Tyrrany of Email, albeit full grumbles about modern technology, is media savvy.  Anyway, he’s a poet now.

Allowances

I gave myself excuses.
This is for my pain –
and this, and this.
Terrible things.
Pain. My pain.
All so I might
twice a month
get on a train
to witness yours.