James Fenton

Posted in Past Guests  |  Tagged A–F

James Fenton is a political journalist, war correspondent and poet. He edited The New Faber Book of Love Poems and D. H. Lawrence’s Selected Poems, and has authored six volumes of poetry. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2007 was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.

Serious

Awake, alert,
Suddenly serious in love,
You’re a surprise.
I’ve known you long enough –
Now I can hardly meet your eyes.

It’s not that I’m
Embarrassed or ashamed.
You’ve changed the rules
The way I’d hoped they’d change
Before I thought: hopes are for fools.

Let me walk with you.
I’ve got the newspapers to fetch.
I think you know
I think you have the edge
But I feel cheerful even so.

That’s why I laughed.
That’s why I went and kicked that stone.
I’m serious!
That’s why I cartwheeled home.
This should mean something. Yes, it does.

Links

• Official website
• “James Fenton’s ‘Selected Poems’: Beneath a jaunty surface, a lurking menace.” Review by Stephen Metcalf. New York Times. 9 Feb. 2007
• Profile on Poetry.com

Media

CRY HAVOC! Poetry of War and Remembrance 1968-2008 | March 31, 2009
SYMPOSIUM III: War and Remembrance: Surviving with Language and Memory

CRY HAVOC! Poetry of War and Remembrance 1968-2008 | March 31, 2009
Reading: War and Remembrance: Poetry of War and Memory, 1968- 2008