Anthony Furze
01-11-2007, 12:11 PM
I d like some opinions about this poem-is there a veiled symbolism in it?
FROM Monologue by Hone Tuwhare
I like working near a door. I like to have my work-bench
close by, with a locker handy.
Here, the cold creeps in under the big doors, and in the
summer hot dust swirls, clogging the nose. When the
big doors open to admit a lorry-load of steel,
conditions do not improve. Even so, I put up with it,
and wouldn’t care to shift to another bench, away from
the big doors.
As one may imagine this is a noisy place with smoke
rising, machines thumping and thrusting, people
kneading, shaping, and putting things together.
Because I am nearest to the big doors I am the farthest
away from those who have to come down to shout
instructions in my ear.
I am the first to greet strangers who drift in through the
open doors looking for work. I give them as much
information as they require, direct them to the offices,
and acknowledge the casual recognition that one
worker signs to another.
I can always tell the look on the faces of the successful
ones as they hurry away. The look on the faces of the
unlucky I know also, but cannot easily forget.
....
http://www.honetuwhare.co.nz/
--
FROM Monologue by Hone Tuwhare
I like working near a door. I like to have my work-bench
close by, with a locker handy.
Here, the cold creeps in under the big doors, and in the
summer hot dust swirls, clogging the nose. When the
big doors open to admit a lorry-load of steel,
conditions do not improve. Even so, I put up with it,
and wouldn’t care to shift to another bench, away from
the big doors.
As one may imagine this is a noisy place with smoke
rising, machines thumping and thrusting, people
kneading, shaping, and putting things together.
Because I am nearest to the big doors I am the farthest
away from those who have to come down to shout
instructions in my ear.
I am the first to greet strangers who drift in through the
open doors looking for work. I give them as much
information as they require, direct them to the offices,
and acknowledge the casual recognition that one
worker signs to another.
I can always tell the look on the faces of the successful
ones as they hurry away. The look on the faces of the
unlucky I know also, but cannot easily forget.
....
http://www.honetuwhare.co.nz/
--