INTERCESSION: Dylan Thomas and Me

Dylan Thomas, one of the twentieth century’s greatest poets, once wrote: “I hold a beast, an angel and a madman in me.” This Canadian-Australian hybrid poet with his bipolar-madman in him, with his lower nature as much of a beast in him as other men, if not more; and with an angel, a higher nature, he adorns “the walks of the Garden of Reality.” This is neither a complaint or a boast, but a simple and ,indeed, quite complex reality. –Ron Price with thanks to Dylan Thomas, The Love Letters of Dylan Thomas, London: Phoenix, 2008; and ‘Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i Prayers, Wilmette, 2002, p.156.:thumbs_up

And in all this poetry I inquire
as to the working of these three
forces: their subjugation, control,
victory and expression, downthrow
and upheaval. I expose my soul, far
too much of my inner life and private
character than is wise and normal.

Unlike you, Dylan, I would not enjoy
adulation. I do not need it but, if it
served this Cause, I would endure as
much as my spirit could stand. Much
of my life has seemed to be a public
performance even in a solitary chamber
like this study where as a serious poet I
will never have to read out loud to those
whose joy is found in other forms of
sound and sight filling the airwaves---
pervasively in print & electronic media.

But, if I do dear Dylan, may you intercede
on my behalf to emulate your rich, gorgeous
voice, to reproduce your extravagant bardic
style but without the need to get drunk and
so give the audience a performance of their life.1

1 With thanks to Robert Fulford, “Review of Dylan Thomas’ Collected Letters,” The National Post, 27 January 2001.

Ron Price
16 August 2008