“I want
to write poems which are very emotional, but I would have some hesitation in
saying I want to write poems which are sentimental.” –
Andrew Motion
Born in England on this date in
1962, Motion is a
poet, novelist, and biographer, who was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
from 1999 to 2009. During the period of his laureateship, Motion founded the
Poetry Archive, an online resource of poems and audio recordings of poets
reading their own work. 
For
Saturday’s Poem, here is Motion’s “Driving.”
And for those who would like to hear this wonderful poet speak his own
works, I have added a link to him reading his two short poems, “A-1 Mechanics”
and “The Mower.”
Diving
The moment I tire
of difficult sand-grains
and giddy pebbles,
I roll with the punch
of a shrivelling wave
and am cosmonaut
out past the fringe
of a basalt ledge
in a moony sea-hall
spun beyond blue.
Faint but definite
heat of the universe
flutters my skin;
quick fish apply
as something to love,
what with their heads
of gong-dented gold;
plankton I push
an easy way through
would be dust or dew
in the world behind
if that mattered at all,
which is no longer true,
with its faces and cries.
of difficult sand-grains
and giddy pebbles,
I roll with the punch
of a shrivelling wave
and am cosmonaut
out past the fringe
of a basalt ledge
in a moony sea-hall
spun beyond blue.
Faint but definite
heat of the universe
flutters my skin;
quick fish apply
as something to love,
what with their heads
of gong-dented gold;
plankton I push
an easy way through
would be dust or dew
in the world behind
if that mattered at all,
which is no longer true,
with its faces and cries.
Andrew
Motion reads:
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