'Searching for order'

“For me, poetry is always a search for order.” – Elizabeth Jennings  

 

Born on July 18, 1926, Jennings was considered a “poetic traditionalist” and also one of Great Britain’s most beloved practitioners of the poetic arts.  

Jennings (who died in 2001) started writing in her mid-20s after graduating from Queen Anne’s College. Her first book, simply titled Poems, came out in 1953.  That won her the Arts Council of Great Britain’s award for “Best First Book of Poetry.”  

 

Not one to rest on her laurels, she followed with A Way of Looking, winner of the prestigious Somerset Maugham Award, given to leading writers under age 35.   Known for her lyric poetry and mastery of form, Jennings said of her writing technique, “It’s simple.  I write fast and revise very little.”    For Saturday’s Poem, here is Jennings’,

 

                   Delay

            The radiance of the star that leans on me
            Was shining years ago. The light that now
            Glitters up there my eyes may never see,
            And so the time lag teases me with how

            Love that loves now may not reach me until
            Its first desire is spent. The star's impulse
            Must wait for eyes to claim it beautiful
            And love arrived may find us somewhere else.