This week’s poem is “This Be the Verse,” Philip Larkin’s epigrammatic meditation on familial dysfunction. Press play above for my dramatic reading and follow along below if you like:
They fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do. They fill you with the faults they had And add some extra, just for you. But they were fucked up in their turn By fools in old-style hats and coats, Who half the time were soppy-stern And half at one another’s throats. Man hands on misery to man. It deepens like a coastal shelf. Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself.
I probably should have saved this one for Mother’s and/or Father’s Day, but I think it hits home just as poignantly during the holiday season, don’t you?
BTW, I’m taking requests here, so let me know if you have a favorite short poem you’d like me to make a video for in the coming weeks.
Thanks, as always, for your interest and support.
MW
P.S. The video version of the latest episode of Books Are Burning! has been uploaded to my YouTube channel. Tune in to learn more about the six preliminary articles for perpetual peace among nations according to Immanuel Kant:
This is the full episode, but clips will be posted anon for attention-deficit viewers.