Sunday, April 09, 2006

Tigers in Red Weather

Just finished reading this book by Ruth Padel. Found it captivating, in parts. Had wanted to read up on tigers for quite some time now. Of course, this book attempts to be about a lot more than just tigers. The author also happens to be a poet and I guess she couldn’t resist appending a collection of poems at the end of the book.

Here’s one-

Wallace Stevens ‘Disillusionment of Ten o’Clock’

The houses are haunted
By white night gowns.
None are green,
Or purple with green rings,
Or green with yellow rings,
Or yellow with blue rings.
None of them are strange,
With socks of lace
And beaded ceintures.
People are not going
To dream of baboons and periwinkles.
Only, here and there, an old sailor,
Drunk and asleep in his boots,
Catches tigers
In red weather.

2 comments:

Mellowdrama said...

If 'tis tigers you seek...Jim Corbett is my pick any day of the year!!

dazedandconfused said...

yeah, but couldn't find any of his in the bookshop that I frequent.

Anyway, now I am reading Murakami.