Post 448 - Poet and children's author Kit Wright was born in 1944 and educated at Oxford University. He lectured in Canada, before working as Education Officer at the Poetry Society in London (1970-75) and was Fellow Commoner in Creative Art at Cambridge University (1977-9). He was awarded an Arts Council Writers' Award in 1985.
His books of poetry include The Bear Looked Over the Mountain (1977), which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize and the Alice Hunt Bartlett Award, and Short Afternoons (1989), which won the Hawthornden Prize and was joint winner of the Heinemann Award. His poetry is collected in Hoping It Might Be So: Poems 1974-2000 (2000). His latest book of poetry is The Magic Box: Poems for Children (2009). He currently lives in London.
Wright doesn't make great claims for poetry. Against the notion of William Carlos Williams that it's tragic that some people live and die oblivious of the consoling power of poetry he writes:
When they say
That every day
Men die miserably without it:
I doubt it.
I have known several men and women
Replete with the stuff
Who died quite miserably enough.
The Magic Box by Kit Wright.
I will put in the box
the swish of a silk sari on a summer night,
fire from the nostrils of a Chinese dragon,
the tip of a tongue touching a tooth.
I will put in the box
a snowman with a rumbling belly,
a sip of the bluest water from Lake Lucerne,
a leaping spark from an electric fish.
I will put into the box
three violet wishes spoken in Gujarati,
the last joke of an ancient uncle,
and the first smile of a baby.
I will put into the box
a fifth season and a black sun,
a cowboy on a broomstick
and a witch on a white horse.
My box is fashioned from ice and gold and steel,
with stars on the lid and secrets in the corners.
Its hinges are the toe joints of dinosaurs.
I shall surf in my box
on the great high-rolling breakers of the wild Atlantic,
then wash ashore on a yellow beach
the color of the sun.
I really love the imagery in this poem. What six things would you put in your box?
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11 comments:
Hi, just wondering what does this author mean when he says 'last joke of an ancient uncle'?
he means the uncles gone and his last joke the uncle said. this box also holds impossible things such as sight smeel touch sound and taste.
i liked this poem and created my own.
i wonder how the author came up with these ideas
my magic box poem
i will put in the box
my nephews strong kick in my sisters tummy,
the feel of telken powder on my body,
the delightful soft fur of my first puppy.
i will put in the box
the sight of a wonderful colorful rainbow far ahead,
the loud giggle of my friend who is resting in peace,
a bouncy bunny that can hop 20ft high.
i will put in the box
Niall Horans amazing eyes,
the sound of rain hitting against the windows,
the hateful sound when you scrape your fingers on a balloon.
i want to no what you think!!!
Love that peom
This is such a powerful poem, I love the fact that you can be as imaginative and free with your own ideas talk and share your own ideas. We are doing this poem with our children at school I can't wait to see what they come up with. Thank you mr wright
Sullie. X
"three violet wishes spoken in Gujarati" - What does Kit Wright means here, is it purple wishes if so how are they different from normal wishes
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My son 7 loved this poem and asked me the meaning of violet wishes. Anyone knows what it means?
That's what I wanna know too
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