Intimacy

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INTIMACY

leaving
having cut the thistles
from the lawn for the last time

bottle-brush
in bloom, fledglings
in the starling box on the garage wall

trestled
grapevine, wallpaper patch
where the cat measured her height

of the steps
in the dance before the grave
intimacy is one of the loveliest

An early poem. I had lived in that Hamilton home for eleven years. It was an attempt to capture that sense of familiarity that comes from settled existence allied with a sense of excitement at forthcoming change. Reading it brings back memories. Jackie my first cat – black and white, she sat up like Jackie and Kennedy’s wife was in my consciousness.
One of the most lovely examples of intimacy in poetry is Wordsworth's description of a boiling kettle, it's 'faint undersong'. I can visualise him sitting reading with his wife and sister, the kettle humming quietly on the hob.