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Poor Richard
dear kanga
Leave Report
Sabbatical • Departure • Arrival • Elgin Crescent • A Shot of the British Museum • At the Victoria and Albert • The Book of Kells • At Kew • Through Pisa • Return to Iffley • Mordros
Source: Poor Richard: Poems. Wellington: Port Nicholson Press, 1982
Electronic source: Poor Richard: a TEI-conformant transcription
All poems © W. H. Oliver
1
Harder than nails and poisonous as puffballs
Richard was a good bet from the beginning
squat and sturdy out of Lancashire
with a barrel on his back for the thirsty miners.
With graft and gall he clambered to the top
and journeyed home to greet the wizened queen
amid the plaudits of the cotton barons.
However far he went the anarchy
of the genial loose-limbed frontier dogged his steps.
Not that he wanted to forget it all: any old lag
from his days on the Coast could count on a helping hand.
Except the Chinaman: maybe he had once been
grateful for their patronage but that was finished
until his enemies unearthed the tale,
the crowning infamy to drag him down.
Richard denied it. And much else. The golden
mountain paled in a drab sunset.
Poor Richard. William. Michael. Norman. Rob.