I thought it might be fun, every once in a while, to include links to the allusions in my poetry. So here you have it, “The Muddy Northern Bank” with annotations:
What prince’s cheek would blush so pale
Rising from the muddy ground?
(Here and there, among the bootmarks:1
Daffodils
trampled in rites of spring.)
Elbows wet, held high on shoulders, that
early, long march
Of schoolboy brows grown green
with heavy laurels!2
And so I padded near—behind—
treading glorious on glorious heel1
Heard heroic words from heroes’ lips, those
songs still worthy and the deeds still fit
For a sunny boathouse morning.
And there we’d fish the dappled dock3
Lines tangling in the mooring
And stoically watch the river’s trade4
Whirlpool5 sirens dark, alluring:
Bits of paper4
and
fag ends
and string—
Mementos of summer and the late, gay spring
Those trophies of our childhood.
But even then, along the bend
Where the lady kept her tower6
Some grey rat’s cousin7 crept low on the bank:
Stealing string
From your short summer bower.8
-Amelie Andrezel
