\nWhich bank of the Tamar River
\nis the right and which the left?<\/p>\n
Do circumstances of position
\nvary the possibilities?<\/p>\n
I think not, friend, for
\nthe position of the spectator<\/p>\n
is fixed by custom:
\nyou must always stand<\/p>\n
with your back to the source,
\nwith your eyes on the current.<\/p>\n
Thus, the right bank lies absolutely<\/em> as would be the case for a vestibule, We position our backs Thus, the right is always on our right. *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/p>\n Robert Louis Peters was born in an impoverished rural area of northern Wisconsin in 1924. A prolific poet and critic, his field of study has been Victorian literature, and in addition to publishing numerous articles and monographs, he edited, with Herbert Schueller, the letters of John Addington Symonds. His 1984 collection, Hawker, <\/em>is one of a number of\u00a0 \u2018voice portraits\u2019 \u2013 other subjects include Ludwig of Bavaria, Lord Byron, and the artist and friend of Keats, Benjamin Robert Haydon. After the publication of the Hawker poems he created a monologue play version in which two actors at different times performed Hawker.<\/p>\n Hawker <\/em>is divided into six parts \u2013 \u2018Bucolics\u2019, \u2018Hawker\u2019s Church: His Love, His Joy\u2019, \u2018Holy Saint Morwenna\u2019, \u2018Poor Drowned Sailors\u2019, \u2018Witches, Warlocks, and Characters\u2019, and \u2018Opium\u2019. These are bracketed by an introductory poem \u2018Hawker to Peters in a Dream\u2019 and \u2018A Last Word\u2019 \u2013 some prose admonitions from Hawker to the poet. In his introduction Peters describes Hawker as \u2018one of the most complex humans I have ever encountered\u2019. He clearly relished the time he spent in Morwenstow and Hawker <\/em>is a generous and inventive tribute to both person and place.<\/p>\n *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *\u00a0 *<\/p>\n Thanks to Paul Trachtenberg for providing information and encouragement during the writing of this piece, and to Al Brilliant of Unicorn Press for permission to republish two of Robert Peters\u2019 poems on the website.<\/p>\n LINKS<\/strong><\/p>\n – ‘Gyp My Loving Big Black Pig’ by Robert Peters<\/strong><\/a>
\non your right, and not relatively<\/em> only,<\/p>\n
\nif a river were not concerned.<\/p>\n
\ntowards Heaven, safe, and face
\nthe purling of our lives.<\/p>\n
\nFrom thence we cast out prayers.
\n
\n\u00a9 Robert Peters, Hawker<\/em>, Unicorn Press, 1984. Used by permission.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n