The Poetry Show: Poets Born in October

    Enlighten Radio Presents

 

Especially When The October Wind ... With fists of turnips punishes the land,

 

 

Janet has found some famous poets born in October, but chosen some lesser known gems -- only one of which whose SUBJECT is 'October'. Sylvia Plath, John Keats, E.E. Cummings, Dylan Thomas, Robert Pinsky. These poems are more difficult than some. So we take our time with them. Broadcast LIVE Wednesdays, 10 AM on https://player.enlightenradio.org Hosts: Janet Harrison, John Case This Episode Recorded October 22, 2025

Especially When The October Wind

by Dylan Thomas

Especially when the October wind
With frosty fingers punishes my hair,
Caught by the crabbing sun I walk on fire
And cast a shadow crab upon the land,

By the sea's side, hearing the noise of birds,
Hearing the raven cough in winter sticks,
My busy heart who shudders as she talks

Sheds the syllabic blood and drains her words.
Shut, too, in a tower of words, I mark
On the horizon walking like the trees
The wordy shapes of women, and the rows

Of the star-gestured children in the park.
Some let me make you of the vowelled beeches,
Some of the oaken voices, from the roots
Of many a thorny shire tell you notes,

Some let me make you of the water's speeches.

Behind a pot of ferns the wagging clock
Tells me the hour's word, the neural meaning
Flies on the shafted disk, declaims the morning
And tells the windy weather in the cock.

Some let me make you of the meadow's signs;
The signal grass that tells me all I know
Breaks with the wormy winter through the eye.
Some let me tell you of the raven's sins.

Especially when the October wind
(Some let me make you of autumnal spells,
The spider-tongued, and the loud hill of Wales)
With fists of turnips punishes the land,

Some let me make you of the heartless words.
The heart is drained that, spelling in the scurry
Of chemic blood, warned of the coming fury.
By the sea's side hear the dark-vowelled birds.

 

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