Poetry The Hypen by Moyra Caldecott

Today is the anniversary of my father's death. He died aged 64 in 1989. Below is a poem my mother wrote about him. I've just (hastily) self-published the book she also wrote about him. I typed and edited it (but for the sake of Amazon I had to put my name as co-author). It covers everything from his political activism against apartheid in South Africa to his extraordinary career in publishing (former head of Fiction for Penguin Books, co-founder of Britain's first alternative publishing company) etc. He was responsible for Mervyn Peake's career and introduced the Doonesbury cartoons to the UK amongst other things. If you are interested in art, it also includes his writing about his famous parents. It also includes obits from all the big newspapers and a beautiful letter from the author of The Tao of Physics, Fritjof Capra.

THE HYPHEN
1925 -1989.
How bald and bare
The hyphen is
To express
Such a multi-dimensional life.
Plunging into the sea at the Cape
Where the Indian Ocean
Meets the Atlantic.
Fighting Apartheid,
Walking the streets of London
Carrying a bag
Bulging with manuscripts.
Never an idea
Too new or daring
Not to be considered for publication.
Sketching portraits
That capture
Human nature off guard,
And landscapes
That make you feel
You are there.
Brilliant, witty, caring, loving…
Untidy, interesting, overwhelming…
You have taught many people,
Not least your three children
And me,
To think and see.
We remember you
For more than the hyphen
That divides
1925 from 1989.

 

[Vagabond Heart]

Oh how sad and beautiful. And what lovely pictures. He looks fabulous, and oh my word don't you look like your mum! I wish you peace xxxx

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

Great poem

 

[Eva Ulian]

Loved that poem. And yes... you do look like your mum

 

[Ancora Imparo]

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[Julie]

I really liked the way your mum put this poem together; the way the hyphen literally draws our eye back up into the space either side of it; and when she lists your dad's achievements, the mind and eye is drawn up to that first line as we try to work out which of the years your dad might have done those things. So much history and life (beyond what is included) is hinted at on either side of that hyphen that begins and closes his life. Beautiful Rachel, thanks for sharing.

 

[Rachel Caldecott]

It all stemmed from a conversation she'd had with my father some years before. He said how sad it was that an entire life's achievements get reduced to a hyphen.