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Cori Martin

BABEL – the poem by Cori Martin

Thanks so much for your thoughtful responses to my last post. Your overwhelming kindness and support humbles me. Many of you have requested to read the poem “Babel” by Cori Martin in advance of the performance. You’ll need to print out all 4 pages and sit down with a cup of coffee and devote some time to this. The body of the poem runs alongside marginalia taken from diverse, existing poetry in many languages. Keep the notes on page 4 handy – you’ll be looking up classical verse, German poetry, Dante, Milton and the Bible etc. etc. Actually you might even want… Read More »BABEL – the poem by Cori Martin

Christmas Cattle: A poem by Cori Martin

CHRISTMAS CATTLE by Cori Martin (2008) Could it be true, old Thomas Hardy’s tale: at midnight, Christmas Eve, the oxen kneel to Bethlehem? Our parents slept. We kept a vigil till the magic hour, then crept outside, across the glittering, frozen snow to see this vision promised long ago. And, Lo! Behold! There were the cattle in the moonlit barn, a huddled congregation mangered, softly lowing like singers choired in their stalls. Yet, I feel some cattle shared the doubts then sprouting in my childish thought. For some were kneeling there. And some were not. Cori Martin’s poem captures not… Read More »Christmas Cattle: A poem by Cori Martin

The Portinari Nativity

THE PORTINARI NATIVITY        Cori Martin (2012) The ruined stable’s open to the air, a stage on which the rustic scene plays out. Here stumbling shepherds fix their gaping faces, their brothers rushing from the hill behind where heavenly hosts have choired goodwill to them. More angels, anxious, hover in the roof or roost below in feathered flocks. All keep respectful distance, hanging back, the uncertain parents, too, unmoving. All awestruck, dumb with wonder, cluster in a perfect circlet round the little one. He wears no swaddling clothes; bare skin’s exposed to winter’s chill. Only his holy glow… Read More »The Portinari Nativity