"If Briefly" Broadcast on West Wilts Radio

Dawn Gorman and Peter O'Grady co-host an enjoyable monthly, hour-long program on West Wilts Radio (UK) called "The Poetry Place." November 2023's program features poets Vic Pickup and Rachel Clyne. Several other poets join in the fun to read a poem or two. Larew presents his poem, If Briefly, at minute 44.

Here's the link to the recorded broadcast -- The Poetry Place – West Wilts Radio

And, here's the poem which first appeared in Fevers of the Mind.

IF BRIEFLY

I’ve never wanted anything so much

as roads to meander --

Gravel the better and dusty through

some wandering summers

Or weedy musk-melons like childhood

gone off on a ramble

I’ve never wanted anything as much

as that kind of lost

And how I love to visit door-to-door

the memories made of privet and rabbits

or fences

if even briefly

No I’ve really never wanted anything as much as

porch rugs

and how small bare feet traveled on them

to welcoming shores of seem

So please in any reckoning

may I get at least one wish

that I’ve asked for --

To become a row of praying mailboxes

with weeds all around

Or wherever I go

to envy how whooping grasshoppers

leave me behind