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Roddy Lumsden Responds



	

			
Roddy Lumsden Responds
		




	

					
	
					by  Roddy  Lumsden 			





	
	

				
It's still a British poem though, if not a British subject, and so "kerb" is not an anomaly. I'd hope "death pilots" rather than "blackfly" hints at terrorism, but I do tend to keep my political images subtle to the point of near-invisibility. Yet Campion is right that that doesn't change his objections much—so can we agree to agree? I should have tucked that poem away in the depths of the book!*


 


 


 


 


*This exchange originally appeared on poetryfoundation.org
			


	

		Originally Published: February 1, 2010	


	
		
		

	
		

			
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This prose originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of Poetry magazine


		
			

				
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 Roddy  Lumsden

					

							
Biography

							
Roddy Lumsden was born in St. Andrews, Scotland; he describes his upbringing as small-town and working-class. His earliest exposure to literature came from his mother and older brother, who would read aloud to him when he was a child. Later, when he attended school, his writing was influenced by the works of W.S. Graham, Philip Larkin, Thom Gunn, T.S. Eliot, and Sylvia Plath, and by song lyrics. 

His work is marked by an . . . 

							
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Originally appeared in Poetry magazine.

		
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