'Man and Nature'

Here's the first of four poems we'll be posting over the coming week, by members of the Transition Year (who are about to start their Actiontrack drama week, and who have their Prize Presentation Evening tomorrow at 8pm in the BSR). These poems come from the Images in Poetry module, which you can read about here.

This poem was prompted by Henri Cartier-Bresson 'Place de l'Europe' (click for larger image) which coincidentally was one of the four photos featured in the Leaving Certficate Paper 1 last Wednesday, under the idea 'The Decisive Moment'.


'Man and Nature' by Jasper Pickersgill

The fallen ladder lies useless,
It has no more point of function.
It may have had one nonetheless;
After all it’s in good shape and condition.

It may seem like a useless jump,
One that has no point but to get wet.
The man may be hurrying, or on the run;
Nonetheless he hasn’t been caught yet.

It’s a perfect image of man and nature,
One trying to avoid the other.
It is impossible to avoid: we are nature -
Nothing we can do can separate the two.