Hi,
Have just joined this Ray Bradbury website.
Recently heard an interview with Ray and he mentioned that one of his poems had been inspired by arrivals and departures of different insects in his garden. Events that will never happen again. My question is does anyone know the name of this poem and has it been published ?
Thank you in advance for any info.
Hal.

Hi Hal, and welcome. Do you remember where you came across the interview? With a bit more context, I might be able to think of what he was referring to.

Hi Phil,
Thanks for the reply,
I have found the interview in question it's on you tube. Ray is talking to Connie Martinson
Ray Bradbury - Green Shadows, White Whale Part 2 at around the 2 minute mark he mentions it and says he wrote the poem down. Hope this helps. I'll try and paste the link below. Regards Hal.

I wonder if the poem in question might be "Swift Hummingbird", which is in Ray's poetry book I LIVE BY THE INVISIBLE (Salmon Poetry, 2002).

The poem is reproduced (in whole or part, I'm not sure which) on Salmon's website:

http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=63&a=63

Let me know if this is what you were looking for!

It might also possibly be "To an Early Morning Darning-Needle Dragonfly", which can be found in his collection THE HAUNTED COMPUTER AND THE ANDROID POPE. In that poem, Ray Bradbury invites a dragonfly to sew his eyes shut, against the “madness of men”, and his ears, against “the constant wars,” and his lips, so he can’t “bore my friends”:

"Swift needle flash, swift dragon sleek,
Sew up my mouth, so I can't speak
Perambulatory rages, fears
That might burn dreads and dooms for years"


He then realizes that what would be shut out if that happened would not only be the bad and the horrible in life, but also what is beautiful, good and true.

quote:

Originally posted by Richard:
It might also possibly be "To an Early Morning Darning-Needle Dragonfly", which can be found in his collection THE HAUNTED COMPUTER AND THE ANDROID POPE. ...

A good alternative, except for the context: the interview Hal referred to dates from c.1992, and in the interview RB speaks of writing the poem in recent days or weeks. (HAUNTED COMPUTER was published in 1981, so is too early.)

Hi,
Apologies for late reply.
Thanks very much for your help on this.

Regards
Hal.