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Surprised as Betjeman · Backward Mutters Poetry Podcast

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  SPEAKER_00: You are listening to the Backward Mutters Poetry Podcast.
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  SPEAKER_00: Please visit online at backwardmutters.substack.com.
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  There you can subscribe via your favorite podcast player and
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  read the newsletter.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Randy Edwards.
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  SPEAKER_00: During the pandemic,
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  SPEAKER_00: poet,
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  SPEAKER_00: priest,
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  SPEAKER_00: and academic Dr.
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  SPEAKER_00: Malcolm Guy began his YouTube channel,
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  SPEAKER_00: Spells in the Library.
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  These 10-minute videos were a way that he could continue to
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  offer office hours.
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  SPEAKER_00: And as chaplain of Cambridge University's Girton College,
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  SPEAKER_00: Dr.
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  SPEAKER_00: Geit kept office hours where students would stop by for a visit.
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  His spells in the library were a way that he labored to keep
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  something of the
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  SPEAKER_00: ordinary of ministry and hospitality during those unprecedented times.
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  SPEAKER_00: Since 2020,
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  SPEAKER_00: Dr.
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  SPEAKER_00: Geit has continued to offer his spells,
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  SPEAKER_00: these incantations of moments in story and words.
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  You'll recall that the word spell is also the work of making
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  words with letters.
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  SPEAKER_00: Many of the words Dr.
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  SPEAKER_00: Guite shares are poetic,
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  and so it fits nicely with the enchantment of words put
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  skillfully together.
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  SPEAKER_00: In this way, I think Dr. Guite is very much like the magician in C.S.
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  SPEAKER_00: Lewis's The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
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  Whether I am one of the children or one of Corey Aukin's
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  duffers remains to be seen,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I'm happy to be either.
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  SPEAKER_00: And these spells over the last five years have been a continued source of
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  SPEAKER_00: encouragement and an inspiration.
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  SPEAKER_00: Early on,
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  SPEAKER_00: in one of these spells,
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  SPEAKER_00: Dr.
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  SPEAKER_00: Geitz shares a poem by John Betjeman,
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  SPEAKER_00: who was Poet Laureate of England from 1972 to 1984.
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  SPEAKER_00: As Geit welcomes us into his library,
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  he gives a rambling introduction to the chaos that has come
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  again to his library
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  SPEAKER_00: and its bookshelves.
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  Welcoming us,
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  he speaks with a poet's rhythmic meter,
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  and the language itself is poetic.
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  SPEAKER_00: I've embedded the video in the notes.
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  SPEAKER_00: Have a listen.
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  SPEAKER_00: You'll see what I mean.
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  Later in the episode,
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  Dr.
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  Geit introduces his viewers to a poem by John Betjeman titled St.
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  SPEAKER_00: Saviour's Aberdeen Park, Highbury, London.
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  SPEAKER_00: The poem is also posted in the notes.
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  SPEAKER_00: St.
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  Xavier's Aberdeen Park is a significant encounter which
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  Betchmann tells about a
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  SPEAKER_00: time he visited the church of his youth,
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  SPEAKER_00: a church which has since closed and is up for sale.
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  SPEAKER_00: Betchmann's experience,
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  SPEAKER_00: Malcolm's introduction,
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  SPEAKER_00: together with a little inspiration,
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  SPEAKER_00: all work to stir a response in me.
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  SPEAKER_00: My response begins with a paraphrase of Guy's bardic greeting,
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  and continues with my response to arrive together with Betjeman
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  seated before that altar at St.
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  SPEAKER_00: Savior's.
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  SPEAKER_00: The poem is titled, Surprised as Betjeman.
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  SPEAKER_00: Chaos has come again, as Othello says.
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  SPEAKER_00: I've got this Betjeman, don't you see?
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  SPEAKER_00: Where it's perched precariously, where it really shouldn't be.
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  SPEAKER_00: This book,
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  SPEAKER_00: Betjeman's Britain,
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  SPEAKER_00: because I took it off of the shelf and can't actually,
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  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember,
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  SPEAKER_00: I can't find the gap for it myself.
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  SPEAKER_00: So you can see all the other books that are on their sides,
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  SPEAKER_00: books that they have a home to go to,
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  SPEAKER_00: but I can't,
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  SPEAKER_00: they can't find their way home at the moment.
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  SPEAKER_00: We all, like volumes, lie on our sides where we shouldn't be.
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  SPEAKER_00: We cannot find the gap where we fit,
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  SPEAKER_00: where we slide in perfectly,
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  SPEAKER_00: that place snug up against another side.
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  SPEAKER_00: cozy,
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  SPEAKER_00: upright,
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  SPEAKER_00: ready to be read,
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  SPEAKER_00: where we sit and we wait for the reader who gives life to the dead,
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  SPEAKER_00: who has gone before us,
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  SPEAKER_00: who has made for us the best place where we might abide and rest.
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  SPEAKER_00: But chaos has come again.
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  SPEAKER_00: We can't.
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  SPEAKER_00: I can't.
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  SPEAKER_00: They can't find their way home, though they have a home to go to.
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  SPEAKER_00: Here we sit or lie,
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  SPEAKER_00: here we wait until we do find our way back and into that gap,
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  SPEAKER_00: the place our reader choose.
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  SPEAKER_00: One day,
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  SPEAKER_00: in a moment,
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  he will take us up and read and by his voice blow the leaves of
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  these open pages
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  SPEAKER_00: and with life breathe and speak us with words into being.
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  SPEAKER_00: We shall rise.
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  SPEAKER_00: We shall find our place,
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  SPEAKER_00: straight-spined,
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  SPEAKER_00: standing tall,
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  SPEAKER_00: awash in the grace of the spoken word,
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  SPEAKER_00: surprised as Betjeman,
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  SPEAKER_00: transfigured.
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  SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to the Backward Mutters Poetry Podcast.
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  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Randy Edwards.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.