W. H. AUDEN and JURY DUTY
- Roz Dimon
- Mar 4, 2016
- 1 min read
A friend recently shared with me W.H. Auden’s poem “STOP ALL THE CLOCKS” after the death of someone very important in my life -- where all the clocks stopped quite suddenly -- as did my world . . . but then kept ticking again, somehow leaving me behind, or at least a life I used to have with that person in it, behind . . . forever. The clock just kept ticking away, heedless to judge or jury, mechanized to some other internal ‘beyond worldly’ force . . . proverbially ticking away methodologically, tick-tock tick-tock tick-tock, oblivious to my grief, my loss, my sorrow . . . how about joy. Let me try being funny. Just please STOP! But no. Unstoppable.
"JURY DUTY" 1983, mixed media on bristol (from INFORMATION PAINTINGS SERIES)
Such a moving reflection on grief and time, Auden’s words truly echo here. Art and poetry preserve emotions like this, much like Book Printing preserves stories, ensuring they live on for others to feel and connect with across generations.