Even when just the other day
From Then to Now feels decades away.
The name at the back of my mind...
What can I say?
This quotation, taken from a poem in Dunn's most recent collection 'The Noise of a Fly', deals with the intimate theme of old age. Time predominates - 'the other day', 'Then, 'Now', 'decades away'. The capitalization of 'Then' and 'Now' creates a sharp contrast between the two periods - the past and the present - and how they are and feel so different. The ellipsis '...' in the third line suggests the speaker of the poem is struggling to remember the name, a signal of the memory loss which comes with old age.
I'll slog on with the daily, dreary toil.
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, what a lousy way to go,
To work all day then burn the midnight oil.
The theme of life and boredom appears in these lines. The verb 'slog' has connotations of tiredness, fatigue and reluctance and the alliteration in the phrase 'daily, dreary' reinforces the dry monotony of the two adjectives. Trying to cheer himself up, the speaker exclaims 'Heigh-ho, heigh-ho' but, unlike the uplifting sense with which the phrase appears in popular rhyme, he concludes 'what a lousy way to go', implying death is on his mind.
Out of the thanages, mormaerdoms,
Legendary shires and kingdoms,
Defunct boundaries and the lost
Dynastic certainties.
This is a poem about Scotland, and its past, evoked through the jargon 'thanages' and 'mormaerdoms'. 'Legendary shires and kingdoms' hark back to a golden, mythical age in Scottish history, where 'dynastic certainties' oversaw how things worked, hinting at the speaker's anxiety to return to the past.
When he opened her glove compartment
He found small change, lip salve, tissues, receipts
From shops and filling stations
An example of the more poignant, personal poetry Dunn has written. 'small change, lip salve, tissues, receipts' represent a life once lived, small but powerful symbols of activity from day to day. Here, the absence of precision - the reader encounters only 'he' and 'her' - makes the image more universal.
