Untitled
Things
tell
less
and
less:
The
news
impersonal
And
from
afar;
no
book
Worth
wrenching
off
the
shelf.
Liquor
brings
dizziness
And
food
discomfort;
all
Music
sounds
thin
and
tired,
And
what
picture
could
earn
a
look?
The
self
drowses
in
the
self
Beyond
hope
of
a
visitor.
Desire
and
those
desired
Fade,
and
no
matter:
Memories
in
decay
Annihilate
the
day.
There
once
was
an
answer:
Up
at
the
stroke
of
seven,
A
turn
round
the
garden
(Breathing
deep
and
slow),
Then
work,
never
mind
what,
How
small,
provided
that
It
serves
another's
good
But
once
is
long
ago
And,
tell
me,
how
could
Such
an
answer
be
less
than
wrong,
Be
right
all
along?
Vain
echoes,
desist.
Kingsley Amis
Kingsley Amis, (born April 16, 1922, London, England—died October 22, 1995, London), novelist, poet, critic, and teacher who created in his first novel, Lucky Jim, a comic figure that became a household word in Great Britain in the 1950s. Amis was educated at the City of London School and at St. John’s College, Oxford (B.A., 1949). His education was interrupted during World War II by his service as a lieutenant in the Royal Corps of Signals. From 1949 to 1961 he taught at universities in Wales, England, and the United States.