Poems from the 1980s

About two weeks ago, at an English poetry reading meetup, there was a comment that the final stanza of Carol Ann Duffy’s poem “Standing Female Nude“ evoked the atmosphere of the 1980s. That interpretation was unexpected. Then, I reread other works, e.g., "The Act of Imagination" in the book entitled The Other Country, which I had bought at the workshop led by Carol Ann Duffy herself in 2011. In the poem “The Act of Imagination”, the line ‘Bedtime with Nancy and Ron.’ immediately made me think, Ah, that’s the ’80s! At the end of my university years, I was writing my graduation thesis on Milton Friedman’s monetarism, and remembered how often I came across articles about President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy Reagan at the time. It was evocative. Indeed, time passes like an arrow.

This collection, too, is full of satire and dry humor. Still love it.