I've always loved the poetry of Brian Patten since I read a collection of material from him, Adrian Henri and Roger McGough called The Mersey Sound. For some reason I lost touch with his work but he popped up on Radio 4 on Saturday and read a poem called The Minister for Exams and excited my interest all over again.When I was a child I sat an exam.
The test was so simple
There was no way I could fail.Q1. Describe the taste of the moon.
It tastes like Creation I wrote,
it has the flavour of starlight.Q2. What colour is Love?
Love is the colour of the water a man
lost in the desert finds, I wrote.Q3. Why do snowflakes melt?
I wrote, they melt because they fall
onto the warm tongue of God.There were other questions.
They were as simple.I described the grief of Adam when he was expelled from Eden.
I wrote down the exact weight of an elephant's dream.Yet today, many years later,
For my living I sweep the streets
or clean out the toilets of the fat hotels.Why? Because I constantly failed my exams.
Why? Well, let me set a test.
Q1. How large is a child's imagination?
Q2. How shallow is the soul of the Minister for Exams?
