Found in my research travels for the 2008 Persuasions “Jane Austen Bibliography”: a poem by X. J. Kennedy on Jane Austen. Mr. Kennedy is a “poet, translator, anthologist, editor, and author of children’s literature and textbooks on English literature and poetry.”
Jane Austen’s Donkey Cart – Chawton
Jane Austen Drives to Alton in Her Donkey Trap
Disappointing waters at Cheltenham Spa
Hadn’t erased dark patches from her skin,
Nor could she still walk miles untiringly.
Well, then. Out back she harnessed Polly Sue
And set off into kindled warmth that May
Squandered on the dregs of day.
“Composition seems to me impossible,” she said,
“With a head full of doses of rhubarb
And joints of mutton”—
Nevertheless, on the rough road back to Chawton,
She closed a stubborn sentence in her mind
As one might fasten a button.
Looming, the near-horizon wore a hue
Softer than garnet’s, fullness she might carry,
The first shy sycamore leaves
Uncertainly poking through
Like the affections of a girl
Whose mother hadn’t decreed a man to marry.
With faithful clop her donkey drew the load
Of oolong, sugar, pink embroidery thread,
Her quiet drive portending one last story.
Today, our rented compact squeezes left,
Scrapes weeds and fenceposts while around the road’s
Blind bend there thunderstorms a ten-ton lorry.
_________________________
From:
Kennedy, X. J. “Jane Austen Drives to Alton in Her Donkey Trap, and: Temps Perdu, and: The Odors of New Jersey.” Hopkins Review 1.3 (2008): 413-15.
[Donkey Cart image from Pinterest]
Further reading:
The X. J. and Dorothy M. Kennedy website
X. J. Kennedy at Wikipedia [contains a full list of all this works]
Mr. Kennedy is scheduled tonight, Tuesday, July 17, 6:30 p.m, for a reading at the Center for the Arts, Cafe at the Somerville Armory, 119 Highland Ave., Somerville, MA. Two other poets to be announced; open mike. Admission $4.
Jane Austen in Vermont 