The Mower by Philip Larkin

The Mower
by Philip Larkin

The mower stalled, twice; kneeling, I found  
A hedgehog jammed up against the blades,  
Killed. It had been in the long grass.

I had seen it before, and even fed it, once.  
Now I had mauled its unobtrusive world  
Unmendably. Burial was no help:

Next morning I got up and it did not.
The first day after a death, the new absence  
Is always the same; we should be careful

Of each other, we should be kind    
While there is still time.

The final two and a half lines of this poem were quoted by Joseph O'Connor in the Irish Times yesterday. Seems to me to be a pretty good New Year's wish.

A FREE Play!!

Yep. That's right. A free play.

Carmel McKiernan, a speech and drama teacher in Trim, Co Meath, very kindly sent me a copy of this play and suggested that I make it available to speech and drama teachers looking for a suitable play for teenagers.

Here's an extract from her email to me:

'My students performed in their November showcase last week which was a great success.  One of the pieces which was performed on the night was a short scene called Think Twice.  I had written this a while back and thought it would be an excellent piece for my older students (i.e. over 12s) to perform on stage. The piece is mainly about a group of teenagers who have been out at a party and foolishly take a lift home with another teenager who had also been drinking.

'My students gave a wonderful portrayal of these characters and it evoked so many thoughts and discussions throughout the rehearsal process.  The parents and also my younger students who watched the scene on the night were overwhelmed with sadness at the end of the play.  The cast got a standing ovation.  The teenage drink culture is pretty terrifying these days, hopefully planting little seeds like this in the minds of students may help to change their perception of drinking at such a young age.'

Thank you Carmel!

And here it is: Think Twice by Carmel McKiernan