London is my Muse

While travelling the tube, several posters on the walls of the stations caught my attention. Why?
Because they rhymed.

 #travelbetterlondon

Each poster was signed "Mayor of London." So I started to see how many poems he commissioned for the public good.

Not saying they are poetry in the soul-stirring sense. 

I learned that I should drink water, that I should not let trash block the doorways, that I should not listen to loud music, etc etc.

Quite lyrical.

Made the whole place seem idyllic.

This photo has not been altered in any way

Quite the pair of lions. They both look vaguely confused.

Hyde Park

I think the most romantic (in the literary sense) place in London was Westminster Abbey. An incredibly ornate, gilded tribute to memories; for centuries the location of the coronation, of burials, of actual monumentalization of Britain's citizens (with a small spattering of Americans, possibly Germans, I don't remember). Longfellow, Wilburforce, Austen, Newton, effigies of Lord Nelson and William Pitt, and the oldest door in the UK.

This is not in the Abbey, because pics aren't allowed. But it gives you an idea.

Speaking of Muse, let me tell you that the MUSEums in London are numerous, spacious, and overwhelming. Melissa and I basically just walked through some of them (really, like walked from the entrance to the exit) because we didn't have TIME to muse.

But I did pick up on the following:

In the British Library-- a proto-feminist book on the important role of women, the 1215 Magna Carta (or one of them), lots of Bibles, and a Beatles song composed on the back of a birthday card.

In the British Museum--the Rosetta stone, the ancient game of Ur, and the most famous chessboard in the world, of which I had no idea.

This picture was very difficult to obtain.

In the Science Museum--really cool swords (I think they were called Damascan)

In the Natural History Museum--a cool exhibit on memory, geology stuff like Pele's hair, and a bird that buries its eggs in ashes, supplying some source for a phoenix legend.

In the Victoria and Albert Museum--the story of willow china, an amazing but useless cabinet, and a brief history on fashion.

In the Florence Nightingale Museum--1) Florence used to be a boy's name, 2) nursing used to be associated with drinking, 3) This Florence established nursing as a professional vocation and employed statistics to report on conditions. She also had a pet owl.

In Handel's Museum, I learned that his operatic actors/actresses had dramatic personal lives. And that the children's costumes fit Melissa.

The Mayor of London has inspired me, and I have written two poems:

This trip has been monumental

But don't get sentimental;

Just remember the times

We read all those rhymes,

and think it experiential.

As a preface to the next one, let me say that my allergies were horrific in London, and also that the train connecting Paris to London brought a lot of UN residents.

Reflections on London

Fried-fish and mushy peas,

bland but quite common.

Dry cough and staccato sneeze,

reflex to smoke and pollen.

Large museums but small quarters,

Private people but open borders,

Tradition and liberality

All mixed in one.

Whenever anyone wants to discuss my poetry, I am ready and willing.