John Betjeman.  A Subaltern's Love Song.

John Betjeman. A Subaltern's Love Song.

Author: Poetry from the Jungle from The Ceylon Press January 16, 2025 Duration: 3:21

Miss J.Hunter Dunn, Miss J.Hunter Dunn,
Furnish'd and burnish'd by Aldershot sun,
What strenuous singles we played after tea,
We in the tournament - you against me!

Love-thirty, love-forty, oh! weakness of joy,
The speed of a swallow, the grace of a boy,
With carefullest carelessness, gaily you won,
I am weak from your loveliness, Joan Hunter Dunn

Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn,
How mad I am, sad I am, glad that you won,
The warm-handled racket is back in its press,
But my shock-headed victor, she loves me no less.

Her father's euonymus shines as we walk,
And swing past the summer-house, buried in talk,
And cool the verandah that welcomes us in
To the six-o'clock news and a lime-juice and gin.

The scent of the conifers, sound of the bath,
The view from my bedroom of moss-dappled path,
As I struggle with double-end evening tie,
For we dance at the Golf Club, my victor and I.

On the floor of her bedroom lie blazer and shorts,
And the cream-coloured walls are be-trophied with sports,
And westering, questioning settles the sun,
On your low-leaded window, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.

The Hillman is waiting, the light's in the hall,
The pictures of Egypt are bright on the wall,
My sweet, I am standing beside the oak stair
And there on the landing's the light on your hair.

By roads "not adopted", by woodlanded ways,
She drove to the club in the late summer haze,
Into nine-o'clock Camberley, heavy with bells
And mushroomy, pine-woody, evergreen smells.

Miss Joan Hunter Dunn, Miss Joan Hunter Dunn,
I can hear from the car park the dance has begun,
Oh! Surrey twilight! importunate band!
Oh! strongly adorable tennis-girl's hand!

Around us are Rovers and Austins afar,
Above us the intimate roof of the car,
And here on my right is the girl of my choice,
With the tilt of her nose and the chime of her voice.

And the scent of her wrap, and the words never said,
And the ominous, ominous dancing ahead.
We sat in the car park till twenty to one
And now I'm engaged to Miss Joan Hunter Dunn.


There's a particular magic in the poem that almost made it, the one that lingers just outside the canonical spotlight. 101 Exiles from The Ceylon Press is a quiet space dedicated to those verses. Each episode of this Poetry from the Jungle podcast is a curated listening experience, focusing on a single, remarkable work by an acclaimed poet that, for whatever reason, never quite cracked the ubiquitous "top 100" lists. You won't find grand introductions or academic dissections here. Instead, the focus is on the language itself-the rhythm, the imagery, the quiet turn of phrase that deserves a moment of undivided attention. It's for anyone who believes the most resonant lines are sometimes found in the margins, offering a different kind of discovery in the world of verse. This podcast provides a sanctuary for those exiled poems, letting them speak for themselves directly to the listener.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 32

101 Exiles
Podcast Episodes
C. P. Cavafy.     Remember, Body. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:15
Body, remember not only how much you were loved, not only the beds on which you lay, but also those desires which for you plainly glowed in the eyes, and trembled in the voice -- and some chance obstacle made them futile…
Rupert Brooke.  The Soilder. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:42
If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign fieldThat is for ever England. There shall be In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware, Gave, o…
Douglas Dunn.   Love Poem. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:00
I live in you, you live in me;We are two gardens haunted by each other.Sometimes I cannot find you there,There is only the swing creaking, that you have just left,Or your favourite book beside the sundial.
William Blake.  From "Milton". [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:41
And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England’s mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England’s pleasant pastures seen? And did the Countenance Divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusal…
Philip Larkin.  High Windows. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:45
When I see a couple of kidsAnd guess he’s fucking her and she’s Taking pills or wearing a diaphragm, I know this is paradiseEveryone old has dreamed of all their lives— Bonds and gestures pushed to one sideLike an outdat…
C. P. Cavafy.   Desires. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04
Like beautiful bodies of the dead, who had not grown oldand they shut them with tears, in a magnificent mausoleum,with roses at the head and jasmine at the feet —that is how desires look that have passedwithout fulfillme…
John Betjeman.  How To Get On In Society. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:32
Phone for the fish knives, NormanAs cook is a little unnerved;You kiddies have crumpled the serviettesAnd I must have things daintily served.Are the requisites all in the toilet?The frills round the cutlets can waitTill…
C. P. Cavafy.  Days of 1908. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:26
That was the year when he stayedWithout work, for a living playedCards, or backgammon; or borrowed and never paid.He was offered a place at a smallStationer’s, three pounds a month. It didn’t suit him.It was not decent p…
Hilaire Belloc.  Charles Augustus Fortescue. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:11
The nicest child I ever knewWas Charles Augustus Fortescue.He never lost his cap, or toreHis stockings or his pinafore: In eating Bread he made no Crumbs, He was extremely fond of sums,To which, however, he preferredThe…
Philip Larkin.   Love Songs In Age. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:00
She kept her songs, they kept so little space,The covers pleased her:One bleached from lying in a sunny place,One marked in circles by a vase of water,One mended, when a tidy fit had seized her, And coloured, by her daug…