Bicentennial of John Keats death 23 Feb 2021

I was honoured to be be commissioned to write a poem to commemorate the 200th anniversary of John Keats death, alongside Poet Laureate Simon Armitage by the Keats Shelley Association.

On 23rd February 2021 I took part in an interdisciplinary webinar hosted by Magdalen College, Oxford, along with Poet Laureate Simon Armitage, Lord Charles Spencer, and the BBC's John Simpson. It was a wonderful forum to debut my poem for Keats which you can read below. When I was writing this poem, I think what struck me was what turbulent times Keats was living through, there were riots taking place regularly in England, and revolutions were happening in America and Europe. Death seemed ever close, ever present. Keats also had medical training at St. Guy's hospital in London, which he began when he was only 15, and he later worked as a surgeon's dresser. This of course was in the days when there was no anaesthetic, patients were held down as they were being operated on. So, it was intense, bloody work, and during this period of time, Keats really began writing extensively. It interested me that Keats was building his life with his hands, in this way, in two very meticulous ways. So, in this poem, I really wanted to capture the flesh and blood of the man, and the dexterity of his hands.

23rd February 1821: In Remembrance of John Keats

by Scarlett Sabet

Body and Flesh a compass for an Isle fervent with dissent

your mind's eye performed

mercilessly beneath scalpel and pen

and in between gasps and screams

your lungs exhaled beauty and dreams

your hands and fingers

insistent, conjuring

invocations of blood and love

you clutched her neck

as you stood before the precipice of death,

blasphemy beneath the church steps

and now the hand that once burnished her flesh

clutches your chest

exhaling blood red breath

And now, I gaze at the death mask cast

As you passed away,

I trace your eyelids' delicate crease,

wondering at the imprint your lips leave