Le Prix. (Translation) . Poem by Michael Walker

A modern free verse sonnet that looks at the down side of middle-class city life. A life in which there are petty irritations, like cars having their headlights on by day and on 'full' at night. For me, this is very annoying and it never used to happen. I hate strong glare from headlights. You look away from your own reflection in a window-don't want to see it. Like being camera-shy. The colour supplements inside a newspaper have lied: some enjoy pleasures and others pay for them. Your securities-your own house, desk, time schedule are then blown away. Then it opens a door into your childhood and you can measure what might have been, compared to the life you settled for. The poet uses 'you' a lot to mean 'people in general', not one person being addressed. This was once expressed as 'one'-still is-but 'one' is starting to sound too formal and stilted, compared to 'you'. I use 'you' in the same way: very seldom do I use 'one' in speech or writing any more.
I consider 'The Price' a very telling, true look at modern, middle-class life in a city.