What’s in a name….
March 30, 2008
I’ve posted here before some pictures of Michele’s stained glass compositions. Her other interest is designing jewellery – there’s a link on the blogroll to her site.
She’s often stuck for titles for her various creations, and wondered whether there were any suitable lines or descriptive phrases from poetry that might be useful.
One possibility that I found was from Drummond – “Phoebus arise,/and paint the sable skies,/with azure, white and red.” Or maybe from Shakespeare’s LLL – “They sparkle still the right Promethean fire.”
Anything referring to light or astronomical matters also make good titles – she’s recently used “Midnight shadow” and “Solar Flare” – as well as colours and textures. I’m stuck for ideas, and any suggestions would be gratefully received.
[Michele adds]: Just to clarify I thought that it would make an interesting design challenge for me to create jewellery with poetic phrases as inspiration.
March 30, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Intersting task, Steve, but would it not be helpful if we could see the nameless creations?
March 30, 2008 at 3:44 pm
It’s not that she has unnamed pieces in search of titles, rather that she’s looking for names or phrases as a source of inspiration to make future pieces. I didn’t want to push her site, as we’re not fishing for compliments or trying to sell stuff here, just trying to get some ideas from the poets and literary people – which is, admittedly, a cheeky enough request; I hope I’ll be indulged this once….
March 30, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Oh, OK, gotcha…is it names for lines of jewellery or single pieces?
March 30, 2008 at 4:46 pm
More single pieces, I think, although she may well link them all under a theme like “Poets’ Corner” or “Lines to Thrill” or something similarly cheesey….
March 30, 2008 at 6:06 pm
mishari: no, i haven’t read the JJN’s one about the normans. (Henry the Wonderful does indeed sound … wonderful.) i’ve recently bought his History of Venice, and look forward to it, but I have another few books about Renaissance Italy to squeeze in first. I’m disappointed too it only goes up to the end of C18th. There’s plenty of great C19th Venetian history, since they’d a tendency to rebel against the A-H Empire at the drop of a hat. – i’d really like to read a general history of the normans too: they seemed to set up funny little kingdoms all over europe.
I read through the Rosen stuff last night – I hadn’t really paid much attention to the blog. Gathering together what I know, I’d say Rosen was arguing from the traditional position of self-justification: I write like this, therefore everyone should write like this (usually the domain of (post-)modernists, I find). It’s important psychologically that we believe that what we’re doing is worthwhile, after all.
There are some books of literary collaboration though, in the early part of c20th, by “big” names. Both RL Stevenson and Kipling wrote novels in collaboration, as did Ford & Conrad of course. I’ve also got a book called The Death of the King’s Canary, by Dylan Thomas & John Davenport. I don’t think it’s clear in any of these books who wrote what, and none of them have ever inspired much interest in the world at large.
Bringing in examples from other artforms seems to me entirely spurious, but nothing annoys me more though than the view voiced: that a person should be better celebrated for the idea, than the execution of the idea. Everyone has ideas; but few are capable of expressing them in a way that is interesting.
March 30, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Good to see the erudition continuing – heaven knows, this site needed an injection of gravitas….AFAIK, no-one’s yet produced a tandem pencil or keyboard, which might reflect the solitary nature of the writer’s lot….
One more rather obvious example for the poetic phrase -> jewellery request: “The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold/And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold” might lead Michele to call a purple & gold piece “Assyrian Cohort” – not entirely sure that she hasn’t used a similar title, now I come to think….there was a also a black and white heart-shaped pendant a while back for which I supplied the title “Manichean Heart”, although that doesn’t have poetic origins….
March 30, 2008 at 7:30 pm
obooki, the Normans were very interesting. From Viking raiders to progenitors of royal lines that plague us still. Their Scicilian Kingdom, particularly under Roger, was especially interesting.
Roger took Sicily from the Arabs but unlike his fellow Christian monarchs, far from expelling them, he created a hybrid culture. JJN’s book is especially good on this. I recommend it.
Casanova’s diaries are rather good on 18th century Venice and I enjoyed JJN’ History of La Serenissima.
Re: Rosen, nobody was arguing against the collaborative nature of much art. Books, though, are rather different. But the argument was more about whether Jordan, who has never read a book, let alone written one, deserved an award as author. I and others say no. Rosen says yes and drags Kafka and and Uncle Tom Cobbely and all in as witnesses for the defence. And while he allows that he had ‘collaborators’ on The Rabbit Foo Foo, he fails to mention that he’d pinched the idea en toto. Perhaps that’s what he means by collaboration. Others do the work, you take the credit. Post-modern, indeed.
Steve, how about Liquid Sky, Volcanoe Sun, Mother Lode, Satin Fire, Stoney Heart…I mean if it’s cheese your after..or Brittany Zircon…
March 30, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Or Green Fuse? (from Dylan Thomas’ ‘The force that through the green fuse drives the flower
Drives my green age;
that blasts the roots of trees
Is my destroyer,etc)
or In Xanadu?
I’ll bet Hopkins is a gold-mine. I’ll have a look…
March 30, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Synchronicity, obooki. I’m watching Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. In a palazzo above the Grand Canal, Indy attempts to lick his female co-star’s tonsils. He looks up, gazes out at the skyline and says, ‘I love Venice.’
March 30, 2008 at 8:00 pm
“Green Fuse” sounds like just the thing we’re after, thanks….and even the cheesey suggestions such as “Liquid Sky” are useful….Michele’s busy soldering stuff at the moment (hopefully not the cats….); I’ll get her to respond when it’s safe….
March 30, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I was thinking of Thomas too, and I’d even got the book out, but I was thinking: “It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters’-and-rabbits’ wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboat-bobbing sea…”
Hopkins reminds me immediately of “gash gold-vermillion”, but the book’s lost somewhere up there, along with Ammianus M.
Joyce has a phrase in Dubliners I’ve always liked: “brown impeturbable faces” – of a row of houses, that is.
March 30, 2008 at 8:45 pm
As one might expect, decadent Frog poets prove a rich resource:
Mallarme-
Deceitful Waters; Virginal Sky; Roses For Triumph; Festive Star; Ripe Star
Charles Gros-
Wind Of My Nights; Lillies,Lips and Sandalwood; Troubled Sky; Mad Orbit.
Verlaine-
Velvet Sky; Kiss Of The Bee; Gentle Shadows; Sun Gilded Life; Soluble Air; Blue Disorder.
Rimbaud-
Red Torments; White Swarm; Golden Flame; Whirlwinds Of Fire; Ancient Earth; Summer Dawn; Pagan Blood.
March 30, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I cannot add anything of interest to the ‘naming game;’ think most of those written above are excellent; perhaps though should only be at most two words. btw I’d check out comet names, as they are arriving all the time.
Re names,,,well.. I was Iamnothere’s angel; in fact it was she who named me. Without me she is empty headed, however she insists on going her own way.
March 30, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Just a thought! What about original peices of jewellery that come with an original short poem? A job for you doggerelist, with your real cap of poet.
March 30, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Many many thanks Mishari and Obooki! Definitely interesting titles and phrases to design to. Blue Disorder, Red Torments and ‘brown impeturbable faces’ and Green Fuse – all of these are interesting. They suggest colour and mood and movement (or lack of it). Brown is particularly challenging.
For the record, I haven’t ever made a piece of complicated jewellery with purple and gold. I’m not sure the doggerelist could cope with the outlay for the materials. . . could be fun!
March 30, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Angela, an excellet suggestion! I have tried to get him to write some doggerel for me to design to (or against). He has declined. Perhaps he will finally relent.
March 30, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Michele,
As a woman, I think it would be particularly appealing to be given an individual piece with a couple of very special lines. Of course the price would be as expected, high.
btw. I worked with gold and precious stones; one of many different areas in my life.
March 30, 2008 at 10:53 pm
This brooch I give with all my love
You are everything to me
Let me help you pin it on
Oops, I’ll get the TCP.
March 30, 2008 at 11:03 pm
No! Melton.
btw for any men out there who may think that it is not masculine to compose flowery verse to a woman; well I disagree, I think it is decidedly masculine.
It is to my regret that I can wear no jewellery; need though to visit mine occasionally.
Oh, and I might continue that such verse is not for the general public, it is very personal.
March 30, 2008 at 11:18 pm
To Mowbray, From Miranda
The brooch that you gave me
Was made out of tin
I’m stuck with a cheapskate
And stuck with a pin.
March 30, 2008 at 11:35 pm
If Steve needs extra help in composing, let me assure you Michele, I will endeavour to help ban either Mowbray or Mishari from contributing.
ps. mishari, you’ve just killed any romance between Miranda and Mowbray.
March 30, 2008 at 11:44 pm
What did you expect
The Koh-I-Noor?
I know you’ve been shagging
That git next door.
(With apologies to Angela. It’s his fault)
March 30, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Melton – what can I say?! Might make an interesting pin in the garage/altered art vein.
Mishari (sorry Miranda) this would also make similar to above. Perhaps a ‘friendship’ set.
I’m not really into this sort of S&M jewellery myself although I did sell a pair of earrings shaped like handcuffs.
Angela – I’ve seen stamped jewellery with lines of poetry on etsy.com. I have not seen any offered with original works of verse included though. Perhaps there is a niche market to be created there?
March 30, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Your worthless small damp crotch
Is no use in the sack
While you’re glued to Crimewatch
I’m glued to Neighbours, bare-back.
March 30, 2008 at 11:56 pm
Doggerelist, (I’ll write about your gifted M’s work later)
‘I hope the graffiti wall continues as a regular thread, although weekly might be too frequent….my personal view is that it needs a little direction from above the line, rather than just a named topic and the firing of the starting gun….’
You’ve proved on this site how smoothly we all direct and re-direct each other below the line. Originally, Mishari proposed a French form for the protests against censorship. You said haiku would be easier for non-poets, and everyone adapted accordingly. . .
It’s true that as the owner of this site, you are theoretically ‘above the line’. But since it was our enthusiasm for your always amusing, sometimes sublime, doggerel that put you there, blogging here has the delightful free-wheeling spirit of the GU blog’s ’s lower depths.
In the Graffiti Wall Billy is, as I said earlier, implementing an idea for the books blog that marioincandenza/seanmurraydublin has proposed at least twice in the past. Not specifically an open-thread for poetry, of course, but the ahem, meta-idea — a free-form blog for all the comments that the mods, in their wisdom, deemed ‘off-topic’.
If the Graffiti Wall needs a lead piece, a face and a name, why not share that honour among our poets? I’d suggest you, Mishari and Isa, taking turns. (Sean said he got the idea from Cif, whose open threads usually begin with the mere mention of a topic.)
If GU really wants to make the books blog a lasting success, it will show us proof of understanding that we bloggers make that site. I wrote to Sarah Crown some months ago, asking why we shouldn’t contribute above-the-line pieces under our screen names. Her answer was friendly but didn’t really explain why they won’t allow that.
Since the piece would of course be edited — ensuring that no one is libelled — and since contributors under any name could be asked to substantiate arguments or references, why not?
Anyway, my point is, any of us could suggest a subject and say, ‘Keep it coming!’ . . . Why not give the job to our most wickedly entertaining poets and doggerelists?
I feel that the introduction to PotW could also rotate — with the poem leading, and a photograph of the poet, not the interpreter.
Placing the criticism before the verse is a bit like being invited to share a bottle of vintage claret with a friend — but with each glass filtered through that friend’s finger and toenail clippings, with stray hairs added for extra seasoning.
March 30, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Can’t speak for the world Michele, but no harm in trying; I don’t spook very often in England.
Melton please attend with Mishari the new course on ‘gentlemanly manners when around ladies’, English studies to be commenced under Michele, i.e. if she has time.
btw Michele have you time to spend, here on site; support gratefully accepted.
Unfortunately must dash, it’s morning here and just been informed I’m late for a ‘brunch,’ and still need to travel for at least half an hour to reach.
March 31, 2008 at 12:02 am
Just quickly Wordsnerd, as I’ve just seen your post; agree with the idea re new site; but unless
Carol is wishing to retire, most certainly prefer her to stay on TPOW.
March 31, 2008 at 12:14 am
I heave at the thought
Of you and that prat
It must be a maelstrom,
An explosion of fat.
March 31, 2008 at 12:14 am
wordy, I think a more precise analogy would be an oenophile friend, (I have a few and they long ago learned to keep the wine chatter to a minimum when we’re drinking), opening a bottle of fine wine and then talking you through every goddamn sip.
Carol’s not really at fault and I’m fond of her. She has a pretty easy-going attitude and obviously enjoys the give and take. I do think it would be more interesting, in terms of responses, if she posted a poem without comment and then, later down the thread, gave us her take on the poem.
March 31, 2008 at 12:16 am
You bastard, so dim
and glued to your telly
You’d not seen I’d got thin
Over the rise of your belly.
March 31, 2008 at 12:28 am
Phew! Finally regained control of the computer, having used a crowbar to separate M from the keyboard and a lassoo to drag her from the chair….
wordnerd – there are pros and cons to all the options for encouraging below the line poetry….as to writing articles there under our screen names; it sounds fine in principle, but I know when it came to the crunch I’d be pretty scathing of anyone who wrote articles anonymously if I disagreed with them. I can understand why GU wouldn’t want that option. Personally, now that I’m no longer anonymous, I do sometimes think about submitting articles; my inherent procrastination tends to get in the way though. And after Rosengate, I may not be flavour of the month….
There’s no denying that for all the talk about starting such an anarchic thread, Billy’s the one who actually got it off the ground….presumably no-one else ever did anything other than talk about it….so I’m not proposing to do one of those threads.
Similarly with the PotW threads – they were an irregular mess when no-one knew who was responsible for them. Sometimes SC, sometimes LI, but whether the blog appeared or not was in the air. At least under Carol, we have stability – the thread appears every Monday – and, I think, a wide range of poetry types. She’s listened to requests, and no-one is forced to read her blurb if they’d rather just read the poem and take it from there. I presume GU is happy with her articles too, as the thread comment count is invariably the highest each week. We’ll have to agree to disagree on this, I think.
March 31, 2008 at 12:31 am
PS Mishari – I just *knew* you’d turn up on Theo’s thread sooner or later….definitely time for him to be put out to grass, as he’s in for a rough time with his latest….I was serious when I suggested there that Cif should pull the plug….
March 31, 2008 at 12:41 am
Steve, you should contribut to mowbray and my little Lives of The Poets series on Billy’s thread.
Yes, Theo is…words fail me…
March 31, 2008 at 12:55 am
I’ve been working on a spontaneous spring poem for that thread for the past two days….
March 31, 2008 at 1:10 am
oddly enough, wordy, i got an e-mail from guardian editorial a couple of weeks back asking me to verify my details, and there was a space on it for entering a pseudonym so the concept must have been used on there before.
March 31, 2008 at 1:23 am
This just turned up in one of my disposable e-mail accounts:
‘ My late husband deposited
the sum of 17.5 Million (Seventeen Million Five Hundred Thousand Pounds)
with a Bank in United Kingdom.Recently,my Doctor told me that I have limited
days to live due to the stroke and cancerous problems I am suffering from.I
have decided to donate this fund to you and want you to use this gift which
comes from my husbands effort to fund the upkeep of widows and charities
worldwide.I took this decision because I do not have any child that will
inherit this money and my husband relatives are bourgeois and very wealthy
persons and I do not want my husband hard earned money to be
misused.Awaiting your urgent reply via…’
Gee, this sounds like a swell opportunity for some lucky chap. I gave her your address, Steve. No,no…don’t thank me, you deserve it.
Lux Ex Cucumis, (Light From Cucumbers) is the Al-Adwani family motto…
March 31, 2008 at 1:54 am
obooki,
‘and there was a space on it for entering a pseudonym so the concept must have been used on there before.’
Aha, I suspected as much – from those strange bylines that sometimes appear with no picture or potted bio. Sometimes that’s because the writer _is_ writing under a real name but is a GNL staffer. At others, when typing the byline into Google brings up nothing at all, it’s pretty clear that someone is being permitted the use of a pseudonym.
So . . . how much of a leap can it be from there to a screen name? With the added attraction that it could be someone we already know and cherish?
Doggerelist, of course Billy implemented Sean’s idea (with the advantage of being decades older and established). But as someone pointed out, he didn’t do much more than put his name and face to it and propose ’spring’ as a topic (or so I think: will take correction, if necessary.)
I confess that I’m madly in love with the idea of changing the structure of power with this new medium. If we bloggers make a site go but still let GU dictate who leads and who follows, what’s a digital revolution for?
So that’s the axe I’m grinding. I’ve never been much of a PotW fan, so it’s okay to ignore my opinions on the subject. PotW has always had a whiff of the classroom about it — though less of it when Sarah ran it, because her posts were so short.
I did well in classrooms, in my time, but wasn’t it precisely the association with education and academic grinding-down that lost poetry so many generations of readers? Isn’t the net supposed to be liberating verse from all such contexts?
I would, btw, have also proposed Des/OY/PracticingArtist as a pome blogmeister, only he seems to have rejected the idea of being published by anyone other than himself. A freer spirit than any of us, I’d say.
I couldn’t improve on Mishari’s Froggie suggestions for Michele, so won’t try. . . But it would be a good idea to have a note on her site to say that she will work with precious stones and metals by special arrangement. All the women artists and writers I know love costume jewellery. Other friends will only wear ‘real’ jewellery, and are insulted by gifts of anything less. Anyway, M’s work is easily good enough to justify the finest raw material.
Mishari, yours was a good metaphor for derailing the pleasure of the grape, but I prefer mine as a description of what that feels like to me.
March 31, 2008 at 3:17 am
We’ve all expressed criticisms of GU at various times – but it drew each of us in at various times, and there’s probably no-one here who didn’t come via there….they must be doing something right….they have good weeks and bad ones, but far more people comment there than here….we are few, my delight at steadily increasing visitor numbers notwithstanding, and not necessarily representative of their clientele….I do think there are several lazy bloggers there who deserve the kicking they get when passing off substandard work, but what more can one do than try to keep them honest? It’s only entertainment after all, for all that we sometimes mutter and moan about the lowbrow….it’s simultaneously serious and trivial….
March 31, 2008 at 5:02 am
I’ve just reread your post Wordnerd and now have some reservations. I have a ‘thing’ about loyalty, that is why I am not going to post on the current blog site on GU.
Steve has ploded away here and over time I have been drawn to this site, while still recognising TPOW; where will current proposal leave the doggerelist?
Is this to be then the second time in as many weeks that he is being undermined?
March 31, 2008 at 9:02 am
Rossetti seems like a good source of images, here are a few:
from THE STAFF AND SCRIP.
She sent him a green banner wrought
With one white lily stem,
from THE SONG OF THE BOWER.
Red at the rent core and dark with the rain.
from AUTUMN IDLENESS.
This sunlight shames November where he grieves
In dead red leaves, and will not let him shun
The day, though bough with bough be over-run.
wn7: lots of people have talked about some kind of different blog on GU: I stopped talking and did something. If others have better ideas, my experience is that GU are very open to discussing them.
You say “Anyway, my point is, any of us could suggest a subject and say, ‘Keep it coming!’ . . . Why not give the job to our most wickedly entertaining poets and doggerelists?”
Well, of course anyone could do it, and I won’t apologise for failing to be wickedly entertaining; but it is a job. My blog took a couple of hours to write and time is valuable, even my time. As for commenting below the line, I decided to keep it to a minimum because the idea was to create a space for people to post without a “teacher” figure. Instead of being your usual snide self, maybe you could take some time to enjoy the poems that were shared as a result, many of which we might never have had the chance to read otherwise.
March 31, 2008 at 9:03 am
“Is this to be then the second time in as many weeks that he is being undermined?”
Steve, I hope you do not feel undermined by my efforts. I’m very pleased to see that high level of comments here. Sometimes symbiosis works, I think.
March 31, 2008 at 9:16 am
Far from being undermined, angela, I’d suggest that any poetry blog at GU is good for Steve as it tends to direct those people who want to carry on conversing in a less controlled environment to his site. How many of us would be posting here if we hadn’t come across Steve’s blog address at GU?
March 31, 2008 at 9:44 am
Mishari,
I phrased it as a question; we can each find our own answer. There is some quality poetry on BM’s site, however I will not be joining in.
March 31, 2008 at 10:48 am
Sorry Wordnerd,
I missed that you had included Steve above the line; that does change my thoughts. However I again state that I disagree with how Carol has been treated. Unsure whether I will continue to contribute though, likely depends on the blogger and I am mindful that I do need to devote more time to my own affairs.
And Mishari,
I note your (42) re us coming from GU, however it was not GU, I objected to.
March 31, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I don’t want to comment on any poem on Billy’s thread on the thread, but this one from mowbray sent me into fits of giggles:
Clare’s comment
The fields and the trees
The apples and conkers
I loved all nature
Now I’m bonkers
March 31, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Billy I’ll just jump in here between the comments of more weighty matters to say ‘thank you’ for more ideas for designs attached to poetry.
Mishari and Melton: you both made me giggle and laugh with your impromptu verses.
Sorry Angela! I do read the doggerelist’s blog and the comments. I am indebted for the tolerance and help that posters have shown for my own creative endeavours. I really can’t expect men to be particularly enthralled with jewellery design although the doggerelist is getting quite good at giving me feedback on new designs (please don’t tell him I blabbed!). I’m afraid the cut and thrust of literary blogs is not for me although I am always willing to offer an opinion on other matters.
btw – the cats remain unscathed from last night’s soldering efforts. Sadly, I can’t say the same for the object I was soldering.
March 31, 2008 at 1:46 pm
And while I’m also reluctant to pick on any one of the many excellent poems over there, I got a nice chuckle from Steve’s William Carlos Wordsworth effort.
March 31, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Thanks Billy – smpugh’s was none too shabby either, as I said there….I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of different people dipping toes in the water there….having a florist’s shopful of daffodil parodies scattered about it’s tempting to reprise one or two, but I’m determined to come up with a new one….
Incidentally, not only is no-one undermining me, but I don’t think that was even suggested….crossed wires, perhaps….certainly not worth discussing….
March 31, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Ye gods – after defending GU earlier, they now plumb new depths….Rosoff on looking up naughty words in the dictionary – something I confidently assume the rest of us gave up around the age of ten….
Meanwhile, Mishari, you were right in your prediction – your valediction to MR is no more….
March 31, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I have a small, secret list of GU blogers whose threads I am unlikely to post on for reasons of extreme lack of interest. One I haikuised recently, one is PAs pet obsession, and now another is added. In this case, s with MR, one has to wonder about the effects of writing too much for children.
March 31, 2008 at 4:03 pm
….same initials – spooky….
Meanwhile: Bah! Can’t breathe any life into that spring poem….here’s a thesis for you: longer freestyle pieces are more forgiving of inexactitude than short snappy doggerels….
March 31, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Meanwhile, CD has come up with a very snappy idea on my Spring thing.
March 31, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Well it appears I should return to those I understand and who understand me.
March 31, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I now have spousal competition on the blog front….
http://hedgelandsglassgems.blogspot.com
April 1, 2008 at 1:15 am
very quiet here tonight. everyone at your wife’s new site no doubt. – thanks for adding my site to your blogroll. i have now reciprocated.
April 1, 2008 at 1:54 am
Yeah, I’ve been deserted….not sure yet whether to resort to bribery or threats to bring back the prodigals….Mishari & MM were last spotted swapping quickfire ditties on Billy’s thread….
Thanks for the reciprocal link….yours I included for its quality, btw, not as a networking gesture….
April 1, 2008 at 2:22 am
Thanks for the add to the blogroll stee. i have returned the favour, though would be very grateful if you could change it from Des’s poetry to Desmond Swords. I have you down on my roll as Doggerelsbollocks, but can change ot to whatever you want if this is your whim, fellow space-cadet..
Sincerely
April 1, 2008 at 2:40 am
Done: and thanks for the return favour….
I found this in today’s TV review, and wondered what others made of it: it’s a piece about a programme Brian Keenan made on a recent return to Lebanon (which I sadly missed):
“Sure, he goes to town on the old poetry, but hey, he’s Irish.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/apr/01/television
April 1, 2008 at 7:55 am
I don’t much care for Wolly. He tries so very hard to be clever and flp. Compared to N B-S, he’s a no-hoper, but that’s a bit much, even for him. I surprised he didn’t add a few ‘faith and begob’s.
But, hey, he’s an idiot…
April 1, 2008 at 8:30 am
Does anyone take SW seriously?
April 1, 2008 at 11:52 am
BillyMills, if you read my posts in this thread carefully you’ll see that where you are mentioned, I’ve been keen to see that Sean Murray is given proper credit for his idea for solving the GU moderation/censorship problem. He is younger than you, hugely talented and yet struggling — and could use some recognition. Yet you accepted congratulations without giving him any credit.
As I’ve said, Sean suggested his solution at least twice on the GU site, and I referred to it there at least once — in discussions in which you most certainly were involved.
On this thread alone there’s plenty of proof of how much I appreciate the work of our doggerelists and poets. I never hesitate to give praise where it’s due, so there was no call for this catty remark: ‘Instead of being your usual snide self, maybe you could take some time to enjoy the poems that were shared as a result, many of which we might never have had the chance to read otherwise.’
. . . Dear Angel, I hope you’ll count me among these: ‘Well it appears I should return to those I understand and who understand me.’
. . . Sorry I’ve been so slow to reply. I haven’t checked for comments here since my last post.
April 1, 2008 at 1:53 pm
So, should I play Rebecca Farnworth to Sean’s Jordan? I’m old, mildly talented and still struggling.
Yes, there has been much discussion on how to expand the GU book blog range, I was involved in some of it, but as far as I know, that’s all there was. My crime is to have abandoned discussion and acted. I fail to repent.
As for your “never hesitate to give praise where it’s due”; were none of the poster poems deemed worthy of your praise?
April 1, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Old? Don’t be absurd, Billy. 53 is practically adolescent.
wordy, you seem determined to fued. Are you descended from the Hatfields or the McCoys? Or are you part wolverine? I expect I’ll be in your sights shortly. Whatever I’m accused of, I plead insanity. There,I believe I’ve spiked your guns…
April 1, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Who’s the avatar today Mishari? Oh, and pace your comment elsewhere, yes the text here is a little on the minuscule side; sorry. Text size comes with the theme on WordPress, and this one (“Jentri”) was by far my favourite. If I change it now, I risk messing up all the formatting on previous posts, especially the picture-based ones, so I fear it’s here to stay….
April 1, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Enough of this idle chit-chat; can someone please go and post something on CR’s poem of the week? I’ve exhausted my ideas.
April 1, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Just reading the poem exhausted me.
April 1, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I know, MM, but she does such a good job that I want to see her supported.
Steve: I see I’m SW’s only commenter to date:
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/tv/2008/04/last_nights_tv_brian_keenan_ba.html
April 1, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Steve, don’t you recognize a giant when you see one? For shame…
Yes, We’ve been neglecting Carol. I do wish I could work up more interest in OWH, but I did a course in all those New England Transcendentalists and Blue Stockings years ago..Emerson, Thoreau, Louisa May fucking Alcott, the lot. Aside from Thoreau, they’re a hard bunch to warm up to.
April 1, 2008 at 3:16 pm
I thought it dated and inoffensive; couldn’t really think of anything to say….but where are all the serious literary folk – shouldn’t they be there in numbers given the absence of the usual clique….?
April 1, 2008 at 3:19 pm
It’s too small to see clearly, Mishari – is it Moxon Garbutt….?
April 1, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I’ll bet Billy recognizes the photo. Face it, chum, you’re a Philippine. How’s the shoe collection?
April 1, 2008 at 3:29 pm
BTW, I’m sorry to whinge about the font size, but I have glasses for reading, glasses for watching TV and glasses for driving. I expect I’ll need glasses for finding my prick soon…que mundo, que mundo..
April 1, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I know, two weeks in a row where I haven’t liked the PotW much, but CR does a good job and I like to support her.
Steve, I notice I’m Wooly’s only commenter, having expressed annoyance at his Irish crack.
April 1, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Now Wooly’s got two.
April 1, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Good, I’d hate him to think nobody’s reading.
April 1, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Ah, hadn’t realised the review was also up as a blog….will comment there shortly….
April 1, 2008 at 4:26 pm
….and I’m not deliberately not commenting on PotW, just can’t think of a comment….the only previous occasion I’ve commented on Wollaston’s stuff btw, he got extremely ratty….
April 1, 2008 at 5:57 pm
OWH is a doggerelist, surely. (I know: Praise indeed!)
April 1, 2008 at 7:00 pm
obooki, being a doggerelist is an honourable estate, rather like being the black sheep of the family or the Prodigal Son. It is the Muses’s waiting room, Athena’s second-best bed…
April 1, 2008 at 10:06 pm
‘As for your “never hesitate to give praise where it’s due”; were none of the poster poems deemed worthy of your praise?’
BillyMills, I don’t praise to order. It would be meaningless, as you must know . . . But it’s not too late for you to thank Sean on the Graffiti Wall. Unlike my appreciation of the talents of the poets, there would be nothing redundant about your doing so.
About bloggers’ praise in general, the doggerelist has often remarked on how silly it becomes when it degenerates into mwah-mwah! over and over. I’ve been watching for new versifiers, but it’s an awfully small circle, now — with the obviously brilliant smpugh contributing most poetry posts under her many screen names.
. . . Ah, lovely Mishari, it was such a relief, reading this, to see what a close shave you’d had before you returned your wombat to Iant:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/27/wwombat127.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox
April 1, 2008 at 10:51 pm
wordy, thank you for this. I laughed like a hyena.
‘A New Zealand man who claimed he was raped by a wombat and that the experience left him speaking with an Australian accent has been found guilty of wasting police time.
Arthur Cradock, 48, from the South Island town of Motueka, called police last month to tell them he was being raped by the marsupial at his home and needed urgent assistance.
Cradock, an orchard worker, later called back to reassure the police operator that he was all right.
Man said ‘wombat rape’ led to accent change
A wombat like that allegedly involved in the incident
“I’ll retract the rape complaint from the wombat, because he’s pulled out. Apart from speaking Australian now, I’m pretty all right you know. I didn’t hurt my bum at all.”
He pleaded guilty in Nelson District Court to using a phone for a fictitious purpose and was sentenced to 75 hours’ community work.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Chris Stringer told the court that alcohol played a large role in Cradock’s life.’
Really? Who could have guessed?
Wonderful stuff,wordy. Do you scour the internet for wombat stories? If so, I’m glad.
April 1, 2008 at 11:02 pm
I wonder if it’s an April Fool story? I mean seeing as how wombats aren’t native to NZ. Geez, hard to say.
I was taken in this morning by the BBC’s ‘flying penguins’ story. Mind you, it was 6:30 in the morning and the photography was totally believable. I can’t believe I’m such a mug…actually, scratch that, I can.
April 1, 2008 at 11:06 pm
In my defence, the BBC didn’t show the bit they showed later, with the penguins migrating to the Amazon, complete with shots of said penguins crash-landing in palm trees..even a cluck like me might have smelt a rat…
April 1, 2008 at 11:29 pm
The story in the Daily Wombat was dated 29th March; on the other hand, there was a link on the same page to a round up of April fool’s stories….maybe angela will be able to clarify….
April 1, 2008 at 11:39 pm
I’m the kind of person who’s always taken in by everything. I was taken in by NLezard’s thing and found myself thinking, Lee Rourke would like this character, I wonder if he knows about him. I’m wondering if NLezard’s been reading Rourke’s contemplations, or if it’s merely that NLezard and Rourke had both been having similar contemplations, or have been influenced by the same writers – if NLezard approves this kind of silence in actuality, or if it’s a satire.
April 1, 2008 at 11:44 pm
obooki, I would have thought that if NLezard really bought the idea, we wouldn’t be hearing from him at all.
April 2, 2008 at 12:03 am
Re; Silence and writing, I wonder if anyone’s familiar with the work of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who wrote some interesting stuff on the nature of silence and contemplation, his autobiography, Elected Silence, (originally published as the Seven Storey Mountain) and Seeds of Contemplation being of particular interest.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton
‘ The life of the Trappists is guided by the Rule of St. Benedict, written in the sixth century. The Rule describes ideals and values of a monastic life.
As a contemplative order, the Trappists live a life of prayer and penance. The day of a Trappist is divided between work and prayer. Manual work is preferred over other types of work and Trappist monasteries generally provide for themselves through the sale of goods produced in the monastery. Prayer is divided between the Divine Office, Lectio Divina and various other forms of meditative and contemplative prayer. Except for the ill, they abstain from meat and fowl and eat fish on a limited basis. To the extent that it is practical, they are expected to remain silent throughout the day and most especially at night. They are expected to live a life of strict personal poverty with few personal possessions and limited contact with the outside world.
“Strict Observance” does mean stricter silence, certain situations excepted. Contrary to popular belief, they don’t take a vow of silence. However they will generally only speak when necessary, and idle talk is strongly discouraged. Meals are usually taken in contemplative silence.’
- from the wiki entry on Trappists
April 2, 2008 at 12:14 am
I don’t know. I find NLezard around that same range of nonsensical (post-)modernism at times.
April 2, 2008 at 12:16 am
back to the original topic: Dylan Thomas again: “the torrent salmon sun”, describing dawn.
April 2, 2008 at 12:57 am
‘ In that November off Tehuantepec,
The slopping of the sea grew still one night
And a pale silver patterned on the deck
And made one think of porcelain chocolate
And pied umbrellas. An uncertain green,
Piano-polished, held the tranced machine ‘
- Wallace Stevens, Sea Surface Full of Clouds, 1923
April 2, 2008 at 1:16 am
Fresh back from haunting and need further practice.
I was emailed with the ‘flying penguins’ early, so took to my broomstick to join them, only couldn’t catch up.
No nothing about wombats.
April 2, 2008 at 1:17 am
I’ll make sure Michele sees these suggestions; thanks.
I need to get back to doggerel mode; my latest failure for a spring poem for Billy’s thread came whilst trying to find some meat for a piece with the first line “April is the cruellest moth” [sic] – if anyone else wants to do something with this, feel free – but post it chez Billy….
April 2, 2008 at 2:10 am
‘Do you scour the internet for wombat stories? If so, I’m glad.’
Alas, misharious one, I have a life that doesn’t allow for such a wonderful hobby . . . I do read the UK papers of the right and left every night, and the Telegraph is one of them. You can imagine how my eyes lit up on the evening of the 28th (here) when I found that story. I bookmarked it, but then kept forgetting to tell you about it.
I enjoyed finding the fun in NLezard’s piece, the flying penguins, Carla Bruni being hired as a consultant by Gordon Brown (Guardian), and Gordon Ramsay’s new policy of fining his employees for swearing (Independent) . . . all by myself! I was looking for them, you see, since for once, the date for this glorious day registered in good time.
What’s fascinating is the flat-footed, lumbering NYT attempt at honouring the day. Do look at the lead story in its science section. (Inserting a link would spoil the fun.) In the actual paper, there’s an analysis of the meaning of AFD and practical jokes right under the spoof story — but I don’t doubt that earnest souls have been taken in. . .
Like obooki( no earnest soul, he) I _did_ initially think that Nick L was being serious — but the lovely examination paper detail and the lack of any internet traces for Gorbutt? took me from a skim-read to a more attentive re-reading and the game was up.
Merton is indeed a most interesting character. I read both an excellent biography and his most famous book some years ago. I had the impression that he never resolved the conflict between a strong wish for solitude and for the communal life. This was particularly sad because he had to fight a tremendous battle with his superiors to be allowed to live on his own.
April 2, 2008 at 2:29 am
Hi, Iamnothere!
Alright, you don’t have to talk to me; you are a free agent. Don’t forget though you have a limited number of friends here and we won’t mention how very few there are on Guardian Unlimited, but I won’t rub it in.
……
Wordnerd,
Do you really truly understand me, because that would be lovely; you would then have to agree that I am out of place here.
April 2, 2008 at 2:43 am
angela, I was just listening to a couple of wonderful recordings of In My Time Of Dying, one by The Be Good Tanyas and the other by Alison Krauss and Union Station. The following lines brought you to mind:
Meet me, Jesus, meet me
Meet me in the middle of the air
And if my wings should fail me, Lord
Meet me with another pair..
wordy, the right and left-wing UK press before bedtime? How do you sleep? May I recommend something more soothing, more emollient, like, say, William Dalrymple’s City of Djinns or PG Wodehouse or my beloved SJ Perelman? Truly, you’ll sleep the sleep of the just…
April 2, 2008 at 2:48 am
Oh Jings Mishari those last two poems you left on Carol’s blog must really be of concern to you…..now ‘In My Time of Dying’; you best keep the wings for yourself.
April 2, 2008 at 2:50 am
Excuse me Iamnothere that post was directed to me.
Yes Mishari, I can always use another pair of wings. I particularly like the tune “Wind beneath My Wings”; its a favourite.
April 2, 2008 at 2:59 am
Sorry, kiddo, but I’d rather rupture my eardrums with sharp sticks than listen to Wind Beneath My Wings, as nauseating a barf-a-thon as I’ve ever heard. I can see I’ve got my work cut out…
April 2, 2008 at 3:01 am
Now Mishari,
Angels get very concerned for the welfare of the human race; it is very late so sweet dreams.
April 2, 2008 at 3:43 am
I’ve just been advised that I need further schooling/disciplining; good-bye all.
ps I hope my wings make it.
April 2, 2008 at 7:32 am
‘Do you really truly understand me, because that would be lovely; you would then have to agree that I am out of place here.’
Yes yes yes Angel, but it’s because you don’t truly belong with us spacers and scrappers in this jangle-joint or the other — to quote from one lyrical stream of the matchless Des/OY/PA — that you so elevate its tone. You remind us that we have hearts as well as heads. Also, as Mencken famously suggested, the most noble of all missions could be to afflict the (too) comfortable and comfort the afflicted.
I might stop blogging in our usual haunts overnight if I convinced myself that we old-timers were getting too clubby, by which I mean, drawing a hard line between insiders and outsiders; between beginners and pros; the published and un-. The odd in-joke between us is fine — and unavoidable, as is occasionally banding together to take down over-inflated and instinctively political posters. But please, let’s have no claims of authority based merely on age, background and CV embroidering.
Mishari, I couldn’t find Mencken’s precise words about journalism, the afflicted and powerful in my books here, though I’m sure I could in two seconds flat, online. Instead I came across, ‘Poetry is a comforting piece of fiction set to more or less lascivious music.’
Pretty much what I thought Mowbray would be suggesting when I told him he just might request ghazalacious belly-dancing. . . I think that my words could have had a delayed effect, though. Did you notice how he suddenly lost his retired-Lt.-Col.-in-Cheltenham persona the other day in trying to outdo you as a bathtub fantasist? . . . a bit like Ma Thatcher yanking up her skirt to do the can-can?
Thank you for those thoughtful suggestions for bedtime reading. Your mention of Dalrymple (wasn’t impressed by City of Djinns but thought The White Mughal superb) reminded me of this very different take on pomes in Forster — yes, Passage:
‘”Poetry,” [Aziz] said with tears in his eyes. “Let us discuss why poetry has lost the power of making men brave . . .”‘
An excellent question, I thought, attaching a sticky note to the page
p.s. Angel, who is this twit telling you that you need disciplining?
April 2, 2008 at 7:34 am
Missing word: Also, as Mencken famously suggested, THAT the most . . .
April 2, 2008 at 9:53 am
Turned out not to be one of Wolly’s finest hours, on the whole.
April 2, 2008 at 9:54 am
Turned out not to be one of Wolly’s finest hours, on the whole.
April 2, 2008 at 11:29 am
4 comments, all calling him an idiot? No, I think the laurel wreath will remain in storage..
wordy, I’m very surprised you didn’t care for City of Djinns. It was a labour of love, as Delhi has been Dalrymple’s home for over 20 years. I loved it, perhaps in small part because I know Delhi quite well myself. Did you read To The Holy Mountain by Dalrymple? If not, then do. It is superb.
As to your, (or rather Aziz’z), question, I believe poetry still has the power to make men brave. It’s never lost that power, no more than music or love have. For me, anyway…
April 2, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Wordnerd,
You may be under the misapprehension that Angela has an inferiority complex, let me assure you that that is incorrect; she has no complexes and she smiles at all.
btw she hadn’t practiced flying in a while and she landed in the vegetable plot.
April 2, 2008 at 12:41 pm
ps. I have just tried to post an original poem on Carol’s site for the second time, again it looks as though it will not be accepted. This has only happened since the day of Billy Mill’s recent poetry blog.
April 2, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Iant
I doubt there’s any casual relationship. One of the things I say In my blog, and which I agreed with the GU in advance, was that mine should have no effect on CR’s.
April 2, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I just posted a bit of doggerel on Carol’s thread,Iant…no problem. You’re starting with the conspiracy nonsense again. Stop it.
April 2, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Thank you for that Billy.
However your blog has effected Carol’s.
People continually quote from this or that source. If I had lived my life from the books, my morals to-day would likely be zilch.
The only thing I have found in life that is worthwhile is ‘love’ and that cannot be bought every other desire that man has, is insatiable.
We live now in a ‘dog eat dog’ world. btw in Australia we do have ‘internet censorship laws.’
It becomes interesting to note what happens when legal barriers are removed and how poor self-censorship is.
April 2, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Mishari,
I am quoting something that has now happened twice.
April 2, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Right, let’s see this fucking Rosen poem. Unless, of course, you’ve taken some vow under the Official Secrets Act. It was sent to you, unsolicited. That makes it fair game. Goddamn it…
April 2, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I’m still mulling over whether to or not, Mishari. It was a weird incident – the email had in the subject line “No reply expected or required” which I thought was a little bombastic, not to mention spammy, given its unsolicited nature. Whether copyright should be an issue given Rosen’s disdain for authorship in general is something one could argue about – but for sure, posting the poem on GU would lead to deletion; and I’m also wary of posting it here for similar reasons. Whoever sent the email (and given the stance of the purported sender on that thread, I’ve no reason to think it’s a spoof – but let’s keep this general) clearly lacks the guts to follow up and post openly. What a twat!
Oh, and I thought it a *terrible* poem….
April 2, 2008 at 6:37 pm
Steve, if it was sent to you unsolicited, then it’s fair game. Post it on GU , for Christ’s sake. If it gets deleted, well, so what? Or at the very least, e-mail it to me. I’ll do the dirty. I don’t mind being the villain, I’m used to it…
April 2, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I’m waiting…..for God’s sake , stop being such a wimp. Post the damn thing or at least name it and I’ll find it myself, but this timid pussyfooting is ill becoming..what is this? a fucking fan dance? Relax, if Foo Foo threatens you, I’ll kick his teeth down his throat.
April 2, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Mishari,
You may like to know, if you haven’t seen it, that a little verse of mine did go on Carol’s site unhindered.
April 2, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Iant, all I see is a bit of Longfellow’s verse, is that what you mean? Actually, I’d rather read your own work…
April 2, 2008 at 10:40 pm
No, it is a short verse on Oliver Holmes; not very good.
Mishari, here’s one already put on cif some months ago.
“I am innocent,” I screamed
As he aimed at me;
Yet the cold eyes stated
‘And so were we.’
“Does nothing move you”
I cried, pleading my case;
The icy stare
Gazed back at me.
“Our hearts are gone
You took them away”
He slammed back at me.
“Oh, No! No! ’twas not I”
A cracking sound
Rent the air,
I felt the thud
As I hit the ground
Go there my friend
The story’s not new
It’s in history’s pages
And continues anew.
And on and on
Can go the clock of time
The circle of life
The repeat of same
Could happen again
Until the last two stand
And finally only one remains
Who then would be all alone
…..
I did not finish this poem….
April 2, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Mishari – I don’t know what the poem’s called – the first word is Barbara, and it’s from Carrying the Elephant (so I’m informed by my mystery correspondent….) If you look for it, please don’t post it here as a) I don’t want any copyright hassle, and b) it’s a crap poem and not up to the high standards we insist on here
I don’t personally think much will be achieved by posting it elsewhere, frankly – it’s just utterly bizarre that the guy sent it to me and discourteous of him not to explain. Oh well….
April 2, 2008 at 10:57 pm
The one I have tried to put on GU.
Walk of Life
The body is a shell almost like a well
Force moves compels its actions to propel
None too perfect began better than
Given a brain and mind to reason can
Needed something more a guiding source
Followed to fully run the course
There comes a time cards are called show
Hands laid down poker masqueraders know
Shoulders shrugged once again sore
And yes it’s happening once more
Understanding where the fault does lie
For no one’s perfect is the cry
Another day dawns when there is no sigh
Again peace descends laughter’s reply
Such is the story since time began
A solitary being begins again
Yet there is an end to the hurts of all
When true beauty known; love’s final call.
April 2, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Steve, the poem’s nowhere to be found on-line. I fail to see how emailing it to me constitutes a copyright issue or any more of an issue than that first presented when it was emailed to you. Do you really think I’d grass you up? Jeeeezuz…I just want a sight of the poxy thing…
Anyhow, if you’re in search of a good work-out for your hackles, let me direct you to MR’s website…it’s a beaut, at:
http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/
It appears to have been created by his worst enemies. Sorry. We Arabs thirst for vengeance the way you pallid English thirst for tea…
Excuse me, I have to go and sharpen my dagger…
April 2, 2008 at 11:12 pm
OK, I’ll email it to you now….for your eyes only….
April 2, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Whoops….spam filter hungrily devoured Iamnothere’s poem – now restored at #120 (it also ate yet another of Billy’s from yesterday, which I think he repeated – I restored it anyway)
April 2, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Thanks. Actually, now that I’ve read it, I should probably sue you for Actual Bodily Harm. My balls shrank, my brain shrank and my penis shrank…I can ill-afford any of the aforementioned. You’ll be hearing from my briefs…no, no those briefs, I mean my lawyers, Whitelipped and Trembling. Expect immenent pauperization, (is that real a word?)..no matter, it’ll feel like a real word..
April 2, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Heh, heh….had a feeling you’d say something like that
Ought to clarify that these aren’t comments on Iant’s just posted poem, btw….
April 2, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Well Steve perhaps that was where it was meant to go.
Then there’s this:
“You’ve given your heart so many times
Did anyone see, did anyone care
You watched them trample it
Toss it aside….”
now where’s the rest of that one..in a book; private.
April 2, 2008 at 11:40 pm
Steve, if you fancy a really good laugh, Mark Twain’s hatchet job on James Fenimore Cooper is a cracker. It’s here:
http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/projects/rissetto/offense.html
Anything that Longfellow ‘knew’, he ‘knew’ from Cooper, author of Last of the Mohicans, etc. One idiot cribbing from another.
April 3, 2008 at 12:01 am
Mishari,
You’re not happy unless you are having an argument. As I understand it was Henry Schoolcraft’s book on Indians and several meetings with an Ojibway chief that provided the background for ‘Hiawatha.’
…..
Personally ‘my terrorist’ in 118, is more understandable; with likely a strong sense of justice, but should not have aimed at me or for that matter at anyone.
April 3, 2008 at 12:04 am
You couldn’t mistake Rosen’s website for someone else’s. The cult of personality rides again.
Speaking of which wn7 seems to have turned the guns from Mills to moi. As a former military man I know this is referred to as ‘alternating target acquisition’ and is a technique used in static firefights to keep the enemy off balance. I wonder if wn7 is a serviceperson? Certainly some expressed attitudes are reminiscent of NCOs who have been denied commissions. An intriguing thought.
April 3, 2008 at 12:09 am
Iant, He read a book by a man who made it up as he went along and then he had tea with a couple of tame Indians in the Copley Plaza Hotel. I sang along with a 78 year-old Teddy Wilson in the cocktail lounge of the same hotel. We did ‘Mean To Me’. It didn’t make me Billie Holliday even if I had her pianist playing along, (and what a lovely man he was)…
April 3, 2008 at 12:14 am
Your version Mishari.
April 3, 2008 at 12:15 am
Mowbray, like you, I did a reluctant stint in uniform. However, the thought of wordy as an NCO is a bit nuch, even for my highly flexible, combat-ready, mission-focused, hit and run imagination.
April 3, 2008 at 12:32 am
Hello Longfellow.
“Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
“Dust thou art, to dust returnest,”
Was not spoken of the soul.
……..
April 3, 2008 at 12:45 am
Life is bollocks,
Life is crap,
Find some mug
To take the rap.
April 3, 2008 at 12:53 am
Life is being in existance
Suspended for a while
Limbo’s story oft repeated
Waiting for heaven’s door.
April 3, 2008 at 1:15 am
‘He has also published several volumes of his own poetry, and is credited as the first person to have said “cunt” on British television.’
- from an article about Felix Dennis in the Grauniad
Who said poets are irrelevant?
April 3, 2008 at 7:59 am
No, Mowbray is right, Mishari — not because I’d last five minutes in a uniform, but because everywhere in the world human beings re-create the stuffy, biogoted and mindlessly conformist Chandrapore Club endlessly. On the GU site, it’s being done virtually, and Mowby and all the other stuffed shirts [when MM is playing that role, not his new degenerate hipster persona] will always have trouble with the people of whom I’m most fond — for instance, the Mr. Fieldings:
‘The feeling grew that Mr. Fielding was a disruptive force, and rightly, for ideas are fatal to caste [as to any power structure], and he used ideas by that most potent method — interchange.
[. ..] The world, he believed, is a globe of men who are trying to reach one another and can best do so by the help of good will plus culture and intelligence –
[. . .] The remark that did him the most harm at the club was a silly aside to the effect that the so-called white races are really pinko-grey . . .
. . . the men tolerated him . . . their wives .. . decided that he was not a sahib really.’
In White Mughals, Dalrymple extends one of Forster’s themes, showing how the arrival of the memsahibs was the beginning of the end of the best days of the Raj.
April 3, 2008 at 8:01 am
“Who said poets are irrelevant?”
Me. I said it.
April 3, 2008 at 8:11 am
Iant,
‘btw she hadn’t practiced flying in a while and she landed in the vegetable plot.’
Squash?
April 3, 2008 at 8:13 am
and turnup – ed
April 3, 2008 at 8:34 am
Lettuce hope it’s nothing too serious.
April 3, 2008 at 11:19 am
Oh God..puns…and me with a hangover.
wordy, Dalrymple makes this explicit in City of Djinns. Men like Skinner and Frazier et al., took Indian wives, spoke the languages fluently and lived and dressed like Indians. It was when India became safe enough for the English petit bourgoisie to move there en masse that a disdain and contempt for Indians became the norm.
City of Djinns is wonderful on this and on the lives of the broad-minded adventurers who first came to India from Europe. It’s why I’m surprised you didn’t like it. Are you sure you aren’t mixing it up with another book? Silly question, perhaps, but I’ve done it myself.
April 3, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Dum de dum de dum. Nobody here. Nothing worth stealing. Oh well. I’ll try again later. Could have sworn this was the Freneau Fan Club office.
May 29, 2008 at 9:17 pm
[...] 29, 2008 A couple of months ago, a call was put out for snippets of poetry which Michele could use as starting points for jewellery design. She [...]