Hard News: A Century Since
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hard to go past Barry Cleavin for the witty bird references.
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Sacha, in reply to
The government will therefore introduce legislation (under urgency) to require a quota of verse (including commas) per day
Nah, the market will provide, eh
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On the theme of extinction, here’s an update of a classic haiku:
The same old pond’s there
still; but listen – hush! the sound
of no frog jumping(Doesn't get much applause in performance.
Could be worse, though: one early draft of this ended "all have croaked".) -
Ian Dalziel, in reply to
... Bill Hammond also flips the bird...
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recordari, in reply to
... Bill Hammond also flips the bird...
Wow! That's the first Hammond related offering I've seen recently for under 20,000. Sale coming up has one estimated at 300,000+. I like his work, but I'd rather have a house to live in.
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Back on topic, this Obituary from the Telegraph in 2001was interesting;
Throughout his life, Curnow's work was inventive and unpredictable. Despite his intensity of focus, his poems were full of wit and originality. He remained sanguine about his achievements. "The important thing in assessing the merit of a poem," he once said, "is time."
My favourite ending, on the bird theme, XVII Lone Kauri Road also from Trees, Effigies, Moving Objects.
A tui clucked, shat, whistled thrice.
My gaze was directed where the branch had been.
An engine fell mute into the shadow of the valley
where the shadow had been.Just looking through the Penguin Book of New Zealand Verse, and it's good to be reminded of the diversity it represents. And Early Days Yet makes me wonder why I ever sold my Olivetti.
e.e.cummings
I think Allen Curnow may have appreciated this too;
"A politician is an ass upon which everyone has sat except a man."
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Islander, in reply to
"Alone we are born"
-o no we're not: unless we hatch from an abandoned egg, there is always another being around.
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Claire at Latitude, in reply to
On the matter of the comma, @Cromie, I think Curnow may himself have been quoting: I've seen that one attributed to Oscar Wilde.
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Re: commas, I've always loved this passage from Gertrude Stein's The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas :
Haweis and his wife, later Mina Loy were also in Florence. Their
home had been dismantled as they had had workmen in it but they put
it all in order to give us a delightful lunch. Both Haweis and Mina were
among the very earliest to be interested in the work of Gertrude Stein.
Haweis had been fascinated with what he had read in manuscript of
The Making of Americans. He did however plead for commas. Gertrude Stein said commas were unnecessary, the sense should be intrinsic
and not have to be explained by commas and otherwise commas were
only a sign that one should pause and take breath but one should know
of oneself when one wanted to pause and take breath. However, as she
liked Haweis very much and he had given her a delightful painting for
a fan, she gave him two commas. It must however be added that on re-
reading the manuscript she took the commas out.Mina Loy equally interested was able to understand without the
commas. She has always been able to understand.The addition of exactly 2 commas to The Making of Americans is remarkable, as the book runs to over 800 pages. :-)
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bmk,
I love commas and find the idea of them not being there a little distressing. The only exception I can think of is where the writer writes, like James Ellroy, in short, snappy sentences.
I suppose text may still be understandable without the commas but I imagine it would make it a lot harder work to read - which I think is true of all punctuation. Punctuation almost exists as a courtesy which makes the reader's job of understanding the author's words easier.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
A tui clucked, shat, whistled thrice.
A line both documentary and onomatopoeiac. Simply wonderful.
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recordari, in reply to
Simply wonderful.
Ain't it just.
This, from 'Time', would be interesting without commas.
I, Time, am all these, yet these exist
Among my mountainous fabrics like a mist,
So do they the measurable world resist.I, Time, call down, condense, confer,
On the willing memory the shapes these were:
I, more than your conscious carrier,Am island, am sea, am father, farm, and friend,
Though I am here all things my coming attend;
I am, you have heard it, the Beginning and the End.Strangely, there are three depictions of the poem 'Time' on YouTube. I'm not linking, because they appear to be school projects. Would be nice if RNZ made the audio of this week's readings available. If they are there, they are hidden at the end of the book review section, and I ran out of patience, and bandwidth.
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Sacha, in reply to
This, from 'Time', would be interesting without commas.
OK
I Time am all these yet these exist
Among my mountainous fabrics like a mist
So do they the measurable world resist.I Time call down condense confer
On the willing memory the shapes these were:
I more than your conscious carrierAm island am sea am father farm and friend
Though I am here all things my coming attend;
I am you have heard it the Beginning and the End. -
recordari, in reply to
When I said interesting, what I meant was less rhythmic, but YMMV.
I think any device used by poets to make words
flow
.........in the
......................waythey want them to is
important.e.e. cummings again wasamaster, as in [in just-]. Have to link to it, because can't insert NBSPs.
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Sacha, in reply to
wasamaster
ae
the way he placed words across
lines had a big impact on medidn't use capitals for a couple o
years too -
recordari, in reply to
Funny how some things stick.
His perhaps hand still
( [sic] comes carefully
out of Nowhere)
25 years later.He was a clever little balloon man.
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Lilith __, in reply to
He was a clever little balloon man.
+1
Really dig this too:
I, Time, am all these, yet these exist
Among my mountainous fabrics like a mist, -
Can I have a brief rave about Eileen Duggan, who I think is in danger of slipping into obscurity? Born in 1894, she was a little older than Curnow, but her best work is still fresh:
Night
You are the still caesura
That breaks a line in two;
A quiet leaf of darkness
Between two flowers of blueA little soft indrawing
Between two sighs;
A slender spit of silence
Between two seas of cries.She's sometimes anthologised, but I think all her books are now out of print. There are a couple more poems here, and you might find others dotted around the web.
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Lilith __, in reply to
BTW, Jack, I have ONLY JUST REALISED that your gravatar is a switch and not a chaise longue! I must be cuckoo, I know. I used to wonder why you had a sofa. :-)
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Sacha, in reply to
not a chaise longue
psychiatrist's couch :)
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Lilith __, in reply to
psychiatrist’s couch :)
I know! Quite.
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In a
manner of meaning
life is
a flurry of commas
& then
a full stop.The inbetween arguments
and agreements mean-
everything. -
Islander, in reply to
And
nothingO O
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recordari, in reply to
chaise longue!
I do like a good chaise, but not for too longue. ;-)
a flurry of commas
& then
a full stop.A comma coma
'Ja make an
aroma? -
speak softly and carry a big switch...
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