'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

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marjoram_blues
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'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by marjoram_blues »

The Emergency Poet - An Anti-Stress Poetry Anthology by Deborah Alma

Yes, all well and good but no help at all when the washing machine discharges its water all over the floor, mid-cycle just before you are leaving to attend a hospital appointment.

Breathe, 2,3...
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Harbal
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by Harbal »

marjoram_blues wrote:The Emergency Poet - An Anti-Stress Poetry Anthology by Deborah Alma

Yes, all well and good but no help at all when the washing machine discharges its water all over the floor, mid-cycle just before you are leaving to attend a hospital appointment.

Breathe, 2,3...
I don't much like poetry so it wouldn't help me. In such situations I don't think anything beats screaming out foul language. And if there's someone else there to direct it at, then so much the better.
marjoram_blues
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by marjoram_blues »

Harbal wrote:
marjoram_blues wrote:The Emergency Poet - An Anti-Stress Poetry Anthology by Deborah Alma

Yes, all well and good but no help at all when the washing machine discharges its water all over the floor, mid-cycle just before you are leaving to attend a hospital appointment.

Breathe, 2,3...
I don't much like poetry so it wouldn't help me. In such situations I don't think anything beats screaming out foul language. And if there's someone else there to direct it at, then so much the better.
Strangely enough - I didn't cuss or swear; just ran to the airing cupboard where I grabbed towels whot I hadn't got rid of. Perhaps I was 'in the moment' - like a mountaineer scraping up a steep snow and ice slope :wink:

I don't much like poetry either. It reminds me of horrendous English class. And a stifling atmosphere.
I'm looking at it now from a different perspective. And it's only certain poems that grab me - usually short, some easy - others like a coded puzzle.

In this anthology, I discovered a poet called Char March.
She was in the part 'Be Alive Every Minute of Your Life'.
The poem - 'Another box of nipples arrived today'.

It is a conversational portrait. Real.
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Harbal
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

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marjoram_blues wrote: like a mountaineer scraping up a steep snow and ice slope :wink:
Yes, it takes a major disaster, such as a washing machine malfunction, to bring out the hero in us. I'm impressed at the way you rose to the challenge, marjoram.
It reminds me of horrendous English class.
I'm afraid my English classes are too far back in the distant past to remember that much about them.
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by marjoram_blues »

Why, thank you, dear harbal old boy. I await my non-medal in honour of such everyday heroism. Fighting water over and beyond...and all because of an obstructive sock intent on escape.

The courage of the 90yr old woman, in the poem, coming to terms with life; post-mastectomy and chemo, as seen through the eyes of ? her daughter, the poet.
I love it...and the ending...

...- in your usual chair.
I don't see hacked-at womanhood,
that you've sobbed salt-herring barrels for.

I see you. Darning your way to normality.'

Reminded me of Mum cross-wording her way. When asked how she could stay positive and hopeful, answered better that than thinking of all she was losing. ( btw, not the same cancer or loss )

And, you dear harbal, continue to inspire and I scurry and search for heroes in poetry and find stuff like Siegfried Sassoon's 'The Poet as Hero'. '...goodbye to Galahad...'

Some memories are seared red. Lucky to erase those arising by association.
But then again...
Poems can speak intimately, and release a kind of soothing...
I never really got that in English class.
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Harbal
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

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marjoram_blues wrote: Fighting water over and beyond...and all because of an obstructive sock intent on escape.
I also have history with escaped socks, I think I even started a thread about them going missing in the wash. These days I count them into the machine and then I count them out and will not rest until each is safely returned to the fold and hung to dry with it's pair.
Poems can speak intimately, and release a kind of soothing...
I don't want to sound dismissive of poetry, some people obviously find great value in it. I think I suffer from a kind of poetry blindness, I just don't get it. I'm glad it helps you though.
marjoram_blues
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by marjoram_blues »

Harbal wrote:
marjoram_blues wrote: Fighting water over and beyond...and all because of an obstructive sock intent on escape.
I also have history with escaped socks, I think I even started a thread about them going missing in the wash. These days I count them into the machine and then I count them out and will not rest until each is safely returned to the fold and hung to dry with it's pair.
Poems can speak intimately, and release a kind of soothing...
I don't want to sound dismissive of poetry, some people obviously find great value in it. I think I suffer from a kind of poetry blindness, I just don't get it. I'm glad it helps you though.
It helps - like any other kind of distraction, I suppose. According to what you are looking for.
I thought I'd like to listen to Richard Burton perform a poem.
YouTube has a clip ' The Greatest Poem in the English Language' posted by ferrymanza.
Someone commented - '...What a man! His mastery of speech, as a wizard's spell, could induce a donkey to adore poetry.'

Clearly, Burton enjoyed poetry and yeah, his voice was unique.
But, dear Harbal, if this succeeds in you 'getting' poetry, I'll eat my sock with marmalade.
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Harbal
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by Harbal »

marjoram_blues wrote: I thought I'd like to listen to Richard Burton perform a poem.
I once listened to a substantial part of Under Milk Wood, recorded by Richard Burton. It wasn't for the poem, I just like the sound of his voice.
YouTube has a clip ' The Greatest Poem in the English Language' posted by ferrymanza.
Unless I found the wrong clip, there doesn't seem to be much to it.
But, dear Harbal, if this succeeds in you 'getting' poetry, I'll eat my sock with marmalade.
Please don't attempt to eat your sock on my account, marjoram, put the marmalade on your toast, instead. :)
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vegetariantaxidermy
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

I think you must mean 'for' us. 'With' doesn't make sense.
Last edited by vegetariantaxidermy on Sat Feb 11, 2017 7:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.
marjoram_blues
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by marjoram_blues »

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:I think you must mean 'for' us. 'With' doesn't make sense.
Take it up with Wordsworth.
And Deborah Alma.
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

marjoram_blues wrote:
vegetariantaxidermy wrote:I think you must mean 'for' us. 'With' doesn't make sense.
Take it up with Wordsworth.
And Deborah Alma.
Ok. I did wonder about the quote marks. I'm a bit like Harbal, not into poetry a great deal. :)
marjoram_blues
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by marjoram_blues »

Harbal wrote:
marjoram_blues wrote: I thought I'd like to listen to Richard Burton perform a poem.
I once listened to a substantial part of Under Milk Wood, recorded by Richard Burton. It wasn't for the poem, I just like the sound of his voice.
YouTube has a clip ' The Greatest Poem in the English Language' posted by ferrymanza.
Unless I found the wrong clip, there doesn't seem to be much to it.
But, dear Harbal, if this succeeds in you 'getting' poetry, I'll eat my sock with marmalade.
Please don't attempt to eat your sock on my account, marjoram, put the marmalade on your toast, instead. :)
The clip lasts about one whole minute.
Burton, as a film character ( who, what ? ) performing the present indicative tense of the verb 'to be'.

I am
Thou art
She is
He is
We are
You are
They are

Interesting that the 3rd person singular is usually given in order: he, she, it...or one.
I wonder if there is some deep philosophical reason for his ordering, and missing out 'it' ?
And the Thou Art...

I wish there was more information about the context.
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by marjoram_blues »

vegetariantaxidermy wrote:
marjoram_blues wrote:
vegetariantaxidermy wrote:I think you must mean 'for' us. 'With' doesn't make sense.
Take it up with Wordsworth.
And Deborah Alma.
Ok. I did wonder about the quote marks. I'm a bit like Harbal, not into poetry a great deal. :)
But, but...you love film - and isn't there a kind of poetry in script?
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vegetariantaxidermy
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

marjoram_blues wrote:
vegetariantaxidermy wrote:
marjoram_blues wrote:
Take it up with Wordsworth.
And Deborah Alma.
Ok. I did wonder about the quote marks. I'm a bit like Harbal, not into poetry a great deal. :)
But, but...you love film - and isn't there a kind of poetry in script?
I suppose it's for a similar reason I don't like 'surrealist' films. I like a spade being a spade :) There are exceptions though. Beautifully written poetry can be like beautiful music.
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Harbal
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Re: 'For days when the world is too much with us'...hah!

Post by Harbal »

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: I like a spade being a spade
Do you have Yorkshire ancestry, VT. :wink:
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