BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew

Subject: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 01:09 PM

Poem 2 of 230: WALKABOUT WITH MY PEN

Once drove an old sedan, up north,
    From a place in Sydney to Cairns;
Then to Kuranda I went forth,
    By train, to look without set plans.

I browsed through the trendy market,
    With fresh fruits of tropical kind;
Walked to the creek through lush thicket -
    Nature's hand giving peace of mind.

I dined in a scenic cafe;
    Then, outside, as I wrote for yen,
Some passing Kooris called-out: "Hey,
    You go walkabout with your pen."

Request or question, I don't know -
    Assured voices, elderly men.
That's now several years ago,
    And I've seen the world - with my pen.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book - & follow links to hear it sung)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 03:15 PM

Algie saw the bear.
The bear saw Algie.
The bear was bulgie
The bulge was Algie.
         --Burmashave

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 04:10 PM

One-One was a racehorse
Two-Two was one too
One-One won one race
And Two-Two won one too

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 04:13 PM

You know, it has been made clear over and over again, that a number of Mudcatters do not like the rhymes posted by Walkaboutsverse. Frankly, these expressions of disaffection are far more tedious than the rhymes themselves could ever be.

How 'bout if you people don't like something and you've already said it, that you refrain from making yourself look stupid by not saying it again? I'm going to delete all the negative posts from this thread and give it a chance to start anew. We don't allow personal attacks at Mudcat. Somehow, people got the idea that it was OK to attack WAV. It started in fun, but it invariably got nasty - so I'm not going to allow it any more.

If you would like to discuss this, please contact me privately by e-mail or personal message - not in this thread. This thread is reserved for poetry, or doggerel, or whatever you want to call it.

Thank you.

-Joe-
[e-mail]

I'm a poet,
And nobody knows it;
That's my profession.
I know - I chose it.

Burma-Shave

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 04:14 PM

Oh! What a world
Of woe and sin!
My head grows bald,
But not my chin!
      --Burmashave

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 04:54 PM

I make no qualitative judgements, I am merely contributing to what appears to be a poetry thread.

"Once drove an old sedan, up north. . . ."

* * *

He lit a match
To check his tank,
And now they call him
"Skinless Frank."
            --Burmashave

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 05:22 PM

Do your posters
Rant and rave
Grunt and grumble,
Misbehave?
Just shoot the brutes
With Burmashave!!

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: olddude
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 05:29 PM

Well
I liked it walkabout ... just a nice little verse
dan

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: The Sandman
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 05:39 PM

since,my giddy aunt has gone.
I am so lonesome on my own.
I shall write of trouble and strife.
Take my pen and start to scribe.
up the Khyber I went forth
with no Hampsteads in the North.
burma shave,burmashave,on special offer now,hurry while stocks last

on saturday 11th day of April 2009

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 05:43 PM

She went to the office
Of a New York theatrical agent
She told him she wanted
To make a big splash
On Broadway.
He said, "I can guarantee it!"
And pushed her out
Of a nineteenth story window.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Campin
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 06:05 PM

see the happy moron
he doesn't give a damn
i wish i was a moron
my god perhaps i am

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Tootler
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 07:30 PM

The other day upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish that man would go away.

Learnt from my English Teacher at the age of 11

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 09:01 PM

When you feel like a frog
In the middle
Of the highway of Life,
And everything that happens to you
Feels like a steel-belted radial,
It may be a comfort to remember
As you lay there,
Squashed
In a puddle
Of your own assorted bodily fluids,
That
At least
You made
Your mark!

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 09:35 PM

A tutor who tooted the flute
tried to tutor two tooters to toot.
Said the two to the tutor
"Is it easier to toot or
to tutor two tooters to toot?"

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 11 Apr 09 - 09:56 PM

A young schizophrenic named Struther,
When he learned of the death of his brother,
   Said, "That's really too bad,
   But I don't feel too sad.
After all, I still have each other."

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Peace
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 12:18 AM

Good to see you back, WAV.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Acorn4
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 04:36 AM

Why do moths come out at night
And always fly towards the light?

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Will Fly
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 05:10 AM

The Mudcat is a curious fish
Who slowly swims along.
He blows large bubbles filled with verse
And turns them into song.

The words and tunes flow through the years,
Meander down life's stream
And end by ringing in our hearts.
This is the Mudcat's dream.

W. Fly
12 Apr 2009

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 05:33 AM

Happy Easter, all, and...

Poem 96 of 230: PARADIGMS

"Thirty-all" is, in effect, "deuce";
    Nobody has seen an "atom":
An atom remains a model;
    "Thirty-all" an umpire's call.
"They we just simply had to bomb";
    And there are other given "truths"...

If we humans evolved from apes,
Why on earth are there living apes?

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: The Sandman
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 05:43 AM

thirty all is not deuce,
I find your meaning obtuse,
kind sir,take your pen,and with it,
write your poem again.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 06:14 AM

Happy Easter, David.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 06:32 AM

Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair
So he wazn't fuzzy waz 'e

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Snuffy
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 06:52 AM

There was an old man who said "Damn.
I have just realised that I am
A being that moves
In predestinate grooves.
I'm not even a bus: I'm a streetcar."

Perhaps the English version was better.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 07:12 AM

Poem Number 11 of 300.00000000 an a bit

Ooey Gooey was a worm,
A silly worm was he,
He went upon the railway line,
The train he went to see,
Ooey Gooey.

Dave H

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: van lingle
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 07:41 AM

I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life,
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on my knife.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Acorn4
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 09:58 AM

Minimalism ' NO!

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 12:26 PM

I'll keep in mind your plan, Van.
And CB: say, e.g., I'm serving at 30-all and you hit a backhand winner off my serve - thus, you have a break point; now say you do the same at deuce - thus, you again have a break-point; and, thus, "'Thirty-all' is, in effect, 'deuce'" (above).

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 12:26 PM

from my Mom when I was a kid.

Of all the fishies in the seas
My favourite is the bass
He climbs upon the seaweed trees
and slides down on






















his hands and knees

Jeesh I didn't think I remembered that.

Welcome back WaV

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 02:59 PM

A gay young fellow named Bloom
Took a lesbian up to his room.
   They argued all night
   Over who had the right
To do what, and with which, and to whom.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: oldhippie
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 08:16 PM

There was one that went something like this:

O sibili, si ergo
for tibusses in ero
Nobili, demis trux
Si watts enim, kowes en dux

Hint: read it out loud.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Surreysinger
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 08:29 PM

I did - several times, but .....

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 09:54 PM

There is a young named Walkabouts Verse
His poems aren't great, but a Vogon's are worse

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 12 Apr 09 - 10:53 PM

As I was walkin' doon the road
I met a coo -
















a bull, by Goad!

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 01:15 AM

The following is a bit of blank verse:

There was an old lady from Clyde,
Ate a bushel of apples and died.
   The apples fermented
   Inside the lamented,
And made cider inside her inside!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Ralphie
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 02:05 AM

2 Ys U R
2 Ys U B
I C U R
2 Ys 4 ME

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 02:39 AM

I RIDE MY HARLEY

                               by

                               ME


I ride my Harley Davidson, I ride it in the rain.
I ride it all day long, till I don't even know my name.

I rode it through the chicken's coop, up on Mabel's farm
then I chased some cows...I wasn't doin' no harm.

I rode it in formation, 'long with forty other dudes.
I ride it when I'm snortin' coke, or when I'm doin' 'ludes

I ride it to the corner store, and then I ride it back,
my kidneys died, and I can't feel my sacroiliac.

I ride it up two flights of stairs, when going to my house,
my main squeeze left me the other day, called me a dirty louse.

I ride my Harley every day, I ain't got off to shit,
and now, I can't get off at all, because I'm stuck to it.




Copyright 1985

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 03:12 AM

Poem number 21.7 of 15

For the fourth time dull Daphnis said Chloe,
You've told me my bosom is snowy,
You've made such remark on,
Each part of my person,

NOW DO SOMETHING,
There's a good boyhi.

Dave H

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 05:21 AM

Here's another kind of "blank verse," Don...

Poem 14 of 230: NIGHT OR DAY?!

In the far north of Sweden,
    A "Land of the Midnight Sun,"
A strange thing chanced upon me -
    And I'll tell you, just for fun.

Got off a train late-morning
    (Had to catch same one next day)
And trudged far to the Youth Hostel -
    Paying for a one-night stay.

I spent the afternoon sightseeing,
    Then, after a latish dinner,
Returned to my own small bedroom -
    The comfy bed proving a winner.

For I soon dozed into dreamy sleep -
    Waking what was just two hours hence;
But my watch was an analogue,
    And night or day I couldn't sense!

I quickly packed all my things
    (My train an hour or thirteen on)
And hurried out the bedroom -
    The bright sky a sneaky con.

I wandered down the track a bit
    (The Hostel office empty),
Before a smiling helpful local
    Did kindly enlighten me.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,JJ
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 09:10 AM

Admins delete my posts if you must but this is still BS and surely it belongs in that section.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: caitlin rua
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 09:27 AM

__________
__________
__________
__________


Four lines from a lazy poet -

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Les from Hull
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 09:41 AM

See, see the loving sky
Marvel at its big beige depths.
Tell me, Maggie do you
Wonder why the warthog ignores you?
Why its foobly stare
makes you feel tired.
I can tell you, it is
Worried by your fribulance facial growth
That looks like
A cheese.
What's more, it knows
Your bledge potting shed
Smells of sprout.
Everything under the big loving sky
Asks why, why do you even bother?
You only charm vinegars.

from the Vogon Poetry Generator

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 12:32 PM

For what it's worth, I've retired from versification, but...

Caitlin Rua
Is no-but-a
Straight-line ruler!

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Surreysinger
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 12:37 PM

Les - that's a wondrous piece of confectionery! I didn't know that the Vogon Poetry generator existed... I can see oodles of fun filled moments looming on the horizon!

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 01:00 PM

By the way, in my bit of "blank verse" above, there's more there than meets the eye—provided you know how to read it.

Eruptile Dysfunction:

The volcano was near unto tears,
And time only increased his fears.
   He felt very sad
   That he hadn't had
A decent eruption in years.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Snuffy
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 03:30 PM

Only an in-sider would get it, Don.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 03:46 PM

In the march of human minds
Down the weaving span of time,
Men have found a higher voice:
Word and image, meter, rhyme,
Weaving with a subtle beauty
Deepest thought, and highest hope;
Does our poet meet this duty?
One and all have answered, "Nope".
Do not let this witless folly
Make a mediocre slave.
Put this silly rhymester's folly
Back to work for Burma Shave.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 03:59 PM

Very good, Snuffy!

(Does the CIA know about this?)

Don Firth

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 04:11 PM

That's the kind of verse that pales in comparison, Don.

The room was humming harder
as the ceiling flew away
When we called out for another drink
the waiter brought a tray,

And so it was that later
as another sonnet failed,
that my post, at first just ghostly,
turned a whiter shade of pale

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: The Sandman
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 04:24 PM

by John Cage:













by John Cage.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 04:41 PM

An Easter greeting, courtesy of Ogden Nash:

I asked a rabbit that I knew
To lay an Easter egg for you
The air was filled with chilly frost
The rabbit said to me GET LOST!

That egg routine is for the funnies
Us rabbits just have little bunnies
This information spoiled my day -
But Happy Easter anyway

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 04:50 PM

Speaking of modern composers,

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Knock knock.
Who's there?
Philip Glass

Don Firth

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Nick
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 05:31 PM

>>For what it's worth, I've retired from versification, but... OH NO!!!! Surely some mistake

UNCOMPRESSED (for WAV)

The last swan flies from Coole unaware of the waiting hunter
And the walking man leaves the foul rag and bone shop
Of his heart on the final sojourn
And the, abuse, of the, humble, comma ends.

Let me number the days that my heart bleeds for your return
Let me yearn for my turn to burn the infernal internal churn
Lay metre aside and chase zeugmatic symbiosis
On the top deck of a number 27 bus
Reflecting on the mund and inane.

Not one.

"Walk a mile in my shoes" he said
But I only managed to walk obit.
Errata will follow but
Erato can sleep again
With conscience unbound

E J Thribb (13)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Surreysinger
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 06:56 PM

Capn ... that's the first time I've seen Mr Cage's glorious piece of music written down ... thanks...

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 07:09 PM

The diazeugma is a zeugma where a noun governs two or more verbs. Latin rhetoricians further divide the diazeugma according to the placement of the subject and verbs.

Diazeugma Disjunction

The subject appears at the beginning of the sentence and each verb follows in its respective clause.

Populus Romanus Numantiam delevit, Kartaginem sustulit, Corinthum disiecit, Fregellas evertit.—Rhetorica ad Herennium
The Roman people destroyed Numantia, razed Carthage, demolished Corinth, and overthrew Fregella.

Formae dignitas aut morbo deflorescit aut vetustate extinguitur—Rhetorica ad Herennium''
Physical beauty: with disease it fades; with age it dies.

Diazeugma Conjunction

The subject appears in the middle of a sentence and may take the place of a conjunction.

Stands accused, threatens our homes, revels in his crime, this man guilty of burglary asks our forgiveness.

Despairing in the heat and in the sun, we marched, cursing in the rain and in the cold.

Hypozeuxis

The Hypozeuxis is the opposite of a zeugma, where each subject has its own verb.
The parents scowled, the girls cried, and the boys jeered while the clown stood confused.
"We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!"—Winston Churchill

(Wikipedia)

In case anyone wondered about that zeugmatiic epilepsy hitherto and yon.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Nick
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 07:38 PM

The example of zeugma I always remember from schooldays was - "He swallowed his pride and a cough lozenge".

Hypozeuxis is new to me. It was tmesis the other week which up until then I'd always thought was what Mr Jinx chased after.

Aren't parts of speech fun?

Were it not for WAV, we might not be exploring them. Or talking in subjunctives.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Joe_F
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 08:30 PM

"Far fucking out" is a whole nother tmesis. Whether "It's eight o'fucking clock" is a tmesis is a nice question.

*

VirginiaTam: And frolics in the grass.

*

The place to pass
On curves, you know,
Is only at
The beauty show.
Burma Shave.

Her man's whiskers
Never faze her --
He shaves by
Electric razor.
Why bother with
Burma Shave?

*

Said a sage in Westminster Abbey,
"Most critics are cruel and crabby,
But Auden and Clerihew Bentley
Have treated us justly and gently."

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 13 Apr 09 - 09:04 PM

Absofuckinglutely it is. The academic nabobs might assert there is some disbloodyfuckingscrepancy in such as assertion but I don't see it.


A

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 04:27 AM

I'll make vegans of vogons!..

Poem 206 of 230: MY DIET

Chasing breads, nuts, bananas,
    Red sauce, apples, sultanas,
Crackers, conserves, cucumbers,
    Pickles, porridge, pottages -

Lemon barley,
    Cocoa, coffee,
Or cups of tea.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Snuffy
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 09:25 AM

Christian Morgenstern said it all a century ago in Fisches Nachtgesang.

Further comment is superfluous

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 09:34 AM

Cage's four minutes of silence prompted Stravinsky to remark that he looked forward to a full-length work -

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 09:40 AM

here it is,the sound of silence.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 10:16 AM

What is it with Folkies and John Cage? To give piece it's proper title, 4'33" has precious little to do with silence, on the contrary.

4'33", pronounced "four minutes, thirty-three seconds", (Cage himself referred to it as "four, thirty-three") is often mistakenly referred to as Cage's "silent piece". He made it clear that he believed there is no such thing as silence, defined as a total absence of sound. In 1951, he visited an anechoic chamber at Harvard University in order to hear silence. "I literally expected to hear nothing," he said. Instead, he heard two sounds, one high and one low. He was told that the first was his nervous system and the other his blood circulating. This was a major revelation that was to affect his compositional philosophy from that time on. It was from this experience that he decided that silence defined as a total absence of sound did not exist. "Try as we may to make a silence, we cannot," he wrote. "One need not fear for the future of music."

For more, please read: http://solomonsmusic.net/4min33se.htm.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stu
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 10:34 AM

"Instead, he heard two sounds, one high and one low. He was told that the first was his nervous system and the other his blood circulating. "

That's basically what tinnitus is.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 10:38 AM

It was a joke, SS. Ever hear of those? Yes, we all know the "proper" title, but thanks all the same.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 10:39 AM

Darkness, more and more, or less and less.

Silence approached asymptotically.

Only by degrees do you lure a soul into residence

In a blood-bound sea of bone and meat,

Make an identity that really sticks,

Or boil a frog.

Increments rule.



A

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 12:10 PM

No frogs, Amos, in my "pottages", above - rather, there's usually powdered vegetable soup, baked beans, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, or whatever other vegies are fresh at the store; plus toast and crisps and red sauce.

We can, on the other hand, plant a simple bucket-pond in our gardens to help stop the world-wide decline of frogs.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 12:53 PM

Dear bloody jumping Jaysus, WAV... it is hard to imagine how roundly the link between my last post and its antecedent (Cage's remark on the impossibility of silence) was so wholly and completely missed. Your remark, in the context of my post, is one a boiling frog would make about the pleasantly warm water he was succumbing to. I do not meran to be rude, but I feel badly misunderstood.
A

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 01:04 PM

why powdered vegetable soup,cant you cook?Ihope you dont eat Pot Noodles
if you get apressure cooker youcan boil your vegetables speedily.
one day for a spree.
I was feeling in need
of boiling a carrot or three.
so without much a do.
caution to the wind I threw,and bought myself a pressure cooker.
while I was there
I do declare,by chance I met my future wife.
she was areal good looker.
by Billy Bunter,Owl of the remove 4 may 1927

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Surreysinger
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 03:01 PM

Sinister Supporter ... surprisingly enough quite a few of us on here know perfectly well what Cage's work is about and, as Bonnie said, what it's title is. Believe it or not, some of us also perform classical works as well... I've actually been present at a performance of the piece in question ... and found it somewhat pretentious and pointless!!! Good job we don't all like the same things, isn't it?

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 03:43 PM

Sinister S,I too understand what the work of Cage is about.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Captain Swing
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 05:03 PM

Old Hippie - I know it as:

Si Senor der dey go
Fortilorris ian ro
Dement lorris, demis trux
Fullagees anensan dux

Hope it makes more sense

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 05:43 PM

Sorry if I leapfrogged you, Amos - no animosity, or Amosity, intended.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 06:49 PM

Speaking of soup, I once knew a fellow whose vision was so poor that when he bought alphabet soup, he had to get the large print edition.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Janie
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 07:42 PM

An oyster met an oyster
and they were oysters two.
Two oysters met two oysters
and they were oysters too.
Four oysters met a pint of milk...

and they were oyster stew.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bill D
Date: 14 Apr 09 - 08:02 PM

An oyster met a rock band....and discovered

A noisy noise annoys an oyster.

--------------------------------------------------

There goes the Wapiti
Hippiti hoppiti

Ogden Nash

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 15 Apr 09 - 04:47 AM

Further on frogs; and food...

Poem 112 of 230: FROM AN ECCLES FLAT - SPRING 2000

The bedroom window's southerly views
    Contained allotters paying their dues -
All kinds of veg. brought to fruition,
    And youngsters receiving tuition;
Starlings and sparrows I'd often see -
    On a roof or a nearby tree;
And, in a distant poplar perched high,
    The large twiggy nest of a magpie;
In spring, daisies would yellow the floor -
    Matched by Forsythias, grown next door;
Behind terraces, a moony crest -
    The Dome of the new Trafford complex;
And the moon itself, in the right spot,
    Would light the night's clouds up quite a lot.

The kitchen window's northerly views
    Included an agent selling news;
A butcher struggling with position -
    Much sunlight aimed at his nutrition;
And a popular English chippie -
    Mashed peas and red sauce on top, for me;
White gulls dotting a sombre grey sky,
    Plus light- and large-aircraft flying by;
Walkers and traffic would make a roar -
    At peak travel hours all the more;
Handsomely-set skies toward the west
    As the day's sun took its nightly rest;
And a bucket-pond and ivy plot,
    That, on a shoestring, I loved a lot.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,The baker's dozen
Date: 15 Apr 09 - 10:43 AM

Poem 112,330 of 234,860: FROM AN ECCLES CAKE - SPRING 2008

The bedroom window's southerly views
    Framing bakers paying their dues -
All kinds of cakes filled with fruition,
    And youngsters avoiding nutrition;
Hot cross buns I'd often see -
    And Ecclefechan roaming free;
And, in a distant tin perched high,
    The floury nest of a warm mince pie;
In spring, lemon drizzle would yellow the floor -
    Matched by simnels, marzipanned by the score;
Behind Pudding Lane, a moony crest -
    A glimpse of creamy Paris Brest.
A half-moon cake, I kid you not,
    I really liked it quite a lot.

The kitchen window's cakey view
    Would me with love and pride imbue;
A patissiere there on a mission -
    To end my struggle with nutrition;
While an English cook of tarts -
    Fattened the chambers of my heart;
White merengues soon did me wrong,
    And treacle tarts my arteries thronged;
Blood in my veins made a roar -
    I feared I would soon be no more;
As the sun set in the west
    I sped towards eternal rest;
A cholesterol-filled graveyard plot,
    I died by cakes, but loved the lot.

I am going to allow this post to stand with the admonition that you are NOT permitted to use multiple identities. This will be allowed as it is poetry, but be advised it will not be allowed again.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 15 Apr 09 - 11:26 AM

Scansion he knew not, nor understood
The current of the higher good
That poets turn to for their light;
Rhythm had he none, and few
Notions you'd call deep, or new;
And writing on, in couplets long,
We could not say that he was wrong,
But knew him not quite right.

His was a hungry turning, blind,
To fill an anorexic mind,
By spilling nouns about like blocks,
Upon a sleepy kitchen floor,
Never enough, yet nevermore.
The cause of hunger never known,
Truth never asked, light left alone,
Painting the souls as broken clocks,
Hoping to fend away the night.

Llewellyn Sapon Gentile
Confessions of a Brussels Sprout
Pon, Deris Publishing
Lily-on-Grime, 1986

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 15 Apr 09 - 12:31 PM

I'm glad that Eccles parody was allowed to stand - it tickled my fancy, frankly, in more ways than one...very nice with a soya-coffee.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 16 Apr 09 - 03:44 AM

Poem 113 of 230: FOLLOWING THE SUN - SPRING 2000

Having moved, by buses, up the hill from Salford to Bury
    (To be within walk of new work, again),
These stimuli surround between my abode and the factory
    As I follow the sun - its wax, its wane:
Walking toward work and the rising sun, a morning chorus
    Rides the crisp breezy air of hill-farmland,
While gravel, of road and path, beneath my plonked feet crunches,
    And P.V.C. flaps loose of its hay-stand.

Bumble bees, tree sparrows and robins bob along the hedgerows,
    Squirrels and hares hop ahead on my route;
And on a weather-wrapped reservoir - glassy, or dulled by blows -
    Glide mute- and whooper-swans, ducks, geese and coot;
Horses, goats, sheep and cattle laze and graze on fields of green -
    Fields they, in turn, feed, helping make hay;
And, above, swifts and herons sometimes grace the aerial scene -
    A scene framed by a moorland chain of grey.

Slugs - some rusty, others pitch-black - slither on a clayey path,
    That slopes sharply beside the reservoir;
And a whitegood on green-grass - a horse trough, once a human bath -
    Amuses me as I view from afar;
As does Peel Monument, atop a distant Holecombe mount -
    By which an uncle and I once took lunch;
Disturbed nettles - brushed in such distraction - make their bulwarks count,
    And a shed-side arbour demands a hunch.

One time, three sheep-dogs determined me lost, and rounded me up;
    Oftentimes, the Metro. tram rattles by;
And, sometimes, a horse will urge me make handy a grassy cup,
    Or nudge for a scratch down its back and thigh;
On cooler mornings, the dew on grasses soaks my joggers through,
    But beautifies clumps of whimsy grass-heads;
And, already proceeding on his routine of chores to do,
    A farmer strong-hoses out the cowsheds.

Caravan-people leave their grouping to walk the well-worn track,
    And milk- and mail-vans squeeze tightly by;
Antique farm-machines rust away in a grassed ramshackle-stack,
    And pigeons startle from their grassy lie;                                                
In sun, fishing-people and bathers dot the reservoir's shore,
    And, in shade, ferns the sides of path and stream;
Near gates, manure fills the air and makes stepping a chore,
    But elsewhere the views are a poet's dream.

Magpies, near horses, bop around - perhaps for aroused worms;
    Laburnums sprung yellow, and hawthorns white,
Pleasingly, in nature, border the fields of farming-firms,
    And help enclose this Radcliffe rural site;
Plus, as I meander home from a day's factory toil,
    The sun, when it sets in a clear sky,
Forms a large amber ball, behind a converted cotton-mill -
    Signalling another day almost by.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 16 Apr 09 - 01:36 PM

From the Oxford Book of Vogon Poetry.

See, see the dead sky
Marvel at its big puce depths.
Tell me, Frances do you
Wonder why the wart hog ignores you?
Why its foobly stare
makes you feel ugly.
I can tell you, it is
Worried by your possett facial growth
That looks like
after many years.
What's more, it knows
Your nadgers potting shed
Smells of splod wurdler.
Everything under the big dead sky
Asks why, why do you even bother?
You only charm politicians.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 16 Apr 09 - 05:10 PM

Once I had a blue kazoo
One day I dropped it in the loo
And soon my kazoo wasn't blue
It turned a most ungodly hue
The color of an old work shoe
Encrusted with vile viscous goo

It wasn't red nor was it green
Nor puce nor even tangerine
But something somewhere in between
A color that was quite obscene
Like oozings from a ruptured spleen
I'm sure you know just what I mean

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 16 Apr 09 - 05:16 PM

Poetry is the leaven of life,
And it's way damn cheaper than havin' a wife!
When life gets you down and you ain't got a home,
You can always feel better by writin' a poem...
Burmashave!

- Chongo

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stu
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 06:40 AM

Whelks do roam
on hillsides green
and sing a plaintive song
to molluscs unseen.

Under aragonite housing
they go a-roaming,
across blue rainbows
into the gloaming.

From where, they call
plaintive gastropod airs,
and crawl very slowly
over the limpet stairs.

Whelkishness come now
and praise be!
for you taste fine
when eaten by me.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Poésie de Promenade
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 06:50 AM

There was a young woman from Ealing
Overcome by a peculiar feeling
She rolled on her back
And opened her crack
And pissed right up to the ceiling

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: The Sandman
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 07:19 AM

The Eccles parody tickled my fancy
for all my thoughts did dwell upon nancy.
hark tally ho,in pursuit of some feed.
and is there crumpet still for tea.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 07:47 AM

It's the 42nd this very weekend, so if you fancy...

Poem 193 of 230: THE 35TH MORPETH NORTHUMBRIAN GATHERING – SPRING 2002

Toward Morpeth's Gathering,
    Either side of Great North Road,
Daffodils gleefully showed
    Their stalk-dressing flowering.

And then, at the Gathering,
    Another great flowering
Of English heritage, showed
    Through competitions that glowed
With competent folk-singing,
    Storytelling, bag-piping
(The small-pipes rapidly rode
    By hands, in staccato mode),
Clogdancing and stick-dressing:
    Things that are worth addressing.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 10:01 AM

WAV certainly brings out a sort of compulsive creativity in folks, huh?
I never would have guessed such flaming mediocrity could go all the way up to eleven.


A

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 12:02 PM

It is Friday today Tomorrow Sat.
The evening sol reflects on the windows opp.
The youth meander up the St. I live at
Watched suspiciously by a cop.
The crumpled paper jetted in my garden
Was once news but now plain thanks EEC
Litter regulationism needs a warden
Since rubbish lines the local sea


Stu

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 12:18 PM

I thought that I would never see
So much dull mediocrity
Assembled in a single place
Excuse me while I hide my face

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 12:20 PM

Two local translations of the same poem, in keeping the the tradition.

flamin mediocrity sky marvel at its muckle
dull depths. tell wor, frances d'ya wondor
why the hairless cat ignores yee? why its
foobly gaak makes yee feel flamingly mediocre.
i gan tell yee, it is worreed by yor scroon-like
facial growth that looks leek a unidentifeed.
what's mare, it knows yoor scroon pottin shed
smells iv that. everythin undor the muckle flamin
mediocrity sky asks why, why d'ya evon botha?
Only the cat knows

and

Flamin mediocrity sky marvel at its muckle dull depths.
tell wor, frances d'ya wondor why the hairless moggy
ignores yee? why its foobly gaak makes yee feel flamingly
mediocre. i gan tell yee, it is worreed by yor scroon-like
facial growth that looks lick a unidentifeed. what's mare,
it knows yoor scroon pottin shed smells iv that. everythin
undor the muckle flamin mediocrity sky asks why,
why d'ya evon botha?
Only the moggy knows.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 01:48 PM

No ruts, no wheels, no wagonloads;
Cleaving to the dry middle hump of the road,
Safe in the center of neglect.
A quiet middle, free of intersection
For meetings are always done at the edges.
Minds that live here fear the ditch and hedge
And define their paths by staying away
From all directions. Heaven
is not desired, and the dull middle voice
Goes to eleven.


AHJ

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 07:30 PM

A poet, though he be mediocre,
Is better than a mortgage broker.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 18 Apr 09 - 05:39 AM

and cleaner than an engine stoker
and cooler than a red hot poker
more colourful that yellow ochre

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 Apr 09 - 05:19 PM

Near Morpeth...

Poem 183 of 230: CRAMLINGTON - AUTUMN 2001

Cramlington:
    Before an
Interview
    At a new
Factory,
    I did see,
By a steam
    In-between
Farm and home,
    On a roam,
Stopping there,
    A brown hare.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Apr 09 - 04:49 AM

For what it's worth, folks, I've just decided to change the name of the last piece to "A Brow Hare."

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Apr 09 - 04:50 AM

Or "A Bown Hare", sorry.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Apr 09 - 01:40 PM

Poem 184 of 230: THE QUICK CLUBBERS' TROT IN NEWCASTLE - AUTUMN 2001

Fridays, Saturdays,
    Latish in the night,
Bringing a smile,
    Making quite a sight
Down the steep-sloped Side,
    High on their heels -
Bonny, blithe ladies,
    Done with their meals
Or earlier clubs,
    Seeking the next spot,
And risking it with
    Their quick clubbers' trot.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: The Sandman
Date: 19 Apr 09 - 01:52 PM

mondays ,tuesdays,every day the same
late in the day.

but not being noticed
up the gentle incline
flat footed
worn out old men
who have had nothing to eat,
seeking somewhere to sleep,bed down in shop doorways
in cardboard boxes.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 19 Apr 09 - 11:09 PM

Oh, Hell!! Why not?

100

Don Firth (stikes again!)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 19 Apr 09 - 11:11 PM

Pardon me, here's the missing r. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Apr 09 - 04:16 AM

Poem 33 of 230: TO CARE AND SHARE

Within sunny California
    (Just a wisp of smog arriba),
Not far from L.A's Chinatown,
    A rich driver looks, with a frown,
At a beggar sat on a crate -
    Gaunt, it seems long since she last ate.
As the driver stops at the light,
    The beggar moves her hand upright.
But, though the cap clasped holds small cash,
    The rich man shares not his large stash.

Yet, to all it is plain to see,
This beggar lives in poverty.
But, like a fifth of humankind,
Little help this woman will find.
For too selfish the wealthy fare
To help the poor - to care and share.

And, in Tijuana, Mexico,
    Another has no place to go -
It's an hour before midnight,
    And he's curled outside a shopping site:
"He is sick," I'm told, passing by;
    "Him and the system," I reply.
Then my hand to my pocket goes
    For all my coins - sixteen pesos.
Enough for three meals - beans, rice -
    But, for a home, it won't suffice.

Yet, to all it is plain to see,
This pauper dwells in poverty.
But, like one fifth of humankind,
Small help this sick hombre will find.
'Cause too competitive most fare
To change the scheme - to care and share.

In Bangkok and Barcelona,
    Bombay, Melbourne and Manila -
Such woes exist all round the globe:
    Poor food, poor clothes and no abode.
These are Maslow's essential needs,
    And they can be met - with good deeds.
The beggars all could leave the street -
    With some kit for body and feet.
But voted leaders cut the aid
    From which much housing could be made.

Yet, to all it is plain to see,
Too many live in poverty.
But, from the rest of humankind,
A lack of help they tend to find.
For too greedy most snug-ones fare
To fix the need - to care and share.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 20 Apr 09 - 01:29 PM

If WAV were to post his entire collection of 230 poems in descending numerical order, it would be "Walkabouts ReVerse"!


No! It's just a joke! Don't do it!

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Apr 09 - 02:12 PM

Joking apart, Bee, that's what I recently finished doing on myspace - then I gave each poem it's own date to create, via their Blog-Archive box, a kind of "e-book", as linked above.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: High Hopes (inactive)
Date: 20 Apr 09 - 02:53 PM

Well, to each their own, I suppose.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 04:14 AM

For High Hopes, and all...

Poem 23 of 230: ABOVE EVEREST

When flying from Nepal to Thailand,
    I was given a "good-side" seat;
And, as I looked out the plane window,
    The view I saw was really neat.

For breaking through a thick sheet of cloud
    Were the high Himalayan peaks;
And, rising the highest of them all,
    Mount Everest - heaven bespeaks!

From walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
Or blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stu
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 06:32 AM

From within the Great Whelk's clear mind
at play in the fields of the mollusc
there forms a vision of
the mighty floating crust
that is the plaything of the
tectonic Whelk lord of the earth.

The orographic process is conjured
at times of idle thought
and the eons pass
in the light of the Whelkish mind;
deep blue pools
in the rocks of feldspar
and quartz,
coughed in age-long convulsions
from the depth of the gastropod
subconscious where life is tasted
by the radulla of the soul.

For here the whelk is in repose,
and vinegar, yes.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: High Hopes (inactive)
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 12:58 PM

Like I said, to each their own

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 04:29 AM

Poem 187 of 230: A SOUTH SHIELDS WALKABOUT - AUTUMN 2001

Out of the museum-and-gallery
    (Wiser on Cookson and the local way),
Down Ocean Road with, to the right of me,
    Its eateries and, left, neat places to stay;
Before, on either side, Marine Parks -
    The southern-one a most beautiful place,
Teeming with moorhens, swans, grebes and mallards
    In a small lake at a scenic-hill's base.

Then (holding chips from the parade's cafe
    And, thus, a flock of gulls squawking above)
Onto the South Pier I made my way:
    Seeing seaweed over rocks - like a glove -
And high-and-dry sands held from transgression
    By growth of grass and the weaving of wood,
Plus, in the dim light of a sleepy sun,
    Fishing boats returning to Tynemouth's hood.

From walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
Or blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse
(P.S: you may also hear me read this one one on myspace.)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Nick
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 12:23 PM

If someone were to expire reading the entire collection of 230 poems in any order (and I think it could happen), would it be "Walkabouts Diverse"?

If someone were to divide all his poems into the number 1 would it be "Walkabouts Inverse"?

If someone were to read them and then throw themselves underwater (again I could understand why) would they be "Walkabouts Divers"?

If someone were to print all his poems onto the front of a coin would it be "Walkabouts Obverse"?

Time to go home

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 12:45 PM

'If someone were to divide all his poems into the number 1 would it be "Walkabouts Inverse"?'...great minds think alike, homeward-bound-Nick!...that's why I took the first and last words only from the full title "Walkabouts: travels and conclusions in verse" as my web-nickname.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 12:59 PM

Also, just notice my last links are broken, so I'll try again:
http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 01:34 PM

I have to ask--has anyone ever accused you of obdurate insensitivity, by any chance?



a

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 01:49 PM

Bizarre tangential zig-zags
They pop up wherever I go
I see them in the skies above
I find them etched in the snow
I hear them in the peeping of frogs
As lo! The sunlight dims
I hear them in the sawing of logs
And then in cathedral hymns
Bizarre tangential zig-zags!
They come...and then they go
And where it all will end
Only God alone can know!

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 02:06 PM

A day of sleepy indolence
Of doleful drowsy lag
My whole existence had become
A bizarre tangential zag.
I'd not acheived a single thing
Nor made impressions big.
And if my life were not a zag,
PErhaps it was a zig!
No crowning love, nor telling deed,
No insight consequential;
Whether a zig or whether a zag,
For sure, it was tangential.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 02:36 PM

"I have to ask--has anyone ever accused you of obdurate insensitivity, by any chance?" (Amos)...I doubt it, my dear friend...to be honest, I had to check my dictionary to find it meant "stubborn"...and I do hope, with all my heart, that this is a reasonable response to your query...?...For "Only God alone can know!" (Little Hawk).
walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com in not working *#?!

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 02:41 PM

Wha&%$???

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 02:55 PM

That's my reaction too, Is "our" resident "poet" a wee bit sensitive, or am I imagining things? And I do believe Nick was joking wasn't he?

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 05:14 PM

I stumble and lurch
And I zig and I zag
Past shops and the church
Then I'm sick in bag
That I keep in my pocket
For just such a time
When I want to say "fock it"
And puke out a rhyme.
I'm off one a a tangent
One more crooked mile
And I get much more plangent
But not versatile.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 05:43 PM

Pretty good! ;-) But watch the typos.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Nick
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 08:00 PM

I never joke being an intensely serious human being. Talking of zig and zag, though, reminds me of the two dyslexic skiers.

"I'm going to zag zig down the hill" says the first.
"I think you'll find it's zig zig" says the second.
"No it isn't" says the first (vehemently)
Unable to agree they ask another person on the hill.
"I've no idea" says the third "I'm a tobogganist"
"No problem, can I have 20 Marlboro and a box of matches then?"

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 22 Apr 09 - 08:48 PM

Awright! A whole new genre of jokes.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 04:26 AM

Poem 11 of 230: OTHER SIDE

On the road from Inverness to Glasgow
    (A very scenic road it is),
I hitched with a pair - Italiano;
    The left-hand drive Fiat was his.

I think they had taken turns at driving -
    I'm not sure from where or how far;
But, when they picked me up from my hiking,
    The lady was driving the car.

I recall how warm their greet did feel,
    And what a thrilling trip it was;
For, as their hands fought over the wheel,
    Our lives came near to loss:

I was sitting tight on the back-right side -
    My ears off their argument;
But my eyes surely knew how close beside
    The oncoming vehicles went!

We arrived without a scratch at Glasgow,
    But it begs this point, I feel -
Why did our forebears decide to go
    Either side for the new wheel?

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 08:27 AM

This feels like the right sort of place to collect the Brian O'Linn* verses from the old Gallows Humour thread, many of which I composed specifically.

Brian O' Linn met the devil one day,
Who showed him a girl lying dead in the hay;
with her he did sport 'til the night it crept in -
There's no chance of child, said Brian O'Linn!

Brian O'Linn he did fuck an old horse
But he got himself stuck and to make matters worse
the horse it ran into the market square then -
Still, they can't see me dick, says Brian O'Linn!

And Brian O'Linn he shot an old dog
And inside it's belly he found an frog
And inside the frog he found a gold ring -
That's the third time this week, said Brian O'Linn!

And Brian O'Linn found a lump in his balls,
So he picks up the phone and the doctor he calls;
That was three months ago, now he's bald and he's thin -
Sure I fit me old clothes, said Brian O'Linn!

And Brian O'Linn in his coffin did lie;
Dressed up in his best with clean boots and a tie;
Six foot underground and the grave all filled in -
Ah, they can't hear me knocking, says Brian O'Linn!

Brian O'Linn up to heaven did go,
And the light shone so bright, and as white as the snow,
And the angels were singing with no thought of a sin -
I could do with a fag, says Brian O'Linn

So Brian O'Linn he went straight down to hell
Where he filled his owld lungs with the sulphurous smell
And he warmed his cold hands by the fires with a grin;
I'll fetch in the coal, says Brian O'Linn!

* Brian O'Lynn is, of course, a Traditional Irish Song with many verses collected over the years both bawdy and otherwise (see Here for the Digi Trad version) and many more verses composed on the spot by way of that Tradition. I've been spontaneously composing (and forgetting) BOL verses most of my life, these are just a few. Perhaps you might add a few more?

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 08:30 AM

Verse 2 in Digi Trad:

Bryan O'Lynn had no breeches to wear
He got him a sheepskin to make him a pair,
With the fleshy side out and the woolly side in,
"Whoo, they're pleasant and cool." says Bryan O'Lynn.

From the singing of Jim Eldon:

Bryan O'Lynn had no breeches to wear
He got him a sheepskin to make him a pair,
With the woolly side out and the fleshy side in,
"Oh they stick to my arse." says Bryan O'Lynn.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: KEVINOAF
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 12:50 PM

at last mac gonigal outdone

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 01:30 PM

Horrifying! I wonder if Brian O'Linn was an ancestor of Shane and Don McBride. It kind of sounds that way.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 01:50 PM

Bye the way, happy Shakespeare's birth/death day, folks.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 01:55 PM

He was born and died on the same day??? (Not trying to be funny here, I am seriously asking...did he die on his birthday?)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 02:27 PM

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616)

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, and baptised on 26 April 1564. His unknown birthday is traditionally observed on 23 April, St George's Day.

Born on St. George's Day? hmmmm...?

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 02:31 PM

Apart from the "e", LH, my last post is quite correct. Historians are certain of the day he died, and that he was born on or near the same day, which was already St. George's day, also.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 02:44 PM

Sorry, but to me it sounds like wishful thinking on the part of some English patriots, a wee bit of a coincidence.

There was for sometime the same myth about the American author, Mark Twain, being born and dying on the same day, that one was laid to rest along ime ago

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 02:48 PM

I wonder what the average time from birth to baptism was in those days?

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 04:32 AM

Poem 219 of 230: FURTHER ANTI-IMPERIALISM

Let each Christian nation have its own Church -
Equal, before God, with the others' Search.

From walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
Or blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse
(C) David Franks 2003

(P.S: The imperialistic Anglican and Roman Catholic movements, e.g., should be dissolved, and replaced by the Church of Italy, the Church of England, the Church of Wales, etc; and, for what it's worth, I have tried to let the Archbishop of Canterbury know this - I received a thankyou letter, from his secretary, for a copy of my, above, book.)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 12:13 PM

I personally have no problem with the Anglican Church or the Roman Catholic Church as they presently stand. To each their own beliefs as far as I'm concerned.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 01:32 PM

Here we go again. I wondered how long it would be before WAV reverted to type. I make the fourth, or possibly fifth time that this particular couplet has been recycled on various threads. The P.S. is interesting though, in a grisly sort of way. I think 11 commas may be some sort of record for a sentence of less than three lines.
Here are some more commas, WAV, in case you are running out.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,!
Tim

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 01:45 PM

"Here are some more commas, WAV, in case you are running out"

M. R. James, the writer of ghost stories and scholarly articles, thought (tongue in cheek that is) that dots made for great writing, let us have a few of those as well...........................

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 01:57 PM

Thanks, you two, for your latest commants. ;-)>

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 02:04 PM

Instructions for use:

1. Load commas in shotgun.
2. Aim at page.
3. Let fly with both barrels!

(Oh! Looks like that's what you've done! Okay, never mind.)

Don Firth

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 02:06 PM

unlike Monty James, my tongue was not planted firmly in my cheek as I typed what I felt was the only fitting reply.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 25 Apr 09 - 04:35 AM

M. R. James, the writer of ghost stories and scholarly articles, thought (tongue in cheek that is) that dots made for great writing, let us have a few of those as well...........................

On a minor point of pedantry, MRJ wasn't referring to dots as such, rather to ellipses, as you illustrate, and which WAV evidently doesn't. For anyone who's interested, you may read the relevant piece on-line at Stories I Have Tried to Write. Otherwise, I think there are far more offensive things about WAV's statement than his bizarre use of punctuation - and yet it is this that draws your ire.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 Apr 09 - 09:10 AM

(Opposing imperialism shouldn't offend anyone, S.S.)

Poem 114 of 230: CLITHEROE CASTLE'S VIEWS - SUMMER 2000

From outside metres-thick wall
    (Down on leafy grounds grown tall,
Then across stony households
    To lush-green sheep-grazing folds,
And up further to the moor),
    Clitheroe Castle's views soar.

From walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
Or blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 25 Apr 09 - 10:14 AM

Sinister Supporter; I completely agree that there are many more worrying aspects to WAV than his eccentric approach to grammar and punctuation. Many of us have tried to engage in serious debate with this rather odd individual, but discussion of any substantive issues raised by his attempts at verse merely produces references to further platitudinous attempts on his various websites. Pointing out punctuation errors generally produces a response, as WAV is genuinely (if mistakenly) proud of his Australian-learned English.
Tim

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 25 Apr 09 - 10:54 AM

I'm afraid that this thread will now revert to the expected WAV thread. The Catholic and Anglican Churches are not imperialism except in your mind WAV,

Please stay within Joe's remit for this thread i.e. verse and doggerel

regards

Stu

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 25 Apr 09 - 12:01 PM

The actual quote from said piece by M. R. James reads:

(Dots are believed by many writers of our day to be a good substitute for effective writing. They are certainly an easy one. Let us have a few more......)

Note James uses the word DOTS, not the word ellipses. If you MUST point out articles, please quote them properly. I thank you, and I'm sure Monty James would thank you, if he were able.

This, of course is a minor point of pedantry. *LOL*

Anyway back to the doggerel and other verses, which, after all, is what this ummmmmm thread is all about; is it not?

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 04:35 AM

"Anyway back to the doggerel and other verses, which, after all, is what this ummmmmm thread is all about; is it not?" (Rifleman)...and, what the heck, the tune as well this time...

(Just watching the London Marathon on T.V.)

Poem 42 of 230: IMPRESSIONS OF LONDON IN 1997

(TUNE:

E Fsharp G G A G Fs Fs
E Fs Fs Fs-G Fs E E
E G G G A A G G
E Fs Fs Fs-G Fs E E)

Cabs all uniform in their shape.
    Good galleries make one gape.
Hard-going people on the move -
    Things matter much in this groove.

About the weather lots of moans.
    Solicits stuck on pay-phones.
Summer weather - not bad, I've felt.
    Lads giving a ball a belt.

Real estate is worth so much -
    Tenants' rent sky-high, as such;
Nice stocky buildings all around -
    Will some have to hit the ground?

Cheek to jowl: council flats needed -
    Stock by demand exceeded;
Building higher seems only way -
    Unless less arrive to stay...

Beaut. looking girls from many lands -
    Grace gone for capital plans;
Polite folks from many cultures
    Do become money vultures.

Veiled women in platform shoes.
    High-street beggars in the blues.
Privacy here costs so much -
    Partnerships suffer, as such.

See movies and shows from way back;
    Of good music there's no lack;
All-day breakfasts at the good pubs;
    An abundance of nightclubs.

Green groomed parklands: the best I've seen -
    Their gardens kept neat and clean;
Geraniums in flowerpots
    On facades make pleasing spots.

Floating pubs on the River Thames,
    And its bridges - real gems;
Both ways, here, the water goes -
    Still in range of tidal-flows.

Children, at park lakes, feed the ducks,
    Or watch squirrels take some nuts.
Into ponds, weeping willows sag.
    Sharp attacks on those who lag.

From walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 06:57 AM

(Opposing imperialism shouldn't offend anyone, S.S.)

As you've proved in both your published work and your various past threads on Mudcat, your so-called opposition of imperialism is a smokescreen to your nauseating beliefs concerning immigration & cultural / racial segregation and purity.

WAV threads worthy of note:

Weekly Walkabout cum Talkabout

Walkaboutsverse

5000 Morris Dancers

England's National Musical Instrument

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 11:30 AM

No, S.S., I genuinely don't like imperialism - be it Nazi, Victorian, or any other.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 12:57 PM

If you poke him, any slogger'll
React by spouting whacky doggerel,
Full of nouns, and weak on timing,
Blindly glued to senseless rhyming
Free of nuance, craft or vision,
Nor imbued with erudition.
For entertainment, any blogger'll
Do as well as suchlike doggerel.

Winston Meerschaum von und zu Lichteinconte
"Ponderings from a Noble Mind"
Austria, 1959

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 03:02 PM

If you MUST point out articles, please quote them properly.

I wasn't quoting the article, just pointing out that by dots Monty was referring to what we would call ellipses, rather than any liberal sprinkling of punctuation per-se. I think the confusion here arises from the fact that when read out loud the ellipses is invariably rendered as dot dot dot dot; Monty wrote a lot of this stuff to read out loud, so referring to ellipses as dots makes perfect sense. Did Monty write SIHTTW to be read out? I'm not altogether sure actually, but I do have tapes of Michael Hordern reading most of the stories (including SIHTTW) which is the next best thing.

Anyway, Rifleman, you're obviously a fan of the great man. I've just this minute won a copy of Monty's The Sculptured Bosses in the roof of the Bauchun Chapel of Our Lady of Pity in Norwich Cathedral off ebay - original 1908 copy (are there any others???) - a snip at £5! Needless to say I'm one happy bunny....

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 03:40 PM

Elipsis marks:

Elipsis (singular), elipses (plural).

According to the style manuals, an elipsis indicates that something has been left out, and in narrative writing often indicates that the reader may fill in what he or she believes the missing word or phrase might be.

The standard elipsis within a sentence is three periods (dots), preferably with a space between each period, thus:

"If . . . then. . . ."

If the elipsis falls at the end of the sentence, one should then use four periods, indicating the existence of an elipsis (three dots) followed by a fourth dot (a period), indicating the end of the sentence.

[Thank you, Mrs. Beasley.]

Don Firth

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 03:48 PM

SS Type Montague Rhodes James into Youtube you'll find several great readings by Robert Powell in the role of Monty James (this much more interesting that WAV isn't it? *LOL*)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 03:48 PM

OR and there's more...
OR let me think...

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 03:59 PM

Ummm...Mr. Firth, I believe I've already explained that M.R. James had his tongue planted firmly in his cheek when writing about the "dots" Monty James didn't take himself TOO seriously at times and had a ridiculous sense of humour. Anyway DOGGEREL please!! (let us have a few more !!!!!!!!!!!! *LOL*)

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 04:01 PM

Thanks for reminding me, Rifleman - I'd forgot about the Powell readings so it'll be nice to revisit them. 1986!? How time flies... Never thought about searching YouTube for M R James - lots to explore, including the Christopher Lee programmes too, which recreate Monty's readings to delightful effect.

I once met Christopher Lee in Durham Cathedral (during the filming of Ivanhoe), and had a casual ten minute conversation with him without once twigging who he was, even though my friend stood by open mouthed the whole time.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 04:03 PM

UKers should look in next few minutes.
Not spectacular but not easy to find normally.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 04:26 PM

"1986!?"

Robert Powell readings:
Christmas in 1986, under the title of Classic Ghost Stories.The series ran from 25-30 December 1986

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 26 Apr 09 - 05:10 PM

< pedant >

Lest someone point it out before I do myself, all of the "elipses" in my above post should be spelled with a double L, as in "ellipsis."



Don Firth

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 27 Apr 09 - 03:12 AM

woops, wrong thread.

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 27 Apr 09 - 04:45 AM

Poem 25 of 230: UBUD

At Bali's Ubud,
    I wound myself down:
Having done Asia,
    It was just the town -
Before Australia
    And work to be found.

Staying in a hut
    (Traditional 'twas),
Beside rice paddies,
    And just eight dollars,
My mind was at ease -
    Calm like a scholar's.

I read and I mused
    Over where I'd been;
Saw Monkey Jungle,
    Which is cool and green;
And, from a bundle,
    Chose an artist's seen.

At night, a gecko -
    Friendly, on the wall;
By day, a farmer -
    At his rice-toil;
And, always, culture -
    Ubud's worth a call.

From walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
Or blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 27 Apr 09 - 05:27 AM

The series ran from 25-30 December 1986

I don't doubt it, Rifleman; my alarm was that it was so long ago! Still, each Christmas without fail Monty is high on the agenda, be it in print, or on TV, or record. Last year I was reading Phil Rickman's The Fabric of Sin, set around the enigmatic Templar church at Garway where he alludes to a spooky incident that befell Monty during his visit there in 1917, after which he wrote to Gwendolen McBryde, "We must have offended something or somebody at Garway... Next time we shall know better". Having been to Garway, I can well believe it...

Lest someone point it out before I do myself, all of the "elipses" in my above post should be spelled with a double L, as in "ellipsis."

It was tempting, Don, but saving the odd bad egg, are we not gentlemen after all?

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 27 Apr 09 - 07:37 AM

PS:

(let us have a few more !!!!!!!!!!!! *LOL*)

The exclamation point is shorthand for the Latin Io, which means, of course Joy, as in And "Io, io, io!"
By priest and people sungen - so you can't have enough ! in my opinion. In knowing this, however, how do we then interpret This I wonder? Well, that first post is obvious enough - the joy of breasts leading to the car becoming embedded in a soft verge... A likely enough scenario I would have thought! (!!).

And Brian O'Linn he dug up his mother
and covered her skull with a hundred white feathers
and he hoisted it high on the church steeple then -
"That's a westerly wind," said Brian O'Linn!

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 27 Apr 09 - 08:19 AM

...I bet that hedge has seen a few "Parus majors," SS!!

Subject: RE: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Donuel
Date: 27 Apr 09 - 01:33 PM

This song always eases
whatever troubles you
You only need some mirrors
and sturdy wordy glue
Yet it all can come apart
with six quick sneezes
and a loud resounding fart
the sixth sheik's
sixth sheep
got sex sick
with a pathogen quite brand new
So never trouble trouble
cuz if trouble troubles you
You could stumble in trouble's rubble
and the flu could stick to you

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 28 Apr 09 - 04:26 AM

Poem 6 of 230: THE PICKER

While picking onions at Echuca,
    Betimes I came across a
Man who was, he said, by trade a picker.

A compact and stocky physique had he;
    Kind he was to first-time me -
Advising, "You should pick 'em on your knee."

Then he told me of his long-kept plan
    Of travel by caravan
To pick seasoned crops, over a wide span.

But workers' rates, I knew, were non too fair -
    Twenty dollars a tonne, there,
Was all the onion-crop owner could spare.

Though (with tally taken by some louse,
    And told to see owner or spouse),                                 
Believe me, they lived in some kind of house.

From walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 28 Apr 09 - 12:48 PM

As at this toxic thread I stare,
I meet a man who is not there.
Not yesterday, nor yet today.
And yet, he never goes away.
He seeth not, nor understands,
But somehow seems to have his hands
Or some device, obscure and hexed
For flooding cyberspace with text.


Diane von und zu Schlumdogger
Ein leerer Tag ist für Uberhaupt
Berlin, 1925

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 28 Apr 09 - 01:22 PM

It could be worse
He could fill cyberspace with verse

stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: High Hopes (inactive)
Date: 28 Apr 09 - 01:57 PM

"It could be worse
He could fill cyberspace with verse"

The attempt is being made
I am afraid.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: robomatic
Date: 28 Apr 09 - 02:15 PM

walkabouts verse
for better or worse
is attractin'
some interactin'
and many thoughts deep
are making their creep
from the enlightened skull
like barnicle to hull-

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 04:55 AM

Poem 86 of 230: ROBOTS

In factories,
    I've spent sometime
Working machines
    Whose goods should rhyme -
Moulding machines,
    Whose plastic shots
Are sorted by
    Auto. robots...

Well, now robots -
    Before 'twas folks:
Process workers.
    Employment hoax?

From walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Donuel
Date: 29 Apr 09 - 03:18 PM

The other side of night

Before I fall asleep
I feel my heart beating
I feel it in my fingers,
Sometimes I feel it skip a beat
As if surprised by a lover

They say the other side of night
There is a tunnel with a great blast of light
Maybe mine will be a splash of color
where sounds and smells replace the light
as I fade into all the others.

I don't fear the very last beat
By then my old age retreats
And looks back with the joy of youth
While my youth looks forward in sadness
meeting halfway with acceptance and gladness

Good people share kind thoughts in the end
they take care how they share it with others.
They know their heart
beats just like yours
as yours beat within your mother.

So in the end thank you Amos for all the verse
Rapaire thank you for all the wit
Thanks Spaw, for the funny and perverse
and to Severn whose puns never quit

To Rob omatic who thinks himself
a foil or foe enigmatic
I say you're an autobot
stuck in an endless loop
Always yelling Up yours
I'm better than the group.

So when you cross over
to the other side
and you wander the tunnel blindly
To you I say go to hell
but to you I say it kindly.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 30 Apr 09 - 05:24 AM

Poem 200 of 230: THE PLASTICS OF POETRY

As melt to shot
    (Right on the spot,
Or flashed or short),
    Poets mould thought.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 01 May 09 - 04:39 AM

...Hello, hello..?

Poem 148 of 230: AUDIENCE LOST

I returned, again,
    To what they pen -
The free-verse poets:
    Deep prose in sets...
I could read, again,
    Of Mice and Men.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 01 May 09 - 05:16 PM

I just heard a "poem" from the new "Poet Laureate" (on The Verb, BBC 3), which, to me, sounded more like the setting of a scene in a novella, or suchlike - again.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 01 May 09 - 07:04 PM

The issue is not free verse versus structured verse, really, WAV. Doggerel--humorous rhyming--is ubiquitous, and so is cheap sentiment jammed into rhymes. But neither doggerel nor Hallmark sentiments make a poet.

A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 01 May 09 - 09:25 PM

If I ever have a dog, I'll name it "Doggerel"
And I'll paper train it using Hallmark greeting cards
Perhaps that's why the Hallmark shop and the pet store
Are next door to one another at the mall

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 02 May 09 - 05:16 AM

For centuries, Amos, the challenge (and joy) of poetry was to say things WITHIN the limits of metre and/or rhyme - to hell with those who said to hell with that!

Poem 118 of 230: WHALLEY ABBEY...WHAT TALES? - AUTUMN 2000

Cistercian monks have clearly been -
    Their Abbey's ruins can still be seen;
And, sounding for centuries before,
    Calder flows have passed - seeking the shore.
Lords of the grounds have, more lately, stayed -
    Their manor houses reused and unscathed.
Through beautiful gardens insects fly -
    The ruins of folk just a pass-by;
And, by viaduct, trains pass above -
    Folk thereby viewing a town I love.
Anglers and C. of E. delegates,
    Hikers and tourists, have crossed the gates...
Opportunistic masons, kings-men,
    Model makers, Turner, and men who pen...
Perhaps the witches came down from the hill,
    And do ghosts haunt - still questing their fill..?

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 02 May 09 - 04:07 PM

the challenge (and joy) of poetry

Well there's wix words I never expected to see in a WAV thread.

Otherwise...

Did you make it to Whalley church, WAV? The bulk of the abbey choir stalls & misericords reside here (as carved by one Mr Eatough circa 1430) complete with moral proverbs in English verse(who so melles hym of yat al men dos let hym cum heir and shoe the ghos) and French prose (Penses molt et parles pou. Be sure to check it out next time you're passing.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 02 May 09 - 04:08 PM

Wix Words? Cursed alliteration! Six words, of course...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 03 May 09 - 05:13 AM

Okay, S.S. - it's certainly one place I'd like to revisit; and, by the way, that first chap appears to be in a text-book hammer-position of the tennis-serve...

Poem 223 of 230: SERIOUS SERVING

We were taught "stand in-plane, like a golfer" -
Who started this "aim at the umpire"?!

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 03 May 09 - 03:21 PM

that first chap appears to be in a text-book hammer-position

A natural position for a blacksmith I would have thought.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: High Hopes (inactive)
Date: 03 May 09 - 04:05 PM

"that first chap appears to be in a text-book hammer-position"

and here's me thinking it had something to do with that ancient Scottish art of throwing heavy objects around.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 03 May 09 - 04:56 PM

...never seen a Scot toss a caber with that technique...does look a bit like Andy Murray, mind.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 May 09 - 05:01 AM

Poem 66 of 230: TO SCOTLAND, AGAIN

By coach from central Manchester -
    In-between stops at Bolton,
Carlisle and Hamilton -
    To Glasgow, these I did vista...

Some sheep, blotched vividly with blue,
    Filing down a well-worn path,
Did form a long woolly lath,
    Aimed at a lusher greener hue.

A farmer on a four-wheeler:
    His canine friend close beside.
A horse not on call to ride:
    On leave - a no-shoe non-heeler!

Convex pastures with heath-moorland;
    And flatter grain-planes below:
Cropped, awaiting till-and-sow -
    Perhaps with grazing beforehand.

Passed Edwin Waugh territory,
    Cumbria's sharp forms and tones
Compelled sense off seat-cramped bones
    To their well-honed long-read story.

Further north, farms of slighter falls:
    One a black-sheep specialist,
With some Friesians on the list -
    All held between old dry-stone-walls.

The Lakes behind, a strong Scotch mist
    Changed the sun to a full-moon
And hid scenery, till soon -
    Light, and the wide scenes on Burns' list.

New farms harnessing the wind's blow,
    Old white-and-grey-cottage views;
Plus pines, espousing the hues -
    In distinct leaf-tones - of Glasgow.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,EricTheOrange
Date: 04 May 09 - 07:04 AM

these I did vista...

Ouch!

Hark! Do I hear the sound of the English language sobbing?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 04 May 09 - 11:18 AM

These I did Vista?
Not on my Mackintosh Mista

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Donuel
Date: 04 May 09 - 11:24 AM

If you google the worst poet ever
You will find an Englishman quite unclever
I posted his works on a poetry forum
and got incredible praise for 'em.

To me the praise was very funny
for the worst poet for your money
When I told 'em what they really were
I was banished for 'Ever more'.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 04 May 09 - 11:33 AM

If you google the worst poet ever
You will find an Englishman ……?


When I Google "the worst poet ever", the first four hits are for McGonagall.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: High Hopes (inactive)
Date: 04 May 09 - 12:15 PM

Hark! Do I hear the sound of the English language sobbing?

yes and gnashing of teeth, unearthly wailings, and the rendering of clothing

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jeri
Date: 04 May 09 - 12:17 PM

I suppose you'd have to eat a lot of drippy greasy food to render your cloth, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 04 May 09 - 12:19 PM

I think you mean the rending of clothing, High Hopes; it's really difficult to spread clothing on walls, and even harder to boil it down to make soap.
Tim in pedant mode...

(Is a pedant just a peasant with a really bad cold?)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 May 09 - 12:19 PM

"Vista" - poetic licence, Mister.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: High Hopes (inactive)
Date: 04 May 09 - 12:37 PM

Vista:
a dead end platform from Microsoft

"it's really difficult to spread clothing on walls"
not if you frame it and then hang it on the wall, it's been done.

High Hopes - art critic for the Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh Post

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 04 May 09 - 01:36 PM

WAV; even poetic licence should make sense. 'Vista' is a noun, not a verb. Have you got a poetic license, or did you fail on reversing couplets and three-point stanzas?
Tim

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 May 09 - 02:12 PM

It's abba, so you come up with a better rhyme than "vista" with "Manchester", Mister.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 04 May 09 - 02:28 PM

By all means use 'vista', just don't use it as a verb! I see this particular effort dates from your 'superfluous hyphens' period. I think I prefer the 'excessive commas' period myself. What do others think?
Tim

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 04 May 09 - 04:38 PM

'These things I saw' would be English and nearly rhyme with Manchester, particularly in local pronunciation

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 May 09 - 04:54 PM

Thanks, Stu - I think I'll change it to:

By coach from central Manchester -
    In-between stops at Bolton,
Carlisle and Hamilton -
    To Glasgow, these are sights I saw...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stu
Date: 05 May 09 - 04:54 AM

By coach from central Manchester -
    In-between stops at Bolton,
Carlisle and Hamilton -
    To Glasgow, my grollies are polyester.

. . . or . . .


By coach from central Manchester -
    In-between stops at Bolton,
Carlisle and Hamilton -
    To Glasgow home of Rab, the string-vester.

. . . or . . .

By coach from central Manchester -
    In-between stops at Bolton,
Carlisle and Hamilton -
    To Glasgow, where liveth many a Buckfast investor.


. . . or . . .

By coach from central Manchester -
    In-between stops at Bolton,
Carlisle and Hamilton -
    To Glasgow, where Whelks never fester.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stu
Date: 05 May 09 - 04:54 AM

200!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 May 09 - 05:53 AM

Poem 163 of 230: ON A CLEAR DAY - SUMMER 2001

Far - the Lakelands behind Blackpool Tower;
    Well-ebbed - the ocean and estuary;
Odd - a sand-digger and wagons that cross;
    Tonal - the flats left by tidal power;
Patched - the grasses surviving the big tides;
    Plonked - the driftwood sprouted in other lands;
Clinging - the coastal flora to the dunes;
    Busy - the bees and folks on Southport rides.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
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(e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 May 09 - 04:37 AM

Poem of 160 of 230: MACCLESFIELD - SUMMER 2001

After hearing the ways
    Of the old silk-weaving trade,
While being served some tea,
    Within the Mulberry Tree,
Memories came back to me
    Of - during my infant days -
Feeding 'worms till sheaths were made.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com
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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 May 09 - 04:32 AM

Poem 16 of 230: A BEAUTIFUL STAGE

If a couple, with plans to wed,
    Asked me, off the top of my head,
For somewhere I thought well in-tune
    As a place for a honeymoon,
It would have - flashing back - to be
    Beautifully-honed Italy.

From
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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 May 09 - 09:25 AM

Nothing at all against the starter of the, atop, "Really Really Important Poem" thread - just baffled as to why this poetry thread was booted down?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 08 May 09 - 05:22 AM

Poem 41 of 230: EVEN AFTER LINCOLN, STEINBECK, AND KING

Written at a public toilet by the
    Statue of Liberty:
"What of Equality, Fraternity;
    And Democracy!?"

The U.S.A. has aided dictators -
    Right-Wing leaders, of course;
So some's bestowal of democracy
    Is hypocrisy.

http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com/walkaboutsverse (e-scroll)
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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 09 May 09 - 04:44 AM

...maybe this post will move the thread back up, again..?

Poem/Song 111 of 230: THE MERSEY AT DIDSBURY

(TUNE:

Eb F G Ab G
D F G Ab G
D F G Ab G
D G Ab Bb Ab
D G Ab Bb Ab
D F G Ab G)

Took bus one-four-three,                        
    From Piccadilly,
Along Oxford Road;
    Passed the old uni's,
Those shops with saris,
    And my first abode.

At Didsbury Village,
    The Old Parsonage
Looked neat, and gave sound,
    As I walked the way,
At about midday,
    To a Mersey mound.

From atop this bank,
    No longer a blank
Was the strong river,
    Nor the wide fairways -
Where I'd filled two days,
    Twelve years earlier.

I then headed back,
    On Stenner Woods' track
(Hearing more birdsong,
    And seeing mossed stumps
Plus well-layered clumps),
    To a human throng.

This throng was viewing -
    Justly pursuing -
The smart Rock Gardens,
    Sloped on Fletcher Moss,
Which I, too, did cross,
    Before homeward wends.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 May 09 - 06:08 AM

Poem 227 of 230: ROTATING SHIFTS

There will always be places
    That need to be staffed
Twenty-four hours a day,
    But I think it's daft
To rotate bodies and minds
    Around any craft...

The better way seems to be
    Penalty-rates paid
For three fixed eight-hour shifts -
    With adjustments laid,
By those choosing to work nights,
    For sleep to be made.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 10 May 09 - 11:16 AM

"a Mersey mound"

Eek! What's one of those? Is it something I should avoiding stepping in next time I'm in Didsbury?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 10 May 09 - 11:19 AM

A mersey mound
Weighs but a pound
Stepped on, it makes a squelching sound
It's small and round
And on the ground
Where it was squeezed out by a hound

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 May 09 - 12:30 PM

No - it's grassed over, SC, and, as I say, allows a nice view of the, also verdant, golf course there. Now all you need is either some kind of navigation system or, better still, you could hold with you, as you walkabout, the very poem "The Mersey at Didsbury" in your heart.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 10 May 09 - 10:11 PM

'Tis foolish whim,
    Nay - almost folly
To watch folk drive,
    From a grassy knolly.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 May 09 - 04:41 AM

Poem 144 of 230: LINGOLF

(TUNE:

Eb G G G A A
A Bb C' C' C' Bb
Eb F G A A A
F A Bb G G G)

Your honour, Your Honour.
    Watch out - he's a burglar.
I'm to school on your put.
    That's one heck of a cut!

It's my bread and butter -
    A left-to-right cutter.
That's where elephants die.
    That's a grave - not a lie.

I'm in the old plumb-duff;
    Tough - I'm on the cut-stuff.
The hooks with my driver,
    And fades with my putter.

There's a goalie in there.
    Trees are some nine-tenths air.
I have a soldier's plight -
    Always left, right, left, right.

Everything was fine -
    Apart from weight and line.
It took a member's bounce.
    A rare bird to announce.

An unlucky horseshoe.
    Had a look - liked the view.
Poetry in motion.
    Read with blind devotion.

He's just hit a cracker.
    I'm only a hacker.
I wish I'd missed the well.
    A fried-egg where it fell.

A crop of a divot.
    It was speed that killed it.
Your wedges land so neat -
    Butterflies with sore feet.

Like pitching in pudding.
    Never up, never in.
Drive for show, put for dough.
    Can't beat bad luck, you know.

He's just missed a gimme.
    That, then, would be dormy.
It went in the side-door.
    A Bradman of a score.

Just spoiled a good walk.
    Can't play, but can he talk!
'Twas daylight robbery.   
    Not "how" but "how many."

The nineteenth's not too far -
Have a jar at the bar..?

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 11 May 09 - 04:51 AM

Fried-egg????? Since when did this need a hyphen?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 May 09 - 05:24 AM

True - there's no possible confusion in that line MT, but fried and egg do appear together a lot..?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 11 May 09 - 05:27 AM

and plum duff doesn't have a 'b'

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 May 09 - 09:15 AM

Again, true Stu - but, whilst my dictionary gives "choicest part" for "plum", it also gives "exactly" for "plumb"..?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 11 May 09 - 09:25 AM

And in this sense, 'Putt' has two t's. Otherwise, the line makes no sense. The poem is not bad, for a hammered together collection of ancient golfing cliches.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 May 09 - 09:59 AM

Thanks MT - that definitely is a mistake (of six years standing, frankly), which I shall fix shortly...owe you a "jar at the bar"!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 11 May 09 - 10:39 AM

...and you do know that plum duff is slang for homosexual?

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 May 09 - 10:56 AM

For golfers in the rough, then, Stu, we better leave it as "plumb duff".

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 May 09 - 04:51 AM

Haven't played golf for about a decade, but before that...

Poem 97 of 230: COLLECTING THE CARDS

Some folks are plant diehards,
    Others keep foreign coins;
Twitchers collect sightings,
    And golfers their scorecards.

My hobby's the latter,
    And, in many places,
I've managed just one round -
    Scores? Another matter!

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Bill D
Date: 12 May 09 - 02:15 PM

Been trying to decide what I am reminded of. Couldn't place it, so I let my imagination wander.


If Emily Dickenson and Ogden Nash had an affair and produced an offspring, and taught it poetry, and it took LSD and drank Budweiser while it strived to emulate Mom & Dad..

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 12 May 09 - 02:32 PM

Not Nash, surely McGonagle and an autistic teenage druggie, or some such marriage from hell...



A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 May 09 - 04:39 AM

...Poem 207 of 230: REGARDING DRUG ABUSE

Whenever I'm feeling bad,
    I try to change my thinking -
Another poem, a fad...
    Or let time do its passing.
For it's weak to abuse drugs,
And drug abuse weakens mugs...

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 13 May 09 - 06:19 PM

Through diligent research it has been found out,
That mugs break just as easily with or without.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 May 09 - 04:42 AM

...Poem 94 of 230: MOROCCAN TEA

Here's a hint
    Concerning mint.
It's very brief:
    Just pick a leaf
From the backyard,
    And wash if marred;

Leaf, bag, in mug,
    Boil the jug,
Pour in and stir,
    Oust the former.
It's easy, see -
    Moroccan tea...

Well, 'tis roughly.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 14 May 09 - 02:59 PM

Blended Indian's my tipple, but just to be droll,
   Its finest companion - Moroccan roll.
The kettle is sacred; forget it you not,
   But the secret of good tea is always the pot.
To brew in the mug is ne'er quite satisfact'ry,
   It offendeth the delicate senses olfact'ry.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 May 09 - 04:01 PM

"Blended Indian's my tipple" (Smokey)...I knew very little of Darjeeling and it's nice walks, plus some agitation in 1988 - I went the long way from Calcutta to Nepal, including a ride on top of a bus, simply to try the tea there.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 14 May 09 - 06:14 PM

Although you're retired from versification,
   No longer do travel or multiplication,
I'm forced to admire such courageous devotion
   As ventures, I'll wager, 'cross mountain and ocean
To sample the simple delights of a potion
   I whinge about fetching from Morrison's.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 15 May 09 - 06:29 AM

...Poem 101 of 230: JUST SUBSIST

(TUNE:

D F# G G A A G G
D A B B A A G G
D B B B A A G G
D A A A B A G G,
D A A A B A G G)

At times when I've had time to take,
    I've thought of a plot by a lake:
The plot would be of fertile ground;
    The lake would have some trout around.

The plot's house would be made of brick -
    Well insulated, in good nick.
And, round this abode, there'd be built -
    Solar panels, kept at best tilt.

Inside large coops would run the legs
    Of chooks and quails - for fresh eggs.
A vine for grapes plus summer shade;
    And, in thin beds, vegetables laid.

Up at dawn, to use all sunlight -
    Fish and farm by day, read at night.
A spouse with me I'd not resist -
    In retirement, we'd just subsist.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 16 May 09 - 04:46 AM

Poem 32 of 230: THE POLYNESIAN CULTURAL CENTRE

North, on the warm island of Oahu
    There's a really good place to see:
The Polynesian Cultural Centre -
    A centre linked by Christianity;
It's run by a broad-minded Christian group,
    Championing cultures while they preach.
I talked to a few of the kind members,
    And here's an abstract of their speech:

The employees are all uni. students,
    Labouring for their study and board;
They come from many Pacific islands,
    And are all believers in their Lord;
They are studying for varied degrees,
    And working at a number of jobs;
Some work as cultural entertainers,
    While others serve the tourist mobs.

I walked around for more than half a day,
    Then went to a skilled stage-show at night.
By day, the different island nations
    Do shows at their own cultural site;
There's good Tahitian cooking to be tried,
    Tamure dancing and hula, too.
Plus, at night, dramatic fire-walking,
    Drums and song, to name you but a few.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 17 May 09 - 05:23 AM

Poem 95 of 230 A GOOD LIFE

To fauna,
    Home-flora.
Sheep for wool -
    Fed till full.
Chooks for eggs -
    Free-range legs.
Milk from cows -
    Should well house:
Better grade
    Can be made.
Fish for game -
    Cut the pain.
Dogs for pets -
    No regrets.
And question
    Castration.

This does say
    Buddha's way,
And Blake's way:
    A good life -
For all life.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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And further on "To fauna, home-flora", I shall try and post the following piece of prose here, as yesterday I was prevented from re/staring a thread on native gardening - which the BBC, on Gardeners' World e.g., seem to be moving more-and-more away from, sadly...

Green gardening is native gardening, and vegetables, plus other consumables, should be the only exotic-flora we plant - as doing so can help limit food-miles, etc. By filling our other garden spaces with natives, we use less water and other resources, whilst aiding the native-fauna that, over the centuries, have evolved with them.
(Even high-nectar exotics, such as Buddleia, that are very attractive to SOME native-fauna, should be avoided, because they upset nature's/God's balance – God created evolution, too, that is.)
Our green gardens, with their vegies and natives, can be made still greener by the addition of compost heaps/bins; a wildlife pond – for native frogs, newts, etc, rather than exotic goldfish; bee- and bird-boxes, plus carefully selected feeders; rain- and grey-water vats; by growing everything organically, including thrifty home-propagation/species-swapping; and by leaving some lush untidy patches, decaying branches, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 May 09 - 04:23 AM

Poem 141 of 230: IN A SMALL POT

(TUNE:

D F# F# F#
G F# E E
D E E E
F# E D D)

I like Acers
    But rent a flat,
So mimic one
    In a small pot:

As for starters,
    I made a plat
Of ivy run
    Out from one spot;

To this basis,
    All round the mat,
In a trunk-bun,
    Dirt - soaked a lot;

Without traces
    (Not got down pat),
A moss-lawn spun
    And short-ferns shot;

And, like Acers,
    Branches have sat -
Wirework done -
    Toward the pot;

Trimmed with scissors,
    This foliage-hat
Thrives in the sun
    Of my sill-plot.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 May 09 - 04:46 AM

(As no-one else is posting nowadays, I've noticed it takes about 24 hours to go from top to bottom here, as a matter of interest.)

Poem 24 of 230: THROUGH SOUTH-EAST ASIA

A highlight of South-East Asia -
    As with other tropical lands -
Is the abundance of fresh fruits:
    At cutting which some have deft hands.
And, from these fruits, I'd often choose -
    To cool down from tropical heat -
A freshly prepared coconut:
    Chopped to drink; lining scooped to eat.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 May 09 - 04:34 AM

Poem 130 of 230: ENTRÉE/AT BOLTON'S ALBERT HALL: OPERA SONG - WINTER 2000/1

(TUNE:

G A B C' B
C' D' C' B
B C' B D' D'
G E D C
C' E' F' E' E'
E' E' D' C'
C' E' F' G' G'
G E D C)

From novel, and play,
To opera,
La Traviata
Was my entrée
To a media
I find is a
Fine way to relay
Human drama.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 20 May 09 - 08:10 PM

Medium..

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 21 May 09 - 03:12 AM

Doris Stokes! (Sorry, thought it was a crossword clue...)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 May 09 - 04:50 AM

Poem 161 of 230: AT THE CAPTAIN COOK BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM - SUMMER 2001

I listened and looked and read, then wrote,
    Within the remarks book, this brief note:
"Aborigines - first there/worst off"...
    And received a Rule Britannia cough.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stu
Date: 21 May 09 - 05:54 AM

"God created evolution"

LOL!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 21 May 09 - 01:05 PM

If you had a room full of clairvoyants, would they be called media?
Would they need to be told in advance?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 May 09 - 01:25 PM

What I do know, Smokey, is that the rhyme scheme of "ENTRÉE" (above) is abbaabba.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 21 May 09 - 01:30 PM

So good they named them twice :-)

I see what you mean about the rhyming, I'm just pedantic about misused plurae.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 May 09 - 04:37 PM

I'd rather listen to Swedish folk, Smokey - whatever the rhyme structure! ;-)>

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Smokey
Date: 21 May 09 - 05:20 PM

Ah, but folk music is only yesterday's pop..

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 May 09 - 05:17 AM

Poem 162 of 230: TEES TO TYNE: FIRST IMPRESSIONS - SUMMER 2001

(TUNE:

E F# F# E D E F# F#
F# G G A B A G G
D G A A B B A A
F# G A B B A A-G G

D D F# F# F#-G F# E E
E E E E F# E D D)

Where traditions are not so rare;
    Sea, country and works scent the air;
A multitude of monuments,
    Planted tubs and patterned pavements.

The longish pedestrian malls;
    The remnants of defensive walls;
"Broken-roofed buildings" are a gauge
    Of the respect for heritage.

Wheat, rape and pines in the fields;
    Estuaries guarded by shields;
Long sandy beaches and wide scenes;
    Romantic-ruin go-betweens.

Rivers in parts licked by trees,
    Or fringed by boat clubs, wharfs, gantries,
And crossed by practical delights -
    Varied spans, forming pleasing sights.

Fine churches headed at Durham;
    Football kits ad infinitum;
Kept castles - one for study;
    Masonry behind masonry.

And, with moulding-works out that way,
It's somewhere for a longer stay..?

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 May 09 - 04:00 AM

Poem 21 of 230: BOMBAY PORTER

Awaiting a train in Bombay,
    I was shocked into dismay;
For a well-dressed man, built strongly,
    Was walking, his hands set free,
Ahead of a bony porter -
    Heavy case on head, no quarter.

Shortly later, I watched again
    As out from the rich-man's train
Came the scrawny struggling porter -
    His thin back now much tauter;
For he writhed as he stretched his loins -
    After a quick count of few coins.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 May 09 - 06:05 AM

Poem 65 of 230: NORTH WALES

"Hills meeting sea"
    Proclaims to me
"Good scenery."

And it's views of North Wales,
    Both sides of the train-rails,
Whereupon this thought hails.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 May 09 - 05:24 AM

Poem 98 of 230: REREGULATE

One Premier world-eleven v.
    Another such company,
Or wage-caps and say half each-club's squad
    From the local-junior pod?
And, perhaps, heed the cricket-fan's call
    To convert to county-football..?

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 25 May 09 - 07:19 AM

A few points here, Wav. Once again, your Australian knowledge of England is a little hazy.
Wage caps have been tried several times in the football leagues; they were always, without exception, a complete disaster.
A question; what's a 'local-junior pod' (apart from a clumsy and tortuous attempt at rhyme?) Why the hyphen?
County cricket has been dying on its feet for years, but your analogy is false in any case; all counties except Yorkshire have had overseas and out of county born players since the end of the 19th century. Have you ever been to a County Championship game WAV? Ever seen a full ground?
I don't expect you as an Australian to understand an English institution like the Lancashire Leagues (or the Yorkshire equivalent for that matter), but they are contested by town and village sides, which I am sure you would approve of. Where do you think most of the retained professionals in these sides come from? Not England, WAV, not England. Ever heard of Basil D'Oliveira WAV? Played for Middleton in the 1960s. Viv Richards? Played for Rishton in the 1970s. People in Lancashire still talk fondly of Sir Learie Constantine playing for Nelson in the leagues. That was in 1928. I've asked you before; how far back does a cultural artefact have to go before it becomes part of the culture?
Once again your concepts of 'English' are shown to be utterly bogus, and based almost entirely on your mistaken ideology. Prove me wrong, WAV; do some proper research, absorb some actual learning instead of parroting your excruciating verse, and come back with a logical and thought-through argument about why we should ban players from other nations competing in sports in this country. Who knows, you might even convince me!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 May 09 - 05:03 AM

Poem 215 of 230: MOODS MORE NICE

As barter
Tends to cause
Some anger,
Seeing price
Tends to cause
Moods more nice.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 26 May 09 - 12:42 PM

Not usually being inclined to pedantry, but do you really mean barter there, WAV? Or are you thinking of haggling? There is a difference, and with all your anti-Capitalist protesting one would thing bartering would something you'd be in favour of.

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/barter.html

Otherwise haggling is the stuff of life; it's how we in the Family Sedayne buy everything from Victorian terraced houses to brand-new banjos. It never causes anger because it establishes a beneficial mutuality of contract - and always works both ways. Some years ago I gave a stall-holder £20 for a copy of the 1958 Oor Wullie Book he had marked up for 75p. I then marked it up at £60, though accepted £50 on it. God knows how much it's worth now.

If God created evolution, then he also created haggling. Never works in supermarkets and shops though, chiz, though occasionally I might flatter an Asda checkout girl into giving me a free shopping bag.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 May 09 - 03:11 PM

Thanks S. for the correction over what I meant - even though we disagree on it...

Poem 215 of 230: MOODS MORE NICE

As haggling
Tends to cause
Some wrangling,
Seeing price
Tends to cause
Moods more nice.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 26 May 09 - 03:44 PM

Do you get to the Tynemouth Metro Station Flee-market at weekends, WAV? If not - do so; it's a great place to sharpen your haggling skills, or else acquire a taste for it...

A couple of years back a stall-holder had an antique Clarkes-type German Calura tin-whistle (in E) marked up for £5. Knowing it was maybe worth three or four times that amount at least, quite naturally I offered him £3, being prepared to pay £4. The vendor refused to budge on his asking price so I told him to go fuck himself and passed on to the next stall where the holder was more amenable to this most ancient forms of human communication. A few months later, I noticed the first stall-holder had the Calura tin-whistle in his Everything for 50p tin; naturally I bought it without haggling, but pointed out that had he been prepared to play the game he'd have made £3.50 on it.
"Doesn't even work anyway," he said, pocketing his 50p.
"Oh no?" says I, busy with my trusty Opinel pen-knife, a quick lift of the lip and lo! the sweetest Irish air (Samhradh, Samhradh) thrills into the air. My parting shot: "And by the way - it's actually worth £35."

Actually, maybe you're right about niceness, but I do enjoy small moral victories in the cause of humanity. A refusal to haggle is a refusal to engage with life, and I've never been too convinced that niceness is that desirable a quality in a person. Certainly I don't have any nice people in my little gang...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 27 May 09 - 10:29 AM

Poem 179 of 230: A GLASSY TYNE - AUTUMN 2001

Near glassy-classical new Law Courts,
    From the snazzy Millennium Footbridge,
Reflecting fine bridges of other sorts -
    A glassy Tyne's snazzy sunset image.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stu
Date: 27 May 09 - 11:18 AM

"I've never been too convinced that niceness is that desirable a quality in a person"

woof woof woof!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 28 May 09 - 04:06 AM

Poem of 160 of 230: MACCLESFIELD - SUMMER 2001

After hearing the ways
    Of the old silk-weaving trade,
While being served some tea,
    Within the Mulberry Tree,
Memories came back to me
    Of - during my infant days -
Feeding 'worms till sheaths were made.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 May 09 - 04:58 AM

Poem 127 of 230: TO SPACIOUS SOUTHPORT - AUTUMN 2000

Most of the leaves
    Of poplar trees
Had fallen free
    When to the sea,
By bus then train,
    In stop/start rain,
I headed-down
    From Radcliffe Town.

After Wigan,
    The train began
To pass across
    What to me was
A coastal plain
    To see again -
With varied crops,
    And grazing op's.

From the station,
    Reconstruction
Soon came to eye
    As I walked, by
The gallery,
    Toward the sea,
And thereby thought:
    "Spacious Southport."

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 29 May 09 - 07:29 AM

Grazing op's'????????? Please explain WAV, I desperately need to understand what an op is, and what it grazes on. Are they dangerous? How many legs do they have?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 May 09 - 08:40 AM

Grazing operations, Tim - sheep (4), cattle (4), etc.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 29 May 09 - 08:50 AM

Oh, you mean 'grazing ops', as in 'operations', plural, no apostrophe, forced rhyme? Sorry to have troubled you.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 May 09 - 10:17 AM

Oops - surely it has to be either "op's" or "op.s", T. "Ops" is not an option as it is not a word.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 May 09 - 03:32 PM

Then, again, whilst "ops" is not in any of my dictionaries, it is in my spelling guide, so I think I'll go with your way, thanks, Tim.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 30 May 09 - 03:46 AM

Poem 85 of 230: LANDMINES

I'm thinking of Sting's song "Russians,"
    Which notes the ways wars can be fought;
He highlights nuclear weapons,
    And there's another crazy sort:

Landmines kill and maim innocents,
    Long after their targets have fled;
To them should go layers' repents,
    And mine production should be dead.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 May 09 - 04:29 AM

Poem 167 of 230: WITHIN CHESTER CATHEDRAL'S CLOISTERS - SUMMER 2001

After a wall-view
    Of the neat city;
Off a square in squares,
    From a bronze statue,
Falling on a pool,
    Rippling out towards
Lilies, ferns and reeds:
    Water - sounding cool.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Sedayne (Astray)
Date: 31 May 09 - 11:10 AM

Next time you're there, WAV, look up!

WITHIN CHESTER CATHEDRAL'S CLOISTERS - SUMMER 2006:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqZ24yVM4g4

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 May 09 - 11:42 AM

I'll try and remember that, S. - certainly a nice place to visit/revisit.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: olddude
Date: 31 May 09 - 12:26 PM

Nice images come to mind in the latest verses. I never been to those places but would certainly like to someday ... they sound wonderful actually

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: olddude
Date: 31 May 09 - 12:32 PM

David
where is South port located, in what part of Great Britain is it a fishing port with farms and shops ... are their a lot of tourists in the area. Sounds like a beautiful place

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 May 09 - 01:10 PM

Southport is on the coast of Lancashire, North West England, Olddude - there are tourists but not to the extent of nearby Blackpool.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 31 May 09 - 02:10 PM

Merseyside; part of the borough of Sefton. It is in the north west of England though,

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 May 09 - 05:09 PM

Okay, Stu, but..."Southport...historically a part of Lancashire" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southport)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 31 May 09 - 06:36 PM

In which case 'Southport was on the coast of Lancashire'. Grammar or fact, take your pick.

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 01 Jun 09 - 04:20 AM

Poem 136 of 230: LANCASHIRE SUNG SIMPLY

(TUNE:

D A Bb A
D A Bb A G F F
D A Bb A
D A Bb A G F F)

Lancashire:
Cut by rivers, met by sea;
Patched by farmland,
Mills and other industry.

Lancashire:
With your links-lands by the sea;
Rough left wild,
Greens and fairways clipped neatly.

Lancashire:
With your Pennine boundary;
Steeped in history,
Through your buildings, there to see.

Lancashire:
Where, through Graces, moorlands be;
Wooded parklands,
Flowered gardens - kept neatly.

Lancashire:
Red Rose County, God's blessed thee.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 02 Jun 09 - 04:47 AM

Poem 43 of 230: A BAYSWATER BED-SIT

Arrived in London,
    At Heathrow Airport,
With sixty kilos
    Of luggage I'd brought.

Found a paper, Loot,
    And called an agent;
Stored two heavy bags,
    Then to him I went.

For one week of rent,
    He'd ensure a bed
Within Bayswater -
    A bed-sit, he said.

It was eighty pounds
    Per week, nothing more,
With a lift arranged
    To the building's door.

Knackered and sleepless,
    I took the deal;
Checked-in quickly,
    Had a rushed meal.

Collected my bags
    (Tube there, shared-van back),
Then carried them up
    To my top-floor shack.

A penthouse - no need,
    It did me just fine;
A cook-top and fridge,         
    A table to dine.

Seated, I could watch
    The clouds roll by -
Often from the west -
    Or jets cut the sky.

There were large plane-trees,
    A squirrel or two;
And pigeons dropped by -
    Foregrounding the view.

Plus, at dawn, the sun
    Shined in from the east -
Filling the small room
    As on egg I'd feast.

And, contemplating,
    It occurs to me -
If all lived that well,
    How great it would be.

But a lot do sleep
    Outdoors many nights -
On sheets of cardboard,
    Without basic rights.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 03 Jun 09 - 04:26 AM

Poem 11 of 230: OTHER SIDE

On the road from Inverness to Glasgow
    (A very scenic road it is),
I hitched with a pair - Italiano;
    The left-hand-drive Fiat was his.

I think they had taken turns at driving -
    I'm not sure from where or how far;
But, when they picked me up from my hiking,
    The lady was driving the car.

I recall how warm their greet did feel,
    And what a thrilling trip it was;
For, as their hands fought over the wheel,
    Our lives came near to loss:

I was sitting tight on the back-right side -
    My ears off their argument;
But my eyes surely knew how close beside
    The oncoming vehicles went!

We arrived without a scratch at Glasgow,
    But it begs this point, I feel -
Why did our forebears decide to go
    Either side for the new wheel?

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 Jun 09 - 05:00 AM

I was there 21 years ago...

Poem 20 of 230: CHINA AND INDIA

China and India:
    Dense populations both;
But China is, by far,
    Much more humane - my oath;
For through both I took trains,
    And saw the gap in pains.

China and India:
    Great cuisines they have both;
But China is, by far,
    Much more humane - my oath;
For not once in packed China
    Was I begged by a minor.

China and India:
    Lasting cultures in both;
But china is, by far,
    Much more humane - my oath;
For India does need
    Left-policies - indeed!

(China and India:
    Many creatures in both;
But, in this case, China
    Is less kindly - my oath;
For, on pain, they fret less
    In keeping their food fresh.)

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 Jun 09 - 04:27 AM

Poem 21 of 230: BOMBAY PORTER

Awaiting a train in Bombay,
    I was shocked into dismay;
For a well-dressed man, built strongly,
    Was walking, his hands set free,
Ahead of a bony porter -
    Heavy case on head, no quarter.

Shortly later, I watched again
    As out from the rich-man's train
Came the scrawny struggling porter -
    His thin back now much tauter;
For he writhed as he stretched his loins -
    After a quick count of few coins.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Jun 09 - 05:09 AM

Poem 212 of 230: REMEMBER THEM?

Back when we became defenders
    (We have plainly been attackers),
Defenders' blood, sweat and years
    Were paid to keep a good home-way -
A way yet to be part stealth-blown,
    As mass immigration gained-sway
And as we slipped as maintainers.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 Jun 09 - 04:38 AM

Poem 159 of 230: WINDERMERE - SUMMER 2001

Some thirteen years from my first visit
    (Then, dropped from hitching, just near;
This time, by train and a downhill walk),
    I arrived at Windermere:

On the ferry Miss Cumbria Three,
    A chill-out trip to Ambleside -
Viewing the trees, the farms, the fells,
    And the more sporty ways to ride.

Once there, an uphill walk through the shops
    Led to a leaf, rock and root track,
With a stalactite-like mossy falls,
    And a bridge - starting the way back.

Track-side, gripping the ghyll, ancient woods
    Shaded what was a sunny day,
And the falling stream gave sound strongly -
    Calming the soul a further way.

Then home - again charmed by the thin-stone
    Minimum-mortar kept buildings,
The surrounds of England's largest lake,
    And movie train-window viewings.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 08 Jun 09 - 04:16 AM

(I wouldn't mind being volleyed back atop, Mods - it's a bit lonely down here.)

Poem 105 of 230: GLOBAL REGULATIONISM

No income-scale would be unjust -
    It's a matter of degree;
And, to have less inequality,
    Regulations are a must.

For, in Millennium's status quo,
    The pay-gaps for human work,
And what's gotten simply as a perk,
    Are wrong - inhumanely so.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 09 Jun 09 - 04:43 AM

Poem 64 of 230: LIVERPOOL

Caught a train, along a long-used line,
    From Manchester to Liverpool.
On that day the weather was fine:
    Sunny - just a little bit cool.
There, I purchased a Walkabout Guide,
    Marked some sights, and headed outside.

As usual when first at such a place,
    I walked to the main art-gallery,
The central mall, and the garden space;
    Then headed down to the wide Mersey.
There, from ferry, I viewed the skyline -
    A good sturdy cityscape, for mine.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 Jun 09 - 04:38 AM

WALKABOUTSVERSE 7 OF 230
Category: Writing and Poetry
Poem 7 of 230: RECENT HISTORY

There's a place called Sovereign Hill,
    Nigh the city of Ballarat,
With dated representations -
    And they're authentic ones at that.

You can pan for gold at the creek,
    Write some lines with inkwell and quill,
See bread baked the colonial way
    Or a blacksmith at his anvil.

There's a, pre-plastics, bowling lane -
    With everything made in wood;
A painted-photo studio,
    And a saloon built as they stood.

Ride in a draft-horse drawn carriage,
    See the front gardens of the day,
Read-up on mining history,
    Or watch costumed-revellers play.

And, just beside the "old" village,
    Should you decide to see some more,
There's homely accommodation;
    But heed - Kooris came long before.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 Jun 09 - 04:38 AM

Poem/Song/Chant 111 of 230: THE MERSEY AT DIDSBURY - SPRING 2000

(TUNE:

Eb F G Ab G
D F G Ab G
D F G Ab G
D G Ab Bb Ab
D G Ab Bb Ab
D F G Ab G)

Took bus one-four-three,                        
    From Piccadilly,
Along Oxford Road;
    Passed the old uni's,
Those shops with saris,
    And my first abode.

At Didsbury Village,
    The Old Parsonage
Looked neat, and gave sound,
    As I walked the way,
At about midday,
    To a Mersey mound.

From atop this bank,
    No longer a blank
Was the strong river,
    Nor the wide fairways -
Where I'd filled two days,
    Twelve years earlier.

I then headed back,
    On Stenner Woods' track
(Hearing more birdsong,
    And seeing mossed stumps
Plus well-layered clumps),
    To a human throng.

This throng was viewing -
    Justly pursuing -
The smart Rock Gardens,
    Sloped on Fletcher Moss,
Which I, too, did cross,
    Before homeward wends.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 Jun 09 - 04:34 AM

Poem 180 of 230: WHITLEY BAY FISHERMEN - AUTUMN 2001

But for the ghostly lighthouse on Saint Mary's,
    The, matching, moonlit-wash of broken waves,
The distant bulbs of liners sailing the seas,
    The Down Under's lights, from human-made caves,
And the inland blooms of Friday's zeal,
    Their night's beach fishing was all by feel.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Jun 09 - 05:40 AM

Poem 54 of 230: HOBSON'S CHOICE

During a day trip to Cambridge,
    My uncle showed the confined space
That left punters no choice to face -
    Using Hobson's trade of carriage.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Jun 09 - 05:03 AM

Poem 16 of 230: A BEAUTIFUL STAGE

If a couple, with plans to wed,
    Asked me, off the top of my head,
For somewhere I thought well in-tune
    As a place for a honeymoon,
It would have - flashing back - to be
    Beautifully-honed Italy.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 15 Jun 09 - 04:39 AM

Poem 156 of 230: EASTBOURNE - SUMMER 2001

On the day before the solstice,
    I first sighted Eastbourne:
A beautiful elegant place -
    English culture untorn.

Two long days allowed two long lanes
    To be walked before dark -
One after travel on four trains,
    One post-Devonshire Park.

The first was between sea and heath,
    And gardens signed by post,
Then up the Downs to view, beneath,
    The brutal handsome coast.

The next, contrasting that before,
    Showed all kinds of vessels -
Parked up along the pebbly shore
    And in marina cells.

(But, as for the women's tennis,
    It soon became a qualm -
As I was put-off by what is
    A great strain on their arm.)

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 16 Jun 09 - 04:37 AM

Poem 113 of 230: FOLLOWING THE SUN - SPRING 2000

Having moved, by buses, up the hill from Salford to Bury
    (To be within walk of new work, again),
These stimuli surround between my abode and the factory
    As I follow the sun - its wax, its wane:
Walking toward work and the rising sun, a morning chorus
    Rides the crisp breezy air of hill-farmland,
While gravel, of road and path, beneath my plonked feet crunches,
    And P.V.C. flaps loose of its hay-stand.

Bumble bees, tree sparrows and robins bob along the hedgerows,
    Squirrels and hares hop ahead on my route;
And on a weather-wrapped reservoir - glassy, or dulled by blows -
    Glide mute- and whooper-swans, ducks, geese and coot;
Horses, goats, sheep and cattle laze and graze on fields of green -
    Fields they, in turn, feed, helping make hay;
And, above, swifts and herons sometimes grace the aerial scene -
    A scene framed by a moorland chain of grey.

Slugs - some rusty, others pitch-black - slither on a clayey path,
    That slopes sharply beside the reservoir;
And a whitegood on green-grass - a horse trough, once a human bath -
    Amuses me as I view from afar;
As does Peel Monument, atop a distant Holecombe mount -
    By which an uncle and I once took lunch;
Disturbed nettles - brushed in such distraction - make their bulwarks count,
    And a shed-side arbour demands a hunch.

One time, three sheep-dogs determined me lost, and rounded me up;
    Oftentimes, the Metro. tram rattles by;
And, sometimes, a horse will urge me make handy a grassy cup,
    Or nudge for a scratch down its back and thigh;
On cooler mornings, the dew on grasses soaks my joggers through,
    But beautifies clumps of whimsy grass-heads;
And, already proceeding on his routine of chores to do,
    A farmer strong-hoses out the cowsheds.

Caravan-people leave their grouping to walk the well-worn track,
    And milk- and mail-vans squeeze tightly by;
Antique farm-machines rust away in a grassed ramshackle-stack,
    And pigeons startle from their grassy lie;                                                
In sun, fishing-people and bathers dot the reservoir's shore,
    And, in shade, ferns the sides of path and stream;
Near gates, manure fills the air and makes stepping a chore,
    But elsewhere the views are a poet's dream.

Magpies, near horses, bop around - perhaps for aroused worms;
    Laburnums sprung yellow, and hawthorns white,
Pleasingly, in nature, border the fields of farming-firms,
    And help enclose this Radcliffe rural site;
Plus, as I meander home from a day's factory toil,
    The sun, when it sets in a clear sky,
Forms a large amber ball, behind a converted cotton-mill -
    Signalling another day almost by.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 17 Jun 09 - 05:33 AM

(Yesterday, the national media in England were celebrating the fact that, via gambling on a lottery, one individual now has 100s of times more wealth than his neighbours - REVOLTING!)

Poem 138 of 230: AN OPIUM

National Lottery passes -
    Slight chances to be richer,
    With lots more than thy neighbour,
    Gained without any labour -
    Keep the system in favour:
An opium of the masses.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 Jun 09 - 04:22 AM

Poem 105 of 230: GLOBAL REGULATIONISM

No income-scale would be unjust -
    It's a matter of degree;
And, to have less inequality,
    Regulations are a must.

For, in Millennium's status quo,
    The pay-gaps for human work,
And what's gotten simply as a perk,
    Are wrong - inhumanely so.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Jun 09 - 06:09 AM

Poem 159 of 230: WINDERMERE - SUMMER 2001

Some thirteen years from my first visit
    (Then, dropped from hitching, just near;
This time, by train and a downhill walk),
    I arrived at Windermere:

On the ferry Miss Cumbria Three,
    A chill-out trip to Ambleside -
Viewing the trees, the farms, the fells,
    And the more sporty ways to ride.

Once there, an uphill walk through the shops
    Led to a leaf, rock and root track,
With a stalactite-like mossy falls,
    And a bridge - starting the way back.

Track-side, gripping the ghyll, ancient woods
    Shaded what was a sunny day,
And the falling stream gave sound strongly -
    Calming the soul a further way.

Then home - again charmed by the thin-stone
    Minimum-mortar kept buildings,
The surrounds of England's largest lake,
    And movie train-window viewings.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Jun 09 - 09:04 AM

Poem 228 of 230: REPATRIATING

I only sunbathe in winter -
    Behind closed glass;
I may need extra quilts at night -
    Warm or sleepless;
But most of my other ways spell -
    Anglicises.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Jun 09 - 04:50 AM

Poem 57 of 230: MANCHESTER - A GIST

Sports, large warehouses and merchants are the gist -
    A centre for distribution and trade,
Plus making goods and services for this list;
    Well placed, in these, it seems, the future's laid.

Oh - I should note the entertainment trade,
And that, from fruit and grain, fine foods are made.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 04:53 AM

Poem 229 of 230: JOYS OF LIFE

Leightons, and other great art;
    Plumes of fireworks at night;
The vivid reds of sunrise -
    Repeated at day's last light.

The beats through us of a drum;
    Winter's sun felt through closed glass;
Handing in the last exam;
    Awakenings – alarmless!

The ball, off thee, whacks their net;
    When, to palms, leather has stuck;
Orange juice during half-time;
    A warm bath to wash the muck.

Viewing set-over cricket;
    A golf ball, for once, well struck;
Viewing velodrome cycling;
    From net-chord, levelling luck!

Sticks, chants, didgeridoo,
    Haunting harps, and all bagpipes;
Clog, flamenco, tamure,
    Hula, and other dance types.

Out, by a cast, being told;
    In - taking tea and T.V.;
Highland views that command rest;
    The buildings of Italy.

Thrifty plant-propagation;
    By a wave one's body hit;
Upstream of camp - with paddle;
    By a fire - strongly lit.

Forest spent-leaves under foot;
    Tasting a host-nation's fare;
Alcedo atthis at work;
    Just-bills being brought to bear.

Allegros when feeling low;
    An andante to wind down;
Spoken French and chorused song;
    The quiet when out of town.

A stroll through a kept garden,
    Before Sunday's roast dinner;
A pub game, drink and meal;
    One's team a comeback winner.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 05:31 AM

Sticks, chants, didgeridoo,
    Haunting harps, and all bagpipes;
Clog, flamenco, tamure,
    Hula, and other dance types.

I've known nights like that too; in fact at one of the old Scoraig Festivals back in the 80s I'm sure we had that very line-up - didg, clarsach and bagpipes (plus crwth) playing up a Feral Folk storm as the dancers were dancing every dance ever danced...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 09:50 AM

That's not quite what I meant, S., but nice to have a visitor down here under! I was just thinking about Durham as it happens...are we 2 going to leave our instruments in the bag for the evening singaround this year - so that it's 100% unaccompanied singing..?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 11:12 AM

Better than that, WAV - Rachel will be fielding her banjo for the first time at the DFP, thus honouring the Big Man's memory, inspiration & example with a few transatlantic ditties; so chances are you'll be getting the banjo & Black Sea Fiddle in one accord and vocal harmonies to match as I get my head around such alt-country stylings. Check the first two Here...

That said, I've half a mind to sing Child #51 unaccompanied in the afternoon ballad session for auld lang syne...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 11:40 AM

Checked on Child No 51 for curiosity Sean. Bearing the content in mind, the adjacent Google entry for Child 51 is:

"CHILD 51 takes students through the basic roles of parenting, including practical knowledge for discipline; teaching values; communicating with children; and creating a nurturing, stress-free home environment."

Says it all.

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 11:53 AM

Love it!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 03:13 PM

300!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Jun 09 - 06:07 PM

Slow down you eat too fast
gotta make the lunch hour last
just kickin down
restaurant row

lookin for lunch
and feelin Queezy.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Jun 09 - 09:52 AM

...and, however we are feelin', Donuel, it's probably better to eat at least an hour before we sing.

Poem 162 of 230: TEES TO TYNE: FIRST IMPRESSIONS - SUMMER 2001

(TUNE:

E F# F# E D E F# F#
F# G G A B A G G
D G A A B B A A
F# G A B B A A-G G

D D F# F# F#-G F# E E
E E E E F# E D D)

Where traditions are not so rare;
    Sea, country and works scent the air;
A multitude of monuments,
    Planted tubs and patterned pavements.

The longish pedestrian malls;
    The remnants of defensive walls;
"Broken-roofed buildings" are a gauge
    Of the respect for heritage.

Wheat, rape and pines in the fields;
    Estuaries guarded by shields;
Long sandy beaches and wide scenes;
    Romantic-ruin go-betweens.

Rivers in parts licked by trees,
    Or fringed by boat clubs, wharfs, gantries,
And crossed by practical delights -
    Varied spans, forming pleasing sights.

Fine churches headed at Durham;
    Football kits ad infinitum;
Kept castles - one for study;
    Masonry behind masonry.

And, with moulding-works out that way,
It's somewhere for a longer stay..?

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Jun 09 - 04:16 AM

Poem 114 of 230: CLITHEROE CASTLE'S VIEWS - SUMMER 2000

From outside metres-thick wall
    (Down on leafy grounds grown tall,
Then across stony households
    To lush-green sheep-grazing folds,
And up further to the moor),
    Clitheroe Castle's views soar.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Nick
Date: 24 Jun 09 - 07:40 PM

Poem 114 of 230: INSIDE CLITHEROE - SUMMER OF 69

From inside WalkaboutsVerse-proof wall-oo
    (Opposite the entrance to the Portaloo
Leftwise across from the tearooms charms
    Where, from the Chapel, you can hear the psalms,
I hit the four pronged signpost and watch it swivel
    And wonder why I write this drivel.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 05:26 AM

Wheat, rape and pines in the fields;

Actually, WAV - I think you'll find that most of the casual al-fresco coitus in the North Country is quite mutual - traditionally, historically or otherwise. Wheat helps of course, but pines in the fields? Generally when you're looking at pines, you're looking at a non-native plantation, and not the ideal place for al-fresco coitus on account of the needles. The other sort of rape, of course, is oil-seed rape - another odious and malodorous non-native cash-crop unknown in the UK before the 1970s, though common, I believe, in Europe from the 13th century.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 05:30 AM

(Ah yes, Nick, English "tearooms" - scarcer than hens teeth these days, but enough to make anyone dribble, or "drivel".)

Poem 9 of 230: THE CAMELLIA GARDENS

In Sydney's Sutherland Shire,
    There's a relaxing place to see:
It's called the Camellia Gardens,
    And one can wander round for free.

Down and along an escarpment
    Meanders a thin stony path;
Beside which grow the camellias -
    Beaut. autumn-blooms the aftermath.

With the evergreen-camellias
    Are a range of native species;
And, atop the leafy hillside,
    A shop sells snacks, coffees and teas.

Plus, down below, there is parkland,
    Where couples rest as children play;
And they walkabout the fish ponds,
    Or the shoreline of Yowie Bay.

(But, regarding plant selection,
    With more knowledge, over the years,
On flora, fauna and their links,
    I'd say - natives not camellias.)

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 11:21 AM

Please keep your garden poetry over here, WV. I don't come in here complaining about bad poetry, so please keep your wacko gardening ideas and slight poetry contributions off of the gardening thread. It's there to talk about gardening.

Thanks.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 12:12 PM

SRS - on Mudcat people are free to post what they want, where they want, and on whatever pretext they so choose. Such censuring is not only potentially hurtful, but runs contrary to the spirit of the threads themselves. In any case, WAV's THE CAMELLIA GARDENS is very pertinent to the thread in question, garnering at least one response, no matter how good, bad or otherwise it might be as a poem, and whatever motives he might otherwise have for posting it.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 12:14 PM

I agree with SRS, I REALLY wish WAV would keep his 'poetry' where it belongs, in this case on this particular thread.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 12:26 PM

I'm WALKABOUTSverse! SRS and Rifleman (and, as S.O. says, it's not done willie nillie; and, if we care about native flora and fauna, wherever we live in the world, we should help compensate for loss of native habitat, due to changed farming demands and techniques etc, by choosing to plant natives in our gardens. (With the exception of veggies and other consumables, which can help reduce food miles, etc.) More here.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 12:31 PM

I like yer poetry, WAV. It has the common touch. When I read it I can picture all them quaint English scenes in my head clear as day and it takes me back to the times I have spent in the UK assertin' the freedoms and rights of primates to drink in English pubs right alongside Englishmen if they damn well want to! Had to bust a few heads to get that point across...

What I am wonderin' is...have you done any poems about the Royals yet? I would like to get yer take on the lives of the Queen and the rest of 'em there in Buckingham Palace.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 12:42 PM

If I may break my "daily ditty" rule, I hope this peels your banana, Chongo...

Poem 225 of 230: AFTER PSALM 118:9 AND MATTHEW 4:8-10

The monarchies
    Now are blasphemies -
The only born-ruler
    Is a God-chosen Schooler.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 01:30 PM

The only born-ruler
    Is a God-chosen Schooler.

That would be The Pope then, right?

Seriously, WAV - you really have to work harder on your assimilation / repatriation. Ditch the homespun idealism and embrace the multi-ethnic multi-cultural monarchist reality that is our beloved United Kingdom.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 02:23 PM

That's an unusual viewpoint, WAV. I gotta think about it some. But thanks. ;-)

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 03:14 PM

The Pope, S.O., who, in my opinion, should be leader of the Church of Italy only, is elected in a democracy of sorts by his fellows - remember, waiting and looking up for the colour of the smoke and all that?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Nick
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 03:27 PM

FREEVERSE 27 - on Elysian Fields

I pine in the fields
Not because of cones
But because of a deep sense of sadness
And a problem sometimes of scansion and rhyme not quite working
It's the pain of creation
and lack of puncteation
(And spelling)
Where is Harmony?
Where is Destiny?
Where are the other Angels?

Suggested chords - but only play the roots
(D F#m Bm Bm/A# Bm/A Em Gm)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Rifleman (inactive)
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 03:56 PM

"by choosing to plant natives in our gardens"
WAV I'll plant what I wish to plant, in my garden, regardless of the origin of plant, so PLEASE spare me you nationalistic ravings

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Nick
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 05:33 PM

PLANTING NATIVES IN MY GARDEN

I planted natives in my garden
But unfortunately none of them grew.
Perhaps I shouldn't have planted them in boxes
Perhaps they should have been alive too.
White fingers rather than green.


Good fun this poetry lark isn't it?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 10:37 PM

Poetry is okay, specially on a slow day, but it will never equal the effectiveness of carryin' a loaded gat in yer vest and a tommy gun with a full ammo drum mounted below the dashboard of yer car...always take care that the barrel is pointin' away from the driver's side. You don't wanta hit a bad bump if it's pointin' the wrong way.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 04:19 AM

Nick and Rifleman: creating an attractive native garden in some parts of our world can be quite a challenge - but a challenge worth taking for the love of native fauna and, LINKED, flora.

Chongo...

Poem 100 of 230: MONOPOLY

It seems to me,
    Ideally and practically,
In an equitable society,
    A well-audited police-force and army
Should have a monopoly
    On weaponry.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 27 Jun 09 - 04:08 AM

Poem 10 of 230: LAND'S END TO JOHN O' GROATS

(TUNE:

D G A A B B A A
D A B B A A G G
D B B B A A G G
D A B A B A G G)

At the bold age of twenty-one
    (Via Hong Kong, China, Macau),
I flew from Sydney to London -
    Land's End to John o' Groats my vow.

I took a train out of London,
    Found a highway and thumbed a ride;
I headed down toward Brighton,
    Then hitch-hiked roads the coast beside.

On the face of my shoulder bag,
A sketched map of Aus. was my tag;
For said a Scot who'd hitched Europe:
"Some emblem may well boost your hope."

And drivers throughout the island,
Over a two month riding span,
Were the kindest folks I have met -
I swear not once did I get wet!

I stopped overnight in Portsmouth,
    And one or two nights in Torquay;
Then headed along to Plymouth -
    Still travelling beside the sea.

After viewing rugged Land's End,
    I began the long journey north -
North-east, rather, before a bend,
    Somewhere in a bit from Bournemouth.

On the way, I saw relatives,
Whom after leaving I did miss -
Their homes' cosy atmosphere,
And their local pubs' good cheer.

And the hitched-lifts came from many:
An off-work Bobbie, a truckie,
As well as on-duty soldiers -
Thanks, and I've not said where each was!

I headed west through South Wales,
    And viewed Cardiff Arms from afar -
I was hitching with local males,
    And they showed me from in the car.

I stayed a while at Swansea -
    Saw the local footballers play;
Then hitched north through Llandovery -
    Beautiful farmland, I must say.

I slept mostly in B. & B's,
Where the full breakfasts sure did please;
But also stopped in Youth Hostels,
Where it's the comradeship that tells.

My favourite sites were Torquay,
Old St. Andrews (noted shortly),
The road Glasgow-to-Inverness,
The Lakes, plus London's spots, no less.

From Colwyn Bay, I headed east
    To Manchester, my place of birth;
Then on the Lakes my eyes did feast,
    Before I passed by Solway Firth.

Onto Edinburgh, Glasgow,
    St. Andrews, before Inverness;
Then waves from locals were the go -
    Warm folks round John o' Groats, I'd guess.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 04:53 AM

Poem of 160 of 230: MACCLESFIELD - SUMMER 2001

After hearing the ways
    Of the old silk-weaving trade,
While being served some tea,
    Within the Mulberry Tree,
Memories came back to me
    Of - during my infant days -
Feeding 'worms till sheaths were made.

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PS: but is it cruel..?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 12:43 PM

Whoa! We are WAY apart on the gun issue, WAV. I prefer a society where just about EVERYBODY is packin' some heat and then people can defend 'emselves if they need to. THAT's what I call "equitable".   That way you can separate the men from the boys, to use a human expression...or the apes from the monkeys, as I would rather put it. Puttin' guns only in the hands of the police and army is like lockin' yerself inside a cage and givin' THEM the key! It's the slippery slope to a friggin' dictatorship.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 28 Jun 09 - 01:09 PM

I stress "a WELL AUDITED police-force and army" (me, above), Chongo.
Say, e.g., you and someone you normally get on not too bad with have a very stong one-off disagreement - so much more damage can be done if guns &/or knives, e.g., are involved, yes?...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Chongo Chimp
Date: 29 Jun 09 - 12:31 AM

You ain't kiddin' about that! However, there are times when you really want to do that much damage...not to a friend, but to an enemy. I hafta say that despite packin' heavy firepower all these years on the streets of Chicago, I have never blown away a friend. Never. And I've had some severe disagreements with friends too...but we know where to draw the line when it comes to that...no gunplay among friends! And no knives either.

As to how many enemies I've blown away...well, considerably more than a few. Each and every one of 'em had it comin' too. Look, when ya got a snarlin' gorilla starin' at you down the barrel of a tommy gun, there is only one sensible thing to do: shoot him first.

I can't depend on the police or the army when it comes to this. They are usually not around when you need 'em is what I find.

I do admit you got a bit different situation in the UK. This is the USA, remember. This is the home of Wild Bill Hickock, Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Big Daddy Malone, and Baby Face Nelson. You gotta watch yer own back if you live in the USA, that's my take on it.

- Chongo

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 Jun 09 - 04:18 AM

Poem 152 of 230: HISTORY IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY?

History is a foreign country?
    Reading Chaucer's 'Tales one can see -
In brilliant witty prosody -
    A definite continuity
In the matters of humanity.
    So how, then, could one fail to be
Without respect for one's history?

As we can learn from other cultures,
So, too, from our own through its years.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 30 Jun 09 - 05:18 AM

Poem 133 of 230: OXFORD BLUE - SPRING 2001

A contract ended/a new one begun,
    And a move from Bolton back to Bury -
A top-floor council-flat, within Radcliffe,
    Where streets are named from names in poetry,
And homes are framed by scenes I'm happy with.

My thirteenth home needed some touching-up,
    And I chose, in the main, to D.I.Y.;
So a nailed off-cut-and-rug make-do
    Covers the small floor where shelved books now lie -
My first study, painted in Oxford Blue.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 05:13 AM

Poem 206 of 230: MY DIET

Chasing breads, nuts, bananas,
    Red sauce, apples, sultanas,
Crackers, conserves, cucumbers,
    Pickles, porridge, pottages -

Lemon barley,
    Cocoa, coffee,
Or cups of tea.

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Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 07:43 AM

Basically Kellog's Fruit & Fibre then?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 04:10 PM

I was offered a rotten banana
By a fellow who wore a bandana
He was selling them from a cabana
In the heat of the westering sun

"I prefer them," I said, "somewhat greener
Or perhaps even half in-betweener.
I have seldom seen something obscener!"
In the heat of the westering sun

Leaping up in a fury, he shouted
"My bananas have never been doubted!
I will not let my honor be flouted!"
In the heat of the westering sun

He attacked me without further warning
And all rules of fair combat was scorning
And I feared for my future that morning
In the heat of the westering sun

He was strangling me with the bandana
When our struggles brought down the cabana
And engulfed us in rotten bananas
In the heat of the westering sun

Thus my life might have miserably ended
But by fate I was kindly befriended
When he slipped on a peel and up-ended
In the heat of the westering sun

And today I still keep the bandana
But I never go near the cabana
Where he's still sellling rotten bananas
In the heat of the westerning sun

(sing to the tune of the Mexican Hat Dance)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 04:26 PM

Once I lived in a sorry slum,
Sitting on my useless bum
Life was hum and also drum
Back in my younger years.

But then I set out for to walk
And found that though I could not talk,
Because my voice would always squawk,
I could conquer all my fears.

I took to scribbling things in rhyme,
And pasting up such tedious lines
As helped me pass my tedious time,
Back in my younger years.

I walked from hither o'er to Yon,
ANd many a road I traveled on,
If anyone asked, I'd be long gone
With a knowing, rhymish leer.

I went by foot and train and tug,
Slept among strangers, fields and bugs,
And gradually, I grew most smug,
Rhyming away my years.

I kept them all, each couplet lame,
I knew no meter, felt no shame,
I knew someday they'd bring me fame,
Those rhymes from my younger years.

But now I sense the gathering ghost,
And online spend my days in boast,
Where I post and post and post and post
The rhymes from my younger years.

And so a poet's wreath I claim!
I put McGonagle to shame!
With scansion weak and image lame,
I fill my later years.

And if my lines offend your head,
And make you squirm and toss in bed,
Go off and read some other thread!
For mine will run for years.

Ratius Secundus Vorsiphae
A Panoply Of Uncharted Shallows
Meagre, Pickens, "Immodern Poetics"
Glasgow, 2002

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 04:38 PM

...and send to the EU, thanks LH! - re: bent bananas.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 05:01 PM

Oh, Bravo, Amos! Cunningly writ, as always.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: catspaw49
Date: 01 Jul 09 - 05:30 PM

LMFAO AMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So WavyFWBR......Do you have enough bandages and antiseptic to stop the bleeding? I think though upon a reread you need stitches cause you're like bleeding to death here............

Amos, your manner of cruelty is impressive and boundless......I am humbled at your mastery!


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 04:28 AM

(Well, Spaw, I certainly enjoyed Amos's pics of Belize more.)

Poem 93 of 230: ONE-POT COOKING

While living as a bachelor,
    I've cooked in just one pot -
Cast iron with a wooden handle,
    It can hold quite a lot:

Slices of potato and carrot
    Are boiled a while,
Before a thinly-chopped onion
    Is mixed with the pile;

Then I drain off most of the water,
    Add canned lentils and beans,
Stir with spice and tomato sauce -
    To an end, it's a means.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 02:46 PM

Although I did not think you would enjoy my ditty, WAV, it was intended more as a didactic doggerel than any cruelty. I do apologize if I hurt your feelings, although I might add it is quite reciprocal.


A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: The Sandman
Date: 02 Jul 09 - 05:29 PM

when living in sin
I baked in a tin
a tart for my sweetheart.
slices of plum
soaked in sugar and rum
made my lover succumb
then we took of our clothes
and to nature exposed
the dong with the luminous nose

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 08:06 AM

Poem 96 of 230: PARADIGMS

"Thirty-all" is, in effect, "deuce";
    Nobody has seen an "atom":
An atom remains a model;
    "Thirty-all" an umpire's call.
"They we just simply had to bomb";
    And there are other given "truths"...

If we humans evolved from apes,
Why on earth are there living apes?

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 09:48 AM

You are 't keeping up, waver. Try looking up pictures of atoms taken with electron micrographs.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: catspaw49
Date: 03 Jul 09 - 10:00 AM

And you are obviously a few bricks shy on how evolution regarding the ascent of man works as well. Yes, ascent.......Matter of fact, go read a book or watch a series called just that, "Ascent of Man".............I doubt you learn anything but there is always hope I suppose............


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 Jul 09 - 05:37 AM

Spaw and Amos: for what it's worth, I agree with much of the evolutionist argument presented by Darwin, Attenborough, etc., but it DOES have it's faults/there IS a God. And are such "micrographs" (Amos) seeing an "atom"..?

Poem 25 of 230: UBUD

At Bali's Ubud,
    I wound myself down:
Having done Asia,
    It was just the town -
Before Australia
    And work to be found.

Staying in a hut
    (Traditional 'twas),
Beside rice paddies,
    And just eight dollars,
My mind was at ease -
    Calm like a scholar's.

I read and I mused
    Over where I'd been;
Saw Monkey Jungle,
    Which is cool and green;
And, from a bundle,
    Chose an artist's seen.

At night, a gecko -
    Friendly, on the wall;
By day, a farmer -
    At his rice-toil;
And, always, culture -
    Ubud's worth a call.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 04 Jul 09 - 05:53 AM

Well, I'm glad that's settled.

Where in England does he live?

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 Jul 09 - 04:14 AM

Poem 14 of 230: NIGHT OR DAY?!

In the far north of Sweden,
    A "Land of the Midnight Sun,"
A strange thing chanced upon me -
    And I'll tell you, just for fun.

Got off a train late-morning
    (Had to catch same one next day)
And trudged far to the Youth Hostel -
    Paying for a one-night stay.

I spent the afternoon sightseeing,
    Then, after a latish dinner,
Returned to my own small bedroom -
    The comfy bed proving a winner.

For I soon dozed into dreamy sleep -
    Waking what was just two hours hence;
But my watch was an analogue,
    And night or day I couldn't sense!

I quickly packed all my things
    (My train an hour or thirteen on)
And hurried out the bedroom -
    The bright sky a sneaky con.

I wandered down the track a bit
    (The Hostel office empty),
Before a smiling helpful local
    Did kindly enlighten me.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 05 Jul 09 - 09:00 PM

Your assertion, given your qualifications, is unpersuasive.

As for "seeing"--if you limit seeing to the capability of an eyeball of human specfication, you probably don't believe in germs, galaxies or dinosaurs, either--but somehow, your assertion about God still makes sense to you?

Gyamme wan break....



A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Jul 09 - 06:20 AM

Poem 7 of 230: RECENT HISTORY

There's a place called Sovereign Hill,
    Nigh the city of Ballarat,
With dated representations -
    And they're authentic ones at that.

You can pan for gold at the creek,
    Write some lines with inkwell and quill,
See bread baked the colonial way
    Or a blacksmith at his anvil.

There's a, pre-plastics, bowling lane -
    With everything made in wood;
A painted-photo studio,
    And a saloon built as they stood.

Ride in a draft-horse drawn carriage,
    See the front gardens of the day,
Read-up on mining history,
    Or watch costumed-revellers play.

And, just beside the "old" village,
    Should you decide to see some more,
There's homely accommodation;
    But heed - Kooris came long before.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 Jul 09 - 05:39 AM

Poem 6 of 230: THE PICKER

While picking onions at Echuca,
    Betimes I came across a
Man who was, he said, by trade a picker.

A compact and stocky physique had he;
    Kind he was to first-time me -
Advising, "You should pick 'em on your knee."

Then he told me of his long-kept plan
    Of travel, by caravan,
To pick seasoned crops, over a wide span.

But workers' rates, I knew, were non too fair -
    Twenty dollars a tonne, there,
Was all the onion-crop owner could spare.

Though (with tally taken by some louse,
    And told to see owner or spouse),                                 
Believe me, they lived in some kind of house.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 04:01 AM

Poem 146 of 230: HORSES FOR COURSES?

To some, in income-anticipation,
    Horse-baulking at gates is a small debase;
To me, it seems a memory/fear case
    Over the coming whip-castigation.
To some, the winning jockey's elation
    Is the highlight of an ended horserace;
To me, the horse's bulged veins and scared face
    Undermine the winners' celebration.
I can't condone a punter's desire
    To gamble rather than earn a living,
    But can acknowledge a jockey's courage;
I can't see and think as a raced sire,
    Nor feel the scrapes hedges are giving,
    But find horses choiceless in their bondage.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 07:27 AM

I agree with much of the evolutionist argument presented by Darwin, Attenborough, etc., but it DOES have it's faults/there IS a God.

The Theory of Evolution is one of the great breakthroughs of Secular Humanism; it stands as a cornerstone of the Scientific Enlightenment which flies in the face of religion & such-like mumbo-jumbo by opening up a whole new set of possibilities that lie beyond such anachronistic constructs as Spirituality and God. The Theory of Evolution evolves as our understanding of the mechanisms grow; the evidence is steadily mounting, and our whole picture of The Natural & Entirely God-less Universe becoming each day clearer as a result. To hike religion to to The Theory of Evolution, is, I fear to miss the point of both Religion and Science. Religion is our make-believe fantasy of the unknown; Science is our means of getting to know that unknown. As the unknown recedes, so does our need for religion.

God is a character in a story we used to tell in the dark days; to the Abrahamics he created the material universe; to the Gnostics, the creator God was, in effect, The Devil. That such essential dualism filters through as we emerge blinking into the clear light of The Enlightenment (Marxist Dialectic, Nature vs. Nurture etc.) is fascinating in itself, but, at the end of a very long night indeed, to say that God created evolution is rather like saying God created Secular Humanism; or that God created Atheism; or that God created the illusion that he does not exist to test our faith.

I wonder, WAV, are you suggesting that God created the process of the universe from The Big Bang onwards, or is this inbuilt into the universe he created in 6 days back in 4004 BC, along with the Illusion of the Theory of Evolution that stands in stark contradiction to the very notion of God? If God created evolution, who doesn't it say so in The Bible?

Perhaps we find the answers here:

The Creation Museum - Prepare to believe

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 08 Jul 09 - 08:32 AM

Parts of The Bible and parts of Darwin's On the Origin of Species are - perhaps deliberately sometimes - unclear, S., but I remain sure that there is a God.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 04:35 AM

Parts of The Bible and parts of Darwin's On the Origin of Species are - perhaps deliberately sometimes - unclear,

The Origin of Species is the beginning of a process which is getting steadily clearer as time marches on; unfortunately, the Bible still reads like the ravings of a mad horse, getting progressively less clear as we move away from that sort of thinking.

Ultimately I am an atheist because I can't conceive of a greater divinity than Duke Ellington, who was only too human.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 09 Jul 09 - 04:42 AM

Poem 154 of 230: GETTING TO KNOW GOD

God lets us go
    Our own way -
Until the Day;
    Now and then, though,
He has a Say
    In His own Way -
Prophets to Sow,
    Deserts to Pay.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 Jul 09 - 05:11 AM

Poem 22 of 230: HIGH HOUSEBOAT

When in India,
    I headed north
For the Himalaya.

Up, by train then bus,
    To Kashmir -
It was much cooler, thus.

Stayed there on Dahl Lake,
    By Srinagar -
For my tight-budget's sake.

'Twas a houseboat room:
    Run down, low cost -
But there I felt no gloom.

A solo mother -
    She had four kids -
Was the floor-manager.

At dawn, her daughter -
    The eldest one -
Brought me food and water.

I washed with bucket,
    Ate scrambled eggs -
As good as one could get.

From Dahl Lake's shoreline
    To the houseboats,
Canoe trips run just fine.

Day-tripped to Gulmarg,
    And played a round -
As always, kept the card.

It is the highest
    Green-kept golf-course,
And sure is quite a test!

Played another course,
    At Srinagar -
And it, too, I endorse.

For "with-dependants,"
    I should, though, add -
War, sadly, still rants.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll) (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 Jul 09 - 03:58 AM

Poem 94 of 230: MOROCCAN TEA

Here's a hint
    Concerning mint.
It's very brief:
    Just pick a leaf
From the backyard,
    And wash if marred;

Leaf, bag, in mug,
    Boil the jug,
Pour in and stir,
    Oust the former.
It's easy, see -
    Moroccan tea...

Well, 'tis roughly.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll) (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 Jul 09 - 04:42 AM

Poem 24 of 230: THROUGH SOUTH-EAST ASIA

A highlight of South-East Asia -
    As with other tropical lands -
Is the abundance of fresh fruits:
    At cutting which some have deft hands.
And, from these fruits, I'd often choose -
    To cool down from tropical heat -
A freshly prepared coconut:
    Chopped to drink; lining scooped to eat.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Jul 09 - 05:36 AM

Poem 36 of 230: WALKABOUT MEXICO

In late December,
    1996,
I can remember
    Being in a fix -
For time and pesos -
    And, thus, unable
To see Mexico's
    Sights commendable.

So, in Tijuana,
    I enjoyed the show
At a miniature
    Rep. of Mexico.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Jul 09 - 07:14 AM

Poem 227 of 230: ROTATING SHIFTS

There will always be places
    That need to be staffed
Twenty-four hours a day,
    But I think it's daft
To rotate bodies and minds
    Around any craft...

The better way seems to be
    Penalty-rates paid
For three fixed eight-hour shifts -
    With adjustments laid,
By those choosing to work nights,
    For sleep to be made.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 15 Jul 09 - 04:42 AM

Poem 21 of 230: BOMBAY PORTER

Awaiting a train in Bombay,
    I was shocked into dismay;
For a well-dressed man, built strongly,
    Was walking, his hands set free,
Ahead of a bony porter -
    Heavy case on head, no quarter.

Shortly later, I watched again
    As out from the rich-man's train
Came the scrawny struggling porter -
    His thin back now much tauter;
For he writhed as he stretched his loins -
    After a quick count of few coins.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 16 Jul 09 - 05:19 AM

Poem 86 of 230: ROBOTS

In factories,
    I've spent sometime
Working machines
    Whose goods should rhyme -
Moulding machines,
    Whose plastic shots
Are sorted by
    Auto. robots...

Well, now robots -
    Before 'twas folks:
Process workers.
    Employment hoax?

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 17 Jul 09 - 04:33 AM

Poem 31 of 230: NEW ZEALAND

Separated, I again perceived New Zealand:
    The strong Maori culture -
    Rangi and Papa,
    Plus the haka -
And the reflecting lakes of highland and farmland.

FrFrom http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 17 Jul 09 - 07:05 AM

Hi WAV - I just took your name in vain over on the Folklore: Green Ginger Morris Team thread.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 Jul 09 - 05:29 AM

(Interesting discussion on Morris via the above link.)

Poem 2 of 230: WALKABOUT WITH MY PEN

(TUNE:

C F G G A A G G
C G A A G G F F
C A A A G G F F
C G A G A G F F

C F G G A A G G
C F G G A G F F)

Once drove an old sedan, up north,
    From a place in Sydney to Cairns;
Then to Kuranda I went forth,
    By train, to look without set plans.

I browsed through the trendy market,
    With fresh fruits of tropical kind;
Walked to the creek through lush thicket -
    Nature's hand giving peace of mind.

I dined in a scenic cafe;
    Then, outside, as I wrote for yen,
Some passing Kooris called-out: "Hey,
    You go walkabout with your pen."

Request or question, I don't know -
    Assured voices, elderly men.
That's now several years ago,
    And I've seen the world - with my pen.

If you wish, hear this on http://myspace.com/walkaboutsverse
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 18 Jul 09 - 02:19 PM

That's what you started with wasn't it?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 18 Jul 09 - 03:15 PM

Google shows:

Results 1 - 10 of about 42,400 for

"Once drove an old sedan, up north,".

Forty-two thousand items of copy-pasted drivel on this one item alone.

What is your carbon footprint WAV?

Get a life

Regards

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 Jul 09 - 03:34 PM

Yes: sorry for that mistake - I should have checked; there are 230 altogether in my collection, so I shouldn't presently be doubling them.

My carbon footprint would be relatively low, Stu - I still walkabout or use public transport; tend to use clothes/quilts/beanbags rather than heating to keep warm; have hot water off rather than on standby; turn hot-plates off early and finish cooking with latent heat; etc.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 18 Jul 09 - 06:49 PM

beanbags???!!!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Jul 09 - 03:59 AM

Yes S.: in our winter, by day, I'll often have one over my legs and, by night, over my quilts.

And I wouldn't have posted this one, as the season has just started...

Poem 48 of 230: THE PROMS

We walked through Kensington Gardens,
    Then made a left for Albert Hall.
Promenaders were in their tens,
    While others had found their stall,
As we took our pre-booked seats,
    In a row of restricted view -
Three-quarters of the orchestra.
    But the music sure bettered par:
The beautiful sounds of Mozart;
    The daring drama of Ravel.
And we liked it - me and a belle.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Jul 09 - 04:29 AM

Poem 199 of 230: BEDE'S WORLD - WINTER 2002/3

During Advent, I returned to Bede's World,
    Where I, already read, was further schooled -
Via walks through the museum, the farm,
    The ruins, and the church with its old arm.
With gifts, I left, after some four hours,
    To round off, at home, my thoughts on ours.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 04:08 AM

Poem 137 of 230: SEEN

A change of pace -
    Walks through a place;
Crime-streets more clean -
    Through being seen.

Walking in twos,
    The wear on shoes
Worth the kept-peace
    Of foot-police.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: Walkaboutsverse - Where Can I Hear Him?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 03:56 PM

Well, why the hell not? I got into folk to appreciate something that can be sung by the most lowly singers with a passion for songs old & new. That's where you'll find me, in singarounds, digging the sound of the human voice in all its diverse sonic wonderment, warts and all, much as I do when I'm listening to field recordings of the so-called Source Singers.

You can hear WAV on his myspace page by the way - www.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse - and most affecting it is too, as I've pointed out on various occasions. Weather permitting I'll be digging his homely antipodean timbres at the Durham Folk Party this weekend.

I like Virginia Tam and Crow Sister too of course, but to be honest I find these sorts of threads a little dispiriting in the context of Mudcat and Folk Singing in general. But that's just me - mutter mutter - descending into something nasty & flu-like, so do forgive me...

---

Messages transferred to existing Walkaboutsverse thread.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse - Where Can I Hear Him?
From: Tootler
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 05:16 PM

He's based in Co. Durham somewhere, I believe. Why not PM him?

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse - Where Can I Hear Him?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 21 Jul 09 - 05:22 PM

Did you read the OP, Tootler?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Jul 09 - 05:14 AM

Got your PM, and looking forward to seeing you, S., and the others at The Durham Folk Party, on Saturday, when I take the train from Newcastle to Durham...

Poem 162 of 230: TEES TO TYNE: FIRST IMPRESSIONS - SUMMER 2001

(TUNE:

E F# F# E D E F# F#
F# G G A B A G G
D G A A B B A A
F# G A B B A A-G G

D D F# F# F#-G F# E E
E E E E F# E D D)

Where traditions are not so rare;
    Sea, country and works scent the air;
A multitude of monuments,
    Planted tubs and patterned pavements.

The longish pedestrian malls;
    The remnants of defensive walls;
"Broken-roofed buildings" are a gauge
    Of the respect for heritage.

Wheat, rape and pines in the fields;
    Estuaries guarded by shields;
Long sandy beaches and wide scenes;
    Romantic-ruin go-betweens.

Rivers in parts licked by trees,
    Or fringed by boat clubs, wharfs, gantries,
And crossed by practical delights -
    Varied spans, forming pleasing sights.

Fine churches headed at Durham;
    Football kits ad infinitum;
Kept castles - one for study;
    Masonry behind masonry.

And, with moulding-works out that way,
It's somewhere for a longer stay..?

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Jul 09 - 05:53 AM

Poem 12 of 230: GOLF AT KILLARNEY

At Killarney Golf and Fishing Club,
    There's two great courses to be found;
Built on Ireland's fine Ring of Kerry,
    Both are really worth a round.

From the local social Youth Hostel,
    I hitched (doing as Irish do);
Then paid to play both the courses,
    But missed five holes - Hostel curfew.

The fairways were lush and nicely groomed,
    And the course views the best I've seen;                        
With walks beside the lakes and mountains,
    I'm proud to say to there I've been.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Jul 09 - 05:30 AM

Poem 190 of 230: BIRDWATCHERS' BUDE - WINTER 2001/2

Behind the Tourist Centre,
    Between canal and river,
On the marshy drained floodplain
    (Not now visited by train),
In among willow and reed,
    Eking out some winter feed:
Treecreepers, bobbing robins,
    Chirpy blue-tits, grey-herons,
The screams of water-rail,
    And snipe sharp on their trail.
Plus, out along limestone down,
    Soaring seabirds can be found.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Jul 09 - 09:38 AM

Further to "Tees to Tyne: first impressions" (just above), had a good day at the Durham Folk Party yesterday, including a singaround, Evensong, Morris and clog dancing, and another walkabout.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 26 Jul 09 - 01:43 PM

He sings in Spanish betimes, as well; very uplifting. (Links to a .MOV file).

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 26 Jul 09 - 02:01 PM

Good lord.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Jul 09 - 04:26 PM

I'm not sure what that link is about, but I should perhaps explain that I was a spectator only of both the folk dancing and the Evensong - which, if anyone is interested, starts at around 5pm every day at Durham Cathedral, I think.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 27 Jul 09 - 06:16 AM

Please note: I used the English name, Everest, as Nepalese and Tibetans have their own different name for it; also, in the news at the moment, if ex-Gurkas are indeed good citizens - "the bravest of the brave" - then surely they should stay in the new REPUBLIC of Nepal and NOT the United Kingdom (which should be dissolved into republics).

Poem 23 of 230: ABOVE EVEREST

When flying from Nepal to Thailand,
    I was given a "good-side" seat;
And, as I looked out the plane window,
    The view I saw was really neat.

For breaking through a thick sheet of cloud
    Were the high Himalayan peaks;
And, rising the highest of them all,
    Mount Everest - heaven bespeaks!

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
Or http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 04:19 AM

Poem 169 of 230: PERFIDA GENS - SUMMER 2001

On the estate:
    Abuse by day,
Banging at night -
    Sleep wars, I'd say.

Attempts on a car:
    Repaired by day,
Inflamed at night -
    Revenge, I'd say.

A gran's garden:
    Well-clipped by day,
Flame-scorched at night -
    Disgrace, I'd say.

Summing this up:
    As in Bede's day,
Manners are free -
    Faithless, I'd say.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: BS: Swimsuits - what's the fuss?
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 12:29 PM

Just caught a bit of the World Championships, and (as well as Phelps being beaten in the 200m) noticed the fuss over swimsuits: surely, apart from covering their reproductive bits, they can wear whatever they want - wherever they are swimming...

Poem 5 of 230: STATE TO STATE

(TUNE:

C F G F
C F G F
C F G F
C F G F
F G F C
F G F C
F G F C
C F F F)

From Sydney Town,
    In uni. break,
I drove out west
    To earnings make
Onion picking,
    On the fields
Of Echuca,
    That year's yields.

                                  After day's work,
                                     From Y.H.A.,
                                  A group of us
                                     Would not delay
                                  To walk on down
                                     To the dirt rim
                                  Of the Murray,
                                     For a cool swim.

On one such day,
    I do declare,
Some three of us
    Had a big dare
To swim across,
    From state to state,
The wide Murray -
    I took the bait.

                                  Yes, foolishly,
                                     I took the bait -
                                  A choice that I
                                     Would come to hate,
                                  For I almost
                                     Did drown that date,
                                  Making the swim
                                     From state to state.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Smokey.
Date: 28 Jul 09 - 07:45 PM

if ex-Gurkas (sic) are indeed good citizens - "the bravest of the brave" - then surely they should stay in the new REPUBLIC of Nepal and NOT the United Kingdom

With all due respect WaV, they've earned the right to live here - many times over in some cases. How many of us can honestly say that?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 Jul 09 - 05:46 AM

Smokey: Now having the right does not, of course, mean that all Gurkas and ex-Gurkas would rather live in the United Kingdom than the new Republic of Nepal; but those who would should, in my opinion, have more amor patriae for their HOMELAND, and question imperialism plus glamorous actresses more.

Poem 213 of 230: MORE AMOR PATRIAE

There is Tai Chi AND there is tennis,
    Line is fine BUT so is Morris,
There is curry AND there is the roast,
    And, when England is playing host,
It is the rest-of-the-world's good wish
    To sense culture that is English.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 29 Jul 09 - 07:22 AM

WAV your xenophobia is rearing its ugly head again I'm afraid.

The normal spelling is gurkha.

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 29 Jul 09 - 09:07 AM

Thanks for the spelling, Stu - but the rest is ridiculous: I greatly enjoyed being in among Nepalese people and culture when I VISITED their country.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 30 Jul 09 - 03:44 AM

We have Gurkha restaurants here on The Fylde and damn fine they are too; my next-door neighbours are from Sri-Lanka and they're the best neighbours I've ever had; our local shop is run by a Moslem and I rejoice that I live in hailing distance of one the finest Chinese restaurants in the country. I love the reality of my multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and still United Kingdom and find your comments in this respect offensive to a greater Humanity that defines us in terms of our individuality, rather than our ethnicity.

On this planet I can and will live anywhere I like; just as you have chosen to do, so leave your fantasies of racial & cultural purity out of this because not only are such fantasies racist, they are offensive to each and every person who has chosen, for whatever reason, to make their home in a country other than the one in which they were born.

You say you are not racist; but in maintaining and promoting such myths as English culture is taking a hammering and when people lose their culture society suffers and England was a more English place 50 years ago you are promoting and encouraging racism. You talk about assimilation, yet you steadfastly refuse to assimilate. Once again - I urge you - assimilate yourself into the wondrous diversity of cultural actuality of the country that gave you birth.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 30 Jul 09 - 04:34 AM

You've gone further than what I've actually said, S. - briefly, the strengthening of immigration controls, from now on; but, yes, this is one area where we disagree fundamentally - I like the world being multicultural but question the multicultural state/you like the world AND your country being multicultural.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 30 Jul 09 - 05:09 AM

Poem 22 of 230: HIGH HOUSEBOAT

When in India,
    I headed north
For the Himalaya.

Up, by train then bus,
    To Kashmir -
It was much cooler, thus.

Stayed there on Dahl Lake,
    By Srinagar -
For my tight-budget's sake.

'Twas a houseboat room:
    Run down, low cost -
But there I felt no gloom.

A solo mother -
    She had four kids -
Was the floor-manager.

At dawn, her daughter -
    The eldest one -
Brought me food and water.

I washed with bucket,
    Ate scrambled eggs -
As good as one could get.

From Dahl Lake's shoreline
    To the houseboats,
Canoe trips run just fine.

Day-tripped to Gulmarg,
    And played a round -
As always, kept the card.

It is the highest
    Green-kept golf-course,
And sure is quite a test!

Played another course,
    At Srinagar -
And it, too, I endorse.

For "with-dependants,"
    I should, though, add -
War, sadly, still rants.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 30 Jul 09 - 05:32 AM

you like the world AND your country being multicultural.

The world and my country is multicultural, WAV - that's the point; to even suggest it should be otherwise is inhumane.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Smokey.
Date: 30 Jul 09 - 05:47 PM

Too right, P O'B, and to suggest it when you're a foreign guest in this country is just plain batty, or at least highly illogical. Sorry WaV, but it just doesn't make sense..

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 Jul 09 - 05:47 AM

Poem 76 of 230: LAND RIGHTS

If there is a good thing,
    From the Second World War,
It's that most peoples learnt
    To conquer lands no more.

In Africa, Asia,
    And the Pacific, too:
Post-war independence -
    Steps only bigots rue.

But for some indigenes,
    Outnumbered much-too-much,
It has all come too late
    For liberty, as such.

So 'tis in Australia,
    And America's sites,
Where the best now, I think,
    Is to respect land rights.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 01 Aug 09 - 06:13 AM

Poem 19 of 230: JET

With time-based rail passes,
    As many youths still do,
I caught the trains through Europe -
    A good time it was, too.

But, late one night that summer,
    I ran full-on in vain,
Through quiet streets in Paris,
    To catch the London train.

And, at that Paris station,
    They closed the doors throughout,
For cleaning through the morning,
    Insisting - stragglers out.

So it was that a few of us
    Spent the night on the street,
And, I do declare to you,
    It left young me dead beat.

Yet there are many stragglers,
    Within the human domain,
Spending all their nights as such -
    While others own a plane!

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 02 Aug 09 - 04:29 AM

Poem 115 of 230: SUNDAY CRICKET AND BERRIES - SUMMER 2000

From a bus (ninety-eight -
    Bury to Manchester),
I got off at the gate
    Of Hamilton Road Park,
Where in situ I ate
    Several blackberries
(The taste too good to wait),
    Before making my way
To a further park-gate,
    From where briefly I watched
How Stand's cricketers rate.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 03 Aug 09 - 05:58 AM

Poem 58 of 230: THE OLD BULL

Walked along Fog Lane,
    Looked at the park,
Stopped in the Old Bull
    And had a hark,
While eating lunch,
    On how at dark,
Many years before,
    My father's lark,
There, was games of darts -
    I'd filled an arc.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 Aug 09 - 05:20 AM

Poem 197 of 230: HISTORIC HEXHAM – AUTUMN 2002

All hay was made,
    And the sun stayed,
The autumn day
    I made my way,
Via Heddon,
    To old Hexham,
Where I did see:
    The fine abbey,
The ex-gaol
    By the moot-hall,
Plus, holding sports
    Of varied sorts,
The Tynedale
    And the Seal.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 Aug 09 - 04:17 AM

This was in 1988, having just hitched from Land's End to John O' Groats...

Poem 11 of 230: OTHER SIDE

On the road from Inverness to Glasgow
    (A very scenic road it is),
I hitched with a pair - Italiano;
    The left-hand-drive Fiat was his.

I think they had taken turns at driving -
    I'm not sure from where or how far;
But, when they picked me up from my hiking,
    The lady was driving the car.

I recall how warm their greet did feel,
    And what a thrilling trip it was;
For, as their hands fought over the wheel,
    Our lives came near to loss:

I was sitting tight on the back-right side -
    My ears off their argument;
But my eyes surely knew how close beside
    The oncoming vehicles went!

We arrived without a scratch at Glasgow,
    But it begs this point, I feel -
Why did our forebears decide to go
    Either side for the new wheel?

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Aug 09 - 04:40 AM

Poem 15 of 230: TOREO

I'm a fan of the Spanish way -
    I like their houses and their food;
But there is one thing I must say -
    Their bullfights do upset my mood.

The matadors may be brave folk,
    And the tradition an old one;
But what must also be spoke
    Is - the bulls' pain before they're done.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 Aug 09 - 04:53 AM

Poem 152 of 230: HISTORY IS A FOREIGN COUNTRY?

History is a foreign country?
    Reading Chaucer's 'Tales one can see -
In brilliant witty prosody -
    A definite continuity
In the matters of humanity.
    So how, then, could one fail to be
Without respect for one's history?

As we can learn from other cultures,
So, too, from our own through its years.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 08 Aug 09 - 04:37 PM

Poem 229 of 230: JOYS OF LIFE

Leightons, and other great art;
    Plumes of fireworks at night;
The vivid reds of sunrise -
    Repeated at day's last light.

The beats through us of a drum;
    Winter's sun felt through closed glass;
Handing in the last exam;
    Awakenings – alarmless!

The ball, off thee, whacks their net;
    When, to palms, leather has stuck;
Orange juice during half-time;
    A warm bath to wash the muck.

Viewing set-over cricket;
    A golf ball, for once, well struck;
Viewing velodrome cycling;
    From net-chord, levelling luck!

Sticks, chants, didgeridoo,
    Haunting harps, and all bagpipes;
Clog, flamenco, tamure,
    Hula, and other dance types.

Out, by a cast, being told;
    In - taking tea and T.V.;
Highland views that command rest;
    The buildings of Italy.

Thrifty plant-propagation;
    By a wave one's body hit;
Upstream of camp - with paddle;
    By a fire - strongly lit.

Forest spent-leaves under foot;
    Tasting a host-nation's fare;
Alcedo atthis at work;
    Just-bills being brought to bear.

Allegros when feeling low;
    An andante to wind down;
Spoken French and chorused song;
    The quiet when out of town.

A stroll through a kept garden,
    Before Sunday's roast dinner;
A pub game, drink and meal;
    One's team a comeback winner.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 09 Aug 09 - 05:33 AM

Poem 16 of 230: A BEAUTIFUL STAGE

If a couple, with plans to wed,
    Asked me, off the top of my head,
For somewhere I thought well in-tune
    As a place for a honeymoon,
It would have - flashing back - to be
    Beautifully-honed Italy.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 Aug 09 - 06:09 AM

Poem 74 of 230: ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIALISM

Anthropology -
    Wonts, in close study -
Provides students with
    A good insight on
Many ways to live.

And students well-read
    Are oftentimes led,
Economically,
    To Left of Centre -
That happened to me.

With "immigration,"
    However, I'm on
The side of all those
    Who, questioning "aims,"
Make misled-Left foes.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 Aug 09 - 06:42 AM

Poem 27 of 230: ADELAIDE

In work and study,
    I spent four years -
Good years really -
    At Adelaide.

A flat by the sea -
    Work nearby;
Then full-time uni. -
    At Adelaide.

A planned C.B.D.,
    With parks all round,
And much more to see -
    At Adelaide.

Glenelg; Rundle Mall;
    And the markets,
With many a stall -
    At Adelaide.

From http://walkaboutsverse.741.com (e-scroll)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Aug 09 - 05:42 AM

Poem 26 of 230: UP ULURU?

Came in a coach from Alice -
    Slept nearby overnight;
An early call awoke us -
    Just before the morning light.

We were bussed to Uluru
    As the dawn began to break:         
Stopping to take in the view -
    A proud sight that rock does make.

Began the steep early-climb,
    Which, as marked, has claimed some life;
For youths it was just good time,
    But heavy aged-breaths were rife.

An hour or two later,
    After gazing from the top,
We returned to the charter -
    Kata Tjuta one last stop.

(P.S: in hindsight, I'm sure
    That from a distance to view
Is more kind, and more pleasure,
    Than climbing up Uluru.)

From http://walkaboutsverse.741.com (e-scroll)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Aug 09 - 06:36 AM

Poem 166 of 230: COLOURFUL LLANDUDNO - SUMMER 2001

Seated within the Greenery,
    Looking up, from a plate of toast
(Reddened with beans and tomatoes),
    Along Chapel Street's three-storey
Flats in white with red or yellow,
    Or white with a brown or a blue
(White with almost every hue),
    I thought: "Colourful Llandudno."

From http://walkaboutsverse.741.com (e-scroll)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 05:07 AM

Poem 43 of 230: A BAYSWATER BED-SIT

Arrived in London,
    At Heathrow Airport,
With sixty kilos
    Of luggage I'd brought.

Found a paper, Loot,
    And called an agent;
Stored two heavy bags,
    Then to him I went.

For one week of rent,
    He'd ensure a bed
Within Bayswater -
    A bed-sit, he said.

It was eighty pounds
    Per week, nothing more,
With a lift arranged
    To the building's door.

Knackered and sleepless,
    I took the deal;
Checked-in quickly,
    Had a rushed meal.

Collected my bags
    (Tube there, shared-van back),
Then carried them up
    To my top-floor shack.

A penthouse - no need,
    It did me just fine;
A cook-top and fridge,         
    A table to dine.

Seated, I could watch
    The clouds roll by -
Often from the west -
    Or jets cut the sky.

There were large plane-trees,
    A squirrel or two;
And pigeons dropped by -
    Foregrounding the view.

Plus, at dawn, the sun
    Shined in from the east -
Filling the small room
    As on egg I'd feast.

And, contemplating,
    It occurs to me -
If all lived that well,
    How great it would be.

But a lot do sleep
    Outdoors many nights -
On sheets of cardboard,
    Without basic rights.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Aug 09 - 10:50 PM

That one might just be the best yet.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 16 Aug 09 - 04:50 AM

Thanks, LH - and, accordingly, there was more than the usual number on my myspace blog overnight.

Poem 65 of 230: NORTH WALES

"Hills meeting sea"
    Proclaims to me
"Good scenery."

And it's views of North Wales,
    Both sides of the train-rails,
Whereupon this thought hails.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 17 Aug 09 - 05:11 AM

Poem 64 of 230: LIVERPOOL

Caught a train, along a long-used line,
    From Manchester to Liverpool.
On that day the weather was fine:
    Sunny - just a little bit cool.
There, I purchased a Walkabout Guide,
    Marked some sights, and headed outside.

As usual when first at such a place,
    I walked to the main art-gallery,
The central mall, and the garden space;
    Then headed down to the wide Mersey.
There, from ferry, I viewed the skyline -
    A good sturdy cityscape, for mine.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 05:53 AM

Poem 44 of 230: JOB SEARCHING

Once housed in London,
    I began searching
For new employment -
    The task was trying.

Asked newsagents:
    "Manufacturing -
Which paper's the best?"
    They disliked browsing.

About five of them
    Said they did not know,
Then eventually:
    Jobsearch is the go.

Employment agents -
    Public and private;
Letters; door knocking;
    Then work - just pre-debt.

From http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 09:45 AM

I have to completely agree with Hawk.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 10:01 AM

I must take that an additional step.........I hereby give Hawk my proxy to speak on all matters poetic and otherwise that are included on this thread.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 18 Aug 09 - 02:02 PM

Whoever said they don't understand irony in the USA was wrong...

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 05:33 AM

That wasn't Chongo Chimp (God knows what it would type about WAV), folks - it was Little Hawk, frankly!

Poem 45 of 230: PORTOBELLO ROAD

After questing forever,
    I bought an old blade-putter
On Portobello Road -
    By my London abode.

'Twas the Saturday market,
    And I was pleased with my get
From Portobello Road -
    W10's the code.

Also saw the festival,
    And many another stall,
At Portobello Road -
    A good arts and crafts node.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
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(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 03:14 PM

Very interesting. Is your abode actually located near a street called Portobello Road? Do they grow large mushrooms thereabouts or was it named after an Italian or Spanish merchant trader? It sounds like a charming place to me.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 04:56 PM

I left London around the Millennium, LH, for Manchester, where I was born, then Newcastle upon Tyne, where I am now.
And re. the name - although it's one of the most famous markets in England, you're google is as good as mine, sorry..?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 05:01 PM

...here's what Wiki says.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 Aug 09 - 07:05 PM

My goodness! I had no idea it was such a famous place. I should have asked Penelope. Thanks for the info, WAV.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Aug 09 - 05:21 AM

...and, as Penelope would probably proclaim too, the Mersey is more than Liverpool, LH...

Poem 111 of 230: THE MERSEY AT DIDSBURY - SPRING 2000

(TUNE:

Eb F G Ab G
D F G Ab G
D F G Ab G
D G Ab Bb Ab
D G Ab Bb Ab
D F G Ab G)

Took bus one-four-three,                        
    From Piccadilly,
Along Oxford Road;
    Passed the old uni's,
Those shops with saris,
    And my first abode.

At Didsbury Village,
    The Old Parsonage
Looked neat, and gave sound,
    As I walked the way,
At about midday,
    To a Mersey mound.

From atop this bank,
    No longer a blank
Was the strong river,
    Nor the wide fairways -
Where I'd filled two days,
    Twelve years earlier.

I then headed back,
    On Stenner Woods' track
(Hearing more birdsong,
    And seeing mossed stumps
Plus well-layered clumps),
    To a human throng.

This throng was viewing -
    Justly pursuing -
The smart Rock Gardens,
    Sloped on Fletcher Moss,
Which I, too, did cross,
    Before homeward wends.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 04:52 AM

Poem 183 of 230: A BROWN HARE - AUTUMN 2001

Cramlington:
    Before an
Interview
    At a new
Factory,
    I did see,
By a steam
    In-between
Farm and home,
    On a roam,
Stopping there,
    A brown hare.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 05:38 AM

I hope you gave it its marching orders. Brown hares aren't native, you know. It should be compelled to go back to Rome, or failing that, its nearest safe country of asylum.

Bloody brown hares, coming over here, taking all our jugging and coursing...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Aug 09 - 12:25 PM

...no I didn't, and I didn't get the gig either, Ruth. :-(>

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Aug 09 - 05:48 AM

Poem 76 of 230: LAND RIGHTS

If there is a good thing,
    From the Second World War,
It's that most peoples learnt
    To conquer lands no more.

In Africa, Asia,
    And the Pacific, too:
Post-war independence -
    Steps only bigots rue.

But for some indigenes,
    Outnumbered much-too-much,
It has all come too late
    For liberty, as such.

So 'tis in Australia,
    And America's sites,
Where the best now, I think,
    Is to respect land rights.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Aug 09 - 05:19 AM

Poem 138 of 230: AN OPIUM

National Lottery passes -
    Slight chances to be richer,
    With lots more than thy neighbour,
    Gained without any labour -
    Keep the system in favour:
An opium of the masses.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 05:04 AM

Poem 115 of 230: SUNDAY CRICKET AND BERRIES - SUMMER 2000

From a bus (ninety-eight -
    Bury to Manchester),
I got off at the gate
    Of Hamilton Road Park,
Where in situ I ate
    Several blackberries
(The taste too good to wait),
    Before making my way
To a further park-gate,
    From where briefly I watched
How Stand's cricketers rate.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: olddude
Date: 24 Aug 09 - 09:14 PM

David
what is a Stand's cricketers

is that the name of the cricket team?

Dan

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 Aug 09 - 04:35 AM

Yes Dan, it was/probably still is Stand Cricket Club.

Poem 196 of 230: BLYTH - AUTUMN 2002

After a day
    Of moulding work,
I made my way
    To Blyth's centre,
Where windmills play
    Near the staithes,
And where one may
    Dine or choose at
The Art Cafe.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: olddude
Date: 25 Aug 09 - 07:28 AM

David
very cool
thanks

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 06:32 AM

For Halloween, I'll post this one again; the "witches" mentioned here are the Pendle Witches - quite important to the Halloween tradition, apparently. (Also, as it's nearly England's Bonfire Night, you may like to hear "Cob-a-Coaling" on my myspace player - unaccompanied, with English flute intro.)

Poem 118 of 230: WHALLEY ABBEY...WHAT TALES? - AUTUMN 2000

Cistercian monks have clearly been -
    Their Abbey's ruins can still be seen;
And, sounding for centuries before,
    Calder flows have passed - seeking the shore.
Lords of the grounds have, more lately, stayed -
    Their manor houses reused and unscathed.
Through beautiful gardens insects fly -
    The ruins of folk just a pass-by;
And, by viaduct, trains pass above -
    Folk thereby viewing a town I love.
Anglers and C. of E. delegates,
    Hikers and tourists, have crossed the gates...
Opportunistic masons, kings-men,
    Model makers, Turner, and men who pen...
Perhaps the witches came down from the hill,
    And do ghosts haunt - still questing their fill..?

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Suibhne (Astray)
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 07:02 AM

The bulk of the splendid misericords carved by one Mr Eatough for Whalley Abbey in 1430 can be seen in Whalley Parish Church, with others in Blackburn Cathedral and Cliviger. Here's some pics including extant carvings from Whalley Abbey & other singularities, such as the Victorian Green Men we spotted on the cemetery gates in Preston on our way there:

Whalley, September 2008

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 02:47 PM

I think, S., only the first page of myspace pics are available to all, so maybe you could temporarily transfer them for us.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Suibhne (Astray)
Date: 30 Oct 09 - 02:55 PM

I see what you mean. Here's one to be going on with:

Whalley Parish Church; Misericord circa 1430

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 Oct 09 - 06:39 AM

It's a clever all-seeing figure, but what's the rest of the symbolism..?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 31 Oct 09 - 07:50 AM

And therein lies the big question, David! I might refer you two threads for extensive discussion on the subject:

Folklore: The Green Man

Any info about the green man?

Basically, over the last forty years The Green Man has become an Icon of Pagan Fakelore to the extent where he has become detached from the theology of Re-Reformation Roman Catholicism which was his original context. A bizarre state of affairs to be sure! Even to the extent where the Anglican custodians of the great Medieval Cathedrals (Durham included) promote their precious Green Men as being pre-Christian / Pagan rather than Catholic.   

Another of Mr Eatough's fine carvings at Whalley: Foliate Head, Whalley Abbey, 1430

And another from Whalley Abbey that presently resides in Blackburn Cathedral: The Fall, Whalley Abbey, 1430

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 Oct 09 - 01:29 PM

The closest I got to my homeland whilst studying anthropology in Australia was crofting on the Scottish islands; but what I did learn was that, in many lands, Christianity was fused with the local belief system - usually referred to as "pagan". Is that figure being "fed" by nature - as worshipped pre- and post-Christianity here..?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 01 Nov 09 - 08:56 AM

More such grist for the mill...

Poem 53 of 230: WHY THE YEW?

To paraphrase one of my uncles,
    Showing a church in Hertfordshire:
When you see an old English parish,
    There'll be yews in its yard, for sure.

"Why the yew?" I obviously asked.
    They were planted, he said, to stop
A resting-shepherd's sheep chewing-up
    The parish-graveyard's gardened top:

Odour tells them - choose another crop.
    (But another thought, I've since heard,
Is that churches were built near yews -
    Sacred-sites the pagans preferred.)

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

P.S: with England's Bonfire Night near, please remember to check for hibernating hedgehogs before burning; and you may like to hear "Cob-a-Coaling" on my myspace player (via above link).

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Stu
Date: 01 Nov 09 - 12:45 PM

Or play Cob-a-Coaling to any hibernating hedgehogs before burning and that'll flush the buggers out!

Only joking ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 01 Nov 09 - 03:13 PM

Staying in Kenmore a few years we ago we visited the Fortingal Yew which certainly put things into perspective.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 01 Nov 09 - 05:15 PM

Yes, S., definitely a village church built next to a very ancient yew - I think I saw that one on the Beeb, when chaps from Kew Gardens were travelling to look at important trees.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 02 Nov 09 - 06:51 AM

Ironic to note that whilst many aspects of Christian theology, culture and folklore do derive from pagan elements, the Green Man (so-called) is an entirely Christian invention. He has only been the Green Man since Lady Raglan first called him thus in 1939 and his adoption & reinvention by neo-pagans & folkies was very much part of the sixties / seventies Zeitgeist which still prevails along with its various shibboleths, orthodoxies & mythconceptions - up to (and including) the Folk Process, The 1954 Definition, The Tradition, and the actual existence of Folk Music... ;-]

Choir Stall, King's Lynn, June 2008

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 02 Nov 09 - 07:20 AM

He, I think, doesn't seem to happy with his pew; I, on the other hand, was with this pew/view...

Poem 65 of 230: NORTH WALES

"Hills meeting sea"
    Proclaims to me
"Good scenery."

And it's views of North Wales,
    Both sides of the train-rails,
Whereupon this thought hails.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 03 Nov 09 - 04:16 AM

This was just after repatriating form Australia to England (with a stop in New York) in 1997 - before I moved north...

Poem 45 of 230: PORTOBELLO ROAD

After questing forever,
    I bought an old blade-putter
On Portobello Road -
    By my London abode.

'Twas the Saturday market,
    And I was pleased with my get
From Portobello Road -
    W10's the code.

Also saw the festival,
    And many another stall,
At Portobello Road -
    A good arts and crafts node.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

P.S: with England's Bonfire Night near, please remember to check for hibernating hedgehogs before burning; and you may like to hear "Cob-a-Coaling" on my myspace player (via above link).

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Nov 09 - 06:35 AM

'It is primarily marked in the United Kingdom where it was compulsory, by fiat, until 1859, to celebrate the deliverance of the King of Great Britain; but, it is also celebrated in former British colonies including New Zealand,[1] Newfoundland, and parts of the British Caribbean. Bonfire Night was celebrated in Australia until the mid- to late 1970s, when sale and public use of fireworks was made illegal and the celebration was effectively abolished. It is also celebrated in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda.[2] Festivities are centred on the use of fireworks and the lighting of bonfires.'

So not just England's bonfire night

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 03 Nov 09 - 09:04 AM

I don't like imperialism, Guest, and I'm glad independence movements are growing in (hedgehog-less) New Zealand, Australia, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 05:14 AM

Er...last time I looked, New Zealand and Australia were both sovereign nations WAV. What 'independence movements' are you referring to?
Tim

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 05:37 AM

Full independence/republicanism, M. Apart from some local government, all any citizen of our world needs is their own nation and the United Nations - NO Commonwealth, no E.U., G20, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 09:37 AM

In what way are they not 'fully independent'? Who makes their laws and public policy other than their own democratically elected governments?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 12:01 PM

They are part of the remnant of imperialism called The Commonwealth, M.; and you may like check this on Gough Whitlam and the Governor-General.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 12:48 PM

That doesn't answer my question (why am I not surprised???); sovereign nations often choose to act in concert with other sovereign nations. Australia and New Zealand are free to leave the Commonwealth if they so wish, just as France was free to leave NATO. Again; in what way are they not 'fully independent'? Oh, and by the way, things have changed considerably since Gough Whitlam's day. Please try to stay up to date with the affairs of your own country.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 05:08 PM

It's true, M., that, since repatriating to my homeland, England, I'm not as "up to date with the affairs" of Austalia - but I have heard of, and support, the ever-growing republicanism/independence movements there and in New Zealand.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 04 Nov 09 - 05:31 PM

Not even up to date with how to spell it WAV

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 05 Nov 09 - 03:21 AM

One last try; what Australian/New Zealand 'independence' movements do you in fact support WAV? Names would be good, manifestos would be better. It seems a trifle odd to have an independence movement in a sovereign, independent state, recognised as such by your beloved United Nations, does it not? It's rather like having an organisation campaigning for independence for France. I concede that there are fringe organisations such as UKIP in this country, but all of these start from the false premise that a sovereign state cannot self-determine. If the UK chose to leave the EU, it could do so. There would be dire geopolitical and economic consequences, but the other states would not be able to prevent this. The same applies to Australia and New Zealand and their Commonwealth membership. So, WAV, are you going to break the habit of a lifetime and give a straight answer to a straight question? To remind you;
In what way are Australia and New Zealand not 'fully independent'? Who makes their laws and public policy other than their own democratically elected governments?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 Nov 09 - 04:23 AM

I have tried to answer your question, M, so I'll post this from Wiki...

"Towards an Australian republic?

As already seen, the only remaining constitutional connection with the United Kingdom is through the monarch, who is the monarch not only of the UK, but also of Australia and of each of its States. The main function of the monarch is to appoint and dismiss the Governor-General and the State Governors, and this function is exercised on the advice of the Prime Minister or the relevant State Premier. (The monarch is also sometimes asked to perform some function, such as giving the Royal Assent to an Act of Parliament, for ceremonial purposes during a Royal visit.)
On recent moves to replace the current constitution with a republic, and the defeat of the referendum for this purpose in 1999, see Australian republicanism."

Although there's been less fireworks around here the last couple of years, it should still be quite a sight this Bonfire Night...

Poem 173 of 230: VALLEY VIEWS - AUTUMN 2001

The winds can whistle and the walls can creak,
    But from my beloved old rocking-chair,
Through a rhombus-patterned lounge-room window,
    The Tyne-valley views induce one to stare:

Over a canopy of estate trees -
    Tall birch, locust, rowan and sycamore -
To the housing, parks, stores and works below,
    Which fringe the river of the valley floor...

Then up the other side to more parkland,
    More clusters of trees and residencies,
Streets that yield at night sparkles of light,
    Plus the Angel of the North, topping these.

(C) David Franks 2003
From WalkaboutsVerse - next blog has details...

(P.S: before burning bonfires, please make a final check for hibernating hedgehogs; and, if you like, hear the traditional seasonal English song "Cob-a-Coaling" on my myspace profile.)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 05 Nov 09 - 12:24 PM

Referencing Wikipedia as a primary source...and you an alleged graduate. Sigh...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 Nov 09 - 05:10 AM

Tomorrow, as well as being Remembrance Sunday in England, etc., it's 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down - and, about 21 years ago, I went...

Poem 17 of 230: THROUGH WHAT WAS

During Europe's summer, '88,
    At a wall my bag was checked:
A brief smile at what gave it weight;
    Sun-cream lid back - mood unwrecked.
I walked past plain buildings and cars,
    And entered a small food-store.
Its goods were plain, also: no sweet bars;
    The essentials - not much more.
As I bought crispbread, with money changed,
    A row began, at counter,
Between two, it seemed, Germans estranged -
    Clothes, to me, the sole pointer.
I headed back through the wall that was,
    Then signed a reunion book.
Reflecting, I'm happy/sad because
    The Left-cause, too, has been shook.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 07 Nov 09 - 04:52 PM

Just watched a powerful documentary called "The Secret Life of the Berlin Wall" (BBC 2), which, for those who missed it, will probably be on their iPlayer.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 08 Nov 09 - 04:25 AM

Poem 212 of 230: REMEMBER THEM?

Back when we became defenders
    (We have plainly been attackers),
Defenders' blood, sweat and years
    Were paid to keep a good home-way -
A way yet to be part stealth-blown,
    As mass immigration gained-sway
And as we slipped as maintainers.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 09 Nov 09 - 04:32 AM

With both national rugby-league and rugby-union teams currently on tour in England...

Poem 99 of 230: ONE RUGBY?

With sixth-tackle, knock-on and touch-line hand-over -
    No scrums, line-outs, rucks or mauls;
The rest (the best of both codes) would hardly alter -
    And no splits, due to two calls.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 09 Nov 09 - 04:46 PM

The poem cum song atop this thread, "Walkabout with my Pen," can now be heard, with an English-flute into, and keyboard accompaniment, via my myspace player.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 Nov 09 - 04:39 AM

On the news here in England, last night, a record lottery win was announced and celebrated: I agree with Oliver Cromwell and modern-day Taiwan - gambling should be ILLEGAL...

Poem 138 of 230: AN OPIUM

National Lottery passes -
    Slight chances to be richer,
    With lots more than thy neighbour,
    Gained without any labour -
    Keep the system in favour:
An opium of the masses.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 04:28 AM

Poem 84 of 230: NATIONALISM WITHOUT CONQUEST

Everything in moderation..?
    Well, with "nationalism" it's true:
It can carry unique cultures on
    But, overdosed, cause their conquest, too.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Mr Happy
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 10:51 AM

I wandered like a little star
Up above the clouds so high
How I wondered what they are
Two dozen blackbirds
Baked in a pie


[No shaving, as I've a large hairy arsebeard]

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 05:29 AM

...Little birdie flying high
Dropped a message out of the sky;
"Ooh!" said the farmer, wiping his eye,
"It's a jolly good thing my cows don't fly." (trad., I think)...

Poem 114 of 230: CLITHEROE CASTLE'S VIEWS - SUMMER 2000

From outside metres-thick wall
    (Down on leafy grounds grown tall,
Then across stony households
    To lush-green sheep-grazing folds,
And up further to the moor),
    Clitheroe Castle's views soar.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,EricTheOrange
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 08:01 AM

As already seen, the only remaining constitutional connection with the United Kingdom is through the monarch, who is the monarch not only of the UK, but also of Australia and of each of its States.

Ermmm???? By your own reference the Queen occupies a role in Australia because she is Queen of Australia as well as being Queen of the United Kingdom. It's up to the democratic choice of Australian citizens how long she remains in that role, nobody else. I doubt if many non-Australians care. As a self avowed "Englishman" it doesn't seem to be any of your business either way.

ETO

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Mr Happy
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 09:44 AM

Queen of Australia, queen of the May
Rode in a train o쳌fer the silver Tay
She said 쳌eDon쳌ft you know I쳌fm the head of state?
Make it go faster, I쳌fm going to be late!쳌f

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 01:01 PM

And I say: frankly, Eric, I do give a damn about world affairs.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,EricTheOrange
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 01:52 PM

Telling people in other nations how they should run their government sounds like just another form of imperialism to me.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 02:38 PM

As I've said, in my opinion, apart from some local government, all any citizen of our world needs is their own nation and the United Nations - which could be more democratic and effective, of course, and dissolving the likes of The Commonwealth, the G 20/8, etc, would help with that.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,EricTheOrange
Date: 12 Nov 09 - 05:02 PM

all any citizen of our world needs is their own nation and the United Nations

Why keep the UN?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 13 Nov 09 - 02:35 AM

Why do we need nations?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 13 Nov 09 - 04:43 AM

WAVism for Beginniners

WAVism is a philosophy of a Totalitarian World Order founded on the idea that the world has to be somehow Nice and Multicultural and that the only way to achieve this is to segregate all nations and ethnicities in a programme of mass repatriation and ethnic cleansing overseen by a New World Order WAVists refer to as The United Nations With Greater Powers. Though to the rational mind WAVism is the stuff of dystopian sci-fi, the WAVist genuinely feels WAVism represents the best way forward for Humanity, complete with an emphasis on National Folk Music and Music as a National Phenomenon Within Fixed Boundaries.

In a WAVist World, only Americans will be allowed to play rock music, and the only music English people will allowed to play is Our Own Good Folk Music and, possibly, Classical Music by English Composers, though how WAVists square this with the essentially non-English nature of Classical Music from the 10th Century onwards hasn't as yet been made clear. If WAVists accept English classical composers, then why not English rock composers? And what of such distinctly non-American popular musical phenomena as Krautrock? And what of the many English rock musicians who have been more influenced by Krautrock than American rock, yet have still managed to create a uniquely English rock music which then becomes a major influence back in America where it supposedly all began? Indeed, the unravelling of millennia of ethnic and cultural migrations, diaspora, invasion and cross-fertilisation is but one of the problems the WAVist faces when deciding upon their New World Order - let alone the inevitability of Near Total Dissidence, but people have been forced to comply at gunpoint before, so why not again? It's never been achieved on a global scale before, but there is a first time for everything!

So this is the absolute vision of WAVism's Nice Multicultural World, though what is particularly Nice about is another thing that hasn't, as yet, been made clear, especially given the pragmatics of making such a Global Totalitarianism a reality. Look at the human cost of Partition in India, which would be multiplied a million-fold at least in the ensuing migrations as populations are torn apart and people are forced to repatriate to the country of their ethnic (if not individual) origin. Still, such a holocaust would significantly reduce the Global Population - something else the WAVist has concerns about, as evident in their various Eugenic Asides which crop up every now and then. Still, when all is sorted out we will have that Nice Multicultural Wav-World with each ethnically cleansed Nation State devoted to its Indigenous Folk Culture, and policed by a Stronger UN to make sure it stays that way - there will be no Ethnic Contaminations or Cultural Recalcitrance, there will be no creativity or individualism, and, no doubt, the Human Genome will be modified to make sure that there will be no further developments; and that it will remain this way forever and ever and ever and ever...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Nov 09 - 05:08 AM

(A lot of words in my/"WAVists" mouth(s) there S. This is the sort of thing I like - http://www.llangollen2009.com/)

It's called Mumbai now, of course, but not when I was there...

Poem 21 of 230: BOMBAY PORTER

Awaiting a train in Bombay,
    I was shocked into dismay;
For a well-dressed man, built strongly,
    Was walking, his hands set free,
Ahead of a bony porter -
    Heavy case on head, no quarter.

Shortly later, I watched again
    As out from the rich-man's train
Came the scrawny struggling porter -
    His thin back now much tauter;
For he writhed as he stretched his loins -
    After a quick count of few coins.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 13 Nov 09 - 06:06 AM

Not at all, WAV - I think that's a fair enough appraisal of your general philosophy as you've promoted it here over the years, although maybe I've been a bit soft there on the humanitarian implications! Your general tone is one of Cultural Policing along Iron Curtains erected on national boundaries to keep things nice and multi-cultural.

Worse still, you persist in the belief that Folk Music is somehow part of Our Own Good Culture!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Mr Happy
Date: 13 Nov 09 - 09:05 AM

Our world is filled with folks profuse
We쳌fre not all white, that쳌fs not much use
Geographical adaptations
Guard against nature쳌fs fluctuations
Under the skin we쳌fre pink and red
We all become equal when we쳌fre dead

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 13 Nov 09 - 05:38 PM

I was waiting for a tram in Fleetwood
When I saw a man whose clothing wasn't very good
He said can I help you with your case Boss
I said No because I'm as strong as a hoss

Oh dear said he Well will you buy a Big Issue
I said No because you're not an Englishman true
Go back to where you belong
Living in my country can only be wrong

I like to see you in your native lands
Scooping up rice in your scrawny hands
I love multiculturalism it's full of such charm
And the benefit culture will keep me from harm

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 07:06 AM

Hardly seaside weather today in England, but, speaking of Fleetwood, here's an a-political postcard-poem, for a change...

Poem 120 of 230: A GOOD SEASIDE DAY - AUTUMN 2000

Via the art gallery,
    Blackpool how it used to be;
Via a famous tower,
    The Blackpool of the hour.
Via a maritime Mount,
    Fleetwood with its channel out.
And, via a coastline tram,
    The autumn-night lit-art jam.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 07:48 AM

Nothing like a rainy day by the sea, not that we sea-side dwellers have much of a choice of course. All weather is sea-side weather, and the beauty remains un-dampened come whatever.

grey the rain
by Fleetwood's shore;
vistas, and horizon
blurred as
tides flow and gulls cry.
Today there is no sun,
no mountains,
only wet leaves
now fallen
floating out to sea.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Suibhne (Astray)
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 08:22 AM

Although I wrote the above poem before we set off today I'm delighted to report that it is in every sense accurate.

I now sit
at my father-in-law's
PC, watching starlings
squabble over seed-cake
as a solitary bee buzzes
around an equally
solitary
yellow poppy.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 12:46 PM

Okay - and not long after I posted my above "daily ditty," I noticed on the news some surfers, in Cornwall, enjoying their relatively large swells.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Little Hawk
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 01:52 PM

Before me sits my computer
Smugly gazing in my general direction
Knowing it has me under its spell
And helpless to face my growing addiction
It demands more power every day
Power that I must pay for
When the mail brings me the hydro bill
Wrapped up in a bland white letter
Hey, wait...that last couplet didn't rhyme!
Oh well, let's call this free verse
More freedom to exprapolate
As I pen another wee verse

- Nov. 14th, 2009

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Nov 09 - 04:54 PM

Okay - but could a certain Chimp do better, LH?!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 05:05 AM

It's raining today,
but once there was summer and you
and dark little rooms
and sleeping late afterno...

Hold on, someone's already written that one.

Sunday morning
washed and cold
as glazed
greyness chills.
Outside -
a gazing-gull warms on
a smoking chimney pot.
Inside -
Cuban coffee cools
in a Hornsea mug
that says
November.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 05:14 AM

After a stormy Saturday here in England, it's much calmer (if still "raining," S.) in Newcastle upon Tyne today...

Poem 179 of 230: A GLASSY TYNE - AUTUMN 2001

Near glassy-classical new Law Courts,
    From the snazzy Millennium Footbridge,
Reflecting fine bridges of other sorts -
    A glassy Tyne's snazzy sunset image.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 06:30 AM

Snazzy, eh? I suppose that sums it up. We pass along by that way on our visits to Newcastle, parking as we do in the Holy Jesus multi-story, part of T. Dan Smith's once snazzy make-over that featured in the opening titles of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? as being emblematic of the change underlying the initial comedic premise. It also features in the wee video we did for Scott Walker's We Came Through which you can watch both in its edited version and the production footage that proves the song lasted the exact duration of the ascent from bottom to top.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_ktTtAZfV4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqf3TRP7XYs

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 06:47 AM

Here's the picture I tried to describe..."snazzy"?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 15 Nov 09 - 06:03 PM

Nice pic WAV. Needs the horizon straightening though - about three degrees clockwise

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 05:05 AM

This was in 1988...

Poem cum song 10 of 230: LAND'S END TO JOHN O' GROATS

(TUNE:

D G A A B B A A
D A B B A A G G
D B B B A A G G
D A B A B A G G)

At the bold age of twenty-one
    (Via Hong Kong, China, Macau),
I flew from Sydney to London -
    Land's End to John o' Groats my vow.

I took a train out of London,
    Found a highway and thumbed a ride;
I headed down toward Brighton,
    Then hitch-hiked roads the coast beside.

On the face of my shoulder bag,
A sketched map of Aus. was my tag;
For said a Scot who'd hitched Europe:
"Some emblem may well boost your hope."

And drivers throughout the island,
Over a two month riding span,
Were the kindest folks I have met -
I swear not once did I get wet!

I stopped overnight in Portsmouth,
    And one or two nights in Torquay;
Then headed along to Plymouth -
    Still travelling beside the sea.

After viewing rugged Land's End,
    I began the long journey north -
North-east, rather, before a bend,
    Somewhere in a bit from Bournemouth.

On the way, I saw relatives,
Whom after leaving I did miss -
Their homes' cosy atmosphere,
And their local pubs' good cheer.

And the hitched-lifts came from many:
An off-work Bobbie, a truckie,
As well as on-duty soldiers -
Thanks, and I've not said where each was!

I headed west through South Wales,
    And viewed Cardiff Arms from afar -
I was hitching with local males,
    And they showed me from in the car.

I stayed a while at Swansea -
    Saw the local footballers play;
Then hitched north through Llandovery -
    Beautiful farmland, I must say.

I slept mostly in B. & B's,
Where the full breakfasts sure did please;
But also stopped in Youth Hostels,
Where it's the comradeship that tells.

My favourite sites were Torquay,
Old St. Andrews (noted shortly),
The road Glasgow-to-Inverness,
The Lakes, plus London's spots, no less.

From Colwyn Bay, I headed east
    To Manchester, my place of birth;
Then on the Lakes my eyes did feast,
    Before I passed by Solway Firth.

Onto Edinburgh, Glasgow,
    St. Andrews, before Inverness;
Then waves from locals were the go -
    Warm folks round John o' Groats, I'd guess.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 08:48 AM

Twenty-one years ago in other words. Very old news indeed, WAV - although in 1988 we recorded the Masstishaddhu / Shekinhah LP for United Dairies which is still worthy of its alt. folk / feral / wyrd / ritual / pagan / classic status...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 16 Nov 09 - 04:51 PM

"Old news" to some extent, S. - Macau and Hong Kong have been handed back to China; the Chinese Communist Party is much more like the "Chinese Capitalist Party" (the first Kentucky Fried Chicken had just opened in Beijing when I was there); on a personal note, I've returned to stay, this time; etc.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 17 Nov 09 - 04:27 AM

In North East England...

Poem 197 of 230: HISTORIC HEXHAM – AUTUMN 2002

All hay was made,
    And the sun stayed,
The autumn day
    I made my way,
Via Heddon,
    To old Hexham,
Where I did see:
    The fine abbey,
The ex-gaol
    By the moot-hall,
Plus, holding sports
    Of varied sorts,
The Tynedale
    And the Seal.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 Nov 09 - 05:25 AM

Despite such beautiful scenery, if I was to visit Ireland these days, I'd be more keen on a folk-club than a golf-club...

Poem 12 of 230: GOLF AT KILLARNEY

At Killarney Golf and Fishing Club,
    There's two great courses to be found;
Built on Ireland's fine Ring of Kerry,
    Both are really worth a round.

From the local social Youth Hostel,
    I hitched (doing as Irish do);
Then paid to play both the courses,
    But missed five holes - Hostel curfew.

The fairways were lush and nicely groomed,
    And the course views the best I've seen;                        
With walks beside the lakes and mountains,
    I'm proud to say to there I've been.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Nov 09 - 05:49 AM

Poem 36 of 230: WALKABOUT MEXICO

In late December,
    1996,
I can remember
    Being in a fix -
For time and pesos -
    And, thus, unable
To see Mexico's
    Sights commendable.

So, in Tijuana,
    I enjoyed the show
At a miniature
    Rep. of Mexico.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 19 Nov 09 - 04:28 PM

Tijuana?

The Republic of Mexico in miniature?

Uhh. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,EricTheOrange
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 03:14 AM

From: Don Firth

Tijuana?

The Republic of Mexico in miniature?

Uhh. . . .

Don Firth

Yes. WAV once again demonstrates his special brand of ignorance.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 05:17 AM

Is that what WAV's saying here? I rather get the impression he's looking at some sort of relief map or diorama. No doubt he'll be along shortly to clarify the ambiguity...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 06:13 AM

Yes, S., with the various sites of Mexico represented in miniatures - I just checked my Lonely Planet book and tijuana.com but could not find the name/if it's still there, sorry. I paid a weekly rent in a Tijuana hotel, and also made day trips back over the border to San Diego, the Baja Peninsula (seeing Mexican jumping beans for the first and only time), the golf course, the Cultural Centre (bought an excellent print by Diego Rivera), etc. Before that, via the same return plane ticket from Sydney, I was here...

Poem 37 of 230: RODEO DRIVE

On visiting Los Angeles,
    I thought I'd walk Rodeo Drive.
I'd passed a few up-market shops
    When an hombre said, "Take one please."

'Twas info. on exploitation,
    Which I read that night in my room.
It mentioned of the unfair gap -
    Sweatshop-wages to profit-on.

I left him to visit the john,
    Which was all clad in marble stone.
Then I walked past more fortune gowns
    To lunch: four bucks - fair profit-on.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 20 Nov 09 - 08:16 AM

seeing Mexican jumping beans for the first and only time

When I was a kid you could buy these at the pet shop in the Grainger Market in Newcastle; maybe you still can?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Nov 09 - 06:11 AM

Have to check, next time...and just a bit of a jump/trot, toward the tawny Tyne, from Grainger Market...

Poem 184 of 230: THE QUICK CLUBBERS' TROT IN NEWCASTLE - AUTUMN 2001

Fridays, Saturdays,
    Latish in the night,
Bringing a smile,
    Making quite a sight
Down the steep-sloped Side,
    High on their heels -
Bonny, blithe ladies,
    Done with their meals
Or earlier clubs,
    Seeking the next spot,
And risking it with
    Their quick clubbers' trot.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 21 Nov 09 - 10:18 AM

There is a CUltural Center in Tijuana which provides a display covering the many wonders of Mexican culture in all its variety.

It is possible WAV was talking about that or some similar display.

Tijuana itself is part of the narrow corridor of border culture that runs along the southern border of the US and discolors the first hundred miles or so into Mexico, making it very much not representative of Mexico's interior.


A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Nov 09 - 12:43 PM

I agree that, in some ways, it's very much a frontier town, Amos, and think you could be right about the...

"Tijuana Cultural Center
A culture and arts center where famous art pieces go on exhibit, including paintings, photographs, sculptures, along with a wide variety of plays, symphonies, recitals, operas and ballets. It also includes an Omnimax theatre, art gallery and a bookstore" (tijuana.com).

But it was definitely a kind of park that had Aztec monuments, etc., in miniature, beside pathways..?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,stu away from home
Date: 21 Nov 09 - 12:54 PM

500?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 21 Nov 09 - 02:51 PM

In 1984, my wife and I were visiting friends in Long Beach, CA. One day, the four of us went to Tijuana. Sight-seeing, visiting a lot of shops, ate lunch in a sidewalk café (boy, do they use a lot of Velveeta there! Melt it, pour it over everything!!), wading through hordes of kids begging money off tourists (they've got the plaintive eyes down to an exact science). We watched with amusement as a couple of smart-ass Aussie tourists dickering with a sidewalk photographer who would take your picture while standing next to a mangy burro.

By the way, the begging kids were reasonably well-dressed, quite chubby, and obviously well-fed. Some of them probably should have been put on a diet! Begging from tourists was just a thing they did.

Barbara bought a nice looking embroidered dress. For kicks, I looked at a few guitars. Covered with mother-of-pearl inlay, sap still oozing out of the wood, tone like an apple crate, and they'd case it up for you in a big plastic bag with a twist-tie – all of this for $25.00. I decided to stick with my Arcangel Fernandez flamenco, made in Madrid, thank you.

In North America, I've been over lots of the United States, all across Canada, including up in the Caribou country.

But I can't really say that I've ever been to Mexico. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Nov 09 - 03:30 PM

"By the way, the begging kids were reasonably well-dressed, quite chubby, and obviously well-fed. Some of them probably should have been put on a diet! Begging from tourists was just a thing they did." (Don)...and, at the end of the day, I noticed them leave, in groups, on small trucks, as just as many prostitutes took their places on the streets.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 21 Nov 09 - 04:51 PM

Right, David.

I don't think you would have found that Mexico City is quite like that, though.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Nov 09 - 05:03 PM

Yes, Don - although on the BBC's World News Today, recently, there was an article on how bad, and widespread (if worse in such frontier towns), drug-related killings have become in Mexico, sadly.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Nov 09 - 05:49 AM

Poem 166 of 230: COLOURFUL LLANDUDNO - SUMMER 2001

Seated within the Greenery,
    Looking up, from a plate of toast
(Reddened with beans and tomatoes),
    Along Chapel Street's three-storey
Flats in white with red or yellow,
    Or white with a brown or a blue
(White with almost every hue),
    I thought: "Colourful Llandudno."

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

(P.S: I think I'll change "Rep. of Mexico," above, to "Model Mexico.")

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 06:22 AM

I noticed on the news a meeting between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Pope: both the imperialistic Anglican and Roman Catholic movements should be dissolved, and replaced by a Church of Italy only, a Church of England only, a Church of Germany, a Church of Wales, etc.

Poem 219 of 230: FURTHER ANTI-IMPERIALISM

Let each Christian nation have its own Church -
Equal, before God, with the others' Search.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 06:39 AM

Should, WAV? On your say-so alone? And you wonder why I question your attitude at times! The RC theological tradition is very distinct from Anglicanism and answers very different spiritual & cultural needs. Take them away and we've lost 2,000 years of a continuity that mere Christianity can't replace.

If you followed your argument to its logical extreme then we shouldn't have Christianity in England at all - it is a foreign import rail-roaded in on the back of an occupying imperialist empire. Furthermore, Christianity has been the ruin to your much cherished multi-cultural world, reducing many the once proud indigenous tribal culture to alcohol swilling, Bird-Dancing idiots - as I once saw on an documentary on the Inuits some years ago; images that stay with me yet! And all in the name of - Jesus! Bullshit, WAV - Christianity is Imperialistic by default - and if you were any lover of England and a Multi-Cultural world you'd throw it away and get back to the Old Religions of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Hell, if you accept Folk Music as Our Own Good Culture, then why not Druidism????

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 08:35 AM

"The RC theological tradition is very distinct from Anglicanism" (S.)...of course - but what they have in common is their centralisation/imperialism; and , given all that has obviously happened, we should focus on what's best FROM NOW ON. And surely one thing you have in common with me is a dislike of imperialism.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 08:52 AM

I thought this thread was reserved for poetry doggerel and such?

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 09:25 AM

Instead, Stu., we decided to fill it with verse and prose of high literary merit!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: s&r
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 09:33 AM

Or with bizarre and unjustifiable belief structures that rankle with those who have any understanding of religion, anthropology, English, football, tennis, poetry, women and the other mix of subjects on which you pontificate with a limited education and little comprehension

Stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 09:48 AM

Come, come, Stu!

You well know that WAV has a degree in humanities, along with 4 technical certificates in manufacturing

I am not worthy ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 09:49 AM

Joking apart, then, Stu, as well as 4 technical certificates in manufacturing, I have a degree in humanities, with a major in anthroplogy, during which my "comprehension" was sound enough to earn me distinctions for most of my essays, and the offer of an honours place.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 09:51 AM

...and, thinking alike, another great mind has just joined us!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 09:55 AM

...and, thinking alike, another great mind has just joined us!

Mind you, fools seldom differ....

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 10:45 AM

Looking back over the miles this thread has traveled, the classic notion of pathos rises to mind with irresistible force.

A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 01:24 PM

I am reminded more of bathos, on balance.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 01:36 PM

Asperger's is the first thing that comes to my mind.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 01:59 PM

Madio, you are quite correct. Apologies for the misplaced consonant.

Swear not by the rune,
The inconsonant rune...

(Romanoff and Jellico, 1786)

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: catspaw49
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 02:03 PM

Somehow I think this has something in common with this thread.........

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 02:17 PM

Spaw:

I thought you apologized for all that? Bend over and I'll show you a new use for those drumsticks...



A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: catspaw49
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 02:29 PM

Admit it Amos.....You're jealous of those drumsticks!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 03:18 PM

Don't forget, along with that degree in anthropology and all those certificates, he can also drive a forklift—

DAMN!!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 03:31 PM

FROM NOW ON

So zero hour is 23 Nov 09 - 08:35 AM Mudcat Time?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Nov 09 - 04:27 PM

"Asperger's is the first thing that comes to my mind" (Ed)...delicious, though - even just with toast and ketchup.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 05:18 AM

150 years ago today, Charles Darwin released - On the Origin of Species...

Poem 96 of 230: PARADIGMS

"Thirty-all" is, in effect, "deuce";
    Nobody has seen an "atom":
An atom remains a model;
    "Thirty-all" an umpire's call.
"They we just simply had to bomb";
    And there are other given "truths"...

If we humans evolved from apes,
Why on earth are there living apes?

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 05:52 AM

Just for you

"Comparisons of DNA show that our closest living relatives are the ape species of Africa, and most studies by geneticists show that chimpanzees and humans are more closely related to each other than either is to gorillas. However, it must be stressed that humans did not evolve from living chimpanzees. Rather, our species and chimpanzees are both the descendants of a common ancestor that was distinct from other African apes. This common ancestor is thought to have existed in the Pliocene between 5 and 8 million years ago, based on the estimated rates of genetic change. Both of our species have since undergone 5 to 8 million years of evolution after this split of the two lineages. Using the fossil record, scientists attempt to reconstruct the evolution from this common ancestor through the series of early human species to today's modern human species."

stu

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: mandotim
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 07:06 AM

And while we are doing WAV's corrections for him; electron microscopy and micrography has now advanced to the point where people certainly have seen an atom. This breakthrough was made in the late 1970s, rendering WAV's 2003 poem a little archaic.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 09:37 AM

Having read the quote posted by Stu, and this on "seeing" atoms, I still question these "paradigms".

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 11:08 AM

Dear Gawd, David, are you being thick on purpose?

Do you think someone made up the electron-microscopic images that clearly show the wee bundles we call atoms?

Granted, they are probability distributions acting like particles, and not actual solid particles. But that's true of all matter. What "paradigm" do you prefer looking at the evidence, then? Intercessory divinity?


A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: catspaw49
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 11:21 AM

No Amos, he prefers the pair of dimes in his pocket that jingle when he plays pool in their location..............

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 12:39 PM

Spaw: you've avoided such below-the-belt language for months, as I've largely avoided sarcasm...

Amos: eureka!...that device conveniently (but definitely!) allows us to see the very "atom" we've known of for years - and they even look just like Rutherford's planetary model!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 12:45 PM

I don't suppose a simple expository sentence is too much to ask? "Conveniently" implies you think the physics is somehow being manipulated? Or that the Rutherford model (which is not what shows up, nor what was expected, BTW) is a powerful reality-morphiong belief? Or what?

In 25 words or less, complete the following sentence:

"My preferred paradigm to explain atomic phenomena is...".



A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 01:28 PM

If we humans evolved from apes,
Why on earth are there living apes?

Simple - because it was only selected higher primates that were used by the Martians to be developed into Humans. Suggest you watch Quatermass and the Pit for both evolutionary enlightenment and to further your appreciation of English Culture.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 01:43 PM

I'll look out for that one, S., plus The Wicker Man, and get back to you Amos...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Don Firth
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 01:59 PM

"If we humans evolved from apes,
Why on earth are there living apes?"

This is a bit like asking
"If I am a descendant of my great-great-great-grandfather,
Why on earth do I have living cousins?"

????

Same deal. . . .

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 02:07 PM

The logical stement "All P are descended from some Q" does not imply that "All Q have become P". There is no contradiction there.


A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 02:29 PM

At least we're minding our Ps and Qs now.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: catspaw49
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 04:14 PM

LMAO.....Uh, first, I fail to see what my comment had that was so terrible or anymore below the belt than Amos asking if you were "being thick on purpose."

And to be truthful, you know diddly-squat about sarcasm but I'd be happy to teach you if you like........

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: richd
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 04:18 PM

Intersesting where the 'occult' or magic comes from in these British Horrors. Although the horror in Quatermas and the Pit comes from Mars, its manifestation is distinctly urban. Compare with the Wicker man, where the 'horror' comes from the rural. In the Wicker Man the ocult seems also to be a form of expertese, again a common theme in British Horror, especially where the source of the occult is male. Suimmerisle is also a libertine. Where the source is female, then these tend to be less intellectual. Interesting also that both are horrors by the skin of their teeth if at all- the Sci-fi element in QATP is dominant, and I'm not sure about TWM. I think it's more of a detective yarn that goes adrift. Now, for real fear- how about The Stone Tape- also a Nigel Kneale. Anyway praise be that it's not all documentary realism.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Amos
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 04:21 PM

I think I see your point, richd, but I have no idea what the source of the occult is in this particular British Horror...



A

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: richd
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 04:29 PM

Sorry, strayed into the wrong thread......it was the beer guv'nor. There's strange things. Dark things down here.
I'll move along quietly.......Sorry...don't tell anyone I was here.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 24 Nov 09 - 04:45 PM

In both QATP & The Stone Tape, Kneale is bluffing up the supernatural with a deeper scientific rational - but it's the science that ultimately proves more terrifying, feeding as it does into the primal terror of The Stone Tape, or the revelations of Martian genetic experiment and colonisation in QATP. Despite the bogus pagan trappings, there is no such supernatural element in The Wicker Man, just the bleakness of totalitarian society and how easy human being will participate in institutionalised murder. This the horror of what human beings are capable of. Whatever the horror quotient of QATP, it still the only film capable of scaring me shitless!

You taking notes, WAV? Watch out on BBC4 over Christmas for the usual round of classic ghost stories, not like that Mark Gatis shite they served up last year!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 04:14 AM

Poem 14 of 230: NIGHT OR DAY?!

In the far north of Sweden,
    A "Land of the Midnight Sun,"
A strange thing chanced upon me -
    And I'll tell you, just for fun.

Got off a train late-morning
    (Had to catch same one next day)
And trudged far to the Youth Hostel -
    Paying for a one-night stay.

I spent the afternoon sightseeing,
    Then, after a latish dinner,
Returned to my own small bedroom -
    The comfy bed proving a winner.

For I soon dozed into dreamy sleep -
    Waking what was just two hours hence;
But my watch was an analogue,
    And night or day I couldn't sense!

I quickly packed all my things
    (My train an hour or thirteen on)
And hurried out the bedroom -
    The bright sky a sneaky con.

I wandered down the track a bit
    (The Hostel office empty),
Before a smiling helpful local
    Did kindly enlighten me.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: GUEST,Richd in work
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 04:55 AM

I think one of the (many) interesting things about both The Stone Tape and Quatermass and the Pit is that in the end both science and religion are both inadequate to contain the supernatural. Perhaps this is less so in Quatermass and the Pit. But in The Stone Tape both clearly fail (e.g. the final shot of Brock listening to Jills' screams). The second point, that the The Wicker Man contains no supernatural element is interesting, although a silmilar argument can be made that Quatermass and the Pit and The Stone Tape contain no supernatural elements either- only misunderstood science. This is also interesting because there seem to be thematic similarities between the three male characters- Summerisle, Quatermass, and Brock. They are all misunderstood scientists! The final point about totalitarianism and the dark human mind- yes, I'm sure that's there. But that describes many films from many times and many genres: what's specific to The Wicker Man? Again the 'bogus pagan' element is there, as there is a 'bogus science' element to QTP and TST but that's not all that's there. It might not even be the most important thing that's there. An interesting question is what these 'bogus' elements do in these particular examples. Films, even horror films, are capable of complexity, and the interplay of the different themes and ideas within The Wicker Man is one of the most interesting things about a film I think is flawed and quite weak.

Mark Gatiss. Hmm- I wish they'd show The Signalman this year. Interesting how in Britain it's Christmas for ghosts, not Halloween.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 05:11 AM

"Interesting how in Britain it's Christmas for ghosts, not Halloween."

Didn't the Victorians start that tradition?
I'd like to know more about it actually, as reading/watching ghost stories are one of the remaining things about Xmas tradition, I rather enjoy - it feels so old fashioned and 'grounding' in the midst of all the excess.

Saw Tim Burtons 'Sweeney Tod' t'other day, thought it would make an ideal kitch musical horror for Xmas.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 06:06 AM

Both TST & QATP are seminal influences on my general philosophy of Life, The Universe & Everything - as an atheist I don't believe in the supernatural, but I do believe that there is a whole lot more to material reality that accounts for what we humans in our sensory deprivation think of as being supernatural. This, for me, is where the horror kicks in.

By bogus paganism in TWM I mean the Frazerian folkoric foundations of Summerisle which underlie much neo-paganism today. What's specific in TWM is that those ideas have been used to repress humanity into placid compliance much as they were in Nazi Germany - see my post HERE for more on this. The bogus science of Kneale is the sci-fi language; in the worlds of TST & QATP the science is real, but in the world of The Wicker Man we are left in no doubt that the paganism is indeed a sham - the opiate by which the islanders have been coerced into lumpen passivity.

Christmas Ghost Stories? M R James, and The Signalman - and maybe a little Rolt I think! Be nice to see a season of old dark British cinema - stuff like Dead of Night and The Rocking Horse Winner. Hell, I'd even be happy with Dr Terror's House of Horrors in which we Lee & Cushing alongside Allan 'Fluff' Freeman and Roy Castle, who explores similar themes to The Mighty Boosh regarding the true The Spirit of Jazz.

Staying into Re-Imagined Village territory here I think.

Encounter anything spooky on your travels, WAV?

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies)
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 06:18 AM

SO'P What's that one with the painting of the house with the light in the window, where someone's spirit becomes trapped? I aught to get some of these old films on DVD, because though I always used to stay up late as a kid to watch them (well past my bedtime, round Nanna's house on a Friday night) they never seem to put the buggers on anymore, so my memory is a pretty hazy.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 06:59 AM

Dr Terror's House of Horrors is one of the best films I have EVER seen.

MR James - brilliant.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Will Fly
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 07:02 AM

Charles Dickens used to put ghost stories into Christmas editions of his magazine "Household words" and as separate stories-within-stories in his Christmas books. I'm unsure as to whether he started that tradition or whether he continued an existing tradition. However, I think it's true that the "traditional" Victorian Christmas as we see it on cards, for example - the snow, holly, coaches, robins, fir trees, lamplit windows, ladies & gents strolling through snowscapes - is very much a product of Dickens' influence.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 07:23 AM

Crowsister, is that The Mezzotint ? That story used to scare the bejaysus out of my daughter when she was little.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Will Fly
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 08:47 AM

Nearly all of James's ghost stories, when read in the original, are pretty scary. "The Mezzotint" is wonderful, as is "Number 13" and, for a sheer getting-under-the-bedclothes-'cos-it's-great-to-be-scared experience, "An Episode of Cathedral History" takes some beating.

I've not yet found a perfect film version of any of James's stories, though many think the "Casting The Runes" and "Oh Whistle And I'll Come To You" films are very good. They don't quite to my expectations, though they haven't been bettered yet by any other versions.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 25 Nov 09 - 09:08 AM

CS - Did you mean The Mezzotint? Or was it a film? Monty said The Mezzotint was the same idea as The Haunted Dolls House - an oxymoron if ever there was one; aren't all dolls houses haunted? There's a beauty in the museum in Preston which gives me the shivers even on a sunny day.

Then there's this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oSJs7vSthk

Of the recent TV adaptations I felt A View from a Hill faired rather better than Number 13 - what I wouldn't give for a pair of binoculars like those for wandering the ruined abbeys of our green & unpleasant countryside.

You digitised those Michael Hordern tapes yet, Will? Still something I've yet to get round to!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 05:24 AM

Poem 104 of 230: ALONG WITH THE INGENUITY

Let us not forget,
    If we should visit
The world's grand buildings,
    Such as those for kings,
The underlying
    Human suffering,
And inequity,
    Of facades we see.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Will Fly
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 06:22 AM

Hi SO'P - I've just bought myself a cheap-ish Sony Walkman cassette player as the one in my very expensive, but now quite old, Teac system is buggered and only plays at double speed.

The player arrived a few days ago so, as it happens, I'm now in the process of transferring some audio books to my laptop and thence to CD.

If you'd like a CD copy of the James stories, just let me know and PM me an address - my pleasure.

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 26 Nov 09 - 06:26 AM

Wow! Yes please!

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 27 Nov 09 - 04:36 AM

Following sadly devastating floods in Cumbria, on the news yesterday, I heard locals urging tourists to keep visiting what is a beautiful part of England...

Poem 159 of 230: WINDERMERE - SUMMER 2001

Some thirteen years from my first visit
    (Then, dropped from hitching, just near;
This time, by train and a downhill walk),
    I arrived at Windermere:

On the ferry Miss Cumbria Three,
    A chill-out trip to Ambleside -
Viewing the trees, the farms, the fells,
    And the more sporty ways to ride.

Once there, an uphill walk through the shops
    Led to a leaf, rock and root track,
With a stalactite-like mossy falls,
    And a bridge - starting the way back.

Track-side, gripping the ghyll, ancient woods
    Shaded what was a sunny day,
And the falling stream gave sound strongly -
    Calming the soul a further way.

Then home - again charmed by the thin-stone
    Minimum-mortar kept buildings,
The surrounds of England's largest lake,
    And movie train-window viewings.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 28 Nov 09 - 04:11 AM

Poem 164 of 230: BARROW-IN-FURNESS, SEEN WITH A PAL - SUMMER 2001

Forest, wind-farm, fell-views and sands behind,
    The train, crossing Barrow's waters, startled
Some of the swans and ducks bridge-side aligned.

Soon seen as we walked from the train station:
    Two huge jibs, each over its new warship;
And works - largest we'd viewed in the nation.

Neat roundabouts link busy dockside streets;
    In the docks, a foreign-flag submarine,
And, in the museum, miniature fleets.

A tasteful town-hall of pitted red stone;
    And, snap-viewed from a left-side train-window,
Furness Abbey ruins - on the way home.

From http://blogs.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse (e-book)
Or http://walkaboutsverse.sitegoz.com (e-scroll)
(C) David Franks 2003

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 28 Nov 09 - 04:56 AM

Did some storytelling in Barrow once about 15 years ago; never been back but I see it most every day, and night, the distant light glistening across the bay...

By the old Fleetwood Pavilion, lookin' northward to the sea,
There's a Barrow girl a-settin', and I know she thinks o' me;
For the wind is in the chimneys, and the mobile ring-tones they say:
"Come you back, you storyteller; come you back Barrow way!"
Come you back Barrow way,
Where the old car ferries lay:
Can't you 'ear their propellors chunkin' from Larne to Morecambe Bay?
On the road out Barrow way,
Where the flat-fishes they play,
An' the dawn comes up like thunder outer Fleetwood 'crost the Bay!

Just a thought...

Subject: RE: BS: WalkaboutsVerse Anew