Walkaboutsverse

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: GUEST,yayaya
Date: 17 May 08 - 08:16 PM

OK, I was wrong to generalise from the particular. The wider point still stands, though. I just wish certain people would spend a whole lot more time on their own creative efforts and a whole lot less time denigrating the efforts of others. This forum'd be a nicer place if they did.

(That said, I realise I've just totally "fed" 'em by contributing here. Doh!)

Back to the guitar, methinks...

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 May 08 - 05:43 PM

Back to the guitar, methinks...(Yayaya)...for me, it's the tenor-recorder/English-flute and keyboards, but I'm tempted by the bell lyre..?

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 May 08 - 01:41 PM

THE WEEKLY WALKABOUTS, E.G.

(A tad early this time, as I'm off to the Hexham Gathering tomorrow.)

Poem-come-song 111 of 230: THE MERSEY AT DIDSBURY - SPRING 2000

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 walkaboutsverse.741.com

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 May 08 - 02:12 PM

stop going on about abodes its really mcgonagle ish,or even pooterish.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: The Sandman
Date: 23 May 08 - 02:15 PM

or even Betjeman at his worst [sitting on a loo in camden town].only estate agents have abodes,

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 May 08 - 02:17 PM

It rhymes with "road," thanks Captain...and I swear to God some have liked that piece when I've sung it at folk-clubs.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 May 08 - 02:56 PM

The Vogons have landed!! The Vogons have landed!!

CLICKY

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 23 May 08 - 03:03 PM

I think the Vogons deserve a place int his thread. They have walked a great deal more scattered realms than WAV, and thought far more scattered thoughts, incredible though it may seem. Here:

Oh freddled gruntbuggly,
Thy micturations are to me
As plurdled gabbleblotchits
On a lurgid bee.
Groop, I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes
And hooptiously drangle me
With crinkly binglewurgles,
For I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon,
See if I don't![1]


I am sure the Captain is right up there in the running with WAV and McGonagle. And don't start with me about not liking his language. There is such a thing as too much provincial bone-headedness, you know, at least on other threads...


A


a

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 May 08 - 04:38 PM

So tell me brothers grim - what are your thoughts on Ezra Pound and the free-verse poets...here's mine...

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 walkaboutsverse.741.com

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 23 May 08 - 06:33 PM

I hasten to add this preface to the above excerpt, to make clear which Captain I am talking about:

"Listening to it (Vogon verses) is an experience similar to torture as demonstrated when Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are forced to listen to the Vogon captain's poetry prior to being thrown out of an airlock...".

That is the Captain I placed in a class with WAV and McGonagle. Not the esteemed Captain Bird.


A

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 23 May 08 - 07:39 PM

I did not know Ezra Pound, personally; but you, sir, are no Ezra Pound.

He never published anything that would not pass as poetry, no matter how desperate he was.


A

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Don Firth
Date: 23 May 08 - 08:49 PM

It is unfortunate that WAV doesn't have a clue as to where his towel is.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 May 08 - 04:42 AM

So you don't think the free-versifiers are the real Vogons of the poetry world?

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Darowyn
Date: 24 May 08 - 07:43 AM

No. Often they are the true crafts people. Taking the more exposed road, where the depth of thought and the beauty of phrasing are not covered up by conventions of form and bent into shape by rhyme schemes.
Doggerel is easy- look in any greetings card.
Why not find out about the topic before you close your mind?

Read this, and the rest of the series too.
Cheers

Dave

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 May 08 - 02:23 PM

"Why not find out about the topic before you close your mind?" (Darowyn)...I said in that poem above "I returned AGAIN" to free-verse poetry - in other words, I have given it a fair go already, thanks, Darowyn; but I, as with many, like metre and/or rhyme, and poetry was kept within that framework for centuries, before the likes of Ezra Pound decided to break it; no doubt some global publishers like free-verse because they can easily translate it to other languages.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 24 May 08 - 03:28 PM

The problem here is not one of form, but one of function.


A

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 May 08 - 05:43 PM

To Amos: in my Blurb I mentioned that some of my poems are didactic and that, accordingly, the style is direct - I didn't want folks scratching their heads over oblique imagery.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 24 May 08 - 09:25 PM

Good of you. No-one wants that.



A

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 May 08 - 05:08 AM

It's definitely wrong to say "no-one", Amos - go through my myspace Comments if you wish, or read what Amos had to say about FOLLOWING THE SUN, above.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 25 May 08 - 11:12 AM

Irony is a strange element. It evaporates in an excess of light, and likewise shrivels in an excess of dark.

A

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: GUEST,Sedayne (Astray)
Date: 25 May 08 - 12:34 PM

go through my myspace Comments if you wish

Myspace is interesting on all sorts of levels as maybe the only place entirely devoid of actual criticism, negative or otherwise. It seems to operate on a level of mass sycophancy in which every exchange is reduced to the most superficial honk if only by way of giving to get back. A similar thing existed on ebay until the rules regarding feedback were changed, now things are a bit more honest. On YouTube, for whatever reason, the comments are always honest, and all the more valuable because of that. I have a policy of leaving all comments on my YouTube films, positive or negative - in fact, the more colourful the better really.

One would, therefore, advise caution in attaching any sort of critical significance to ones Myspace Comments, unless one needs that level of superficial flattery by way of a personal fix, which is, of course entirely possible, otherwise, I dare say, Myspace would be quite the phenomenon that it is. The quantitative element is the most worrying; I've always believed that less is more, and as that great poet Mark E. Smith once wrote: there are five people in the world, the rest are paste.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 May 08 - 01:36 PM

That's true: there is very little negativity on myspace, plenty of "thanks for the ad", and the odd "I like your space" or suchlike.
Friends are really, mostly, Links, of course, and perhaps users think that if they put something negative they will be deleted and lose out.
And such things are, of course, subjective: neither of the above lines from Mr. Smith or Amos do anything for me - save cause an itch.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 25 May 08 - 04:13 PM

That's the idea.


A

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 May 08 - 04:39 PM

I don't like horse racing, which I find cruel (see poem #146 HORSES FOR COURSES?, if you wish), but I remember hearing on the news, in Australia, of a race meeting where a horse called Itchy Feet was indeed scratched.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 25 May 08 - 11:24 PM

An itch is also symptomatic of a scab ready to release its toxic suppuration to the open air, when it is scratched, thus, just possibly, bringing about a cure of a serious infection.


A

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 May 08 - 04:52 AM

Thanks, Amos - I just had breakfast; speaking of which, Sedayne, I did as you do and froze some stotties( because I still had a sliced loaf to get through), before slicing them down the middle for grilling, before peanut-butter and jam - delicious.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: s&r
Date: 30 May 08 - 04:03 AM

There is a strange fascination with these (WAV) threads. It's like putting your tongue into an aching tooth - you know you'll regret it but you do it just the same

Stu

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 30 May 08 - 07:02 AM

WAV - You refer this this as your life's work, does this mean it's finished? By which I mean - are you still writing? And are your travels at an end?

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: catspaw49
Date: 30 May 08 - 07:18 AM

Ya' know, I was barely aware of this dude as a 'Catter but much to my chagrin and for reasons that I can't figure, I seem to have read a lot of his crappola in the past couple of days.


WAV........You're a fuckin' numbnuts Man. I hope this IS your life's work and that you have now finished it completely. If I thought it would guarantee that you would not plague anyone else with your drool laden drivel, I would happily go underwater and fuck fish.

Do you have any unexpressed thoughts? Hmmmm.....Skip that. I guess you wouldn't because nothing you post shows any form of sane thought process.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 30 May 08 - 08:45 AM

Hey Spaw, he/she has got skin like rhinoceros hide, ya can't insult him/her.

eric

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 30 May 08 - 02:15 PM

Can I just repeat that without Spaw's hissy-fits getting in the way...

Seriously, WAV, and out of genuine curiousity. You refer to this as your life's work, does this mean it's finished? By which I mean - are you still writing? And are is your walkabout at an end?

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 May 08 - 06:25 AM

THE WEEKLY WALKABOUT, E.G.

(From my life's work which, yes, in terms of versification, "finished" at the end of 2002 - however, I'm sure some of you will be thrilled to know that, in another vein, it contiues, as I am know learning to mimic my "Chants from Walkabouts" (a CD) on the tenor-recorder/English-flute, and have already done recorder intro's to two of them at folk clubs, here in NE England. (To Catspaw - please kinkly keep that kind of language in the kittie-litter.)

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 walkaboutsverse.741.com

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 May 08 - 09:19 AM

"There is a strange fascination with these (WAV) threads. It's like putting your tongue into an aching tooth - you know you'll regret it but you do it just the same" (S&R)...I'm a 100% sure, Stu!, that my tooth-aches (and it's been a while) have derived from leaving bits of food in the gaps; accordingly, when we get one, we simply make sure the area is now clear, and keep tongue and all away from the trauma.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 31 May 08 - 11:59 AM

For poetic overtones and insight, sensitivity of metaphor, delicacy of rhythm and tone, Mister Wav surpasses any single-celled poet ever heard.


A

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 May 08 - 12:58 PM

Music to my ears, Amos!

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 31 May 08 - 01:18 PM

Hmmmmm.




A

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 May 08 - 02:01 PM

My God....what untrammelled brilliance! The true flower of English poetry at last blooms again, its almost forgotten lyrical grandeurs springing fresh anew in a bold new hand, the splendour of the past renewed with fullsome promise and verve!

How did I overlook this thread so long????

More, WAV! Give us more!

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Don Firth
Date: 31 May 08 - 02:12 PM

Don't Panic!

This just in! Walkaboutsverse has just been identified as Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Sussex.

The dead swans lay in the stagnant pool.
They lay. They rotted. They turned
Around occasionally.
Bits of flesh dropped off them from
Time to time.
And sank into the pool's mire.
They also smelt a great deal.

Recognize the style?

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 May 08 - 02:30 PM

Don Firth, Don Firth?
I'm afraid, unless you wish to click the link, Little Hawk, you'll have to wait till next Saturday for your next bit of nightingale.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 31 May 08 - 02:34 PM

The thread grew long, the heart laid bare,
The field no longer falllow.
But sad to say, the desperate soil
Was pale, and thin, and shallow.

The flow that often waters dreams
And the light of inspiration
Would not appear among these schemes
Of morbid recitation.

AB! AB! CD! CD!
He endlessly strove to write them
Of shoes, and trees, and tired chairs
And such, ad infinitum.

Who walketh here, and walketh there,
From Land's End to Dunkirk,
And in each town, a deadening stare,
Doth fuel his deadly work.

Describing stones, or lizard's dreams,
Or the value of sextuplets,
Would surely bring us more reward,
Than more of these damned couplets.

Wilson Termagenent Junior
Protests and Jellied Things
Bunt, Punt, and Stunted, pubs.
Loch Lomond, 1947

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: gnu
Date: 31 May 08 - 02:45 PM

My dreams are shattnered.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 31 May 08 - 04:20 PM

From my life's work which, yes, in terms of versification, "finished" at the end of 2002

So you no longer write?

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 31 May 08 - 04:48 PM

Yes, Sedayne, I no longer write verses - I just read through "Walkabouts: travels and conclusions in verse" once a year, and make minor changes/corrections (no-doubt occasionally going back to how it was in the first place!); and I try to go through my 17 Chants from Walkabouts once a week (above link). Then I have a repertoire of 17 E. trads, and 17 hymns, plus a few carols that I re-remember around Advent, each year.
And you..?

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 May 08 - 05:24 PM

I seldom write any longer either. I seem to have shifted from a declaratory mode to one of detached bemusement at what I see happening all around me.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Little Hawk
Date: 31 May 08 - 06:35 PM

I do enjoy reading what is writ, however...if it is well writ and says something interesting.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: gnu
Date: 31 May 08 - 06:43 PM

That is a shame, LH. You should continue, really. Even if you don't produce or perform your own, your songs should grace our ears in some form.

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Amos
Date: 31 May 08 - 06:45 PM

Ah, LH, I think a quick trace of your extensive posts will show that if the condition you describe is true, it must have happened in the last fifteen seconds.


A

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 01 Jun 08 - 04:21 AM

And you..?

I've always though creativity as a curse rather than an option; and whatever my life's work is, I doubt it'll ever be finished until I'm dead & gone. Meanwhile - life's too short, and you're a long time dead, so life is there for the living of it & art for the pure sweet passion of being here in the first place, although there is an essential demarcation between my creative work & more traditional pursuits, such as storytelling & singing folk songs. In this latter respect I find it essential to have at least one new song on the go at any one time, and several more in the pipeline. To this end I keep a little book, an A6 Black 'n Red (though I've promised myself a Moleskine when it gets full, which will be another year or so) in which I keep a note of every song I sing in public, paid & unpaid, and every song I have a notion to learn. Many never get beyond this stage of course; and others I learn, sing once, and promptly forget about, like Child #1, which I made a lot of fuss about on account of Pentangle usurping it for The Cruel Sister and feeding it back into the folk clubs. Others come filtering though without my knowing, like Child #32, which you can hear on my myspace page in an unaccompanied rendering saving improvised episodes sung with a Hungarian Jew's Harp. This is King Henry, nabbed from the singing of my dear old oppo, Thor Ewing, a braw tale of comedy horror & burlesque which I can't ever remember having to learn. The Border Brogue, incidently, is my own sweet native tongue; as a native Northumbrian, of course, we resent being thought of as English, though ever quite Scots either! Otherwise - too many songs, not enough time!

Is there any significance in the number 17?

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 01 Jun 08 - 04:22 AM

600!

Subject: RE: Walkaboutsverse
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 01 Jun 08 - 05:16 AM

"Is there any significance in the number 17?" (Sedayne)...that's how many from the 230 pieces in Walkabouts that I found a way to sing as "Chants from Walkabouts"; also, as you would know, Sedayne, "7" appears a lot in both E. trads and Christianity.