Janis Freegard's Blog, page 23
November 21, 2011
Tuesday Poem – Of Many Worlds in This World, by Margaret Cavendish
Image via Wikipedia
Of Many Worlds in This World
Just like as in a nest of boxes round,
Degrees of sizes in each box are found:
So, in this world, may many others be
Thinner and less, and less still by degree:
Although they are not subject to our sense,
A world may be no bigger than two-pence.
Nature is curious, and such works may shape,
Which our dull senses easily escape:
For creatures, small as atoms, may there be,
If every one a creature's figure bear.
If atoms four, a world can make, then see
What several worlds might in an ear-ring be:
For, millions of those atoms may be in
The head of one small, little, single pin.
And if thus small, then ladies may well wear
A world of worlds, as pendents in each ear.
Another poem from the inimitable Margaret Cavendish (1623-1673), Duchess of Newcastle, poet, science fiction author and the first woman invited to attend the Royal Society. I posted about her last year, too.
"I would rather die in the adventure of noble achievements than live in obscure and sluggish security."
November 18, 2011
We have maintained a silence closely resembling stupidity
Yesterday marked the 29th anniversary of Neil Roberts' death. Neil blew himself up outside the Wanganui Computer Centre in 1982, as a protest action. Here's a link to an earlier post about Neil.
No Future – in memory of Neil Roberts.
and here's a photo I stole off the Neil Roberts – New Zealand's own Guy Fawkes Facebook page.
November 16, 2011
Janis on the Radio, Janis on the Beach
On Thursday (17 November 2011), sometime after 9pm, I will be talking to Veronika Meduna on Our Changing World on National Radio and reading a few poems from Kingdom Animalia: the Escapades of Linnaeus.
Janis, pingao, Island Bay, wind
The words on the beach, "This is a day for the eating of clouds" are busy settling into a poem now that the tide has swept them away. They originally came from me mishearing "It's cloudy today" as "It's cloud-eater day". I like the cloud-eater version better.
It's so good to see all the pingao around Island Bay now the council has fenced it off. Many years ago (over the 1985/86 summer) I did a coastal vegetation survey with Yvonne Weeber for the Wellington Harbour Board (best job I've ever had!) and it was very exciting every time we found a struggling pingao plant clinging on amongst the marram. Now they're thriving – hurrah!
November 15, 2011
November 14, 2011
November 7, 2011
Enter the triolet
Now and then I like to play around with poetic forms and recently I've been having fun with triolets. The triolet is a French form originating in the 14th century. It has 8 lines and involves a lot of repetition.
It goes:
A
B
a
A
a
b
A
B
ie the first two lines are repeated at the end and the first line is also the 4th line (as well as being the 7th line). The rhyme scheme means that there are 2 rhymes – one for the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th lines and another for the rest.
Traditionally triolets were written in iambic pentameter (dee dum dee dum dee dum dee dum dee dum) but I haven't bothered about that. Here's one of my (not very good) attempts to give you the idea.
No Skin
for years he had no skin
the slightest slight was felt too keenly
reaching too far in
for years he had no skin
his barriers had all worn thin
his innards had become exposed – unseemly
for years he had no skin
the slightest slight was felt too keenly
and here's a link to a really good one by British poet Wendy Cope.
October 31, 2011
Tuesday Poem – Harbours, by Tim Jones
Harbours
He settled
where the sea made a distant mirror
glimpsed from the sloping decks
of fast-subsiding houses.
Dockside cranes, the mournful tones
of cruise ships and coastal traders -
these were his background music,
his theme and variations.
From cliff-tops, from office blocks,
he would monitor departures,
courses set for distant harbours
rich with spice and contraband.
Retired, he had his garden,
books, the heavy ticking
of the farewell clock. He searched
tide tables, shipping movements,
looking for a sailing time,
a vessel heading home.
Tim Jones (pictured above) is a poet and author of both science fiction and literary fiction who was awarded the New Zealand Society of Authors Janet Frame Memorial Award for Literature in 2010. Among his recent books are short story collection Transported (Vintage, 2008) and poetry anthology Voyagers: Science Fiction Poetry from New Zealand (Interactive Press, 2009), co-edited with Mark Pirie. Voyagers won the "Best Collected Work" category in the 2010 Sir Julius Vogel Awards.
Tim's third poetry collection, the excellent Men Briefly Explained, has just been published by Interactive Press, and he is in the final stages of a book launch tour. Aucklanders can catch the tour on Tuesday 1 November at Poetry Live, Thirsty Dog, 469 Karangahape Road, 8pm. Tim will also be reading at the Poetry Society in Wellington on Monday 21 November at 7.30pm (The Thistle Inn, 3 Mulgrave St, Thorndon) together with Keith Westwater. I very much enjoyed the Wellington library tour stop last week.
I chose 'Harbours' because it's a lovely, musical poem, though tinged with "mournful tones". Also, it made me think of my father (who isn't retired yet) as he was in the merchant navy in his youth and spends his spare time building decks.
For more on the engaging and readable Men Briefly Explained, see http://timjonesbooks.blogspot.com/p/men-briefly-explained.htm You can also link to the book's Facebook page, where I was interested to learn that one of the poems was used as the text for a choral work composed by Brett Weymark, which premiered in Sydney recently.
You can click here or on the quill to the left for more Tuesday poems.
[image error]
[image error]
October 10, 2011
Head to the Hub
I'm the Tuesday poem editor this week and have chosen a great poem by Vivienne Plumb from her imminent new collection – you can read 128 Abel Smith St and access all the other Tuesday poems here. Due to an inconvenient power cut (right at a crucial part of True Blood), I've run out of time to post a poem on this blog, so I'd recommend reading Vivienne's instead.
