K. Morris's Blog, page 125

My Lady of Ill Repute

I met a lady of ill repute
Who played all night on my flute.
We had a bit to drink,
But its not what you think!
As that flute I bought in Beirut!

Ice

I know a young lady named Ice
Who works in the field of vice.
I like to help Bella
Down in the pub cellar
To pick up some very nice ice.

When you Say

When you say, “what next?”
I could suggest
That you and I explore
My bedside drawer.
But I must hide inside
My gentlemanly shell
And never tell

My Clock’s Old Chime

My clock’s old chime
Is out of time
With this modern age.
But I must engage
For I know
That the clock
Will not stop
Though I wish
It would do so.

Four Last Songs: the poems that comprise the final song cycle by Richard Strauss

My thanks to my friend Brian for introducing me to these poems by Hermann Hesse and Joseph Karl Benedikt Freiherr von Eichendorff, which where set to music by Richard Strauss https://intranslation.brooklynrail.org/german/four-last-songs-the-poems-that-comprise-the-final-song-cycle-by-richard-strauss/.

My favourite is, I think September by Hermann Hesse.

Dissociation

I pass
People behind
Opaque glass.
I find
They say
Words, half-heard
As I, caught behind
My own cracked glass,
Half lose my mind.
A child’s laugh
Can bring me back.
But fragile glass
So easily cracks.

Trigger Warnings

“Universities are accused of ‘mollycoddling’ and ‘patronising’ students as books are removed from reading lists over ‘challenging’ content and trigger warnings are slapped on 1,000 texts including works by Dickens, Shakespeare, and Chaucer”.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11098359/Universities-accused-mollycoddling-students-challenging-books-removed-reading-lists.html

I won’t comment other than to say that treating adults as children is patronising in the extreme. If someone is going ...

I Heard A Leaf Fall

I heard a leaf fall.
It fell, dry and dead,
And rested there
On greying head.
And brought a thought
Of the passing kind
Into my so mortal mind …

Larkin Revisited

I am currently listening to Larkin Revisited on BBC Radio 4. The BBC’s website describes the 10 part series as follows:
“Across ten programmes and ten Philip Larkin poems, Simon Armitage, the poet laureate, finds out what happens when he revisits and unpicks Larkin’s work”.

I am a fan of Larkin’s poetry and I’m enjoying listening to Armitage discuss the poet’s work.

In the latest episode, which was broadcast on Wednesday 10 August, the Poet Laureate Simon Armitage discusses Larkin’s poem Talki...

Background

My clock’s chime
Makes background sound
As I rhyme.

I raise my glass
To old Father Time
Who will outlast
This poor rhyme.