two roads diverged in a yellow wood
Gentle travellers of the internet, have a look at these. Over a decade ago I began work on a poem called The Poetic Manifesto. It was intended as a sort of statement of intent. That is to say, it was intended to set out what I hoped to achieve in poetry. At the time, I actually ended up writing two poems with the same title, each setting out a quite different agenda. I chose one for publication. Those of you who've been with me a while will be familiar with it. Today I'm going to show you the two together. It seems that I was making a bigger choice than I realised all those years ago. The first poem shows pretty much the artistic path I've followed. The second will show you what might have been.
the poetic manifesto
half heard melodies at dawn
dreams or the traces of dreaming
a woman's name said soft like breathing
memories of faces gone
footsteps in the hall on winter nights
sadness in the heart where love has been
softness on the fields after a storm
shadows bright with remembering
we will go
through cowardice to bravery
into the timeless eye of mind
across the ungovernable sea
to where all poems have their end
and their beginnings naturally
come with me
Okay. Now for the other. It was dated 13th Feb 1997.
Manifesto
frosty mornings
the mountains and c (especially c)
wandering in the streets
wandering in other places
ordinary blokes who think they're Sir Galahad
ordinary blokes who think they're Mordred
me thinking I'm Hamlet
le tribu de femmes (the tribe of women)
Chinese accents
great harmony of the Universe
subtle incongrueties
the relentlessness of time
Tuesdays
the poetic manifesto
half heard melodies at dawn
dreams or the traces of dreaming
a woman's name said soft like breathing
memories of faces gone
footsteps in the hall on winter nights
sadness in the heart where love has been
softness on the fields after a storm
shadows bright with remembering
we will go
through cowardice to bravery
into the timeless eye of mind
across the ungovernable sea
to where all poems have their end
and their beginnings naturally
come with me
Okay. Now for the other. It was dated 13th Feb 1997.
Manifesto
frosty mornings
the mountains and c (especially c)
wandering in the streets
wandering in other places
ordinary blokes who think they're Sir Galahad
ordinary blokes who think they're Mordred
me thinking I'm Hamlet
le tribu de femmes (the tribe of women)
Chinese accents
great harmony of the Universe
subtle incongrueties
the relentlessness of time
Tuesdays
posted by heelers | 6:11 AM
10 Comments:
The second one makes you sound like a pretensious jerk, James. I like the first better.
Now, of course, you'll tell me that you prefer the second?
I am a pretentious jerk Missjean.
But if I get you within talking range, you're not going to care about that.
J
But darling James, if you get me within talking range, you'll be within ballpeen hammer range.
(shades of deja vu)
MJ
Ain't no one never used a ballpeen on me afore. Leastaways not while I wuz talkin to em.
J
James, are you attempting to talk trash to me? If so, I admire the effort, but it needs to be more threatening. For example: "Tain't nobody done never het me with a ballpeen. And if yer thinkin' of doin' the deed, you jest think again, you dumb blonde!"
To which I might reply: "Oh, yeah, carrot-top? I'll whup you upside the head faster'n' you can say, 'Help me! I'm a girly man!'"
To which your rejoiner would be: "Bring it, sista!"
And I'd say: "At the bikerack after school!" Or perhaps, "I brung it; I got it; it's on NOW!"
-MJ
Missj, trying to be folksy! Not get killed.
J
Oh, FOLKSY. I have a mouth-harp and a 4-stringed banjo-mandalin. What have you got? And do you know "The Peeler and the Goat"? (I don't.)
Although, if you're going folksy, does that mean you'll stop bathing for a few months?
MJ
Yes to all those, but what's a ballpeen?
J
James, a ballpeen is a metal-working hammer. It has a flat head on one side and a ball-shaped (really, a half-ball... a hemisphere?) on the other. Machinists use it to make gaskets, and they work dandy for striking a rivet flat. I think maybe you call the "peen" something different in Ireland, maybe?
And now that I've answered that question seriously, you'll no doubt tell me you knew all along and were just testing my engineering knowledge. :)
No, I didn't know. Sometimes even great Heelers nods.
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