[lit-ideas] Re: Sunday Poem
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 14:29:47 -0800
David: Ah, thanks -- several mysteries cleared up - a good day's work. The
Major Tom and Lulu Lloyd stanza was the one I had most difficulty with.
They fit my coherent whole with difficulty. And now I see coherence wasn't
something you were striving for.
Something this morning made me think of Yeats' "Long Legged Fly" perhaps an
association, random or not with your poem: Here is the Yeats Poem:
Long-Legged Fly
That civilization may not sink
Its great battle lost,
Quiet the dog, tether the pony
To a distant post.
Our master Caesar is in the tent
Where the maps are spread,
His eyes fixed upon nothing,
A hand under his head.
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
His mind moves upon silence.
That the topless towers be burnt
And men recall that face,
Move most gently if move you must
In this lonely place.
She thinks, part woman, three parts a child,
That nobody looks; her feet
Practise a tinker shuffle
Picked up on the street.
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
Her mind moves upon silence.
That girls at puberty may find
The first Adam in their thought,
Shut the door of the Pope's chapel,
Keep those children out.
There on the scaffolding reclines
Michael Angelo.
With no more sound than mice make
His hand moves to and fro.
Like a long-legged fly upon the stream
His mind moves upon silence.
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of david ritchie
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 2:01 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Bev Hogue
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Sunday Poem
On such a day my computer chooses to act up, swallowing a long post
like beer from Erin's yard. How random.
Lulu Lloyd was a real person. All teachers had such nicknames--Beaky
Beckwith, Bug Williamson... His joke about the bush telegraph--read
"telephone" game in the U.S.--was that a commander sent a message,
"Send reinforcements, going to advance," which when passed up the
chain of command became, "Send three and fourpence, going to a
dance." This was back in the days when pence were d's and not p's.
The rest of the references are meant to make you think of those
moments when you stare into space and the memory chest suddenly
opens. I could tell you what they all mean to me, but what would be
the point? The person being addressed is my number two daughter.
People her age use "random" in two ways; one we recognize, and which
lays emphasis on composition, and another which means something like,
"This is difficult to comprehend." Thus you may hear a student say
that Henry James is "really random."
David Savory is the one with the baby. He probably still lives a few
streets away from Straker's front porch, where in the photo you see
the two of us discussing matters of great import. Straker was in his
favorite Yankee Stadium seat, holding forth.
David Ritchie
Portland, Oregon
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