[lit-ideas] Re: Sunday Poem
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2006 11:52:46 -0800
On the bottom of a pretty good essay,
my daughter was advised to use active verbs
to avoid wordiness.
Words like "biff," presumably
What could be more active?
I biff, you biff, he, she or it biffs,
we biff, they biff, you, in the plural--
not the buff, unless an ancient Brit--
(but you could *be* buff)...
biff.
No hint of wordiness there.
And what is the opposite of wordiness?
Silence-i-ness?
"I don't like it, sergeant, it's quiet."
"Too, quiet. Them injuns is up to something."
Sproing, thwack.
"My god! They're utilising arrows actively."
U. Utah Phillips on stage last night had no problem with wordiness;
he enjoyed every minute of it,
every hint, burble and zing.
Over seventy now, "a rumor in his own time,"
as he used to call himself,
yesterday he drew the Smithsonian's curator of Folk Music to the show.
Rightly too.
Bruce is a fine man,
still a Wobbly,
still very funny,
still sound,
*and* loquacious.
A taste?
"What," he asked, "is the definition of politics?
'Poly,' meaning 'many,'
'tics,' 'small blood sucking insects.'"
I met Charles Bukowski
in a San Pedro bookstore,
down where the Portuguese are
near L.A.'s harbor.
Charles was drinking Michelobs
from a bucket,
not keeping score,
but listing somewhat.
He was the antithesis of wordiness,
would have hit anyone who spoke,
actively or no,
so pretentiously.
James Bond,
on holiday in L.A.,
shaken but not stirred,
stepped up for an autographed copy.
They had a most mannerly fight.
Whiff.
"You should have spent more time as a mailman, Charles,
you're delivery's unsound."
"Asshole."
Why should all this insist
on being in one poem?
I suppressed a flit of anger earlier,
so I'm using my words
to avoid biffing
that rude twit.
Warriors and academics can be a touchy bunch.
David Ritchie
Portland, Oregon
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