My fave of those is the one that starts
what a taste, that metallic
wind,
wet leaves, the almost-snow.
That reminds me of UK visits -- it's rare to feel that specific feeling here. Also, I like the way you sneakily emphasise words (scene, heart, hound) by disguising them as line return errors. 😁
wow!
For me, the most moving part of the Flood tale is Ishtar's lament. The Biblical God promises it won't happen again; the Mesopotamian gods are thoroughly remorseful. Humankind has and will survive. It's not a story about animals or a boat, but about the community learning it can survive disaster.
The Bruegel painting Auden mentions is clearer, I think. The figures failing to note Icarus's splashdown are missing something mythological, miraculous, vitally important. That sundown is chilling.
I think I misunderstood Auden when I first read this poem. It's oddly comforting to think that your suffering doesn't matter that much in the sum of things. You die, but the world doesn't die. But think of what's being done to people right now. How can the arrogant world keep turning!
Did I ever tell you about the time I reached down for my library copy of "Origin of Species" and realised to my horror that one of our cats had peed on it? I bought a replacement copy and confessed to a librarian, who said, "Perhaps he's a Creationist?"
"The emergency sprill must be released!"
Found it in the Internet Archive, and may I just remark: !!!
archive.org/details/gold...
SNORT
That's great. "And gradually light returns to the street".
!!!
My studies make it clear that, in recent years, the public library has morphed into a community hub that provides all sorts of resources. It makes me proud to think of the library as a bastion of service for the public in a culture of profit. OTOH why are all these people in here! Go away! 😹
Post (or link) a knockout poem I haven't seen before.
That's next. Looking forwards!
Start at the end. One of my earliest writing lessons came from Larry Niven and the short story "Death By Ecstasy". He worked out how the good guy gets out of it *first*, before the rest of the story. If you sort out the ending first you won't flub it when you get there.
This cartoon fucked me up.
... thank you for avoiding anachronistic words. They irk me. 😅
Cornucopia!
Bart Simpson
Do you live in the UK? Are you registered to vote in next month's elections? If not, you'd better get a move on, as tomorrow is the last day you can register. Fortunately, it's easy to do online. www.gov.uk/register-to-... 🗳️
I think the places she names are the sites of famous martial arts academies
我是...
Right then. For no particular reason, other than I want to and I have time on my hands this evening: The Top Ten Looney Tunes Cartoons, as voted for by me. The list will gradually appear under this post...
Coincidentally we just watched the Blake's 7 episode Horizon (1979), which dealt with such attitudes in a satisfying manner.
Stumbled across this while looking for something else. Good gods! (The "dutiful stallion" made me think of Auden's "torturer's horse".) The poet is Robyn Schiff.
"... the best children's media is the stuff that sits at the edge of what they can handle -- that leaves a bit unresolved that the viewer picks at for years and decades after, trying to understand what it was they saw and were entranced by."
-- @eruditorumpress.com
Buy and read this amazing book 👇
Speaking of old things, I've discovered the Notes doodad on my Kobo, which allows me to select a word in the book I'm reading and then add an annotation wholly irrelevant to the text so I don't forgot the maggot I just had.
Someone hurry up and go there, I want pictures before I die
Want for a synonym has taken me to the ancient version of Roget's Thesaurus at the Gutenberg Project. I'm learning many new (or rather old) terms, such as "cormorant" for a greedy person and "maggot" for "a whimsical idea". Used to read Roget's as a kid, lol
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10681