Watched the pilot episode of Breaking Bad last night, and lo and behold looks who’s birthday it is today. Celebrating the two Walts!
A clear midnight; by Walt Whitman
This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou
lovest best.
Night, sleep, death and the stars.
African Americans had a brief flowering of liberty and creativity in the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War in the USA. This was brought to a sharp end by the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and the passing of the Jim Crow laws.
In the 1920’s there was a cultural, social and literary flowering of creativity by the grandchildren of the reconstruction era negroes. Known at the time as the New Negro Movement it is now called the Harlem Renaissance. Countee Cullen was one of the leading lights of this movement.
This poem is interesing to me because it is so evocative of the WB Yeats “He Wishes for the cloths of heaven”. While Yeats wrote of the lovers angst Cullen’s poem speaks of discrimination and racism. Here we are today 100 years on from the Harlem Renaissance and it seems that the struggle for equality for African Americans has seen little advance. Despite the Civil Rights movement, the Black Panther Party, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X the USA still appears to be dangerous ground on which to be a black person.
For a Poet; by Countee Cullen
I have wrapped my dreams in a silken cloth,
And laid them away in a box of gold;
Where long will cling the lips of the moth,
I have wrapped my dreams in a silken cloth;
I hide no hate; I am not even wroth
Who found the earth’s breath so keen and cold;
I have wrapped my dreams in a silken cloth,
And laid them away in a box of gold.
Happy Birthday John Fitzgerald Kennedy. We remember………….Camelot!
A time when politicians were leaders, with vision and purpose. A time when leaders dared to dream.
Armed police on the beach, guarding the donkeys from Islamic terrorists. Or are they there to protect old blighty from the immigrants? Will you “fight them on the beaches”? Those nice Polish men who erected your garden shed, or changed your car tyres, or unblocked your toilet?
This is the England being created by David Cameron and Theresa May today. It is a land of fear and suspicion. It is a world of hate. It is a place where wealthy people become more wealthy, making armaments to sell to despots and dictators, rebels and freedom fighters on both sides of the conflict in the Middle East, in Africa, in Asia, in South America. And when those distant people have had enough of killing each other sometimes they take a notion to visit violence on the brokers of death.
This is an England where the wealthy resent the very fundamentals that make Britain Great. The social contract between the people and the state that was forged from the blood sacrifice of two world wars. Basic housing provision, social welfare, a national health service, public transport and a civil service built on principles of fairness, honesty, trust, service, you know, old fashioned English public schoolboy stuff.
The puppet masters of the Tory party want to dismantle the public contract. They want a descent into what they have in the USA. Richer rich and poorer poor. They have already dismantled British Rail, British Gas, Water and Electricity and sold off the family jewels. Now they are going after things like the minimum wage, healthcare and housing.
The European Union was in their way. The EU demands a social contract as the price of membership. This does not suit the oligarchs. To get the world they want they needed Britain to be outside the EU. They sold Brexit to the working class British by dealing in fear, hate, xenophobia, racism and greed. Basically they sold the seven sins. And Britain bought them.
Lie down with dogs, wake up with fleas. If you buy the seven sins then you get to live them. What that means, in a real sense, is armed police on the beach on a sunny day. This is England!
For those of you out there who blame all this on muslims, I give you a poem to think about. Sassoon wrote this after witnessing the carnage of the Battle of the Somme. It is violently anti-Christian, and he never published it in his life. Islam is an excuse given to you by the Oligarchs to engender you with fear and suspicion of “others”. If you wipe out all the muslims they will find another target for your hate. They have a manual for this plan, it is called “1984”, written by George Orwell.
Christ and the Soldier; by Siegfried Sassoon
The straggled soldier halted — stared at Him — Then clumsily dumped down upon his knees, Gasping
‘O blessed crucifix, I’m beat !’
And Christ, still sentried by the seraphim, Near the front-line, between two splintered trees, Spoke him:
‘My son, behold these hands and feet.’
The soldier eyed him upward, limb by limb, Paused at the Face, then muttered,
‘Wounds like these Would shift a bloke to Blighty just a treat !’
Christ, gazing downward, grieving and ungrim, Whispered,
‘I made for you the mysteries, Beyond all battles moves the Paraclete.’
II
The soldier chucked his rifle in the dust, And slipped his pack, and wiped his neck, and said —
‘O Christ Almighty, stop this bleeding fight !’
Above that hill the sky was stained like rust With smoke. In sullen daybreak flaring red The guns were thundering bombardment’s blight. The soldier cried,
‘I was born full of lust, With hunger, thirst, and wishfulness to wed. Who cares today if I done wrong or right?’
Christ asked all pitying,
‘Can you put no trust In my known word that shrives each faithful head ? Am I not resurrection, life and light ?’
III
Machine-guns rattled from below the hill; High bullets flicked and whistled through the leaves; And smoke came drifting from exploding shells.
Christ said
‘Believe; and I can cleanse your ill. I have not died in vain between two thieves; Nor made a fruitless gift of miracles.’
The soldier answered,
‘Heal me if you will, Maybe there’s comfort when a soul believes In mercy, and we need it in these hells. But be you for both sides ? I’m paid to kill And if I shoot a man his mother grieves. Does that come into what your teaching tells ?’
A bird lit on the Christ and twittered gay; Then a breeze passed and shook the ripening corn. A Red Cross waggon bumped along the track. Forsaken Jesus dreamed in the desolate day — Uplifted Jesus, Prince of Peace forsworn — An observation post for the attack.
‘Lord Jesus, ain’t you got no more to say ?’
Bowed hung that head below the crown of thorns. The soldier shifted, and picked up his pack, And slung his gun, and stumbled on his way.
‘O God,’ he groaned,’why ever was I born ?’
… The battle boomed, and no reply came back.
-=o0o=-
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Simon Armitage wrote his poetry collection “Book of Matches” with the idea that each sonnet should be read quickly, in the time it takes for a match to burn out, about 20 seconds. I love this idea, too many people labour the reading of poetry. They put on the “poetry reading voice” which has a plummy accent and a low, monotonous droning drawl that makes everything sound bloody boring.
Poetry should leap from the page and dance across your lips and tongue. It should be read in a real voice, a natural voice, your own accent. The pace may be slow, if that is what is called for, but it can also be machine gun fast.
As an added bonus the title of this poem becomes its own joke when you add in the author. In truth I am not very bothered by Simon Armitage, I like the guy. I like him enough to wish him a happy birthday today.
Back to those matches then. I am reminded of Sylvia Plath staring into candle flames. I am reminded of the little match girl and the visions she sees by the light of each match. I am reminded of Enda St. Vincent Millay and her double ended candle. It reminds me of all those poets who have elucubrated deep into the night to craft their work under flickering flames. It reminds me of T.H. White and his “Once and Future King” who is a candle against the wind, a bastion against the darkness and embodies the hopes and dreams of a better world. Matches are evocative.
I am very bothered; by Simon Armitage
I am very bothered when I think
of the bad things I have done in my life.
Not least that time in the chemistry lab
when I held a pair of scissors by the blades
and played the handles
in the naked lilac flame of the Bunsen burner;
then called your name, and handed them over.
O the unrivalled stench of branded skin
as you slipped your thumb and middle finger in,
then couldn’t shake off the two burning rings. Marked,
the doctor said, for eternity.
Don’t believe me, please, if I say
that was just my butterfingered way, at thirteen,
of asking you if you would marry me.
Born on this day in 1908 Thodore Roethke’s short life never crossed with mine. He passed away, aged only 55, 2 months and 1 day before I was born.
Here is a funny poem from him. I love the imagery, and the lovely childish innocence of a boy who can’t see what the fuss is about.
Child on top of a Greenhouse; by Theodore Roethke
The wind billowing out the seat of my britches,
My feet crackling splinters of glass and dried putty,
The half-grown chrysanthemums staring up like accusers,
Up through the streaked glass, flashing with sunlight,
A few white clouds all rushing eastward,
A line of elms plunging and tossing like horses,
And everyone, everyone pointing up and shouting!
In a signature year for Robert Allen Zimmerman he is this years recipient of the Nobel prize for literature, the award being made in 2016 Dylan took his time in accepting it.
Zimmerman changed his name after coming across the beautiful lyrical works of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. He was at the time searching for something deeper than rock and roll.
“The thing about rock’n’roll is that for me anyway it wasn’t enough… There were great catch-phrases and driving pulse rhythms… but the songs weren’t serious or didn’t reflect life in a realistic way. I knew that when I got into folk music, it was more of a serious type of thing. The songs are filled with more despair, more sadness, more triumph, more faith in the supernatural, much deeper feelings.” ………….Bob Dylan
The youth of the counter culture of the 1960’s agreed and the songs of Bob Dylan joined those of Woodie Guthrie and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott as cornerstones of the protest movement.
While gigging around Greenwich village he came across an extended family of Irish brothers from Carrick-on-Suir in County Tipperary. They shared the simple farming and fishing folksongs and the tradition of rebellion through song of Ireland with him. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem found fame in their own regard and Dylan acknowledged their contribution to his emerging iconic style.
The citation from the Nobel committee says he was awarded the Literature prize for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.
Happy Birthday Bob and may you see many more.
Just like a woman; by Bob Dylan
Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand inside the rain
Ev’rybody knows
That Baby’s got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls
She takes just like a woman, yes, she does
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl
Queen Mary
She’s my friend
Yes, I believe I’ll go see her again
Nobody has to guess
That Baby can’t be blessed
Till she sees finally that she’s like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamine and her pearls
She takes just like a woman, yes
She makes love just like a woman, yes, she does
And she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl
It was raining from the first
And I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts
But what’s worse
Is this pain in here
I can’t stay in here
Ain’t it clear that
I just can’t fit
Yes, I believe it’s time for us to quit
But when we meet again
Introduced as friends
Please don’t let on that you knew me when
I was hungry and it was your world
Ah, you fake just like a woman, yes, you do
You make love just like a woman, yes, you do
Then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl
Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem
Marlborough accepting the captured standards at Ramillies
One swallow doth not a summer make. Although the Duke of Marlborough won a great victory at Blenheim in 1704 in the war of the Spanish Succession, he was unable to capitalize on it in 1705. Given a year to recover his position Louis XIV felt he could at the very least bargain a better peace if he made a military demonstration.
With this in mind in the Spring of 1706 he launched campaigns in Italy and Germany with some success. On the back of the early gains he launched Marshal Villeroi from Leuven into the Netherlands. At Ramillies he met John Churchill, hungering for an opportunity to deal decisively with the French.
The French, Spanish & Bavarian alliance collided with Churchill’s English, Scottish, Dutch and Danish army on open flat farmland near the village of Ramillies. The ground was a flat canvas, the perfect medium on which a skilled general could dictate a battle. In four hours the Duke of Marlborough demonstrated why he was the greatest general in the world in his day. 23rd May is the anniversary of the battle.
The beauty of such a decisive win early in the campaign season is what happened next. Malines, Lierre, Ghent, Alost, Damme, Oudenaarde, Bruges, and on 6 June Antwerp, all subsequently fell to Marlborough’s victorious army. The Spanish Netherlands was Spanish no more.
I wrote this post last night, before the news leaked through of the explosion at the Manchester arena. This morning we hear that 22 people lost their lives and over 50 have been injured in a suicide bomb blast. Some of the casualties were children, which is no surprise in the audience of the Ariana Grande Dangerous Woman show. A lone suicide bomber was responsible.
I hate to jump to conclusions without the full facts, but it has all the hallmarks of Islamic extremism. John Churchill, the Duke of Marlborough, had the benefit of a defined enemy with stated aims. His opponents decked their troops in uniforms and lined them up on fields of battle. Islamic extremists have no country. Their aim appears to be the destruction of all that is not Islam. They are happy to die to achieve this aim and have a constant supply of suicide bombers. They are happy to slaughter innocent children to pursue their goals. They are happy to recruit impressionable teenagers, and indoctrinate them in madrasas converting them into weapons of flesh and bone. How do you deal with such people?
I think Ariana Grande herself said all that can be said:
Officially the highest paid poet in the world, Bernie Taupin; poet and famously lyricist to Elton John. Happy Birthday!
Don’t let the Sun go down on me: lyric by Bernie Taupin
I can’t light no more of your darkness
All my pictures seem to fade to black and white
I’m growing tired and time stands still before me
Frozen here on the ladder of my life
It’s much too late to save myself from falling
I took a chance and changed your way of life
But you misread my meaning when I met you
Closed the door and left me blinded by the light
Don’t let the sun go down on me
Although I search myself, it’s always someone else I see
I’d just allow a fragment of your life to wander free
But losing everything is like the sun going down on me
I can’t find
Oh, the right romantic line
But see me once and see the way feel
Don’t discard me baby don’t
Just because you think I mean you harm
But these cuts I have,
They need love to help them heal
Don’t let the sun go down on me
Although I search myself, it’s always someone else I see
I’d just allow a fragment of your life to wander free
Cause’ losing everything is like the sun going down on me
Famous in his own lifetime and famous ever since, Alexander Pope is the second most frequently quoted author in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations after William Shakespeare. Poet, essayist and translator of both Odyssey and Iliad by Homer.
It is funny the things that lead to a ‘revival’ for a writer. Recently Kirsten Dunst played Mary in a film about a couple who undergo a mind wipe procedure to erase the pain of their memories of a love affair. She trots out a quote from the Pope poem “Eloisa to Abelard”. Overnight Pope was popular again. I can’t remember the name of the movie but the quote in question is this:
How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray’r accepted, and each wish resign’d.
Ode on Solitude; by Alexander Pope
Happy the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air,
In his own ground.
Whose heards with milk, whose fields with bread,
Whose flocks supply him with attire,
Whose trees in summer yield him shade,
In winter fire.
Blest! who can unconcern’dly find
Hours, days, and years slide soft away,
In health of body, peace of mind,
Quiet by day,
Sound sleep by night; study and ease
Together mix’d; sweet recreation,
And innocence, which most does please,
With meditation.
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me dye;
Steal from the world, and not a stone
Tell where I lye.
Mindship 