Today's poet

[N-dubya]

finally got a chanceto listen to this neil, great stuff...the first poem is so moving and the second quite a hoot! particularly like the line.....

"don't be taken in by the dolphins, they are the pick pockets of the ocean!"

was it you who said you had heard armitage's voice on a train or something somewhere? it is very distinctive isn't it...

I would love to go to onde of these live poetry readings...

thanks again

Yes , but i was outside the Pedn Olva hotel in St ives, I wished i'd said hello, he knew I had recognised him but he was on holiday with his family so I felt that I would respect that. liked the cinnamon peeler quite moving.

Oh by the way apology accepted Tri, me old mucker.

[freckle]

Something i've been working on is a poem about I how assume different identities to fit into different social occasions and with different social groups. If I am honest this at the moment feels another voice is speaking and there is a lack of my own truth and inegrity.


Masks


Packed beneath the flesh and wrinkles are,
passing glances, smiles and frowns.
Some are reserved for special occasions
others are daily for posh folk and clowns

There much more than facial expressions,
a curl of the lip or raise of the brow.
Each one worn has hidden agendas
their roots, bound tightly to organs and bones

That's really interesting and thought provoking.....i think identity is a fluid concept isn't it, i think we all change a bit in different groups, some more than others...sometimes it is difficult to accomodate to the group that we are in at any given time...this makes me think of an everyday situation I was in yesterday having lunch with two dear friends of mine...it was funny becuase they started having a major in depth debate about the various benefits of various washing powders and how some were better than others, anyhow for a second i thought i could try and contribute but then just laughed and remarked that really if my washing got done at all then that was a bonus...on a more serious note your poem made methink about the psychonalytic concept of the true and false self (Winnicott) and how if individuals have their natural tendencies impinged upon to vigorously in life they develop a "false self" which lacks authenticity.....but again these things are all on a continuim and there are bits to all of us which are more true and false...interestingly though for the purposes of this thread perhaps, it is thought that creativity is associated with the true self ....i have digressed massively!.......lecture over!....but more info here for those who are remotely interested....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Winnicott

[N-dubya]

That's really interesting and thought provoking.....i think identity is a fluid concept isn't it, i think we all change a bit in different groups, some more than others...sometimes it is difficult to accomodate to the group that we are in at any given time...this makes me think of an everyday situation I was in yesterday having lunch with two dear friends of mine...it was funny becuase they started having a major in depth debate about the various benefits of various powders and how some were better than others, anyhow for a second i thought i could try and contribute but then just laughed and remarked that really if my washing got done at all then that was a bonus...on a more serious note your poem made methink about the psychonalytic concept of the trye and false self (Winnicott) and how if individuals have there natural tendencies impinged uponn to vigorously in life they develop a "false self" which lacks authenticity.....but again these things are all on a continuim and there are bits to all of us which are more true and false...i have digressed massively!.......lecture over!

Yes a false self, hence the mask, but I also attempt to question how superficial are the masks we assume as identities.

[freckle]

Yes a false self, hence the mask, but I also attempt to question how superficial are the masks we assume as identities.

i think i know what you mean...if you do something enough, behave in a certain way enough, does that then became a more authentic part of the personality...Mmmm interesting thought...I do think though that in certain circumstances that which is repressed pops out through the veneer of a mask! suprising the person and those around them....

[N-dubya]

A poem about poverty


He waits like a gull, but no so natured,
with twitching eyes, this municipal gargoyle,
socketed skull over saggy weathered skin.
I have seen it too, abondened, probably still
warm and untasted, but you are a man
proud scavenger and not a gull. I rise from the sill
and you fly extending your gloved talons take it and
fill yourself with that , which I judge too shameful to buy
pride will not be you undoing as it will be mine.

[Harry H Howgill]

i think i know what you mean...if you do something enough, behave in a certain way enough, does that then became a more authentic part of the personality...Mmmm interesting thought...I do think though that in certain circumstances that which is repressed pops out through the veneer of a mask! suprising the person and those around them....

I think we all act in different ways given different situations. Our lives can be very compartmentalised with differing parts of our personality presented in different occasions. We all have our professional masks, social masks, family masks, even forum masks. We just pick and choose what suits the situational pressures. As to what is more authentic is difficult to judge. Is something apparently authentic just a normally repressed personality trait for that situation just showing through?

[Harry H Howgill]

Sic Vita
LIKE to the falling of a star,
Or as the flights of eagles are,
Or like the fresh spring's gaudy hue,
Or silver drops of morning dew,
Or like a wind that chafes the flood,
Or bubbles which on water stood:
Even such is man, whose borrowed light
Is straight called in, and paid to night.
The wind blows out, the bubble dies;
The spring entombed in autumn lies;
The dew dries up, the star is shot;
The flight is past, and man forgot.

• Henry King, Bishop of Chichester

[Harry H Howgill]

This seemed quite suitable for us lot.....

Michael Drayton

From First Steps up Parnassus

My dearly loved friend, how oft have we
In winter evenings (meaning to be free)
To some well-chosen place used to retire,
And there with moderate meat, and wine, and fire,
Have passed the hours contentedly with chat;
Now talked of this, and then discoursed of that,
Spoke our own verses ‘twixt ourselves, if not
Other men’s lines which we by chance had got,
Or some stage pieces famous long before,
Of which your happy memory had store;
And I remember you much pleased were
Of those who lived long ago to hear,
As well as of those of these latter times
Who have enriched our language with their rhymes.

[Old Whippet]

A poem about poverty


He waits like a gull, but no so natured,
with twitching eyes, this municipal gargoyle,
socketed skull over saggy weathered skin.
I have seen it too, abondened, probably still
warm and untasted, but you are a man
proud scavenger and not a gull. I rise from the sill
and you fly extending your gloved talons take it and
fill yourself with that , which I judge too shameful to buy
pride will not be you undoing as it will be mine.

Neil. Did you write that?
I really enjoyed reading it and can identify with the imagery.

[Nathaniel Lee]

What happens to you after years of psych meds.

I where the doctors mask ,
She puts it on me so tight i can hardly breathe,
But when i remove to suck in air nearly vomiting,
I find there's nothing there, no masks,
Empty,void,Only twenty five years of dust,
I where the doctors mask.

By Matt Harmston.