Today's poet

[Hes]

I love Witnail and I and was sooo looking forward to watching the copy I bought cheap in the video shop sale...the titles came on and it was a new york skyline, funny, I thought...could have sworn it was set in London...yep, only had the disc for My Big Fat Greek Wedding in the box instead It was not exactly what I was expecting but with chocolate and wine to hand, it wasn't sooo bad.

Thanks for the nice comment about my haiku Freckle, got a few more to share from my recent trip to Pembrokeshire. Hopefully later tonight. Off to yoga to stretch out my sore muscles (from Saltergate Gallows race today). I hope you are still up and running? x

Oooo yes! its lush isn't it?..............http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zEVZGuU3BU

ps i love this character (the dealer) but can't recall his name....so funny.............http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rydr6...eature=related

[freckle]

Just watched Country Tracks and was interested to learn that Sylvia Plath is buried in Heptonstall above Hebden Bridge. She commited suicide at 30 years old and apparantly didn't like Heptonstall so Ted Hughes had her buried there, what a charmer.

I never knew that! what a charmer indeed! ....Hes your story made me laugh, I love withnail and I sooooo funny...hope you are suitably stretched....i have done a few shortish runs on the flat but still a bit knackered, off to see physio on thursday so fingers crossed but unlikely to see any fells fora while sadly as the main difficulty is going up and down! ...hey ho will have to adapt, been swimming (which seems to involve digesting a lot of other people's snot at the minute) pilates and weights...none of which I like as much as running but gotta keep chipping away i suppose....:-)

[freckle]

Your Children Cut Their Hands
Margaret Atwood

Your children cut their hands on glass
by reaching through the mirror
where the beloved one was hiding.


You weren't expecting this:
you thought they wanted happiness,
not laceration.


You thought the happiness
would appear simply, without effort
or any kind of work,


like a bird call
or a pathside flower
or a school of silvery fish


but now they've cut themselves
on love, and cry in secret,
and you own hands go numb


because there's nothing you can do,
because you didn't tell them to
because you didn't think you needed to
and now there's all this broken glass
and your children stand red-handed


still clutching at moons and echoes
and emptiness and shadow,
the way you did.

[Mountain Goatess]

orange brown red leaves aglow
boney branches stand naked
deciduous delight

[Stolly]

I love Witnail and I and was sooo looking forward to watching the copy I bought cheap in the video shop sale...the titles came on and it was a new york skyline, funny, I thought...could have sworn it was set in London...yep, only had the disc for My Big Fat Greek Wedding in the box instead It was not exactly what I was expecting but with chocolate and wine to hand, it wasn't sooo bad.

Sorry Hes but the film nerd in me is compelled to point out that My Big Fat Greek Wedding is set in Chicago not New York . I've only seen Withnail and I once, yonks ago, and my hazy memory of it wasn't that brilliant really - two alcohol sozzled main characters from London visiting a god forsaken rain splattered farm house in or near Shap owned my a very large gay uncle or something - I have no recollection of the plot outside that at all but for some reason it seems to have British film cult status. Maybe I need to watch it again

And do you still really watch.... video's

[Hes]

Ha ha...cheers for the heads up Stolly. My Big Fat Greek Wedding didn't leave that much of an impression on me perhaps due to the aforesaid wine! I did wonder when I wrote the above whether or not it was New York but couldn't be bothered to google it, that'll teach me. Anyhow...what do you call the video shop these days? I don't own a telly or a video player so watch dvds on my laptop. I'm a bit out of the loop. Do you call it a multi-media emporium?

Sorry Hes but the film nerd in me is compelled to point out that My Big Fat Greek Wedding is set in Chicago not New York. I've only seen Withnail and I once, yonks ago, and my hazy memory of it wasn't that brilliant really - two alcohol sozzled main characters from London visiting a god forsaken rain splattered farm house in or near Shap owned my a very large gay uncle or something - I have no recollection of the plot outside that at all but for some reason it seems to have British film cult status. Maybe I need to watch it again

And do you still really watch.... video's

[Hes]

Stretched and feeling knackered! I'm glad you are getting some runs in Freckle, even if you have to stick to flat for a bit, I know how much you missed it. With your current training, you could just throw in a bit of cycling and you'll be ready for some triathlons. Not sure about the snotty water though...yuk!

I never knew that! what a charmer indeed! ....Hes your story made me laugh, I love withnail and I sooooo funny...hope you are suitably stretched....i have done a few shortish runs on the flat but still a bit knackered, off to see physio on thursday so fingers crossed but unlikely to see any fells fora while sadly as the main difficulty is going up and down! ...hey ho will have to adapt, been swimming (which seems to involve digesting a lot of other people's snot at the minute) pilates and weights...none of which I like as much as running but gotta keep chipping away i suppose....:-)

[Harry H Howgill]

Sorry Hes but the film nerd in me is compelled to point out that My Big Fat Greek Wedding is set in Chicago not New York

Sorry Stolly but the film nerd in me is compelled to point out that Withnail and I was filmed in Wet Sleddale not Shap ;-)

I never really got it as a film either sadly. It is meant to be a classic though.

Don't knock videos! They are far more child-proof than DVDs. See how good they are after they've been used as ice skates across a wooden floor!

[Derby Tup]

The first time I watched Withnail and I I just didn't get it at all; even the title of the film was confusing. However, I love it now and think the main protagonists Withnail, Marwood (the Paul McGann character) and dear old Uncle Monty are fantastic. I'm not fussed with Danny the drug dealer mind

[freckle]

A year on...and there could only really be one poem....:thumbup:

The poets hang on

The poets hang on.
Iťs hard to get rid of them,
though lord knows iťs been tried.
We pass them on the road
standing there with their begging bowls,
an ancient custom.
Nothing in those now
but dried flies and bad pennies.
They stare straight ahead.
Are they dead, or what?
Yet they have the irritating look
of those who know more than we do.

More of what?
What is it they claim to know?
Spit it out, we hiss at them.
Say it plain!
If you try for a simple answer,
thaťs when they pretend to be crazy,
or else drunk, or else poor.
They put those costumes on
some time ago,
those black sweaters, those tatters;
now they can't get them off.
And they're having trouble with their teeth.
Thaťs one of their burdens.
They could use some dental work.

They're having trouble with their wings, as well.
We're not getting much from them
in the flight department these days.
No more soaring, no radiance,
no skylarking.
What the hell are they paid for?
(Suppose they are paid.)
They can't get off the ground,
them and their muddy feathers.
If they fly, iťs downwards,
into the damp grey earth.

Go away, we say —
and take your boring sadness.
You're not wanted here.
You´ve forgotten how to tell us
how sublime we are.
How love is the answer:
we always liked that one.
You´ve forgotten how to kiss up.
You're not wise any more.
You´ve lost your splendour.


But the poets hang on.
They're nothing if not tenacious.
They can't sing, they can't fly.
They only hop and croak
and bash themselves against the air
as if in cages,
and tell the odd tired joke.
When asked about it, they say
they speak what they must.
Cripes, they're pretentious.

They know something, though.
They do know something.
Something they're whispering,
something we can't quite hear.
Is it about sex?
Is it about dust?
Is it about fear?