The Power of Poetry: the Pen and the Sword

“Can we go on bowing and curtseying to people who are just like ourselves?

We begin to wish that the  Zoo should be abolished; that the royal animals should be given the run of some wider pasturage – a royal Whipsnade.

Will the British Empire survive? Will Buckingham Palace look as solid in 2034 as it does now?

Words are dangerous things remember. 
 A Republic might be brought into being by a poem”

- Virginia Woolf in Time and Tide,1st December 1934 (emphasis added)

The video presentation of Heathcote Williams' chillingly eye-opening poem  
Royal Babylon, and its preface by the above quotation, are from http://www.royalbabylon.com/Site/Royal_Babylon.html 

The Joy of Words

Sadly,  'sconce' and 'anaglypta' are out the window and 'lay-flat fluming' has now been supplanted in my affections by a new piece of terminology, to whit : wippen flange.

As anyone who has labored hard to write a poem about things musical could tell you, (and quite a few people already knew but never mentioned it to me) this is the name of part of the action of a piano.

It appeals as having some potential as a term of abuse.

Apparently I'm not alone in liking these words. Have a look at these covers from what seems to have been a pretty ephemeral magazine - wippen flange covers -  or maybe it was just a construct in the artist's mind? Who knows?

I'd certainly LIKE to know ...


Here is the wippen flange in its natural habitat. Is it just me, or do they look like cute cartoon legs and feet?

'On the left is a classic example of a spinet piano wippen with plastic flange, back check, 

and jack.  This one should have a whole new wippen, not piece meal.'

(I'm glad we cleared that up - TCS)

You can find this at 'Plastic piano parts crisis', in  The Piano Owner's Survival Guide.  which in itself gives a whole new perspective on the term 'crisis'.
 
Oh, I could go on all day.

All I have to say about Christmas 2010

Holy Meerkat Family!

O.K. I was going to post a photo of a woman having hysterics in a shopping mall,
but I couldn't get anyone to come close enough to hold the camera.

So, anticipating next Year's New Year's resolutions, 
I have resolved to let my nice side shine through. 

So here's the sweetest thing you'll get from me until ... oh, quite some time, probably.

See more meerkats and make them your own at    http://www.etsy.com/shop/niftyknits 

Something to say: Glenn Gould

I went recently to see 'Genius Within', a moving and profoundly engaging documentary about this fascinating artist.

Despite perhaps reaching less far than his heart-breaking music, his incisive remarks about art certainly merit revisiting by those of us who like to write, among others.

Here's a sample... in this excellent video by pOlyphOny , whose work can be found at http://www.youtube.com/user/p0lyph0ny

May Day 2010: The words of an unknown worker and unionist

WE HAVE FED YOU ALL FOR A THOUSAND YEARS

We have fed you all for a thousand years
And you hail us still unfed
Though there’s never a dollar of all your wealth
But marks the workers dead
We have yielded our best to give you rest
And you lie on crimson wool
But if blood be the price of all your wealth
Good God we have paid in full

There is never a mine blown skyward now
But we’re buried alive for you
There’s never a wreck drifts shoreward now
But we are its ghastly crew
Go reckon our dead by the forges red
And the factories where we spin
If blood be the price of your cursed wealth
Good God we have paid it in

We have fed you all for a thousand years
For that was our doom, you know
From the days when you chained us in your fields
To the strike a week ago
You have taken our lives, and our babies and wives
And we’re told it’s your legal share
But if blood be the price of your lawful wealth
Good God we bought it fair.

Poppies in the Gardens

Click to see details of this special event in the symbolic Freedom Wall pavilion at

Brisbane's Mt Coot-tha Botanic Gardens.

A bit of a Song and Dance

If you're in Brisbane, you might consider the invitation on this flyer ....


A few clicks on the image will let you see the fine print ... and the splendid dancer.

Sainthood, Statues and the 'Patience' of a Saint

Mary MacKillop has been announced as Australia's first saint by the Vatican.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Broadcast: 19/02/2010
Reporter: Ticky Fullerton

Transcript
TICKY FULLERTON, PRESENTER: The Vatican announced a short while ago that Mary McKillop will become Australia's first saint. Pope Benedict revealed tonight that she will be canonised at a ceremony in October in Rome.Mary McKillop founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph in 1866. She is revered by Catholics for setting up schools in remote country areas and working with children, female prisoners and prostitutes.

PAUL COLLINS, HISTORIAN & CATHOLIC COMMENTATOR: I have described her as a great Australian sheila. Now, that's perhaps a rather crude phrase, but nevertheless, I think it sums up the type of person that she is: a practical person, a person who saw a real social need, who saw the children in the bush particularly needed education and culture and she organised a group of sisters to be able to meet that need.

TICKY FULLERTON: She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995. Last year the Vatican accepted that blessed Mary had performed a miracle involving the healing of a person suffering from cancer. Mary McKillop had a controversial life and at one stage was excommunicated from the Church for allegedly disobeying authorities. However, she continued to spend her life caring for the poor.

The Common Shrew says that's as may be. You can read what a poet of her acquaintance had to say on the subject on the occasion of her canonisation at the post for 11 August 2010.

Looking, looking

I would have included 'dress-ups' in my 'Harmless Hobby' series, but I didn't like the look of those asps!

Yep, tell Theda Bara she can stop looking, she's in Fanny the Flying Housewife & other stories too!

Her poem's in the previous post.

Shameless Self-Promotion

WHO WAS

FANNY the FLYING

HOUSEWIFE ?

*

A sample can be found in an earlier post about Josephine Baker, & here are another couple to tempt you ... but that's all, now you'll just have to borrow a copy from a Brisbane Library or request your own for the paltry sum of $AUD20 by posting a suitably grovelling message!

'Kiss me, My Fool'

Theda Bara, silent film actress, 1885 — 1955

she spoke not one word

in a dozen years on the screen

this all-new 1914 model

for a Hollywood tired

of sweet innocence

the original vamp

woman as bloodsucker

eyes like smudgepots

let her studio bosses

promote a Cincinnati girl

as a Middle Eastern Beauty

and hint that her name was

an anagram of 'arab death'

instead of short for

Theodosia (God's gift)

this clever girl

knew just what to reveal

and what to veil

always let the text

do the talking

Persistence of vision

Olive Cotton, Photographer, 1911 — 2003

no snapshot for the life

of a woman who never stopped

framing images in her mind's eye

in twenty years away from the darkroom

a tent her first chosen home

with laughing children playing

in a dry creek bed

deep in the backlit bush

a woman with suitcases

filled with negatives

watching for the moment

when the sky was just right

who never thought to see the day

she'd step out of the shadow

set galleries aglow

indirect light still eloquent under her hands

and focus deep enough

to illuminate a soul

...and while we're on the subject : Hints on Sleeping with Animals

(Yes, I'm sure we have all had this kind of experience at some time in our lives, Virginia, but let us never speak of it again.)

Now, here for your delectation and edification are two items which may prove useful.

First, the Good News:

Pets Stay Vigilant While You Snore On

( Click to enlarge this Arnie Levin cartoon from a well-thumbed
New Yorker Cartoon Album - find more here)

Now for the Warnings:

"How to Spend a Two Dog Night

I will address myself mostly to the rules for sleeping with two dogs. For the few who have already mastered this technique, I will later add a cat, although I urge beginners to leave the cat out.

To achieve any sort of success, certain arbitrary conditions must be assumed, the first one being that you must have a king-sized bed. There is no point in lying down in anything smaller. While the size of the breed of dog is not important (people who sleep with dogs know that before the night is over everybody collects into a pile), the condition of the dogs may be. Very thin dogs, for example, are lumpier.

I have selected the two-dog minimum because, as we shall see, it is the only way to stay in bed at all. The key word here is LEVERAGE.

All dogs spend the night pressed tightly against their human bedfellows, but no two dogs ever sleep on the same side. This is, in part, an expression of the "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie Principle". It is also to create leverage.

Because the human being is always in the middle, held tightly in place by the dogs and by his blanket (which the dogs are sleeping on top of), restlessness and recurring cramps are difficult to handle. Here is the tip: When you first lie down, AND BEFORE THE DOGS SETTLE AGAINST EACH SIDE OF YOU, spread your legs three inches apart. Stiffen and hold out NO MATTER HOW GREAT THE PRESSURE! When the time comes to turn over, bring the legs together quickly under the now slightly slackened blanket and revolve BEFORE THE DOGS WAKE UP.

As soon as you have assumed a new position, allow for those crucial three inches again; otherwise, you're a mummy for the rest of the night.

NEVER SPREAD THE LEGS MORE THAN THREE INCHES!

A dog's favorite place to sleep is in the hollow created by legs too widely spread, and once settled, he and you are frozen into position until morning. (There is a way out of this trap, but it is difficult to describe without slides). Dogs who prefer to sleep on their backs MUST BE GIVEN SPACE THREE TIMES THE HEIGHT OF THE DOG AT THE SHOULDER.

Dogs who like pillows may be accommodated if you sleep on your side with the legs scissored so that each dog has an ankle for a chin rest.

Above all, BEWARE OF CURLING! When the curl is reversed, both dogs are dislocated, resulting in low growls on both sides of you. When you are ready to add a cat, position is all important. All cats prefer to sleep in hollows, but NO CAT WILL SLEEP ON THE SAME SIDE AS A DOG. (Remember, you have only two sides). YOU MUST THEREFORE BECOME A TRIANGLE! Do this by assuming a horizontal diver's crouch, thereby creating not only three more-or less exclusive sides but two hollows as well. With one dog at your front, and the other against your back, the cat can curl into the hollow at the back of your bent knees, separated from both dogs. All will then sleep soundly.

This entire technique still needs a lot of refinement. A method that deals with early morning scratching needs to be developed, and the problem of pretending to sleep while being closely scrutinized by various animals needs to be solved."

(Thanks to Author Unknown for this one - if you know the author, tell me, then I can let my vast readership know.)

... and keep those frugal suggestions coming in! (see previous post)

The Common Shrew & Canny Savings

Yes, shrews care too.

Inspired by some ideas spotted by my Assistant Shrew in a Melbourne, Oz, newspaper, this blog is publicly joining the fight for frugality.

Well, O.K., actually it was one idea, sent in by someone who would have won the $50 prize hands down if The C S had been judging.

Here's what she said:

'McWilliams Cream Sherry is $17 a flagon. One small nip an evening delays me having to put the central heating on by up to an hour.'

Carmel, I like your style, but just can't compete. However I do find that a warm dog placed in the bed half an hour before retiring removes the need to purchase electric blankets or hot-water bottles or use energy to heat a kettle full of water. One greyhound is ideal but more may be added if desired*. A cat may be substituted if no dogs are available.

The Shrew welcomes any creative contributions to the battle to save money while saving the earth. Bear in mind, gentle reader, that any suggestion likely to startle horses or cause affright to small children or animals will disappear, never to be seen in these pages.

* NB: Do not take this step lightly! Greyhounds are like tattoos. Once you've got one you want more ....

Mr Stick Gives a Girl That Smile

Mr Stick transcends the problems of time travel
and with his straight-up shtick makes this girl's bananas curl!
Want to embrace your inner stick? Just go to http://misterstick.blogspot.com/

Want to know more about Josephine Baker?
Just double click her name.

Meanwhile this'll put you in the picture ...

sixty-nine
Josephine Baker 3 June 1906 - 8 April 1975

'Hot damn' they said
'hot damn look at that old gal go'
and her knocking their socks off
like she did in the old days.

Didn't know what skirt meant
till she bared her buttocks
in that fruit loop getup.
Oh boy that banana dance!

And you remember - you must remember
that crazy guy - who was it now
shot himself right there
right there at her gold kid feet.

The punters, the nazis, the bosses, the bigots
didn't she lead them all a merry dance
right from St Louis Social Evil Hospital
- now ain't that the place to be born -

to La Salpetriere Paris, where the bad girls die
and just days before she'd had them sighing:
'that Nefertiti that clown that ebony orchid'
Man was she some 'uppity coloured girl'.

©Ynes Sanz
from 'Fanny the Flying Housewife' an unpublished collection of 40 poems
for mad and magnificent women