Friday, April 17, 2009

Poetry Slam Friday

Ramon appears to be missing, and I like routines.
I hope his back is not flooring him.

A prize goes to the first who can identify this poet.

It is an untitled poem about a pub. You can’t find this online. You have to be a literary dork like me and have this poet's collected works and letters, and find little gems like this in the appendix. This poem was not part of any collection that has been published. It’s just a curiosity, a jotting... but reading it, I got the feeling that I had been to that pub before. We all have.

Clue: If anyone was going to invent a word like 'gobgreen' it would be Gertrude Stein. But if two people were going to invent the word, this poet would be the second one.



Sooner than you can water milk or cry Amen
Darkness comes, psalming, over Cards again;
Some lights go on; some men go out; some men slip in;
Some girls lie down, calling the beer-brown bulls to sin
And boom among their fishy fields; some elders stand
With thermoses and telescopes and spy the sand
Where farmers plough by night and sailors rock and rise
Tattooed with texts, between the Atlantic thighs
Of Mrs Rosser Tea and little Nell the Knock:
One pulls out ‘Pam in Paris’ from his money sock;
One from the mothy darkness of his black back house
Drinks vinegar and paraffin and blinds a mouse;
One reads his cheque book in the dark and eats fish-heads;
One creeps into the Cross Inn and fouls the beds;
One in the rubbered hedges rolls with a bald Liz
Who’s old enough to be his mother (and she is);
Customers in the snugbar by the gobgreen logs
Tell other customers what they do with dogs;
The chemist is performing an unnatural act
In the organ loft; and the lavatory is packed.

30 comments:

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

It's not Dylan Thomas, is it?

squib said...

Edith Sitwell?

Perseus said...

I should've had the foresight to ban hyou two from the competition.

An excellent guess Squib, but Ramon wins the tea-towel.

I guess clue 'B' was it was set in a pub, which our Dylan loved to frequent.

I knew a woman who met him. I asked, "What was he like?" and she said, "Short, and very drunk."

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

Whoo-hoo!!!!!

The line;

"Sooner than you can water milk or cry Amen"

is a dead give-away.

squib said...

Does Ramon win The Blind Owl?

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

Does Ramon win The Blind Owl?Don't you dare!

The "Costello Memoirs" I can live without as well.

Perseus said...

If he emails me his postal address, he gets a decorative tea towel.

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

On its way now.

Apart from when I was seven, this is the only time I've won anything.

Anonymous said...

I guess clue 'B' was it was set in a pub, which our Dylan loved to frequent. Is there a famous poet that didn't like to frequent pubs?

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

Do you like pubs, Squib?

Lewd Bob said...

I'm a non-famous non-poet who likes pubs.

But I do hate non-pubs.

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

I don't like non-pubs that don't serve non-Coopers.

Anonymous said...

What do you have against beer that doesn't taste like gastric reflux?

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

You're a foul owlist, Boogey.

You're just jelus you didn't win the tea-towel.

squib said...

A nice Redback with a sliver of lemon and none of that Coopers rubbish, Ramon

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

Pish, tish Squib.

I have the tea-towel and you, madam, are tea-toweless

Lewd Bob said...

'tis a sorry state indeed
to be without the tea
towel, oh tortured fate
with nought to dry the plate

Melba said...

Things I have won:

- 4th division in Tatts.

- a Hanging Harvey game at Eastland Shopping Centre in the 1970s.

- $100 at bingo when I was in my early 20s.

- an egg-throwing competition.

- a hamper in a raffle at a primary school trivia night.

And that's it. In my whole lifetime, five easy pieces of luck. Although the egg thing was skill, awesome skill. Also the Eastland thing, that involved blowing a balloon until it burst. I won and my head was spinning so much I picked the wrong fucking game. I wanted Mouse Trap. So really that's 3 bits of luck. But I've almost died a few times and been lucky to escape certain situations so I figure I tend to use up all my big lotto and car-winning luck on my survival.

wari lasi said...

I tend to use up all my big lotto and car-winning luck on my survivalMe too Melba. I've had 3 NDE's in my life and I'm happy enough with that type of luck.

I can live without winning lotto, I just have to make money the old fashioned way. By working my arse off.

I like this Dylan Thomas guy. Poetry about drinking and prostitutes. Cool.

wari lasi said...

This business of ignoring return characters after closing italics is pissing me off. I actually put 3 after that one and it ignored (truncated?) them all.

Puss In Boots said...

I'm pretty sure I've never won anything either. Except maybe the odd $2 here and there on a scratchie.

Also, having just finished Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, if people can die just from walking a long way each day and not eating much, then I'm doomed. And I've been doing it for 5 months now, as opposed to her few weeks. That was a most disappointing ending.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure what you're doing Wari, butit seems to beworking fine

forme.

Anonymous said...

Fuck. I stand corrected.

Anonymous said...

Alright, how about
this


then,

hmmm?

Anonymous said...

Ok, you can still use the <br> tag to manually insert a line break after italic text if you're so inclined.

Perseus said...

I won the St. Johns' Fete wheel, and had my choice of a prize. I picked the badminton set. I think Lewd Bob was there. I was 10.

Then, when I was 18, I bought my first (of three ever) Tattslotto tickets. I won 3rd division. About $800. I bought my first car, a VC Regal. It was considered a bomb, but these days they are $8000 collector items.

That's all I've ever won.

you can still use the
tag

Like this?

Perseus said...

Fucken Luddite, me.

Puss In Boots said...

You've got gmail, Perseus.

Lewd Bob said...

I was there Perseus, however I thought it was Fanta who won the badminton set. Course, I could be wrong. Either way, I suspect we never used it or it broke within days.

Ramon Insertnamehere said...

Where's my feckin' tea-towel?