In which there are close encounters of the religious kind, presence of mind, and absence of god
- Quote of the [current reading]: In point of fact his women to date numbered only two, both dancing teachers, with whom his relations had been limited to rather half-hearted scufflings on divans, and it was for this reason that he had not joined the Oxford Group. He could not bring himself to publicly confess that his most poignant erotic memory was of a broken spring which twanged - oddly enough - on the note of B-flat. The observation said much for his ear but little for his powers of concentration.
- Reading, books 2016, 152.
149. Rotten Pomerack, by Merle Collins, 1992, is the second of Ms Collins' three volumes of poetry. Merle Collins was educated and has lived internationally but she was originally from Grenada, and was involved with government during the Grenada Revolution, and her poetry reflects those influences, although not in straightforward ways, which can make quoting excerpts of her work out of context problematic even when it's tempting to do so, because the meaning shifts so easily to almost an opposite of the poet's apparent intention. So I'm resisting my temptation to quote extracts from Up the Hill out of context because it appears to be about Bernard Coard in prison but is oblique enough to be open to extreme misinterpretation, and also because in Britain Mr Coard behaved as a hero who worked the problem of institutional racism in schools into the mainstream media and onto the parliamentary political agenda - while duly crediting all the people who worked with him - but in Grenada he is seen as half revolutionary hero and half folk-devil who was responsible for killing his peers without apparently pulling a trigger or maybe even giving an order. (4/5 the title describes the context of the contents so readers inclined towards literalism and face-value judgments should beware: crick crack!)
• Epigram:
Remembering yesterday
Longing for tomorrow
while today tiptoes past
• May you like me earn good
friends
but just to be sure,
love books.
When bindings fall apart
they can be fixed
you will find
that is not always so
with friendships.
• A Journey, by Merle Collins
a journey, perhaps, in search of my soul?
of the power behind my sunday-school self?
God, they told me then
made me
in his own image and likeness.
Almost.
I have the words of the language
they gave me for God's
but the goddess inside changed the music.
I learnt the gestures and movements
they told me were God's
but the goddess inside keeps revolting
and the Goddess grows stronger
Sunday-school voices are fainter
and perhaps this painful dying
this constant questioning
is really a recreation of self
or do i just linger here
as i lingered there
because it's seductive
and i'm seeking an answer
that doesn't exist?
This entry was originally posted at http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/595230.html and has
comments Please comment there using OpenID.
- Reading, books 2016, 152.
149. Rotten Pomerack, by Merle Collins, 1992, is the second of Ms Collins' three volumes of poetry. Merle Collins was educated and has lived internationally but she was originally from Grenada, and was involved with government during the Grenada Revolution, and her poetry reflects those influences, although not in straightforward ways, which can make quoting excerpts of her work out of context problematic even when it's tempting to do so, because the meaning shifts so easily to almost an opposite of the poet's apparent intention. So I'm resisting my temptation to quote extracts from Up the Hill out of context because it appears to be about Bernard Coard in prison but is oblique enough to be open to extreme misinterpretation, and also because in Britain Mr Coard behaved as a hero who worked the problem of institutional racism in schools into the mainstream media and onto the parliamentary political agenda - while duly crediting all the people who worked with him - but in Grenada he is seen as half revolutionary hero and half folk-devil who was responsible for killing his peers without apparently pulling a trigger or maybe even giving an order. (4/5 the title describes the context of the contents so readers inclined towards literalism and face-value judgments should beware: crick crack!)
• Epigram:
Remembering yesterday
Longing for tomorrow
while today tiptoes past
• May you like me earn good
friends
but just to be sure,
love books.
When bindings fall apart
they can be fixed
you will find
that is not always so
with friendships.
• A Journey, by Merle Collins
a journey, perhaps, in search of my soul?
of the power behind my sunday-school self?
God, they told me then
made me
in his own image and likeness.
Almost.
I have the words of the language
they gave me for God's
but the goddess inside changed the music.
I learnt the gestures and movements
they told me were God's
but the goddess inside keeps revolting
and the Goddess grows stronger
Sunday-school voices are fainter
and perhaps this painful dying
this constant questioning
is really a recreation of self
or do i just linger here
as i lingered there
because it's seductive
and i'm seeking an answer
that doesn't exist?
This entry was originally posted at http://spiralsheep.dreamwidth.org/595230.html and has
comments Please comment there using OpenID.