Poetry - just for the sake of it!

The arts , poetry & creative writing forum
Post Reply
User avatar
marymary
Global Moderator
Posts: 15584
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:59 pm

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by marymary »

~ The Gift Outright ~

The land was ours before we were the land's.
She was our land more than a hundred years
Before we were her people. She was ours
In Massachusetts, in Virginia.
But we were England's, still colonials,
Possessing what we still were unpossessed by,
Possessed by what we now no more possessed.
Something we were withholding made us weak.
Until we found out that it was ourselves
We were withholding from our land of living,
And forthwith found salvation in surrender.
Such as we were we gave ourselves outright
(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)
To the land vaguely realizing westward,
But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,
Such as she was, such as she would become.

~ Robert Frost; 1874-1963 ~




Meant to post this yesterday.
User avatar
SRD
Rantipole
Posts: 9252
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire
Contact:

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by SRD »

Hmm, but what about the Native Americans claim?
Children are like Slinkys - not much use for anything, but it always brings a smile to your face when you throw them down the stairs. Chinchilla
User avatar
marymary
Global Moderator
Posts: 15584
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:59 pm

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by marymary »

I don't disagree with that point. I was just acknowledging the anniversary.
User avatar
Little John
member
Posts: 16399
Joined: January 2nd, 2010, 1:46 pm
Location: SE London

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by Little John »

Is it independance day, then?
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
User avatar
marymary
Global Moderator
Posts: 15584
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:59 pm

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by marymary »

JFK used it 50 years ago.
User avatar
SRD
Rantipole
Posts: 9252
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire
Contact:

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by SRD »

I was reading somewhere recently that, with the release of documents from those days, JFK wasn't the golden boy he has subsequently been made out to be.
Children are like Slinkys - not much use for anything, but it always brings a smile to your face when you throw them down the stairs. Chinchilla
User avatar
marymary
Global Moderator
Posts: 15584
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:59 pm

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by marymary »

I don't think we ever thought he was - mind you I'm not old enough to remember him. He's always been history to me.
User avatar
SRD
Rantipole
Posts: 9252
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:23 pm
Location: Wiltshire
Contact:

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by SRD »

I can remember hearing about his assassination and being very distressed, there was a definite feeling at the time that the man was a giant who was going to save the world. My parents were out at the time (would one nowadays leave an 8 year old child at home on their own?) and I can remember telling them what had been reported on the TV.
Children are like Slinkys - not much use for anything, but it always brings a smile to your face when you throw them down the stairs. Chinchilla
User avatar
Little John
member
Posts: 16399
Joined: January 2nd, 2010, 1:46 pm
Location: SE London

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by Little John »

I'll tell you what. That Lee Harvey Oswald has a lot more to account for than just shooting JFK. He spoilt the second episode of Dr Who ever! I was quite disappointed. Although I suppose JFK wasn't all that happy about it, either.
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
User avatar
marymary
Global Moderator
Posts: 15584
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:59 pm

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by marymary »

Two Scavengers In A Truck,
Two Beautiful People In A Mercedes


By Lawrence Ferlinghetti


At the stoplight waiting for the light
Nine A.M. downtown San Francisco
a bright yellow garbage truck
with two garbage men in red plastic blazers
standing on the back stoop
one on each side hanging on
and looking down into
an elegant open Mercedes
with an elegant couple in it
The man
In a hip three-piece linen suit
With shoulder-length blond hair & sunglasses
The young blond woman so casually coifed
with a short skirt and colored stocking
On his way to his architect's office
And the two scavengers up since Four A.M.
Grungy from their route
On the way home
The older of the two with grey iron hair
And hunched back
Looking like some
Gargoyle Quasimodo
And the younger of the two
Also with sunglasses and long hair
About the same age as the Mercedes driver
And both scavengers gazing down
As from a great distance
At the cool couple
As if they were watching some odorless TV ad
In which everything is possible

And the very red light for an instant
Holding all four close together
As if anything at all were possible
Between them
Across that great gulf
In the high seas
Of this democracy
User avatar
Little John
member
Posts: 16399
Joined: January 2nd, 2010, 1:46 pm
Location: SE London

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by Little John »

When was that written MM? The rhythm sounds like it might have been in the 50s. Jazz poets and all that.
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
User avatar
marymary
Global Moderator
Posts: 15584
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:59 pm

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by marymary »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Ferlinghetti - he was associated with the Beat Generation but thought of himself as too old for that or so I've been told.
User avatar
Little John
member
Posts: 16399
Joined: January 2nd, 2010, 1:46 pm
Location: SE London

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by Little John »

Ooh! Thanks for that. Its made my day. So, I guessed right, eh? I'm chuffed!
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
User avatar
marymary
Global Moderator
Posts: 15584
Joined: December 31st, 2009, 7:59 pm

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by marymary »

Mrs. Rip Van Winkle
by Carol Ann Duffy

I sank like a stone
Into the still, deep waters
of late middle age,
Aching from head to foot.
I took up food
And gave up exercise.
It did me good.
And while he slept,
I found some hobbies
for myself.
Painting. Seeing the sights
I’d always dreamed about:
The Leaning Tower.
The Pyramids.
The Taj Mahal.
I made a little watercolour
of them all.
But what was best,
What hands-down beat
the rest,
Was saying a none-too-fond
farewell to sex.
Until the day
I came home with this
drawing of Niagara
And he was sitting up in bed
rattling Viagra.



Mrs Icarus
By Carol Ann Duffy

I’m not the first or the last
to stand on a hillock,
watching the man she married
prove to the world
he’s a total, utter, absolute, Grade A pillock.



Frau Freud Carol Ann Duffy
Ladies, for arguments sake, let us say
That I’ve seen my fair share of ding-a-ling, member and jock,
Of todger and nudger and percy and cock, of tackle,
Of three-for-a-bob, of willy and winky; in fact,
you could say, I’m as au fait with Hunt-the-Salami
as Ms M. Lewinsky – equally sick up to here
with the beef bayonet, the pork sword, the saveloy,
love-msucle, night-crawler, dong, the dick, prick,
dipstick and wick, the rammer, the slammer, the Rupert,
the shlong. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve no axe to grind
with the snake in the trousers, the wife’s best friend,
the weapon, the python – I suppose what I mean is,
ladies, dear ladies, the average peis – not pretty…
the squint of it’s envious solitary eye…one’s feeling of
pity…
User avatar
Little John
member
Posts: 16399
Joined: January 2nd, 2010, 1:46 pm
Location: SE London

Re: Poetry - just for the sake of it!

Post by Little John »

Well. That's put us men in our place, then.
Yes this is the real "Little John" (or it could be "colin")
Post Reply