Friday, 8 January 2010
Entertaining late
Not that late but late enough. Into Norwich earlier in the day to the BBC to record three shorter poems ('under one minute each, please') for the Today programme. They'll air one and display all three on the website some time next week ahead of the Eliot prize giving - providing no urgent world news comes to blow it away, as happened last year. In the event the producer at the other end said not to worry too much about the minute providing its only a matter of a few seconds over, so I read one of the Burning poems (the second shortest one, about the book collector and money), the Woolworth poem (a sonnet), and the one about the farmer and the gravedigger. Couple of decent snowy walks to stations, one across the cathedral close, the spire of the cathedral covered faintly in rime, through bare branches of snow-lined trees.
Have also been writing, fast as ever - a set of two sonnets and two prose poems. Probably part of a series associated with the art project in Wysing.
I love the silence of snow - the soul wrapped in cotton wool but not too tight, still a faint chill about the vast hall of the universe.
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Shorter is good, say I. Maybe you could embed a recording of one poem in the blog for those of us with poor Today reception? I haven't been to Norwich in years, but have fond memories of Brumells and Greens. The petits fours swung it for Brumells although the Greens' waiters had more aplomb.
Dear George, This note is completely out of context but I wonder if you know/have read "The Blue Guitar: Etchings by David Hockney who was inspired by Wallace Stevens who was inspired by Pablo Picasso"? A lovely book of poetry and drawings published in 1977 by Petersburg Press -- given to me as a seasonal gift by a very fine painter. I am finding it a small joy at the moment to spend a little time renewing pleasure and passion in conversations between the visual and the poetic arts.
PS. The snow is glorious. The only drawback is the precariousness faced by a friend trying to reach Norwich for a visit from the Norfolk/Suffolk border. Heigh ho.
George, you should write poems to fit in with their busy schedule of saturation bad weather news. Any fule no that. ;)
I'll embed a recording if I can, mise, that's if they make it available. There are recordings (of different poems) in various other places, including the Poetry Archive.
Is the text of the Hockney Blue Guitar (I remember seeing the etchings at an exhibition many years ago) simple the Wallace Stevens poem? I thought it was, Diane, but maybe it's something else. I have the Stevens of course and have read the poem but don't possess the book. I'll see if I can find it. And yes, the snow is beautiful and it seems we'll be getting more of it.
Billy, it's good to write poems when the material is there, and I think it is there now for a few more. There's nothing better in the world, no better feeling, than when it's going well.
Ah, The Rime on the Ancient Minare? ............. I'll get me coat.
In weather like this you'll need your coat, P!
:> Happy New Year G.
Hello George, A quick answer. Yes, it is just the oriignal Wallace Stevens poem but the little book includes Picasso's Blue Guitar as the first pic/painting reproduced. I'll try to hold onto the book for you. It's a lovely dialogue in pics by Hockney.
Happy New Year, P! And thank you, Diane. It would be great to see it.
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