With thanks to Alison, Mark, and Josie ...
Yes, my own understanding was that a flensing knife was used in
deconstructing whales. Where my problem is, however, is how it makes sense
in the context of the poem:
The second stanza of "Sex and the Over Forties":
A few things to keep in readiness --
a flensing knife, a ceiling mirror,
a cassette of _The Broken Heart_.
Now I can go along (well, you know what I mean!) with the mirror and the
Ford play, but to what possible application (other than for a deranged
serial killer, which I don't think the poem is about) can you put a flensing
knife in this context?
I actually rather like the poem -- I used to use it, along with Cavafy's
"The Gods Abandon Anthony", as a sidelight on _Anthony and Cleopatra_. But
that flensing knife baffles me.
The simplest thing would be to ask Porter directly. Anybody Londonside
liable to run into him?
> Now Rob, while you are not here, what's the term used for
> skinning a human alive?
Josie, if it's not too simple, how about "flayed" (as in 'flayed alive')?
(There's a bit in Swift -- in The Battle of the Books, is it? -- which
begins, "I once saw a woman flayed".)
Alison said:
> > I'm not a big Porter fan, so I don't think I have it - I think I sold
> > the book -
[_Preaching to the Converted_ (1972)]
I'm not either (with exceptions for individual poems) *except* for the whole
of _The Cost of Seriousness_ and the first half of _English Subtitles_, both
(or one-an-a-half) of which are to die for.
Josie said:
> I have a copy of the Narcissus poems here, illustrated with
> Boyd's etchings, hence its inclusion in my library.
??? 'splain. (Frontchannel or back.)
Cheers,
Robin
(who's still not here.)
> not here either
> josephine
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