----- Original Message -----
From: "Alison Croggon" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2003 3:50 AM
Subject: Re: that psychology stuff (for whoever's still interested)
> Whoa, that Hyslop quote is mightily shod with Authority,
Yeah, rockingmost!
I don't think I'd like to spend my entire mental life inside the world of
one of my poems, though. They're not especially congenial locales, for the
most part. There's a story in Oliver Sachs, _The Man Who Mistook His Wife
For A Hat_, about a Tourettes patient who was also a jazz drummer of
considerable flair and originality. He took the Tourettes medication and the
flair and originality departed, like nymphs from the drained canalside (I
mean the side of the drained canal). So he stopped taking the medication -
but only at weekends, when he was gigging. Nice to be able to switch it on
and off like that.
Every now and then I do get one of yer genuine poetic reveries, which is
when something that just can't be switched off starts flooding your
consciousness and you can only get and keep any sort of a grip by
constructing and sequencing phrases in your head - especially if you're
walking up Granby street on a Saturday afternoon and there's nothing to
write on. If I spent *all* my time in that state, I might find the thought
of a quick and effective dose of chemical cosh rather attractive after a
while.
Dominic
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