That's given me something to think about.
Thanks,
Colin
----- Original Message -----
From: "arthur seeley" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 7:26 PM
Subject: Re: newsub/market ( Colin)
> The secret behind the extended metaphor, once chosen, is to stay objective
> and let it do its work. Push it and pull it the way you want to go and
> people think they are being sermonised and turn off. IMHO. Arthur.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Colin dewar" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 6:48 PM
> Subject: Re: newsub/market ( Colin)
>
>
> > I tried to make the account as objective as possible but human frailty
> > always creeps in and can be turned to advantage, I hope.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Colin
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "arthur seeley" <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2003 8:30 AM
> > Subject: Re: newsub/market ( Colin)
> >
> >
> > > This is a beautifully drawn extended metaphor. Apart from an evocative
> > > picture of a time and place it casts a bright beam wider. Thanks
Arthur
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Colin dewar" <[log in to unmask]>
> > > To: <[log in to unmask]>
> > > Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 6:49 PM
> > > Subject: newsub/market
> > >
> > >
> > > > Market Place, Wuhan.
> > > >
> > > > I have only come for some new potatoes,
> > > > though any excuse will do
> > > > to stroll through the market,
> > > > with its tapestry of flesh and earthy veg-
> > > > stalls selling any food you could imagine,
> > > > dog meat for instance or woodland fungi,
> > > > all of it unprocessed.
> > > > You get your hands dirty
> > > > if you want chicken.
> > > > Buying it is just the beginning.
> > > > Then you must kill it and pluck it and gut it.
> > > > Back home when you buy it,
> > > > the work is half done.
> > > >
> > > > I walk slowly,
> > > > careful where I place my feet,
> > > > watch vendors hot-faced, yelling
> > > > as if they must be paid in blood.
> > > > They have worked long in all weather,
> > > > their skin purple-brown.
> > > > I don't want to worry them
> > > > when I come to haggle for half an hour.
> > > >
> > > > I linger by fish
> > > > that I don't know by name,
> > > > guess at where they lived,
> > > > if sediment or surface
> > > > from shapes of mouth and fin.
> > > > However they lived all
> > > > will be eaten.
> > > > For now they survive in basins,
> > > > less water than fish.
> > > >
> > > > I bought one once, a toothless type
> > > > with a head like a rock,
> > > > almost broke my hand knocking it out,
> > > > was told
> > > > it would have died out of water.
> > > > I recognise eels.
> > > > Their heads are impaled on nails
> > > > and their bodies stripped clean.
> > > >
> > > > Fifteen frogs flop together
> > > > in a net bag, used for oranges at home,
> > > > gather dust on sweating skin.
> > > > Someone buys a bag and uses his shoe as a club
> > > > to beat them to death.
> > > > A pig squeals from a corner
> > > > that I don't go into.
> > > > Then a rat drops when a box is moved,
> > > > and dodges among the tomatoes.
> > > >
> > > > I am distracted by a fight in the vegetables.
> > > > Half an hour of bickering over prices
> > > > has led to a fracas,
> > > > a couple of women with such abuse
> > > > I don't have to know their speech.
> > > > A ragged leek whips the offending cheek
> > > > and then potatoes are thrown in turn,
> > > > the ones I had wanted to buy.
> > > > I will shop here for another half year,
> > > > go home to my own barbarities.
> > > >
> > > > Wuhan. P.R.C. 91/92
> > > > _________________________________________________
> > >
>
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