> Hello Bob,
            I tried to reply to this message yesterday but it hasn´t appeared in my in-box so it may have got completely lost, as they do sometimes. First, thanks for your comments. Yes, water butt does sound American, doesn´t it? I guess it´s okay even though I´m not American myself, and `barrel´ upsets the rhythm of the line. I was interested in your comment on `sparkles with overflow´. It hadn´t struck me as being out of keeping with the tone of the poem, but I can give it some more thought. Thanks again.



Best wishes,    Mike



> 
> Hi Mike,
> One of your best, IMO!
> There's one or two small niggles, where the almost-casual tone I associate 
> with the New York School and your wording don't quite meet... I'll highlight 
> what I saw/heard.
> It's a delight to read and savour none the less.
> Bob
> Who, speaking personallally as well as critically, wonders if this style may 
> well be one for you to follow for a few more poems...
> 
> 
> >From: Mike Horwood <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: New sub: Reading the New York poets
> >Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 11:38:52 +0300
> >
> >The words that appear between asterisks are taken directly from The New 
> >York Poets: An Anthology edited by Mark Ford. The excerpts are from the 
> >introduction by Ford and from poems by Frank O´Hara and James Schuyler. In 
> >the normal course of events these words would be in italics but it´s not 
> >possible with email. This merely confirms what I have long believed, that 
> >there is nothing `normal´ about email (If God had wanted us to....etc)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Reading the New York poets in my garden
> >
> >*`The New York School of Poets´
> >is both a useful label
> >and something of a misnomer.*
> >
> >The last drips of last night´s rain
> >drop from the end of the drainpipe
> >into the water butt. They´ve been doing WATER BUTT - VERY AMERIC-SPEAK 
> >WORDS
> >this for hours. I know because I´ve watched.
> >*And here I am, the
> >center of all beauty!*
> >
> >Ripples catch the light each time
> >a new drip falls and the concrete half-pipe
> >sparkles with overflow where it meets SPARKLES WITH OVERFLOW??? FAR TOO 
> >INVENTIVE FOR THE POEM AND IT'S STYLE!!!!
> >the grass. The sun is gaining heat
> >but in the shade the wet ground
> >chills the air that moves across my skin.
> >
> >*reader! You open the page
> >my poems stare at you you
> >stare back, do you not?*
> >I laid my book on the garden table
> >while I considered possible
> >reasons for that continued dripping
> >so long after the rain had stopped
> >but I´ve decided to simply accept
> >it and go back to my reading.
> >
> >*Oh, forget it. Reading,
> >writing, knowing other poets
> >will do it, if there is
> >anything doing. By the by did you know*
> >we recently put grass seeds over a bare
> >patch where we dug up a shrub?
> >Many have sprouted, fine as hair.
> >Some strands are so thin I only see them
> >with my face close to the earth.
> >Last night´s rain has done them good.
> >The smell of moist peat has merged
> >with chicken droppings. Fecundity smells like this.
> >*The fresh-mown lawn is a rug underneath
> >which is swept the dirt, the living dirt
> >out of which our nurture comes.*
> >
> >And water is beautiful. Water in
> >sunlight. The barrel below the eaves
> >stands in the sun. I could give
> >that new grass some more water,
> >keep that nurturing dirt wet.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >Mike
> 
> _________________________________________________________________
> It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger today! 
> http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger
>