quite
----Original Message Follows----
From: Dominic Fox <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: "Poetryetc: poetry and poetics" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: A Shorter Book Of Hours (one of three)
Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 23:20:31 -0700
Thanks Fred. I must admit I've never watched a single episode of 24...
I wonder whether it would still seem obscure if I hadn't mentioned its
obscure origin. One of the figures in Cooke's "Morning is broken" is a
rather dejected-looking halloween pumpkin...
Something I'm always trying to do is give a legible public face to an
essentially very hermetic and private tissue of references and
associations. It may be a mistake even to let on that this inner world
exists, since to all intents and purposes it *doesn't* for almost any
possible reader.
Dominic
On 3/29/07, Frederick Pollack <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Dominic, I like this a lot. Not only, I hope, because I'm a "24" fan; most
>readers will know enough about the series, even if they don't watch it, to
>appreciate the poem. Problems: not only is the "Pumpkin-head" reference
>obscure, it also feels extraneous, digressive -- for me at least it weakens
>flow and energy. "by the dawn's early pre-light" is awkward and a 'cheap
>shot.' However satirically the figure is meant, give him his dignity; I
>suggest simply 'in pre-light.' Otherwise, tough and tight.
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Dominic Fox" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 5:11 PM
>Subject: A Shorter Book Of Hours (one of three)
>
>
> > 00:00
> >
> > The kobold phantom chronograph
> > worn by Kiefer Sutherland in "24":
> >
> > his ticking timepiece
> > as the boot goes in.
> >
> > 01:00
> >
> > Sleep-famished he saw everywhere
> > hobgoblins, some in the uniform of guards
> >
> > stirring gruel-pots and chattering
> > obscenely amongst themselves.
> >
> > 02:00
> >
> > Movements of aircraft carriers
> > in darkened waters, of unmarked containers;
> >
> > improvised rendition of old numbers,
> > hymns of elimination.
> >
> > 03:00
> >
> > They now gnaw at his feet while he lies
> > insensible, working his empty mouth,
> >
> > his shaking lips incompetent
> > to form the words of dismissal.
> >
> > 04:00
> >
> > It was a sounding grotto, vaulted,
> > vast; the walls imprinted
> >
> > with sullen figures, stilled lives
> > on heavy rotation, leering from the murk.
> >
> > 05:00
> >
> > This also, by the dawn's early pre-light:
> > night-terrors clothing themselves with substance.
> >
> > The *racailles*: why have they not fled to their burrows?
> > The devils, why are they still here?
> >
> > 06:00
> >
> > Divers alarums. The first howls of morning:
> > dogs, children, cars. The sun puts out his rays.
> >
> > The papers declare: "Pumpkin Head Escapes!" -
> > blurred orange jumpsuit in daring cross-country dash.
> >
> > 07:00
> >
> > The phantom chronograph - like something
> > from children's literature. Timekeeping
> >
> > a vanished technique in this land of the dead:
> > whole days dance widdershins about the clockface.
> >
> > * * *
> >
> > Some context for this may be found in k-punk's excellent articles on
> > Nigel Cooke and The Fall ("Pumpkinhead Xscapes" is the title of a
> > relatively obscure Fall tune) - see especially:
> >
> > http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/008654.html
> >
> > and
> >
> > http://k-punk.abstractdynamics.org/archives/008993.html
> >
> > - these are among the best things Mark has ever written, and I cannot
> > commend them highly enough.
> >
> > Dominic
>
--
Shall we be pure or impure? Today
we shall be very pure. It must always
be possible to contain
impurities in a pure way.
--Tarmo Uustalu and Varmo Vene
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