Justincase anyone doesn't know this (I'm sure Douglas does), "thi speshlz"
is shorthand for cans of Carslberg Special Brew, a singularly strong and
fizzy lager much appreciated by Glaswegians. (Followed up the next morning
by countering the effects with Iron Bru.)
One of my earliest encounters with the complex terminology of alcohol was
when I entered a pub in York in the late sixties, and asked, as I though
transparently, for a refreshment -- "Seeuz a pint u heavy, jimmy."
The barman looked at me with a degree of disdain and enquired, "Are you
Welsh, or what?"
Every time I re-encounter "'Jist ti Let Yi No", I'm reminded of a time when
Mr. Leonard and I tried to feed an open fire in a Glasgow tenement from a
paper sack of coal.
*Don't try this at home, children. In fact, don't ever try it at all.
R.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Douglas Barbour" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 4:04 PM
Subject: Re: Poem: Variation on a theme by Williams
>I still love Tom Leonard's 'translation': 'Jist ti Let Yi No'.
>
> ahv drank
> thi speshlz
> that wurrin
> thi frij
>
> n thit
> yiwurr probbli
> holdn back
> furthi pahrti
>
> awright
> they wur great
> thaht stroang
> thaht cawld
>
>
> Terrific.
>
> Doug
>
>
> On 18-Nov-08, at 10:46 AM, Mark Weiss wrote:
>
>> Very Frosty.
>>
>> Kenneth Koch did a lovely, nasty parody of This Is Just to Say. I don't
>> have it handy, but I bet someone on the list does. Williams' egotism,
>> especially in relation to Flossie, is a pretty tempting target.
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>
> Latest books:
> Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> Wednesdays'
> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
>
> Art is always the replacement of indifference
> by attention.
>
> Guy Davenport
>
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