I wrote it, riddled with Swine flu, with my wife harassing me all day about
residencies in Asia (she suffers from itchy feet). It was kind of like a
writing exercise where you try to get students to write without 'thinking'.
I was dipping in and out of it between coughing fits, discussions about the
difference between Cambodia and Japan as a workplace, and the occasional nap
enforced by medicines.
The images are true, but are not a wild youth scenario. My father owned a
fair slab of this part of the world, part of it being a beach side holiday
subdivision. Nowadays it is a suburb, but back then he let squatters live on
various blocks in old trams they set up on blocks of wood. He also owned
part of a whaling company and used to show us slides of whaling which were
gross! I was very young at this stage - pre teenage rebellion and all that
came later.
Yes, it needs some tweaking, but it does fit in tone with some I have
written recently, more influenced by Bernstein's earlier 'tone' than my
other usual suspects.
I think all poets should keep expanding as they grow, even though it may
make for a wild and woolly collected works!
Andrew
2009/7/17 Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
> Something a bit different from you, Andrew, & I like the way it moves
> toward that final part (maybe drop 'you know / the image?').... Partly those
> memories of wild youth?
>
> Doug
> On 16-Jul-09, at 2:51 AM, andrew burke wrote:
>
> *Sliding Doors*
>>
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
>
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/ <http://www.ualberta.ca/%7Edbarbour/>
>
> 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
>
> In a for profit healthcare system, if you have a chronic health condition,
> insurance companies have a MOTIVE for you to die.
>
> The Black Cat
>
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
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