And new (that last line), in a poem if nowhere else, Max.
Doug
On 2012-11-28, at 4:28 AM, Andrew Burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Lawrence - they steal yr signature for fraudulent activities! Just sign
> 'Lorry' next time and stymie their game ...
>
> On 28 November 2012 22:15, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> It's interesting sometimes that one finds a book which the
>> recipient
>> had ASKED be signed
>>
>>
>>
>> L
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Poetryetc: poetry and poetics"
>> To:
>> Cc:
>> Sent:Wed, 28 Nov 2012 22:13:48 +1100
>> Subject:Re: 'Auntie Effie's Gift'
>>
>> Ah, Max, I know the feeling well. A few paintings and prints have
>> landed in
>> op shops in West Aust just before we left its shores. I couldn't do
>> it with
>> books because most of those who wrote them still cruise the op shop
>> shelves
>> and may spot them. (I've found a couple of my signed copies in second
>> hand
>> bookshops over the years - oh the shameful memories of why I
>> blatantly
>> tried to influence their view of me!)
>>
>> Good poem. I'd take out all quality references to the painting - just
>> let
>> the quandary speak for itself.
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>> On 28 November 2012 18:20, Patrick McManus wrote:
>>
>>> Max how could you throw away Aunt Effie's painting painted with
>> love for
>>> you!!
>>> You heartless dog loving monster
>>> Cheers P
>>> Ps one of her awful so called 'botched paintings sold for £1
>> million
>>> recently
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
>>> Behalf Of Max Richards
>>> Sent: 28 November 2012 06:08
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: 'Auntie Effie's Gift'
>>>
>>> Auntie Effie's Gift
>>>
>>> She'd done the painting -
>>> I had to thank her,
>>> and take it with me
>>> home to Australia.
>>>
>>> But truly, it was a botch -
>>> which was all I'd expected.
>>> What was my favourite
>>> Auckland view? I'd told her -
>>>
>>> Judges Bay, the tide in,
>>> St Stephen's white Chapel
>>> on the sloping turf
>>> with its settlers' graves.
>>>
>>> There they are, the lot.
>>> And a skyline of trees
>>> vague, indeterminate,
>>> though doubtless pioneer.
>>>
>>> But her art! her skills!
>>> conspicuous by their
>>> total absence!
>>> She wrapped it -
>>>
>>> Uncle Albert had
>>> already framed it -
>>> away we went.
>>> Decades it sat
>>>
>>> in the darkest corner
>>> of several successive
>>> Melbourne addresses,
>>> this latest surely its last.
>>>
>>> Downsizing requires
>>> we part, her daub and me.
>>> Yet - bin it? too cruel.
>>> Leave at a charity shop?
>>>
>>> Most likely they'd bin it.
>>> Is there a shredder might take it?
>>> Burning would be the thing,
>>> if bonfires were still permitted.
>>>
>>> Effie herself I last saw
>>> in a hospital bed
>>> near death from cancer.
>>> I held her painting hand, said
>>>
>>> I'd speak at her funeral -
>>> a promise I broke.
>>> Albert went soon after.
>>> Her paintings? gone.
>>>
>>> That view is still a favourite -
>>> Judges Bay, the tide in,
>>> St Stephen's wooden Chapel,
>>> sloping turf, old graves.
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Andrew
>> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
>> 'Undercover of Lightness'
>> http://walleahpress.com.au/recent-publications.html
>> 'Shikibu Shuffle'
>>
>> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/new-from-aboveground-press-shikibu.html
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Andrew
> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
> 'Undercover of Lightness'
> http://walleahpress.com.au/recent-publications.html
> 'Shikibu Shuffle'
> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/new-from-aboveground-press-shikibu.html
>
Douglas Barbour
[log in to unmask]
http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
Latest books:
Continuations & Continuations 2 (with Sheila E Murphy)
http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=962
Wednesdays'
http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press_10.html
Swept snow, Li Po,
by dawn’s 40-watt moon
to the road that hies to office
away from home.
Lorine Niedecker
|