Thanks for reading my threesome, guys.
Curiously, I had advice from my minute critic in Dunedin, Alan,
that 'slaughtering brisker' would not do. Thus:
One query: ‘slaughtering brisker / then…’ I wonder about ‘brisker’ which to me sounds like a noun (which is slaughtered: I wrongly strayed into ‘brisket’!) And thinking ‘slaughter brisker’ yes, OK, or ‘slaughtering more briskly’ – how about ‘brisker slaughter’, or ‘slaughter more brisk’, or ‘slaughtering more brisk’?
Ah, pedantry…[end of quote from Alan]
I took time for a last minute fiddle, then forgot to adopt one of his suggestions before sending to poetryetc.
Max
On 21/11/2013, at 6:46 PM, Bill Wootton wrote:
> Peaces certainly uneasy, Max, then and now. We live in an era of brisk slaughter. Like Pat, I should read up on
> Te Raupahara. Your three part structure interesting.
>
> Bill
>
> On Thu, Nov 21st, 2013 at 10:37 AM, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Yes. I liked 'slaughtering brisker' especially.
>>
>> Doug
>> On Nov 20, 2013, at 2:36 AM, Patrick McManus
>> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>>> Thanks Max -what a history -must read more about Te Rauparaha -
>>> the Maori Napoleon
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> On
>>> Behalf Of Max Richards
>>> Sent: 20 November 2013 05:31
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: 'Wars and Peace'
>>>
>>> Wars and Peace
>>>
>>> 1. Mural by Withers at Purrumbete
>>>
>>> Proud of their new heritage,
>>> the Manifolds had in from
>>> Melbourne its best muralist
>>>
>>> who at their behest
>>> painted on the hall wall
>>> how the Blacks watched
>>>
>>> while they landed sheep,
>>> discovered grazing land
>>> and good water,
>>>
>>> made it their own,
>>> yet those Blacks came back -
>>> on the attack
>>>
>>> until repulsed -
>>> stealing water and sheep.
>>> Peace was restored.
>>>
>>>
>>> 2. Onawe
>>>
>>> Driving over exhilarating hills
>>> where a few sheep steeply grazed,
>>>
>>> I pointed below to
>>> the small green peninsula
>>>
>>> settled on the waters
>>> of Akaroa Harbour.
>>>
>>> So so peaceful, she sighed.
>>> Yes - now, I replied,
>>>
>>> but I remember being told
>>> of Maori warfare -
>>>
>>> eighteen thirties, was it?
>>> when muskets made for
>>>
>>> slaughtering brisker
>>> than with taiaha and patu -
>>>
>>> Onawe's defenders killed
>>> or enslaved by bold
>>>
>>> canoe-borne invaders -
>>> led by Te Rauparaha -
>>>
>>> the Maori Napoleon.
>>> What was once fortified -
>>>
>>> is now green turf. Peace -
>>> yes, now (she sighed).
>>>
>>>
>>> 3. 'The Last of the Unjust' [Terezin, Nisko]
>>>
>>> The camera for this slow
>>> movie lingered on verdure,
>>>
>>> venerable trees,
>>> unspoiled old villages,
>>>
>>> tilled earth and vegetables,
>>> weathered stone walls,
>>>
>>> while the commentary dwelled
>>>
>>> on the long death march under
>>> the trees, guards trigger-happy;
>>>
>>> starvation, typhus,
>>> where the scaffold was,
>>>
>>> where the firing squad -
>>> near the potato patch.
>>>
>>
>> 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
>> Recording Dates
>> (Rubicon Press)
>>
>> Art is always the replacing of indifference by attention.
>>
>> Guy Davenport
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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