Must admit, I looked up 'brisker' to be sure it wasn't some sort of meaty noun variation, Max! Your pedant mate is probably right but 'slaughtering brisker' just has a certain ring about it.
Bill
On 21/11/2013, at 9:40 PM, Max Richards wrote:
> 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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