an old Irish joke (whose?):
Joyce and O'Casey both abused Dubliners so you'd think they'd say A plague on both your houses.
Instead it put a plaque on both their houses.
[If not Joyce and O'Casey, then some other suitable names…]
On 09/01/2014, at 6:05 PM, Andrew Burke wrote:
> Ah, stupid mistake. Sorry.
>
>
> On 9 January 2014 14:59, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Wow, Andrew, I hope your cousin wasn't infected by Burke's pla g ue. Yes I
>> can imagine a squat item built of that chunky redgum. I will ask around
>> locally more about the bridge.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>> On 09/01/2014, at 12:35 PM, Andrew Burke wrote:
>>
>>> I have a cousin in Melbourne who has a small table made from timbers of
>> the
>>> original Burke's Bridge.It's a squat, sturdy item with a plague on the
>> side
>>> stating its origins. It exudes mysterious tales of past passages. I have
>> no
>>> idea how Patrick fits into family history, although there are copious
>>> family histories about.
>>>
>>> Androo
>>>
>>>
>>> On 9 January 2014 03:30, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Saw all Bill.
>>>>
>>>> I think 'not offering crossability' is what it's all about, &
>> intriguing,
>>>> indeed.
>>>>
>>>> I imagine you can extend this sequence should you wish to...
>>>>
>>>> Doug
>>>> On Jan 8, 2014, at 6:03 AM, Patrick McManus <
>> [log in to unmask]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Bill old lad I saw Kasper's email only when you replied to it - P
>>>> fretting
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> On
>>>>> Behalf Of Bill Wootton
>>>>> Sent: 08 January 2014 12:29
>>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>>> Subject: Re: Bridges
>>>>>
>>>>> Pat, can you not see Kasper's email below? You responded to Kasper's
>>>> comment
>>>>> it looks like to me. I may be stuck but your frets are wobbling it
>> seems.
>>>>>
>>>>> Funny you mention 'orchardist'. I remember as teacher this came up
>> when
>>>>> students came to read the word, probably in Chekhov's 'The Cherry
>>>> Orchard'.
>>>>> 16/17 year olds couldn't pronounce it. Had never seen the word in
>> print.
>>>>> They would say it like 'orchid' with no sense that that were
>>>>> mis-pronouncing. I suppose all fruit they ever had came from a
>>>> supermarket.
>>>>> My great uncle Jim lived on an apple orchard, in a stilted wooden
>>>> two-room
>>>>> shack with a Coolgardie safe to keep his milk cool, at Harcourt near
>>>>> Bendigo, a hundred miles or so north west of Melbourne.
>>>>>
>>>>> Bill
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 8 Jan 2014, at 8:06 pm, Patrick McManus <
>>>> [log in to unmask]>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Kasper's email never arrived here!!
>>>>>> Bill hope you are not stuck - orchardist sounds a nice job Cheers P
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>>> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>>>>>> On Behalf Of Bill Wootton
>>>>>> Sent: 08 January 2014 07:21
>>>>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>>>>> Subject: Re: Bridges
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Many thanks, Kasper. Final couplet (and indeed final section) is still
>>>>>> a work in progress, appended yesterday when I realised the two
>>>>>> particular bridges I was celebrating were not ones to put spring in
>>>>>> step, they not offering crossability.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Bill
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 8 Jan 2014, at 11:36 am, Kasper Salonen <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This is magnificent, the majesty of bridges at their best resonates
>>>>>>> strongly in these four sections. The hint of myth in the Benezet
>>>>>>> story rounds out the mysticism. Not only that, but the lyrical and
>>>>>>> yet perfectly disinterested style makes up for the splash of water
>>>>>>> that is the final line. I love it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> KS
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>> Kasper Salonen, toiminnanjohtaja
>>>>>>> Helsinki Poetry Connection
>>>>>>> http://hkipoetryconnection.blogspot.com/
>>>>>>> +358505554947
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 7 January 2014 23:05, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Bridges
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> i
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Walk a bridge to connect, to pass
>>>>>>>> over a gulf. To be on a bridge is to be
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> neither in one place or another. Rarely destination, bridges embody
>>>>>>>> journey.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ii
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Avignon's stone bridge stops mid-Rhone tantalising with just four
>>>>>>>> extant arches
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> of its once majestic twenty two.
>>>>>>>> Even computer imaging and years
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> of research can't line up remnant piles.
>>>>>>>> Must have been zig-zags
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> for added strength, perhaps, in floods.
>>>>>>>> Benezet the shepherd it's said,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 850 years ago, with Divine push, hefted and hurled a huge rock in
>>>>>>>> the river
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> which became stone one of Pont
>>>>>>>> d'Avignon. Benezet's journey ended
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> with his interment within the bridge before its completion.
>>>>>>>> Disinterment
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> nearly 500 years later,
>>>>>>>> scored him patron sainthood.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> iii
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Just north of Melbourne, two parallel bridges span Arthurs Creek.
>>>>>>>> Only one takes traffic.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Burke's duplicated concrete and bitumen bridge towards Nutfield,
>>>>>>>> flat and functional
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> but adjacent, original Burke's Bridge, a timbertrestle construction,
>>>>>>>> now spattered
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> with leaves and gum bark peelings, blocked at either end with
>>>>>>>> boulders, remains
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> the real enchanter. Patrick Burke, orchardist and nurseryman settled
>>>>>>>> on 20 acres in 1864.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> None of which explains why supporting posts either side of the creek
>>>>>>>> are not parallel.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> iv
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Alighting from a bridge makes you feel lighter.
>>>>>>>> Puts a little spring in your step or your tyres.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> You've left somewhere behind. Crossed.
>>>>>>>> You're somewhere else. What now?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> But it takes now uncrossable bridges to remind us how well stuck we
>>>>>>>> might be.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> bw
>>>>>>>> 8.1.14
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> 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)
>>>>
>>>> Swept snow, Li Po,
>>>> by dawn’s 40-watt moon
>>>> to the road that hies to office
>>>> away from home.
>>>>
>>>> Lorine Niedecker
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> 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
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