Yes, Doug may have a pooint there, Max. I think when you herd many of these
together you will tighten many of them up - give a sharper focus. Their
true perspective comes out in a manuscript.
Andrew
On 5 June 2014 00:56, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Another memory story, Max, & they seem to get more precise as you enter
> into this series...
>
> I enjoy it for the local references, the sense of NZ then. But it feels a
> bit like youre trying to get every little detail in, & perhaps dont need
> them all...?
>
> Doug
> On Jun 4, 2014, at 5:07 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Card Table, Breakfast Table
> >
> > When up, the folding card table
> > with spindly legs - don't sit on it,
> >
> > don't even lean! - dominated
> > the living room. Sometimes, Dad,
> >
> > rather than trek to the office,
> > wrote reports on it. It was that
> >
> > or the kitchen table. He'd finished
> > being head of primary schools
> >
> > from the north of the island
> > to the south, and proudly joined
> >
> > the Primary Inspectorate.
> > This meant a desk I never saw
> >
> > in Newmarket, a Government car
> > sometimes, brought to the door
> >
> > late on Sunday, impressing the whole
> > street, a dark suit and satchel,
> >
> > trips Monday to Friday off
> > to the outer reaches
> >
> > of the Board, staying at pubs,
> > or easier weeks round Auckland.
> >
> > Even Catholic schools the State
> > inspected, always stimulating:
> >
> > ah, the nuns are so welcoming -
> > they seldom see a man unless a priest.
> >
> > The lunch they put on for us!
> > Just don't go in Lent.
> >
> > As for the suspicious polish
> > on the children's work - those nuns!
> >
> > (Maori Schools had a separate -
> > pakeha - Inspectorate,
> >
> > extra tasks, longer journeys,
> > rougher pubs overnight.)
> >
> > I'd look over Dad's shoulder
> > as he drafted and wrote fair copies
> >
> > of the week's reports.
> > Never more than a page long.
> >
> > The handwriting was steady,
> > regular, just like I'd seen
> >
> > chalked up on blackboards
> > at Randwick and Epuni Schools.
> >
> > Fourth form, my 'grammar school' report
> > said: English good. Dad would ask me:
> >
> > 'Is this sentence clear?' Simplicity
> > we both admired, tact also.
> >
> > Some reports had warnings in them.
> > Encouragement was better.
> >
> > Good advice he loved - when young
> > he'd feared Inspectors too,
> >
> > and - they got on with him.
> > They knew his father was
> >
> > in Parliament, front bench.
> > It made for respect.
> >
> > Reports went to the office
> > where typists admired his hand.
> >
> > Now fold away the card table,
> > or was I up for more gin rummy?
> >
> > I pleaded homework - grammars
> > he knew nothing of, Latin and French.
> >
> > I was moving beyond him,
> > trying out words too long for him.
> >
> > Tact! - at breakfast I was denouncing
> > politicians over the marmalade
> >
> > and The New Zealand Herald,
> > in terms like 'stupid idiots!' -
> >
> > adolescent arrogance,
> > infuriating Dad,
> >
> > upsetting peace-loving Mum.
> > She made two breakfast times -
> >
> > an early start for the Inspector
> > driving north to Omapere;
> >
> > a later for his son pedalling
> > pushbike through hot sun
> >
> > and often pelting rain
> > round Mount Albert's steep roads,
> >
> > in his satchel a cut lunch
> > and 'The Golden Treasury',
> >
> > to school - secondary,
> > so one Dad never inspected;
> >
> > nor visited, despite respect
> > for their reports ('good progress').
> >
> > Mum turned up to watch me run -
> > third in the Open Mile -
> >
> > generous handicap - which Dad
> > had never needed when he won
> >
> > the Teachers' College
> > long distance events.
> >
> > I cycled home while
> > Mum went home by bus.
> >
> > Around the dinner table
> > there'd be no politics.
> >
>
> 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)
>
> would you
>
> care to be more
> precise about whatever
> it is you are
> saying, I said
>
> Bill Manhire
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
--
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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