Well, my poem was pretty skinny this week, Andrew. But it was good to read more offerings than usual. Thanks Pat for flushing out lurkers.
Bill
> On 18 Jun 2015, at 10:53 am, Andrew Burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Us short guys have the jump on tall poets! I wonder ...
>
> George Macbeth, UK poet, once proffered the theory that poets write poems
> that reflect their own physique. Interesting theory: if I lose weight, do
> my poems also?
>
> Andrew
>
>> On 18 June 2015 at 01:25, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Wow, you guys!
>>
>> At least, like the rest of us, you have to put them on one leg at a time…
>>
>> Doug
>>> On Jun 17, 2015, at 8:20 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> Me and my Aussie Dacks
>>>
>>> If only Dad had passed down to me
>>> his shapely legs, good for running
>>> and tennis, instead of what I got.
>>>
>>> Mum's ‘slim limbs’ suited her,
>>> not me, puffing behind my muscled
>>> peer group on their pushbikes.
>>>
>>> After his death, my sister said:
>>> you know what he’d call you
>>> behind your back? - pukeko legs.
>>>
>>> The New Zealand swamp hen!
>>> Thanks, Dad. They’ve served me
>>> longer than your dicky heart let yours.
>>>
>>> I was once dropped from a School
>>> Cadet drill squad - my shape would spoil
>>> their khaki uniform Anzac strength.
>>>
>>> Now I learn the term ‘spindle-
>>> shanks’, but won’t teach my kin
>>> to use it in my hearing.
>>>
>>> For years I wouldn’t wear shorts -
>>> the only long-pants guy at the beach!
>>> Jeans I thought too clinging.
>>>
>>> Thighs, knees, calves, ankles - none
>>> suited, though I liked my feet.
>>> I joined a gym too late for any
>>>
>>> muscle-building - and the gear,
>>> tracky-dacks, daggy in the extreme,
>>> helped put me off going back.
>>>
>>> Now I step out first thing each day
>>> to let the dogs relieve themselves,
>>> myself relieved to show the empty
>>>
>>> street my shanks - saggy pajama-
>>> pants under my rain-jacket, sad
>>> at my thighs as I return upstairs.
>>>
>>> Stephen Spender, who was tall, said
>>> the best poets were the short guys.
>>> I think continually of those
>>>
>>> who are truly of medium size.
>>>
>>>> On Jun 17, 2015, at 5:47, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Ah, you might yet, Jill. It's not really a problem anyway. Maybe I just
>> buy big dacks.
>>>>
>>>> Bill
>>>>
>>>>> On 17 Jun 2015, at 10:36 pm, Jill Jones <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> thanks, Bill, that I had such problems.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> On 17/06/2015, at 8:03 AM, Bill Wootton wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Spindle shanks
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You know you're getting spindly
>>>>>> when you slip first your foot
>>>>>> then your whole leg
>>>>>> into your dacks
>>>>>> and hit no
>>>>>> cloth
>>>>>>
>>>>>> bw
>>
>> Douglas Barbour
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuation 2
>> (UofAPress).
>> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
>>
>> There is no life that does not rise
>> melodic from scales of the marvelous.
>>
>> To which our grief refers.
>>
>> Robert Duncan.
>
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