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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