Thanks for your thoughtful observations, Millicent. I certainly was not
aware of the calibre of the allusions you point out. Thanks Max for the
correction too. Definitely 'none' not 'one' would have been aware, is what
I meant to say. Also a bifurcated 'nib' not 'rib' was at the working end of
dipping pens and even the later 'cartridge' pens. Max would know that I
have been a fan of the Western genre for some time and I did slip those
words into the final stanza deliberately. But I can see how they may be
interpreted as being on a different sexual spectrum. Of all the penmen I
mention, only one, as far as I know, ended up being gay, the O figure.
Those first three were primary school friends, A and K were secondary
school and G, much later, was a fellow teacher. O is the only one who
'crossed' so to speak, with me from primary to secondary school but we
drifted apart midway through secondary school. In primary school we had
been quite close and had even experimented sexually in low-key sorts of
ways, ie without touching each other. The reason I know he was gay was
overhearing him and seeng him in company with his 'like' in a Carlton bar a
few years after school had finished for us. We didn't speak. I don't think
he even saw me.
Maybe there is something in what you say but I think 'lusting' is too
strong. I did admire each of those guys in their turn and their handwriting
seemed to reflect a certain solidity of character. But it's not the clutch
of the pen I recall, nor even the posture, with the exception of A, who did
have to contort his arm to get the required forward slant. It is more my
memory of the rich blue ink on project paper books which we used or even
exercise books. In G's case, he took union minutes for me when he served as
secretary to my president of a local school branch.
Not sure if anyone needs to know all that, but thanks for the attention
again, Millicent and Max. Nowadays, few people would even see the
handwriting of their friends I suppose, in the keyboard age, much less
recognise it or store it in memory.
Bill
On Wednesday, 17 August 2016, Millicent Borges Accardi <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The poem is almost a subtle allusion to gay sex. A schoolboy discussing
> handwriting and lusting after the other boys in secret:
> one of the above would have known
> what I was up to.
>
>
> I'm reminded of one of Eduardo Corral's poems about a violin. . .
>
>
> So many allusions: riding bareback, stirrups, bifurcated rib, forearm
> sprawl, the longer he went at it, pressed so hard, K's tight, neat
> "script" Even Peter Sellars (spelled differently, I know), the openly
> gay theater director. . .
>
>
> A school boy watching the other students's muscles flex as they practice
> handwriting and imagining more.
>
>
>
>
> millicent
>
>
> On Aug 16, 2016, at 14:34, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]
> <javascript:;>> wrote:
>
> > L pressed so hard on his bifurcated nib
> > that it splayed, sending out a shadow script
> >
> > B's bright text stood up vertically
> > looping over lines playfully
> >
> > O's letters raced; ps and qs lost their
> > bulbousness the longer he went at it
> >
> > Each of these styles I endeavoured
> > to replicate for as long as I admired the writer
> >
> > A's left-handed lurch to the right
> > required a forearm sprawl
> >
> > K's tight, neat script anticipated
> > his composed later life as a dentist
> >
> > G's letters leapt left and right randomly
> > Hard to emulate but I gave it a shot
> >
> > None of the above would have known
> > what I was up to.
> >
> > In between adoptions, my own script
> > tentatived on lined pages until
> >
> > I latched on to a new cursive hero
> > to marshal my letters.
> >
> > Peter Sellers could be any man
> > but drew a blank at himself
> >
> > No bareback writer, my ideas
> > trotted out but needed stirrups.
> >
> > bw
>
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