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Thanks, Jill As far as 'just' goes, I'm certainly an obsessive qualifier, and, like you, have to stop myself doing it from time to time. And yet qualification can be an aid to timing if nothing else, and perhaps also suggest a tentativeness about judgements that are otherwise too arrogantly categorical (compare 'a sort of courteous love' at the end of the poem). I wanted to make clear that my comment was a diminishment of the sacred, reducing it to a trick of the light. If I'd written 'the sacred is a light', regardless of what follows it would seem that I was trying for something much more grandiose and visonary than I intended. Best wishes Matthew -----Original Message----- From: Jill Jones <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> Date: 29 July 2001 02:44 Subject: Re: Matthew's poems >Only now just had time look at these. Have to say I enjoyed 'Outside my >window' - I've got into a similar rhythm with a similar subject so maybe >Welsh (English?) streets are similar. Had to laugh when I got to 'Some >bastard starts to play a bass guitar.' and liked 'I'm heading for the other >side of what' - I know it turns to tell the 'what' but liked 'the other side >of what' as it stands. > >Found the early parts of 'The Cathedral' interesting but a bit discursive. >Got more into it by the time I got to: > >The sacred is just a light >that sometimes stains the skin >of the old profane faces. > >I put my hand on these faces >crusted with dried-up green >and warmed to them, as the sun >must so often have done. > >I would have tried to get rid of 'just', only because I'm always using it >myself - sometimes it's OK but I try to remember that it's a weasel word >usually. But maybe not - just thinking. > >Really liked 'Blizzard' - I thought it was a bit spooky/scary, but I'm not >much acquainted with snow of any dimension. Liked the promise of 'and things >do not begin. But they do.' > >Wasn't so sure about 'Dragons' - I also wasn't convinced entirely about the >repetition - and I'm from a part of the world which used to be beyond the >'here be dragons' on maps. And we have Chinese dragons hanging about, >mostly. But in saying all that blah blah, I still got pulled into it. > >Liked the idea of 'By the forge' and things like 'a numbness in the sky' but >what did I really want - less or more? Not sure. 'Museum of the forest' - >liked 'Chanterelles grew in the carpet.' yeah, good idea. 'Sleepers' - >especially like how it moves - the stepped lines. And 'Late June' - all >those syllables, the play of it and ending on 'incomprehensible'. Great. > >Is this is English? What was it - Home Counties Expressionism? Don't know >but there's a restraint, a formality, within which weird and dark moves. And >repays a visit - which you can't always say these days. Thanks Matthew. But >also like the ocean poems on your site - we've spoken on this before. >Different to these. > >Best, >Jill > > >_________________________________ >Jill Jones >50 Ruby Street >Marrickville NSW 2204 >AUSTRALIA > >[log in to unmask] >http://homepages.ihug.com.au/~jpjones >