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Am not sure whether it was cicadas or crickets I encountered in Malaysia many years ago, but it was certainly something very similar, and they made a great deal of noise, especially at night. This could be rather exotically pleasant; but when combined with dengue fever the effect is as though one's head is being assaulted by a road drill. Ah, thems wuz the days! joanna ----- Original Message ----- From: "MJ Walker" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, August 16, 2007 11:26 AM Subject: Re: poem revised LA CIGALE ayant chanté Tout l'Esté Se trouva fort dépourveuë Quand la Bize fut venuë - La Fontaine (but he got it from an Oriental tale) The cicada having sung/ all the summmer long/ finds itself without a crumb/ when the winds of autumn come. You could come to the South of France, although one doesn't actually see them very often - they make an awful noise which has been described as a maracas-like rattle. Their wings sort of cover their body like a roof, unlike grasshoppers & such. mj Roger Day wrote: >i don't know what cicadas sound like, I don't even know wht they look like. > >On 8/16/07, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >>Well I have trouble with the first line -surely we know what they sound >>like >>-could it not be more informal shorter like say just(he says >>tentatively!!) >> cicadas trill >>(or what ever they do blast stridulate ??barrack? clamour?? ballyhoo?? >>Cacophony?? Stridulating (like poets at a reading!! >>Cheers P >> >>-----Original Message----- >>From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On >>Behalf Of andrew burke >>Sent: 16 August 2007 07:27 >>To: [log in to unmask] >>Subject: poem revised >> >>After a number of drafts, and some suggestions from p'etcers, notably >>Max 'Cooee' Richards, I have revised my 'snap' poem, Changing the >>Sprinkler (including changing its title): >> >> >> >>Gibb River Evening >> >> >>In the shrill sound of cicadas >>I move the sprinkler >>pulling the hose over >>red rocky ground. >> >>Who drinks here >>beneath the evening sky >>with the lace silhouette >>of tall gums before >>the pink sky's edge? >>A straw-necked ibis >>wings away and quacks >>like a duck. Beneath >>ochre-red clay, amongst >>a complex syntax of roots, >>strongest of earth's creatures >>push and pull a way >>through thickest breath. >>Webbed eggs fill a dark cavity, >>a thick-bellied vein worms >>by a deep chamber. >> >>I turn my ear to >>a chortle, a choking sound >>below the cicadas - >>once, then nothing. >> >> >> >>-- >>Andrew >>http://hispirits.blogspot.com/ >>http://www.inblogs.net/hispirits >>http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/ >> >> >>-- >>No virus found in this incoming message. >>Checked by AVG Free Edition. >>Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.11.19/953 - Release Date: >>14/08/2007 >>17:19 >> >> > > > -- Ne'er fash your thumb what gods decree To be the weird of you or me. Robert Fergusson