Patrick, I think it's been translated into 112
Bugger knows, what one is supposed to do.
2008/6/28 Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]>:
> Fred thanks could soon be me!!
> I suppose the 911 would have to be translated in each country's edition 999
> here
> Wonder what happens to 911 here -UHM?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Frederick Pollack
> Sent: 27 June 2008 21:26
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: "The Losses"
>
> The Losses
>
>
> If, losing it, you walk
> in a middle-class neighborhood,
> you won't, as in others,
> be immediate prey;
> nor shall people flee,
> not wanting to be involved. They may,
> however, watch you,
> not wanting to be involved,
> while finding a category
> for you: Alzheimer's. If you seem
> too young for that, ranting,
> gesticulating, weeping,
> you're more threatening. In a story
> by Pirandello, an old gentleman
> buttonholes strangers, expressing
> manic admiration
> for the spring evening, trains, progress,
> whatever, then reveals
> he has an epithelioma
> ("Such a beautiful word. Like poetry!"):
> is that you? Shall you praise
> the drugstore and sushi place,
> hybrids, the grass near the intersection
> some benign unknown, volunteer or municipal,
> mows? Then unfairly
> protest each and every
> shortcoming of life, which are only
> those of *your life, though your unwilling
> listener may cautiously
> avoid saying so? The state
> relies on religion
> to fetishize a compassion
> we have no desire to feel, relying
> on the state to free us
> from it: shall you philosophize thus?
>
> Pirandello's protagonist
> has a woman with him, or rather
> a block behind - wife, daughter?
> Unclear. Perhaps you do
> too, if you're fortunate.
> She comes closer, says your name.
> She backs off, at the chopping
> arm-gesture, the greater
> volume of drivel with which you
> don't look at her.
> If there are people on the street,
> she tries to smile, as if to say
> you're normal. She wonders,
> if she cries, will you turn, will you stop.
> Overcome, she cries.
> If that fails, if you fail to realize
> she has stopped following and you're alone,
> she will call 911. Rest assured:
> she's aware of the same black hole
> or epithelioma
> as you. It's overlain, however,
> by the thought that, if positions were reversed,
> you would cover that block, pick her up
> struggling and biting,
> ignore passersby, drag her home,
> saying only, louder and louder, *It's OK*.
>
--
David Bircumshaw
Website and A Chide's Alphabet http://homepage.ntlworld.com/david.bircumshaw/
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.co.uk
