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Not at all! I really appreciate the perspective, believe me. Have a wonderful weekend (You're ahead of us and already "in" it) :) Sheila On Sat, May 19, 2012 at 10:43 AM, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]>wrote: > Oh good > > I thought I was being nerdy > > L > > On Sat, May 19, 2012 19:37, Sheila Murphy wrote: > > Lawrence, what a bonus! I awoke to your beautifully educational missive! > > Several features of the locale were new to me, notably the names and why > > (including Agnes). Thank you for this. I've saved for rereading and > > reminding. > > > > The explanation of the terrain, its fit into the English and not-English > > elements, provides a very fine frame around what is an extremely fine > > poem! > > > > Thanks, Sheila > > On Sat, May 19, 2012 at 9:29 AM, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]> > > wrote: > > > > > >> yes, it all seems to have come through in an odd order > >> > >> I don't think I'll say anything > >> > >> > >> they've been werry good to me they have > >> > >> L > >> > >> > >> On Sat, May 19, 2012 17:34, Douglas Barbour wrote: > >> > >>> Yes, it did, at least to me > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> (but then I cant see much of the time if mine get through, so...). > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> Doug > >>> On 2012-05-19, at 7:04 AM, Lawrence Upton wrote: > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>>> didnt seem to get through > >>>> > >>>> ---------------------------- Original Message > >>>> ---------------------------- > >>>> Subject: Re: Perconger > >>>> From: "Lawrence Upton" <[log in to unmask]> > >>>> Date: Sat, May 19, 2012 11:45 > >>>> To: "Poetryetc: poetry and poetics" <[log in to unmask]> > >>>> -------------------------------------------------------------------- > >>>> ---- > >>>> -- > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> Hi Chris (and Sheila) and thanks for your comments. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> I am not quite sure what constitutes English in a good way poetry; > >>>> but I'll not argue. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> I shall now tell you more than you may want to know > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> This is England but... It is Scilly. Scilly is in the extreme > >>>> south-west of Britain, about three hours off the coast of Cornwall, > >>>> or twenty minutes if you go by air. > >>>> > >>>> Cornwall is not England whatever the English say. Scilly is. Not > >>>> that it matters except in terms of dealing with the buffoons who > >>>> rule us. > >>>> > >>>> Relate it, if you will, to my many poems about the bar between St > >>>> Agnes > >>>> and The Gugh. That bar creates two coves, bays, whatever between the > >>>> two islands - there is basically a drowned valley between in which > >>>> a bar has formed. (Two asynch tides) > >>>> > >>>> The southern cove is called The Cove. It used to have a different > >>>> Cornish > >>>> name which I have either forgotten or never knew. The Cove is > >>>> undeniably an English name and Cornish hasn't been spoken on Scilly > >>>> for many centuries. The Gugh, too, is English, I believe, though not > >>>> current. Agnes > >>>> means off-island and is nothing to do with a female saint -- > >>>> something like ek enes, but there is no surviving record of that > >>>> formulation > >>>> > >>>> Off The Cove is Covean (from Cove Vean, one word English, one word > >>>> Cornish, Cornish syntax): small cove > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> The northern cove is called Perconger, and we arrive by swerve or > >>>> shore and bend of bay at my title. Perconger is what the islanders > >>>> have done to "Porth Conger". > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> Porth is landing place. Can't tell you what conger means. (I have > >>>> posted poems about Periglis where I like to spend my time stroking a > >>>> cat. Porth Eglos, landing place by the church -- of, if you > >>>> translate sloppily, Church Cove) > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> You come in to Perconger past the rock that looks like Queen > >>>> Victoria's > >>>> old age profile, between the sometimes islands and go to the quay on > >>>> the west side of the porth > >>>> > >>>> When there's a bar, and there is something of one for much of the > >>>> day, it is due south and you can sit and look at it on a bench on > >>>> the quay, where I sat writing en plein > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> Geologically Scilly is related to Cornwall, mostly granite and in > >>>> some places littered with erratics from the big glaciers which > >>>> didn't quite make it that far. > >>>> > >>>> Speak of The Variscan Orogeny if you want to sound knowledgeable, a > >>>> geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic > >>>> continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to > >>>> form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Unquote. I just looked it up > >>>> because I couldnt remember when it was. Times blur as you get old. > >>>> Laurussia was > >>>> of course named after me; where I lived in those days; but I missed > >>>> most of mountain-building because of writing. > >>>> > >>>> It's pretty poor as mountains go, these days, but there is a > >>>> noticeable granite spine, here and there from Devon westwards -- no > >>>> distance in N American or Australian terms, but it sometimes defeats > >>>> First Great > >>>> Western > >>>> Railway. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> The granite goes under the sea between Lands End and Scilly, so > >>>> tough do-do to all those who expect to see Merlin floating in on a > >>>> leaf, and forget all the stories of a hundred and forty churches and > >>>> the city of Lions drowned > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> Almost everything I have written about, in what you have seen here > >>>> -- > >>>> apart from the 575s a while back, which were from when I lived in > >>>> Cornwall > >>>> -- relates to places within a mile of each other on Agnes > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> Right then. That'll teach you. > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> It is an ancient mariner > >>>> He stoppeth one of three > >>>> The other two go on ahead > >>>> He stoppeth only me > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> (Frank Muir) > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> I am though happy to speak of this all day and night should you > >>>> consent > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> best > >>>> > >>>> L > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> On Sat, May 19, 2012 07:57, Chris Jones wrote: > >>>> > >>>> > >>>>> I hesitate to say this, but, I am finding these very English in a > >>>>> good way, or perhaps a way I like. I haven't seen this coast but > >>>>> find myself wanting to go... is this south west coast?? Maybe, I > >>>>> could make it there, but not now. But I searched and found some > >>>>> photos. > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> On 19/05/12 04:32, Lawrence Upton wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>>> The bulky slip for the revenuer's boat, > >>>>>> here still, unused for its purpose now, steep, with a more > >>>>>> salubrious paved landing place out to the left, a boat on > >>>>>> there, angled. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> An extensive tumble of rock, weed-blackened, > >>>>>> up to the height of another boat, on grass, upon a trolley, an > >>>>>> inflatable, and then there's overgrowth of dense bramble right > >>>>>> to the top of what is visible here. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> A concrete quay, atop and round the old, > >>>>>> white markings for hoi polloi; and steel posts for chains to > >>>>>> control crowds; parcels; packets to be collected; plastic sheets > >>>>>> and sacks of various forms; all most tidily clean in a way > >>>>>> suggesting work's getting done and life is being lived with good > >>>>>> effort. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> A slightly rippling sea through burnishing light, > >>>>>> scatterings of markers upon its moving shine, tethered rowing > >>>>>> boats in scintillation up to the shrinking tombolo. Columns of > >>>>>> Scilly > >>>>>> Whites near to The Gugh coast edge, cultivated plots > >>>>>> outweighted by noise from others which have self-planted for > >>>>>> years of being untended, unstraightened, left. > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> [Scilly Whites are a type of daffodil] > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> ----- > >>>>>> Lawrence Upton > >>>>>> Visiting Fellow, Music Dept, > >>>>>> Goldsmiths, University of London > >>>>>> New Cross, London SE14 6NW > >>>>>> ---- > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>>> > >>>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> ----- > >>>> Lawrence Upton > >>>> Visiting Fellow, Music Dept, > >>>> Goldsmiths, University of London > >>>> New Cross, London SE14 6NW > >>>> ---- > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> ----- > >>>> Lawrence Upton > >>>> Visiting Fellow, Music Dept, > >>>> Goldsmiths, University of London > >>>> New Cross, London SE14 6NW > >>>> ---- > >>>> > >>>> > >>>> > >>> > >>> Douglas Barbour > >>> [log in to unmask] > >>> > >>> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/ > >>> http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/ > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> Latest books: > >>> Continuations & Continuations 2 (with Sheila E Murphy) > >>> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=962 > >>> Wednesdays' > >>> > >>> > >> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-press > >> _10 > >> > >>> .html > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> The postliterate sensibility is offended by anything that isn’t > >>> television, views with suspicion the compound sentence, the > >>> subordinate clause, words of more than three syllables. The home and > >>> studio audiences become accustomed to hearing voices swept clean of > >>> improvised literary devices, downsized into data points, degraded into > >>> industrial-waste product. > >>> > >>> Lewis Lapham > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >> > >> > >> ----- > >> Lawrence Upton > >> Visiting Fellow, Music Dept, > >> Goldsmiths, University of London > >> New Cross, London SE14 6NW > >> ---- > >> > >> > > > > > ----- > Lawrence Upton > Visiting Fellow, Music Dept, > Goldsmiths, University of London > New Cross, London SE14 6NW > ---- >