One of the delights of _A State of Independance_ (Stride, ed. Tony Frazer,
9.95) is Guy Birchard, one of Canada's best kept secrets, one of the last
of the Jacobean lyricists, with a range of reference and of measures which
continue to surprise me and are all his own. Here's one from the Stride
anthology where he bemoans the bafflement with which his work is greeted
in the "English speaking world":
BEHIND THE LINES
I can say German but I cannot speak
it. _Also._ I can read whole paragraphs
understanding only the odd word. French
_tiens_ I say very well. French who hear me
say French have trouble believing I am not
fluent. Welsh. I do not speak Welsh, though
I have translated Welsh, medieval Welsh.
Latin I pronounce impeccably despite
having dropped it from my curriculum
at a very junior grade. _Excreta tauri etc._
_Mi tio es enferno pero la carretera es
verde_. Venezuelans have slapped their thighs
to here me. But Spanish is a lovely tongue,
its cadences a perfectly recalled dream.
_el viento vivo como un corazon_
I was Hungarian party-game champ parroting
foreign fricatives until the group gasped.
They were not disappointed, they were
amazed to understand I did not understand
one word. English, now, Canadian-American:
British girls, for my accent, have chucked
me under the chin but my words, undetectable
origins, incomprehensible intentions, dammit
my English words baffle English ears.
So here's the deal: Pig Press has copies of _Birchard's Garage_ (1991)
(which doesn't include the poem quoted above) priced at 5.90 - we offer it
to list members until the end of the month at 4.50 inluding postage.
American/Canadian, we offer for US$10, again including post.
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Richard Caddel
Durham University Library, Stockton Rd., Durham DH1 3LY, UK
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: +44 (0)191 374 3044 Fax: +44 (0)191 374 7481
WWW: http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dul0ric
"Words! Pens are too light. Take a chisel to write."
- Basil Bunting
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