Never take on 'the records', L.
> On 23 Jan 2015, at 9:43 pm, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> That is so funny Doc Daneeka because so well observed. I recently
> complained to HSBC, "my" bank, that they hadn't told me. They said they
> had, date and time; and when I protested that whoever said that would have
> found the phone just ringing, answerphone not on, they denied it on the
> grounds that their records supported them
>
> L
>
>> On 23 January 2015 at 02:11, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> No cheering for German planes here that I can see, Pat but a fascinating
>> poem. Reminds me of 'Poor Doc Daneeka' in Catch 22, whose death is lamented
>> because he is on the flying list when McWatt crashes his plane deliberately
>> into a cliff after accidentally slicing pontoon-standing Hungry Joe in half
>> with a too-low pass in his plane. Doc bounces around, pointing out that he
>> is still alive and that the list had been forged to boost his flying hours.
>> No matter; to Yossarian et al, he is a dead man.
>>
>> Can it be true that your continued existence is due to this quirk of fate?
>>
>> Thanks, Max, too, for reminding me of the Slough poem, a beauty.
>>
>> Bill
>>
>>
>>>> On 23 Jan 2015, at 10:27 am, Patrick McManus <
>>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> Bill I found it !!not easy in my 400 or so poems
>>> Published in 'Jigsaw'
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> FAMILY SECRET
>>> MY SECOND AFTERNOON
>>> -NOT AT SCHOOL
>>>
>>> First day
>>> I saw school, I did not like it!
>>> I screamed and screamed, and screamed
>>> my mother was summoned, to take me home
>>>
>>> second day
>>> I saw school, I did not like it!
>>> I screamed and screamed, and screamed
>>> again my mother, was summoned
>>> later in disgrace, big disgrace
>>> headmistress's office, big and cold
>>> my mother was told, told off!
>>> never have we allowed, a child
>>> a child to go home, on his second
>>> his second day, it's disgraceful!
>>> sort him out, bring him back tomorrow!
>>> or there will trouble, a lot of trouble!
>>>
>>> later I sat snug, with biscuits under
>>> under the counter, at my mum's job
>>> safe in the hairdressers, all cosy
>>> I remember nothing, nothing more.
>>>
>>> over over forty years later
>>> my mother so ill, so ill said
>>> said, all drugged and confused
>>> I want, to tell you something
>>> I do not want to upset you, but
>>> but do you remember, remember
>>> on your second day, at school
>>> when you made your second, yes
>>> second big scene, and was disgraced
>>> and the headmistress, was outraged
>>> and, I took you with me to work?
>>>
>>> soon after, the school was bombed
>>> many children, and teachers died
>>>
>>> on the radio, they read out sadly
>>> read out the list, of those killed
>>> your granny heard it, heard your name!
>>> they found your card, by your desk
>>>
>>> we decided not, not to tell you
>>> also you had a sister, Margaret
>>> who lived, lived just three days.
>>>
>>>
>>> pmcmanus
>>> 413
>>> Published in Jigsaw
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
>>> Behalf Of Max Richards
>>> Sent: 22 January 2015 15:47
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: come friendly bombs
>>>
>>>> On Jan 22, 2015, at 9:22 PM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Find the poem, Herr Pat or re-write it. What a hoot!
>>>>
>>>> Bill
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On 22 Jan 2015, at 8:08 pm, Patrick McManus
>>> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Enjoyed this warm tale oops nearly wrote tail -and to think that I
>>>>> was a top speller at school -(long long since) I lost my grandmother
>>>>> early on was devastated for years-I remember but probable can't fine
>>>>> a WW2 poem about us together-where the aircraft I was cheering on
>>>>> were actually German and I got hauled back into our air-raid shelter!
>>>>> Cheers P
>>> Slough
>>>
>>> Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
>>> It isn't fit for humans now,
>>> There isn't grass to graze a cow.
>>> Swarm over, Death!
>>> Come, bombs and blow to smithereens
>>> Those air -conditioned, bright canteens, Tinned fruit, tinned meat,
>> tinned
>>> milk, tinned beans, Tinned minds, tinned breath.
>>>
>>> Mess up the mess they call a town-
>>> A house for ninety-seven down
>>> And once a week a half a crown
>>> For twenty years.
>>>
>>> And get that man with double chin
>>> Who'll always cheat and always win,
>>> Who washes his repulsive skin
>>> In women's tears:
>>>
>>> And smash his desk of polished oak
>>> And smash his hands so used to stroke
>>> And stop his boring dirty joke
>>> And make him yell.
>>>
>>> Slough
>>>
>>> by John Betjeman (1906 - 1984)
>>>
>>> John Betjeman published his poem about Slough in 1937 in the collected
>> works
>>> Continual Dew. Slough was becoming increasingly industrial and some
>> housing
>>> conditions were very cramped. In willing the destruction of Slough,
>> Betjeman
>>> urges the bombs to pick out the vulgar profiteers but to spare the bald
>>> young clerks. He really was very fond of his fellow human beings. Slough
>> is
>>> much improved nowadays and he might be pleasantly surprised by a stroll
>>> there.
>>>
>>> http://www-cdr.stanford.edu/intuition/Slough.html=
>
|