The recording at St Erth station re westbound trains insists that the next
train is for penzance calling at penzance only, with the emphasis on ONLY
There is no other station (since the 60s) so this is a pointlessly elaborate
message; and I am waiting for the announcement that is not so qualified -
the train may break out of the retaining wall at the end of the station,
screech raillessly up the high street and seek the areas of outstanding
natural beauty beyond
The train at Platform 2 is for Penzance but is going to try to get as far as
St Just
*
In another line (no pun intended), I can offer you a Royal Court leaflet
from 1994 - "Designed on a computer, Alaric Sumner has invented a new form
of playscript"
L
----- Original Message -----
From: Patrick McManus
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2005 9:47 AM
Subject: Re: a snap, maybe, with intro
The found underground poem I find terrifying is
TRAINS TERMINATE AT THE END OF THE LINE
-----Original Message-----
From: Poetryetc provides a venue for a dialogue relating to poetry and
poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lawrence Upton
Sent: 13 April 2005 21:48
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: a snap, maybe, with intro
There is a whole new generation that has grown up to whom I can say this - I
havent mentioned it for years
I have a found proverb
It was on a sign for many years by Platform 9 of Victoria Stn in London
MANY TRAINS DIVIDE ON ROUTE
L
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Weiss
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 9:22 PM
Subject: a snap, maybe, with intro
Alison, it's really your call whether this qualifies as a snap.
For a number of years I wanted to write a fortune cookie poem. At one
point
I had a party for which I had fortune cookies made, stuffed with recycled
lines from poems, except for one, the only fortune I ever managed to
write.
It went:
If you have broken this cookie with your fingers
don't lick them.
What can I say? As a USian paranoia is always easy to summon up.
Then I thought it might be fun to write a proverb. Nothing happened for 20
years, until a friend quoted a comment by an Iditarod driver. The story
went something like this:
When asked what motivated the dogs, the driver responded: "The lead dog
has
a great view. Harder to understand what motivates the others--for them the
view's always the same.
This got me thinking about the psychology of dogs, and I came up with:
ESKIMO PROVERB
The lead dog has the tastiest asshole.
or, in the Queen's English,
The lead dog has the tastiest arsehole.
This quickly morphed into :
The top dog has the tastiest asshole (arsehole).
I tried it out. It seems to me to be enormously useful. If Bush
unaccountably gets away with something, "Like they say, 'the top dog has
the tastiest asshole'"
If a poet whose work seems to me shallow wins a big prize, "The top
dog..."
If Microsoft markets a beta model as a consumer product, "The top dog..."
You get my drift.
So now I've written a proverb, and I don't have to think about it anymore.
I hope everyone who reads this will use it in conversation, to speed the
day when it's quoted back to me by a stranger.
Solomon Weiss
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