Oh yes, Glen. I would love to see a performance of that.
On 19 January 2012 05:06, Glen PHILLIPS <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Vide: P White's 'A Cheery Soul'
>
>
> On 19/01/12 1:34 AM, "Patrick McManus" <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
> > Bi polar Poetry Rules!!!-manic depression gives weight gravitas to words-
> > cheery is lightweight frivolous doom alone counts
> > Cheerfully written by cheery Patrick vote for cheery now! enjoying life
> > heart warmed in Raynes Park
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> > Behalf Of Lawrence Upton
> > Sent: 18 January 2012 15:25
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Smiling and cheeriness and poetry
> >
> > It's funny, funny peculiar, but this has been going around my head. It
> isn't
> > unpleasant. I haven't lost sleep over it; but I do find myself being
> aware
> > of it in an unprecedented way.
> >
> > That is, I have been aware of myself and my mood as I make poetry; and I
> am
> > not feeling cheery.
> >
> > It's not a word I use. I can imagine using it as a put down. As in: the
> > trouble with him was that he was always cheery.
> >
> > I looked it up and, at first, thought it was 19th century USAmerican; but
> > further searches suggest it originated here somewhere in the 15th
> century,
> > so perhaps before a European America, certainly before there could be
> said
> > to have been divergence between language usage.
> >
> > So I am unable to say: ah well it's an American word -- as if that would
> > explain anything in itself!
> >
> > I was looking for an explanation for my difficulty with the word, a
> > difficulty that I had not been that aware of.
> >
> > Perhaps there *are differences of usage, but non geographical ones. I was
> > struck by the proposed equivalence of being cheery and smiling. (I'd
> refer
> > anyone of that persuasion to consider the number of people who have
> > committed suicide shortly after appearing to be happy and optimistic.)
> >
> > To me, and perhaps I have gone all my life misapprehending the word,
> > _cheery_ can be stored with _heart-warming_. I saw recently and noted
> that
> > someone is starring in something heart-warming; and I received that
> rather
> > as I received news of the Italian cruise ship sinking. Heart-warming
> > suggests, to me, shallowness, sentimentality and the ability to behave
> like
> > a performing bear, but without being prompted.
> >
> > Cheery people believe something will turn up. Cheery people, faced with
> > substantial evidence that someone else is a schmuck, say _oh i don't
> think
> > he / she meant it like that_, or something similar.
> >
> > Doug tried the word _joyful_ -- _(joyful?) noises_ -- of my poetry; and I
> > would be more than happy with that.
> >
> > Do know that I have no hard feelings or sense of grievance here; I am
> just
> > finding the use of a word by others and the response to my response to
> it a
> > bit odd. It may well be me marching out of step, to use an inappropriate
> > simile.
> >
> > I reiterate, though, that I find the situations we are in too serious to
> be
> > cheery. I have twice laughed out loud at the Steve Bell cartoons in the
> > Guardian about Alex Salmond and Scottish independence. He's just taking
> the
> > piss; and I enjoy it although, in so far as I have an opinion, I am for
> the
> > break up of UK. Perhaps all that does cheer me is a hit against ruling
> > systems.
> >
> > Yet I can't even take heart from peoples' opposition. I am party to some
> of
> > the thoughts of poets who consider themselves politically engaged; and it
> > does not please me.
> >
> > Maybe if I had a space ship I'd just leave a note saying _so long and
> thanks
> > for all the poetry_
> >
> > I think an enthusiasm for poetry, or anything, is other than what I
> > understand as cheeriness. Perhaps for me it is a defiance of low spirits,
> > but without falsifying the ground note mood.
> >
> > I could ramble on; but I suspect it is something which is uninteresting
> > except to me; so I'll leave it.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------- Original Message
> ----------------------------
> > Subject: Re: The bar between The Gugh and St Agnes seen from St Agnes
> > From: "Lawrence Upton" <[log in to unmask]>
> > Date: Tue, January 17, 2012 16:38
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I didn't say that I don't smile, Doug
> >
> > L
> >
> > On Tue, January 17, 2012 15:59, Douglas Barbour wrote:
> >> Coming to this late, I share Andrew's concern, but not too much.
> >> Anyone who can make such (joyful?) noises, has to be able to smile on
> >> occasion, Lawrence, & so I believe you do...
> >>
> >>
> >> Doug
> >> On 2012-01-17, at 3:39 AM, Lawrence Upton wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>> H Andrew
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> I think maybe it is the word _cheery_ which did it for me.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> And perhaps I was also speaking of poetry rather than life in total;
> >>> and in particular this mode of poetry. It is verging on the milennial
> >>> before I have started.
> >>>
> >>> Perhaps. Consider me an unbreliable narrator. Maybe.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> I find this sad. Yet my cheeriness can be a mask to hide despair.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> Aha.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> But no
> >>>
> >>>> cheeriness would worry me - which would make me more glum, I
> >>>> acknowledge.
> >>>>
> >>>> Oh, perhaps all I can say is, Cheer up!
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> Oh I'm fine. There was a degree of posturing to make a point.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> But thank you for your concern, Andrew!
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Eeyore
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >> Douglas Barbour
> >> [log in to unmask]
> >>
> >> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
> >> http://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
> >>
> >>
> >> Latest books:
> >> Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> >> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
> >> Wednesdays'
> >> http://abovegroundpress.blogspot.com/2008/03/new-from-aboveground-pres
> >> s_10
> >> .html
> >>
> >>
> >> What dull barbarians are not proud of
> >> their dullness and barbarism?
> >>
> >> Thackeray
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > -----
> > UNFRAMED GRAPHICS by Lawrence Upton
> > 42 pages; A5 paperback; colour cover
> > Writers Forum 978 1 84254 277 4
> > wfuk.org.uk/blog
> > ----
> >
> >
> > -----
> > UNFRAMED GRAPHICS by Lawrence Upton
> > 42 pages; A5 paperback; colour cover
> > Writers Forum 978 1 84254 277 4
> > wfuk.org.uk/blog
> > ----
>
>
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