Thanks for this, L; adds a lot...
Doug
On 2013-02-06, at 11:06 AM, Lawrence Upton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
> I like the details, Lawrence, but was wondering about Richard
> Kessling, a name Google gave me too many possibilities of (many US). A
> nature writer?
>
> Doug
>
> Hi, Doug
>
> Richard is a Brit and an Aussie
>
> Richard is my friend. I have known him around half a century. He's a
> reader rather than a writer, I would say; but add to that he is an
> intelligent reader and that he is good at the spoken verbals. That is
> partly his alert and responsive knowledge of language, praxis rather
> than theory, and bilinguality. It is also his responsive observation
> of the world which he aims to express and from which I have learned
> and from which I continue to learn.
>
> Often his language is poetic in the good senses of the word.
>
> To the degree that this and other poems -- I have posted others here
> but perhaps I neglected to make clear the hybridity of their
> authorship - are autobiographical narrative, then they are Richard's
> narrative. I tend mainly to rework what he writes though I greatly
> enjoy his conversation as well; his conversation feeds me more slowly;
> but I believe that every time I have spoken with him face to face
> we've ended up so pissed that both of us are less than impressive in
> terms of expression.
>
> Nowadays I tend to be permanently sober, but that's cut in since I
> last met him.
>
> I do alter what he writes. I add to it significantly. I elaborate and
> I simplify depending.
>
> It started, I think, with me finding poems in his letters. Now it's a
> way of extending myself. He has more humility than I. We've done a
> fair bit of walking together, had the same geography teacher etc -
> which may not be an appropriate term! The detail here typifies us
> both, I think, the saying what is there as well as the analysis, even
> if some of what gets into the poems has been made up; and yet there
> are wide differences. It's very odd. We may not see each other for
> years. We may not e-speak for months at a time -- and before email
> that meant we just didn't communicate. But often we are e-talking
> almost every day.
>
> At its best we are educating each other. Also keeping each other to
> "a line" or seeking to modify it as we learn. Sometimes it seems to me
> that we are each other's familiar.
>
> I see aspects of this in relationships with others, but they come and
> go. Richard and I were puppies together. Maybe that's it.
>
> There's a lack of engagement often, a take it or leave it, that makes
> it quite different in kind to the relationship that one has, say, with
> a lover. Friendship, yes, but if I may just pay tribute to this man
> whom none of you know, there's a generosity and openness to him that
> is quite extraordinary. He is one of the most ethically-engaged and
> intellectually honest people I know.
>
> And apart from all that, we may have to some extent “done” each
> other. We may or may not physically meet again. The odds get worse
> with each day due to this foul fiend Death. In fact, if we ever do
> meet I may suggest that we go looking for Death and maybe kill him.
> Rioters two. But he's one email and he's in my head. One of the many
> joys of friendship is that there is always room for another and I can
> easily accommodate him in my skull!
>
> at he gets out of the association I am not sure. He can't actually be
> that bright to have ended with a schmuck like me as his friend.
>
> L
>
> On 2013-02-06, at 4:45 AM, Lawrence Upton wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> I think bum wraps are for cannibals
>>
>> L
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Poetryetc: poetry and poetics"
>> To:
>> Cc:
>> Sent:Wed, 6 Feb 2013 22:43:32 +1100
>> Subject:Re: snap
>>
>> I'm but fair sized myself at 5, 7 & 3/4 but counting the stoop I
>> might have managed some eye to eye with the Yorkster, pre bum rap
> at
>> least.
>>
>> B
>>
>> On 06/02/2013, at 9:14 PM, Lawrence Upton wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I say fair-sized all the time of all sorts of things.
>>>
>>> The Twisted King (no relation to the Fisher King) had a good diet,
>>> they say, so he might have been expected to go higher than many As
>>> a man of some time 5, 9 and a quarter I would of course look down
>> on
>>> him
>>>
>>> though I really don't think I'd have wanted to shove a sword up
> his
>>> bottom
>>>
>>> glad you like it
>>>
>>> L
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Poetryetc: poetry and poetics"
>>> To:
>>> Cc:
>>> Sent:Wed, 6 Feb 2013 20:13:14 +1100
>>> Subject:Re: snap
>>>
>>> fair-sized, this is only said of fish, isn't it, Lawrence. The
>>> recently unearthed twisted king at 5' 8" might, by 5-600 odd year
>>> standards, be said to have been so but no one did, did they.
> anyway
>>> not fair enough, epecially only 05sworth for choosy chien. liked
>> the
>>> salty picture presented.
>>>
>>> Bill
>>>
>>> On 06/02/2013, at 4:44 PM, Lawrence Upton wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Crossing the low dune to the beach, the dog
>>>>
>>>> turned west. That seemed deliberate. I gave
>>>>
>>>> her some slack; and was pulled, following, to see
>>>>
>>>> many gulls in gaggle at the head, a spit,
>>>>
>>>> and the gulls were spitting! so, possibilities
>>>>
>>>> of beached fish. As we neared, they all skittered
>>>>
>>>> and rose; the dog leapt into a big rush --
>>>>
>>>> a fair-sized southern whiting pecked half clean
>>>>
>>>> on gull-foot-trampled sand, and she galloping off --
>>>>
>>>> And seemed reluctant to return. At last
>>>>
>>>> came back to see what I was pointing to.
>>>>
>>>> She sniffed but was unsure. Too much spattering
>>>>
>>>> of grit? It never bothered her before --
>>>>
>>>> I bent down, inhaling; and lifted it;
>>>>
>>>> half fish, its bottom side still unblemished,
>>>>
>>>> smelling fresh to me; tossed it into waves,
>>>>
>>>> the dog after it, jumping in, sniffing;
>>>>
>>>> and, after some minutes, she thrust her head
>>>>
>>>> underwater, and pulled it out, dropped it
>>>>
>>>> at the sea edge and danced away and back and
>>>>
>>>> around but never touched the corpse again.
>>>>
>>>> Richard Kessling / Lawrence Upton
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
> 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
> Recording Dates
> (Rubicon Press)
>
> Reserved books. Reserved land. Reserved flight.
> And still property is theft.
>
> Phyllis Webb
>
>
>
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
Recording Dates
(Rubicon Press)
Reserved books. Reserved land. Reserved flight.
And still property is theft.
Phyllis Webb
|