It's alright, Ma was only bleeding.
> On 15 Aug 2014, at 12:51 am, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Well, I’d argue that Ma was waxing just a little ironic there, Andrew…
>
> Doug
>> On Aug 13, 2014, at 6:51 PM, Andrew Burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Yes, great poem, Max. But I dispute the last statement, 'beauty is youth,
>> youth beauty'. In this old town, there's beauty up and down the main
>> street, getting out of dusty old utes and paddock-scented 4x4s - there's
>> even a particular beauty in gnarled old trees leaning out over Murray
>> River. But, of course, there's also a frisky beauty in the girls flirting
>> with the boys before they all race off to the big smoke ... Our optometrist
>> is here but twice a week and she takes shit from no man!
>>
>> Andrew
>>
>>
>>> On 14 August 2014 09:53, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> Yes I like the beauty zeroing down to 'the woman's' pupils, Max. The light
>>> and dark works well too. Not sure of enchantment/enhancement but unlike
>>> you, Pat, happy with the rounding off with a bit of a Keatsian flourish.
>>>
>>> Bill
>>>
>>>>> On 14 Aug 2014, at 1:48 am, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> AH, but Max, your 'beauty' comes on the heels of a bunch of such terms,
>>> which as they pile up become somewhat concrete, it feels, that being the
>>> mystery of language at work. And I really enjoy the sly
>>> pseudo-self-deprecation at work in the poem, its humour...
>>>>
>>>> Doug
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> On Aug 13, 2014, at 4:35 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]>
>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Pupils
>>>>>
>>>>> The woman at the opticians,
>>>>> who takes me into her dark room
>>>>> for intimate transactions,
>>>>> is exquisite - fine-featured,
>>>>>
>>>>> slow to smile, elegant of hand
>>>>> and hip. She shines her light
>>>>> and herself deep into my eyes.
>>>>> saying 'you have small pupils'!
>>>>>
>>>>> (My lack of success with women
>>>>> explained by yet another reason!)
>>>>> I begin a sly campaign
>>>>> to survey her pupils' fluctuation -
>>>>>
>>>>> now large in the dark, now less
>>>>> in the well-lit corridor, smallest
>>>>> out in the public space where frames
>>>>> are chosen at great expense
>>>>>
>>>>> to enhance one's chances
>>>>> of glamorous enchantment.
>>>>> She's put on spectacles herself,
>>>>> as if her looks need some enhancement.
>>>>>
>>>>> Fair girl, unframed is best. Fair
>>>>> young men, fair children - smile on.
>>>>> Our eyes are all on you, as yours
>>>>> are on each other. We were young once,
>>>>>
>>>>> though scarcely knew it. Old now, leaning
>>>>> back - yearning back - at our sunset hour
>>>>> it dawns on us: Beauty is youth, youth
>>>>> beauty, - that is all we know on earth.
>>>>
>>>> Douglas Barbour
>>>> [log in to unmask]
>>>>
>>>> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuation
>>> 2 (UofAPress).
>>>> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
>>>>
>>>> Something else is out there
>>>> godamnit
>>>>
>>>> And I want to hear it
>>>>
>>>> C.D.Wright
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Andrew
>> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuation 2 (UofAPress).
> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
>
> Something else is out there
> godamnit
>
> And I want to hear it
>
> C.D.Wright
>
|