Jill
>Thanks, Lawrence. Glad the poem works as poem.
It does
>I know of the Baker book but I realise I've never read it. So I shall
find a copy.
There's been a new edition with his other book, the title of which I forget
and which I have not read.
I must do so. I haven't seen my 67 copy for years.
The peregrine is superbly written. It's in the diction, you'll find him
slowly becoming avian i.e. describing himself as the bird(s)... diction and
in his narrative of his behaviour, how he stands over – I was going to say
“stoops over”, but better not use that word, for clarity – evidence and
then look round in a raptorlike gesture. It's very subtly done.
>I didn't know about the pee thing.
I got very excited about that. You think: no wonder they're always
scurrying on the edge of the field, right down at the foot of the stone
hedges – I too am too suburban... If you can't stop peeing and your pee
fluoresces in the vision of something set on killing you, that can arrive
at 100 mph +, well it's enough to make you give up and hope to come back as
a sloth next time... Or an elephant. I just saw a photo of a domesticated
elephant tipping up a tourist vehicle looking for sandwiches.
“We” have peregrines on the top of a tower block in London Borough of
Sutton where I sleep and I have seen them, I think, from afar.... Imagine
railway workers looking up at the sky to see what I am looking at. The
station's near the building and provides a good viewing point. I was asked
once what it was I was watching. I told the man and he obviously thought
that I was cracked. But they are there.
Sparrowhawks in the back gardens. Far from unknown, especially in an
overgrown one like mine. One minute there's a bird being a bird and then a
fast blur and it's gone
Yesterday a friend emailed that one of the Tower of London ravens has died
and she might apply for the vacancy, but that's something else
>There is another more recent book, H for Hawk I think it is called and
maybe (though I might be wrong here) written by a British poet. Don't
know if it's worth a shot.
Yes and yes: British and worth a read. Helen MacDonald
best
Lawrence
On 28 March 2018 at 13:50, Jill Jones <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Thanks, Lawrence. Glad the poem works as poem.
>
> I know of the Baker book but I realise I've never read it. So I shall
> find a copy.
>
> I didn't know about the pee thing.
>
> Of course, we're more likely to see raptors of various kinds in more
> open country but we do see them, though rarely, over our suburbs and
> the city. There is one rumoured to have had a nest in the roof parts
> of the large sandstone building next to my building on the uni campus
> on North Terrace, in other words right in the city of Adelaide.
> However, I've never seen it so don't know if it's an old story, urban
> legend or what.
>
> But very occasionally I will look up from my suburban backyard and
> see, usually, a peregrine falcon hovering or circling. And then the
> little birds simply go for it. We did get what we think was an
> Australian Hobby, another smallish raptor, sitting in our neighbour's
> large (and now deceased) gum tree during the day for a wee while. And
> did the bird neighbourhood erupt when that happened.
>
> When we go for long drives out bush or further we do a raptor count
> plus try to identify them - not always easy especially at a distance.
> We get a lot of wedgetail eagles in certain areas and their floating
> and hovering are certainly something to see. But the smaller birds
> such as the peregrine or another common raptor, the nankeen kestrel (I
> think it has another name these days) are so very very quick when they
> dive for prey.
>
> There is another more recent book, H for Hawk I think it is called and
> maybe (though I might be wrong here) written by a British poet. Don't
> know if it's worth a shot.
>
> J
>
>
> ________________________
> Jill Jones
> www.jilljones.com.au
>
> Latest book: Brink, Five Islands Press
> http://fiveislandspress.com/catalogue/brink-jill-jones
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Poetryetc: poetry and poetics"
> To:
> Cc:
> Sent:Wed, 28 Mar 2018 13:13:19 +0100
> Subject:Re: Snap falcon
>
> I like this a lot, both as a poem judged as a poem and for the
> subject
> I read j a baker, the peregrine, in the 60s when it came out
> and it changed me
> still trying to work out how
>
> it's there in the sky of my brain
>
> as to patience and also spying, it seems that they can see pee as a
> lit up
> line
> I don't know - maybe like the trail of a high aeroplane or a meteor
> so you watch the line advance, work out where the line-maker will be
> vulnerable
>
> perhaps rodents know this
> perhaps that's why they are always peeing
>
> and, what was I going to say? yes
> there's a kestrel hangs over a downland I am fond of
> it's nearly always there, as would I be, if I could... perhaps it's
> not the
> same kestrel, as the robin that sits on my old plum tree is hardly
> ever the
> same robin
> well, anyway, the kestrel seems quite content to spend its days in
> the sky
> compensating for and using air currents
>
> so, er, yes, thank you
>
> and the baker is recommended; quite extraordinary writing; that's an
> Essex
> version of peregrine
>
> L
>
> On 28 March 2018 at 04:37, Jill Jones wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > WHAT I DON’T KNOW ABOUT PEREGRINE FALCONS
> >
> >
> >
> > I’m not sure I have that patience of circling
> >
> > or the floating intensity to spy a rodent among weeds
> >
> >
> >
> > and I have no idea what magnifies or frames
> >
> > an avian horizon or how air lifts and drags
> >
> >
> >
> > that grip on flight or how inexplicably --
> >
> > not unlike the way a gush of sunlight flames
> >
> >
> >
> > or how quicksilver instinct leaps -- as the darting
> >
> > wagtail or noisy miner erupts and boldly chases you
> >
> >
> >
> > yes, you mighty air creature, what gives
> >
> > They have only small flittery wings, beating
> >
> >
> >
> > and chiacking, surely that’s not the same
> >
> > as peril, loss, as coming to an end, that especially
> >
> > ________________________
> > Jill Jones
> > www.jilljones.com.au
> >
> > Latest book: Brink, Five Islands Press
> > http://fiveislandspress.com/catalogue/brink-jill-jones
> >
> >
> >
>
>
|
