A2Kers, where are you? Where is everyone?

I kid you not msolga it literally is paradise the west coat of SA, weather around 30 each day, no clouds and a soft sea breeze. Another week to go which will be extremely hard to take, what was it again our former PM Malcolm Fraser said,
"life is not meant to be easy".

Skiting again I see, Dutchy!

You just can't get the staff these days.... darn Bosun goes off and catches a million fish in the sea..... I tell ya.... Ha - glad you're having the best time D - quite right too - enjoy every second!!!!



HEY HEY MSOLGA AND BEAGLE -hugs to ya both xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thank you Izzie, I let you into a secret, I would make a good Butler if you require one. Us rugged Aussie blokes will make you feel like a princess, msolga will vouch for that.

<aaah D - you do that already without even lifting a finger...every day> hugs. x

Uh, no **** Leaves of Grass defines Whitman. Clearly Priestly is not only British, but a ******* genius.

Of course most experts in American Literature regard Uncle Walt as the greatest. He disassociated himself from the English tradition and had a massive hard-on for...uh, America.

But the way people who've studied literature bat his name around in the company of those who probably don't give a **** about poetry is a shame. You know, when there's this great Slavic poet named Charles Simic. And this Chinese poet named Bei Dao.

Spoken like someone who hasn't absorbed a whit of the Whitman he's read. I'm sure Walt would admire the racist blathering you've built a reputation for on A2K. Since it's apparently in fashion to quote Song of Myself, allow me:

The negro holds firmly the reins of his four horses, the block swags underneath its tied-over chain,
The negro that drives the long dray of the stone-yard, steady and tall he stands pois'd on one leg on the string-piece [timber],
His blue shirt exposes his ample neck and breast and loosens over his hip-band,
His glance is calm and commanding, he tosses the slouch of his hat away from his forehead,
The sun falls on his crispy hair and mustache, falls on the black of his polish'd and perfect limbs.

I behold the picturesque giant and love him, and I do not stop there,
I go with the team also.

.
That's beautiful. Charles Simic, huh?

thanks for introducing that name into the conversation (Gargamel), and thank you Genoves for quoting that line.
I hadn't ever read him either, but if that image is any indication - I might like him.

Sorry for what? But you don't know what you're missing...

Aidan:

That Simic poem is from The World Doesn't End, a wonderful little book that fits in your coat pocket.

Here is one of my favorites from it:

The clouds told him their names in the quiet of
the summer afternoon. But when he asked the eve-
ning clouds, "Have you seen Mary and Priscilla?,"
he got no reply. This was a dour and mute bunch.
They turned their gray backs on him and drifted
over toward Sturgis, where a farmer had just shot
a sick horse.

Simic does paint word pictures in a most special way. I think we understand people best when read through the eyes of those who live among them and understand them most. Pearl Buck was not Chinese of course, but spending most of her first 40 years in China, she was able to teach the turn of the century culture of the Chinese to us through her books. I felt that I personally knew the characters she presented to us. How would anybody ever truly understand the Hindu mind other than through the eyes of a Hindu? Ironically I developed a lot of my understanding of and appreciation for modern conservatism (classical liberalism) through reading black authors such as Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, Shelby Steele, and others who not only expressed their philosophy of life but were able to describe the 'black' experience as I had never seen it described. None possessing the more unattractive qualities inherent in modern conservatism, they were able to put things into perspective for me as nobody else had been able to do.

In our local library, there is a free standing graphic just inside the front door with the caption: A mind can function only if it is open. I wish that was the motto in every library and institution of learning everywhere. I vote Aidan as the best keeper of the motto.

This one is wonderful - memories of an evening through the eyes of a child.
I do like him.


Charles Simic

Foxfyre - that's so nice of you to say to me. Thank you.

Poetry....can't say that I could recite one single poem...nothing springs to mind, but since you guys mentioned "black writers".

This is actually one of my fondest memories from high school...in {pretty sure it was} 9th grade, me and about 20 black guys got chewed out and had to run laps for singing La Di Da Di from the upper deck in our gym. When we came down to begin our laps, the coach said I didn't have to run...he figured I was just sitting up there with the guys....to which the guys responded....sittin' hell, Kunky was doin the beat box....coach said something like....that was you....yeah....hmm sounded pretty good...heh, thanks coach......yeah, awright now, go on ahead n get yo ass to runnin boy.

I miss him....and my name is not Kunky, but if you chop off the Mac, then add in a black/southern accent that's all that remains.

aidan wrote:

Sorry for what? But you don't know what you're missing...

**********************

As I said, I don't read black writers and I DO KNOW WHAT I AM MISSING--

A continual drum beat of the bull **** about being victimized and mistreated.

Most black writers are Johnny one note-

Whites are evil and blacks built this country. The blue eyed white man is the devil and Africa was the home of the greatest civilization of all time.

After two or three pages of that pap, I close the book.

Who do you want to talk about?

I have the book in my library.( I believe in TRYING to read everything--even garbage works) Wright? Morison? Ellison?

If you were really a reader, Aidan, you would have read the great book by Eugene Genovese--"Roll, Jordan, Roll"--

quote:

"Reviewing the conditions of the workers and peasants of Europe, Raimondo Luraghi, the learned Italian historian who has written a detailed study of the United States during the nineteenth century, concludes that the slaves fared as well as a substantial portion of the workers and peasants of Western Europe and "CERTAINLY BETTER" than the mass of the Russian, Hungarian, Polish and even Italian Peasants."

That kind of evidence puts the lie to the moaning and groaning of the Poor slaves in the south who, according to the mealy-mouth, Morison, were deprived of their personhood.

But, no fear, Aidan--the race carders like Jackson and Sharpton, in order to keep their power, made sure that blacks consider themselves "victims".

What a bunch of crap!!!

When I read that just now - I kind of inserted my old next door neighbor's voice and inflection- 'What a buch of C-RAP!! and it really made me laugh.
He was this Italian guy who had moved from NYC out to the suburbs and raised pigeons.... I used to go over there when I was a little girl and collect the feathers. Can you imagine - I thought pigeon feathers were something special. But they can be absolutely beautiful colors- if you happen to find one that incorporates the blue/gray/purple tones.

Whatever else you are - you sound very passionate about your 'beliefs'.
I'll look that Genovese guy (the author you mentioned) up. What you excerpted does sound very interesting.
Thanks.

I tried to read Simic. Not my cup of tea. I do recognize, however, that he is quite contemporary. Nevertheless, he is, unfortunately not listed among the great American poets of the twentieth century.


Note:

Filed In:Poetry History/Poets by Era> 20th Century Poets
20th century poets, R - Z

Carl Rakosi
Gary Glazner’s slam take-off on Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s famous sonnet was the perfect excuse for us to explore the work of the American objectivists, Rakosi among them. Read more >
Carl Rakosi
Don’t miss the bio, interviews, poems, prose & commentary at Modern American Poetry and Rakosi’s 99th birthday celebration at Kelly Writers House, where you can listen to a recorded conversation with Rakosi & his readings of 10 poems.
Laura (Riding) Jackson
At the official Web site administered by her estate, you can read selected poems & stories from her books, including an excerpt from Rational Meaning & her poem, “Nor Is It Written.” Her papers are archived at the Cornell University Library.
Theodore Roethke
In his relatively short lifetime (1908 - 1963), Theodore Roethke wrote a number of poems that sank deep into people’s consciousness -- two of his are among those chosen at the Favorite Poems Project: “My Papa’s Waltz” & “The Sloth.”
William Stafford
Stafford was a lifelong peace advocate, World War II conscientious objector, Lewis & Clark College professor, Poet Laureate, traveling teacher, prolific and beloved poet of attentive ordinary life. Read more >
Wallace Stevens
Stevens’ page at AAP offers a brief introductory bio & nine of his poems, including his most famous title, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” You can read more of his poems at Roderick Scott Greene’s Wallace Stevens poetry page or hear Stevens’ own readings at HarperAudio, in recordings made shortly before his death in 1955.
Wallace Stevens
Penn Professor Al Filreis has amassed a rich set of references for his Modern & Contemporary American Poetry course, but Wallace Stevens gets a page of his own on Filreis' site & it's the place to look for critical readings & documents like Father Hanley's letter describing the poet's alleged deathbed conversion.
Wallace Stevens
In Tennessee, Professor David Lavery has also gathered references & background materials on Stevens’ life & work for his site entitled “Feigning with the Strange Unlike” (quoted from Stevens’ poem “To the One of Fictive Music”).
May Swenson
This late great poet was known as a translator & playwright as well as a poet during her 50 years of writing, & now there’s an award in her name. Robert Hass chose her poem “Question” for his Poet’s Choice newspaper column in September 1998.
Dylan Thomas
Unfortunately, Warrick Whatman’s fine Dylan Thomas site has vanished from the Net, but you can find some of Thomas’ poems at AAP & a wealth of information about his life & works at the official Dylan Thomas Web site managed by the Dylan Thomas Centre in his home town, Swansea.
Philip Whalen
Known as a poet's poet, Beat innovator (he was at the famous Six Gallery reading), & the most genuine & gentle of men, Philip Whalen was ordained a Zen priest in 1973 and died in 2002. Jacket Magazine #11 has a gathering of memoirs & poems.
Philip Whalen
Mark Other Place is a beautiful online chapbook sampling of Whalen's poems with drawings by Nancy Davis at Big Bridge, which also has a bibliography of Whalen's publications.
William Carlos Williams
Read the poems first, always. Ten of Dr. Williams’ are posted on his page at AAP, including the famous “The Red Wheelbarrow” & a RealAudio recording of “To Elsie” in WCW’s own voice. AAP also has lots of background info on the Imagists, the Objectivists & the Modernists, to put Williams’ pithy poems into a broader historical context.
William Carlos Williams
For background, biography & commentary on Williams' work, visit Modern American Poetry's Williams collection, Ben Johnson's Modernism page on Williams & the PBS Voices & Visions feature, which includes a video clip of “The Great Figure.”
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats (1865 - 1939) was both poet and playwright, a towering figure in 20th century literature in English, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923, a master of traditional verse forms and at the same time an idol of the modernist poets who followed him. Read more >
William Butler Yeats
There’s a brief biography and a good selection of Yeats’ poems in the AAP archives. Unfortunately, the best auditory experience of Yeat’s poetry on the Web (in Atlantic Online’s “Soundings” series) is now available only to subscribers, but you can hear his own reading of “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” for free at AAP.
William Butler Yeats
It’s not easy to find a comprehensive gathering of W.B. Yeats’ work online (the Chadwyck-Healey authorized e-text collection is restricted to university libraries), but Bartleby.com has the texts of three of his collections, and there are a good number of his poems at Online Literature & in the University of Maryland Library’s online reading room.

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Simic is, unfortunately, not included in this list of great american poets in the 20th century(letters R through W).

But Simic has some things going for him--He is a staunch defender of Homosexuality in American Life.

Simic is not listed among the "great" American poets because he is ******* Slavic.

But thanks for the index. Which, by the way, is most certainly not a list of of great American poets. Of course an obvious scholar such as yourself does not need me to point out to him that Dylan Thomas was Welsh and Yeats was Irish.

It just proves that you are either illiterate or unable to comprehend what you read. The list I posted is headed:

Poets by Era: 2oth Century Poets--It includes AMERICAN POETS AND OTHER POETS,
'
'It does not include Simic.

You say that "He(Simic) is ******* slavic). Unfortunately, I am unaquainted with anyone named slavic who may be engaged in flagrante delecto with Simic.