A Kingdom by the Sea

Just adding that when the Poet died at the age of 78 he wanted his ashes to be dispersed before the coast of Ostend. There was a little fuzz about this as it could not be done on the beach and a boat had to be chartered. Love is a many splendored thing...

with the fishermen from the Icelandic.
(should be)
with the fishermen from Iceland.

they bite in lumps of raw
pig meat.
(should say)
they bit into lumps of raw
pork.
(pig meat is ok, but not quite correct)

where in those days condoms were sold whispering,
(should be)
where in those days condoms were sold in whispers,
(perhaps)
where in those days condoms were sold while whispering,

or else it sounds like it is the condom that is whispering
poetic license?

Istambul
(Istanbul)

a lovely poem, so lovely in fact, i had to help with the translation
the poem and poet deserve the respect

Thanks a lot, Poseidon. As God of the Sea you will appreciate the melancholic beauty of the town of Ostend, and of course of this poem. I saw a few mistakes in it myself but after 24 hrs. or so it seems impossible to change your contribution in this section. Well, if it IS possible I haven't found out how to do it yet. But if it could access my own writings again I would correct and/or change quite a few things. A poem like this with a grammatical mistake in it is like a beautiful girl, smiling and showing awfully bad teeth. Thanks again for being the dentist ;-) .

It is very reminiscent of English windswept east coast town.It makes me feel very nostalgic and brings back memories of Ostend,me waisting time waiting for a ferry in the 60s.A duke box playing an old ww2 record of Vera Lynn.That certain silent atmosphere of a coastal town and the constant smell of the sea.Thanks Catch..

Yes, catchabula, I am like a fish out of water whenever the sea not in walking distance.
Do you have nice teeth? Mine are ugly!

xris:
Another poem springs to mind:

Poems and women, and the passing of time. You don't know what you started ;-)

All things transitory
But as symbols are sent;
Earths' Insufficiency
Here grows to Event;
The Indescribable,
Here it is done:
The Woman-Soul leadeth us
Upward and on!

Goethe, Chorus Mysticus in Faust
Translation Bayard Taylor.

Themes, of the ocean and how it evokes a sense of loss, perhaps, catchabula?


[CENTER]

Earth-blue wishes
in the summer-hued trees
of Rigel's slumber
Planet Wyveniah
comfort & suture

The lemon skies, &
soft-gold molten seas :
light to swim in

as the distant bronze
of glinting mountains
hint the breeze

so clear & light-light
you can easily fly there,
flapping a couple of leaves

so these blue-blue soft & lofty,
leafy-wings, remind me of
my forgotten birth & lifelong losses

the full-weeping memory
of love mosses & Earth

under a blue sun
a gold sea glosses,

then,
unquenches,
my pining thirst
.


http://www.2010-south-africa.org/cyber-art-images/blue-gold-fractal-radience.htm

from
Fractal Space Poetry[/CENTER]

Of course I was thinking of John Masefield for this kind of themes. Melancholy and the Sea? Read the Poet Laureate...

It's not the way to end it all. I'm old, and nearly blind,,
And an old man's past's a strange thing, for it never leaves his mind.
And I see in dreams, awhiles, the beach, the sun's disc dipping red,
And the tall ship, under topsails, swaying in past Nigger Head.

But do I understand well that you cite your own work? Ok, let's see what I can dig up here ;-)

The Dutch/Vlaams word for "pork" is probably cognate with German "Schweinfleisch," (pig meat), that's probably why he wrote it like that

EDIT - it's "varkensvlees", I was close, "vlees" is cognate with "Fleisch"

(And note: likewise, meat from a cow is called "beef" rather than "cow meat")

Amazing. You have quite some sense for languages, Odenskrigare. But like the fishermen I like pig meat more than pork. Imho "pork" isn't very suggestive, it's a bit of an anticlimax while "pig meat" keeps it strong and vital. So if it doesn't seem a blatant mistake I'll stick to "pig meat", I mean in the translation of course. It almost makes us feel as if the pig was eaten alive. Wouldn't surprise me a moment with those rough guys ;-)

I find it interesting how the enslaved Saxons working in the fields gave the name to animals while the conquering Normans gave the name to the meat on the table.Pig Saxon pork Norman..calf, veal..cow,beef..sheep ,mutton..deer, venison...
Catch its not like you to be so gory in your quest for poetic reason.

Yes, I see that pig meat has a certain rawness to it.
Better than pork for its purpose here.