I was delighted to learn that one of my poems, (a limerick) was read during a recent broadcast of Vancouver Co-Op Radio’s The World Poetry Reading Series. The gentleman who read it, Victor did, I think do an excellent job of doing so.
To listen to my poem being read please visit this link, http://www.coopradio.org/content/world-poetry-caf%C3%A9-61.
Please note, the reading takes place approximately 10-12 minutes into the podcast.
Kevin
Last night I was somewhere
Called nowhere
For there
I stood
In the dark wood
Of dreams,
Wherein
Virtue and sin
Are merely seeming,
For we are dreaming.
‘Tis a fine
Line
Twixt the living and the dead.
The head,
So full of thought
Is, suddenly, nought
And many
Men
Creep
Away In sleep.
To some death is the final despair,
The never ending nightmare
For None can escape
Death’s suffocating cape.
Yet, if we know not that we are dead
Why dread
The final dreamless sleep,
The dust,
Into which we all must
One day, creep?
A spirited defence of the use of the word “said”, for which I have considerable sympathy, https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2019/10/literary-value-ten-cent-word-maura-roan-mckeegan.html.
Whilst it is, of course, good practice to use alternative words for “said” where appropriate, in many instances this simple, 4 letter word is the best choice for writers.
As always, I would be interested in the views of my readers.
Kevin
Back in 2016, Oxford University announced that it would not bow to the demands of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, and the statue of Cecil Rhodes would remain, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-35435805.
The Rhodes scholarship enables students to benefit from funds left in the will of the late Cecil Rhodes, irrespective of skin colour. However, the Rhodes Must Fall campaign contend that Rhodes was an “imperialist” and a “racist” and his statue has no place on the campus of Oriel College, Oxford.
I smiled with wry humour when I learned that radical students at Manchester University are objecting to the erection of a statue of Gandhi on the grounds that he described black people as “savages” and “dirty (amongst other offensive terms of abuse), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/oct/17/manchester-council-urged-reject-mahatma-gandhi-statue-racism.
Let me be crystal clear. I did not smile at the offensive words used by Gandhi. Racism is wrong and should be condemned in the strongest possible manner. We all share a common humanity and skin colour does not define the value of a person, as value inheres in us all by virtue of our common humanity. Why then the reason for my wry smile? If Gandi can be attacked, who, then deserves a statue erected in their name? Please, someone show me the individual (living or dead) who is so saintly that they deserve a statue.
Both Rhodes and Gandhi where products of their time as, indeed are we all. In times to come those of us (including myself) who enjoy eating meat may be viewed by posterity as uncivilised, cruel individuals who predated on the inocent animal kingdom. Who, then will erect a statue to one of the meat eaters of today, irrespective of their charitable deeds, literary talent or whatever?
Will the vegetarians of today (or the future) be considered worthy of statues? What about the non meat eater who is a serial adulterer and treats his wives with utter contempt. If he is a great artist will his poor treatment of his wife be overlooked and a statue be erected in his name? Or will the policers of morals jump up and down and say “over my dead body”?
As Hamlet remarks, “treat every man after his desert, and who shall scape whipping”. I answer few, if any of us, for we are all imperfect humans, living in a complex and imperfect world. So, no, Rhodes statue should not fall and those agitating for it to do so should find something more useful to do with their time.
Kevin
Whilst speaking with a young lady
My imagination has roamed free,
And I have thought how slim
Is she,
And how thin
The dress
Twixt her and me.
I walk the line
‘Twixt virtue and sin
And sometimes stray
For the line
Is gosamer fine,
And to sin,
Can be divine.
Unaware
As her hair
Brushes my fingers
And, momentarily, lingers
There.
She giggles. wiggles.
And she
Is unaware
Of her hair
And me?
At night
Heels come
Bringing delight
To men, Who when
The sun
Rises, count the cost
Of time lost,
In fun.
A highly controversial article in which the author argues that “poetry is pointless”.
“To summarise, poetry can offer nothing music or books cannot. It is less creative and analysed to a point of mind-numbing repetitiveness. Poetry is extremely
boring and one dimensional and it often comes across as confusing and obscure. It does not carry the same complexity as music and is unenjoyable for most
audiences. Poetry in contemporary society merely a forgotten relic of Shakespearean times”. (https://medium.com/@diofer225/poetry-is-pointless-46b08731e95a)
As a poet, I disagree profoundly with the contention that “poetry is pointless”. However, I think the author of this diatribe against poetry has a point when he states that children can come to dislike poetry owing to them being forced to analyse poems. Whilst I firmly believe that the analysis of poetry is valuable, if such analysis is done in the wrong manner (I.E. the student being told that the poem has only one meaning, and that his/her own perspective on the poem is irrelevent) then I can completely understand why students are put off poetry. Students should be encouraged to furnish their own perspectives on poetry (and, of course back these up with evidence), thereby enhancing both their interest in poetry and their ability to think critically.
As for the view that poetry is less complex than music, anyone who has read “The Wasteland” knows this perspective for the nonsense that it patently is. The truth is that both music and poetry can be complex, but neither art form is necessarily so.
I am amused by the author’s view that poetry can offer nothing which books can not. Does he not know that many poems are printed in books!
In conclusion, ultimately the author of the article dislikes poetry and in support of his/her anti-poetry stance picks a few articles which, he/she claims, support his perspective. The article is more a diatribe against poetry rather than a serious piece of argumentation.
A short poem may
Be strong,
And have far more to say
Than a long
Piece,
Which loses its way,
And knows not when to cease
Berry’s Poetry Book Reviews, https://berryherwithpoems.com is run by Laura Berry, and provides free book reviews for poets.
Poets who follow me at kmorrispoet.com, may wish to check out Berry’s Poetry Book reviews.
Kevin
K Morris - Poet 