Zettel

Never quite sure about these efforts at 'philosophical' poetry. As ever, this owes much to Wittgenstein. 

Next Day thoughts on Remembrance Day which always moves and troubles me in equal measure 

Affectionately 

Loved comforting my children and now grandchildren: just the sound and vibrations of one's voice seemed to work. Made up the tune and the words as I went along with pretty mixed results.Seems to me a Lullaby is a very distinct form with constant repetition whose familiarity is part of the comforting effect. So just once I thought I'd try this form. Test I guess is can one 'hear' it sung. 

More about the profound value of laughter and humour than just a single comic. Not my personal favourite comedian but one much-loved across class. Always broad, rarely smutty and never obscene. Eccentric personal life but deeply knowledgeable about humour. A closet intellectual it seems. 

See below 

I wrote this after the 7/7 bombings in London. It still sums up my feelings on this very dark day 

I wanted to post something to recognise at least the tragedy of Manchester. The new poem, as you have rightly shown isn't really up to it. This earlier poem seems more appropriate. It needs no further comment. 

An alternative Review 

I guess in politically motivated poetry content and ideas will always dominate form. But worth a try I think. 

Not sure if this will make much sense - experimental: to see whether there is any resonance for non-academic philosophers. 

Not sure I always live up to my own poem. But it's the thought that counts - right? 

A bit of fun 

With apologies to Don Maclean 

Another one in the collection 

Tongue at least half in cheek......... 

Nothing specific - just a melancholic wet April day. 

Laura and GW Bush at home. 

Sheringham Norfolk 

I have limited internet access for the moment. 

Final version. Edited in line with your many helpful comments. 

Met a herione of mine this week. (Dr) Buffy Sainte Marie: native american activist, singer/songwriter - 'Universal Soldier' 'Up Where We Belong', 'Until It's Time For You To Go' etc. 

A re-jig. Some additions. And structure. 

Probably too ambitious. It just sort of grew. 

We meet few truly inspirational people, This is one. If you wish to know more Google Buffy Sainte Marie 

There is no category under reviews for this and anyway for reasons I hope will be clear from the piece this extraordinary artist uses her work to further her activism and struggle for justice for her First Nation people. 

Couldn't resist having my pot shot 

A slight piece of Grandfatherly musing 

I know what I'm trying to do with this but I'm not sure if it comes over. 

Nice 14th June 2016 

Prompted by Kieslowski's Three Colours Trilogy 

see below 

Initially prompted by a movie - The Devil Wears Prada - then it just kept getting darker. 

One of the 3 practice journalistic genres used to improve general writing 

On the birth of a first grandchild  

Prompted by the tragic unexpected death of very young teenager from natural causes. Most poems for me start with a single image idea. 

Political Issues arising from the film Good Night and Good Luck. 

Sorry: going through a political phase 

Posted just because the idea struck me and I found it just came out in Haiku format 

A sad sad day 

Hardly a poem 

This isn't very good - but the anger has to go somewhere. 

Real not imagined 

This tumbled out in about 45 minutes. Sort of fully formed. Few changes. Doesn't mean its any good. But an odd experience 

Inadequate I fear... 

Poem of remembrance for unbelievers and those bereaved by Iraq who oppose the war. 

Overposting - stopping now. 

When first posted on the BBC Collective website in 2005 this review won a prize. As a tribute to a great Director. 

Not intended as a single piece. Just 4 efforts at exploring the form. Seemed pretentious to post them separately 

Experimental 

Been meaning to come back to this 'found' poem for a while. A few changes, mostly structuring the stanzas to try to embrace a philsophical idea. The thread that links these remarks is perhaps more philosophical than poetic but it now hangs together as much I will ever make it. 

Another effort at a song. My son's sister-in-law, a singer/songwriter, fell in love with a another singer/songwriter from Nashville. They met and first kissed on her last night in Nashville before flying home next day. Getting married this August. Happy songs are hard and the risk of cliche, ever-present. This probably needs a 'bridge' to complete it. I test my 'songs' by trying to 'sing' them 'in my head'. The title just seemed to write itself. 

So much crap - somewhere a truth got lost. (And a re-cycled metaphor because it seemed apt and I can't think of a better one). 

Sent to a friend - on having to put down a much loved cat 

Feature Article - Based on Bertrand Russell's decalogue definition 

Re-draft of Liberal Values 

Haven't posted to the group for a while. Thought a letter to the press might suffice. It's a good discipline and you get a very professional judgement. I doubt this one will get through in the mass of Live 8 letters. 

For Valentine's day 

Continuing a theme. This one's very slight 

One of a series of short poems designed to capture just one facet of what love can mean 

*Wittgenstein was asked: does God will the Good because it is Good; or is it Good because God wills it? He said the second was preferable because it prevents further analysis or argument. (Also Socrates' Euthyphro dilemma) 

Wittgenstein said that words acquire their meaning from the use to which they are put and often the same word(s) can have very different meanings: he called these different uses, purposes of language 'Language Games' In turn these 'games' acquire their purpose and meaning from the shared 'Form of Life' in which they are ‘played’. As much a puzzle as a poem 

Part of a collection on love. Madrugada - the period between night and dawn. Known to artists as the 'blue hour'. 

The alliteration here just sort of happened. The poem just came out that way. 

From a visit to Ground Zero 24 hours before it and Manhattan were pounded by hurricane Sandy 

I've always admired the 3 minute Pop song: they punctuate the sentences of our lives and mark the chapters. Written as a song: but it doesn't entirely conform to the song structure. It lacks a 'bridge' because I've never quite understood what a 'bridge' is. 

I am working on a project that requires 1/2 extended essays on movie themes. This is one effort. It is intended for anyone with a serious but not professional interest in movies as an art form not just a consumable entertainment product. 

Not autobiographical. But the 1st person seemed right 

Inspired by the film on current release: Five Seasons: the Gardens of Piet Oudolf  

Native American – Indian – spiritual beliefs unlike say the Abrahamic religions, are spatial not temporal; communitarian not individualistic. This does not try to be an ‘Indian’ poem – that would be silly. But it does try to express a deep empathy towards the spirit of these ideas and the culture that struggles in the face of ignorance and injustice to live by them and keep them alive. The recorded history of our, European, contact with these peoples is a lie; and its truth is shameful. 

At the risk of boring you all...... 

My daughter got married in Central Park on 23rd December. 

I really must lighten up. Meantime…one last polemic. If you are infected with the disease of philosophy and find this stuff interesting, the book that best explores these ideas in depth is The Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy-Peter Winch ISBN 0-415-05431-1 Old - but still in print. 

My first ever short story 

Patti Smith - Meltdown: 'The Salt of The Earth' Royal Festival Hall 19th June 2005 

A few lines to draw attention to a remarkable man who wrote a remarkable book 'When Breath Becomes Air' 

A Fine Soul passed today 

Our first grandchild 'Poppy' born 1st March 

Not sure I should inflict another besotted grandfather poem on you but the deeply personal experience spills out into wider more general ideas: and that seemed worth sharing. 

The picture on my profile prompted this poem. Plus a video of these two 2-year olds walking hand in hand 

See below 

Idle musing 

Haven't done one of these for long time - so to lighten the mood a bit after my last post. 

With respect 

Sunday 10/11/13 

The problem with poetry is to ensure that one's words to do justice to the idea one is trying to express. This falls short. But it tries. 

"The Glorious Dead" is an obscenity - cast in stone. 

The behind the scenes story. 

Over-posting. Sorry, but keen to get some feedback on this one. 

White House Election Strategy Meeting 

The destruction of a way of life 

Sorting through some poems I was surprised to see I had never posted this one. I've always quite liked it 

Simone Weil died Ashford Kent August 1943. It is said her death was hastened by her refusal to eat more than her compatriots in occupied France. Our current culture calls her an anorexic. Her brother's thought in mathematics received a Nobel prize: hers, in almost every branch of thought, especially philosophy, did not. It is said that before he went to receive his Nobel prize for literature, Albert Camus, who knew and admired her, spent an hour deep in thought in Simone's flat in Paris. 

An adaptation of an existing song 

Prompted by hearing for the first time 2 extraordinary old vinyl LP's by Native American singer Dr Buffy Sainte Marie (Wolfchild). The first stanza is an old Indian saying. Wish it were mine. 

They say you should try everything once. Well my one crack at perhaps the toughest genre of all. 

Sort of a depressives' call to arms.  

A companion piece to 'Lady in The Rain' 

Only for the romantics amongst you. 

Hardly Dylan: but prompted by his Murder Most Foul - For James 

Intended as a contribution to the Christening/Thanksgiving for the new life of my grandson 

Intended as a contribution to the Thanksgiving/Baptism of my grandson 

Tongue in cheek! Hopefully a bit of fun. 

Something hopeful for a change 

I have shortened this and tried to focus it more 

The original was about the death of Buddy Holly. I wanted my adaptation to capture something with the same tone 

By way of saying hi, I thought I'd post my entry to the BBC Endofstory competition which I am sure most of you will have heard of and some probably entered. I wrote 2: the Ed MacBain and the Joanne Harris half story - 'The Dryad'. As you could only submit one, I chose the Harris as it seemed the hardest to make work. My half is limited to 1,200 words.  

Started as a poem. Collapsed into a sort of song. Ended up a bit of fun. 

It is perhaps a mistake to sexualise romance. Equally to romanticise sex. Here I may have done both. You must judge whether that is a third mistake. 

Three separate but linked poems 

Prompted by the crass treatment of a touching story in the local newspaper 

Just a song 

I contributed in a small way to this independent enquiry into the state of Britain's democracy and wrote this after attending the launch. A follow-up conference is planned for May. 

It has been suggested this came out like a song. Hence posting it here. Folk singer Nanci Griffith sings in one of her songs about a first love killed in a motorcycle accident on his way to take her to a high school prom. 100 songs and 30 years later, endlessly touring, she still sings that song. The rest is speculation. 

To the tune of Buffy Sainte Marie's Universal Soldier 

Supping with a long spoon 

Not quite poetry. But playing with ideas like skimming stones on a docile sea. The kind of thing you note on a scrap of paper - a 'zettel' in German. 

Our Children are the best of us 

Prompted by a picture of my 18 month-old grand-daughter Poppy. Made this picture my profile picture temporarily to put poem in context 

Need some help folks. Thought I'd enter this for the BBC competition. But I've got to lose 2 stanzas. Any thoughts? And does it qualify as a ballad? Punctuation? 

Propted by Triconderoga's nice piece 'calling the toad' 

More a song than a poem I guess. 

George W Bush and Laura Bush - The weekly briefing 

Cf: Universal Soldier 

A first try at a topical poem 

Just a few lines to make known Paul Kalinithi - an extraordinary man who wrote an extraordinary book (Title as above) before he died at 36 in 2015. 

Part of the collection and very conscious that anyone calling a poem 'Woman' is asking for trouble. But again a single idea poem.  

written as a contribution to a wedding 

Though you might like to see the final version. Wedding went superbly well. Groom filmed his own speech so he missed nothing out and was able to enjoy his own day without worrying about his speech. 

This is a 'found' poem. Striking ideas from Slavoj Zizek pschyoanalyst and philosopher subject of 'The Pervert's guide to cinema' (excellent film, silly title). A tour de force of intellectual passion and enthusiasm even if one doesn't accept the psychoanlaytic metaphysics. Zizec's ideas, my structure and organisation.