And Gnoetry too

Saved

The blackness of the

world I had in the palace

of conversations

at the close. The water and

swam towards the light and there.

Texts:

Fannie Louise Apjohn, The Enchanted Island

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eighty Years And More; Reminiscences 1815-1897

R.M. Ballantyne, Cannibal Islands

A collaboration with Gnome 0.2

Sun Aug 7 00:15:49 2011

Gnoetry Again

The Sadness of Leaves

I grew to be good

and to hear grass growing too

in perplexity.

Texts:

Eliza Poor Donner Houghton, The Expedition of the Donner Party and its Tragic Fate

Woods Hutchinson, The Child's Day

Hildegard G. Frey, The Campfire Girls at Camp Keewaydin

Produced in collaboration with Gnome 0.2

Mon Aug 1 11:16:46 2011

Breathing Haiku

Vespasian Cough

 (after Shiki)

The snake has grappled

my throat.  I think I am about

to re-enter stone.

Note: as well as my own respiratory condition and the Roman Emperor's last joke, this is loosely based on a piece by Shiki, written shortly before his death from tuberculosis:

Masoaka Shiki (1867-1902):

hechima saite tan no tsumarishi hotoke kana

The snake gourd blossoms.

My throat is blocked with phelgm.

I am already a Buddha.

Becoming Victor Meldrew

Dear David,

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to you because I have recently discovered that you are a trombone alumnus on the National Youth Orchestra! We are having a major clean up of our data base and are keen to reconnect with as many alum as possible and we apologize for not being in touch sooner.
   If you would like to stay connected with NYO and hear about our concert and be updated on our database please could you email me your telephone number, address, DOB and the dates you were in NYO for. We are also holding a Family Alumni day at the Royal Albert Hall on 6 August at 12.15 we would love to see you there. If you are able to attend please do let me know and I will send you more information.
  Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and I hope to be in touch with you soon.

Best wishes,

Emma McGovern

Development Officer


Dear Emma McGovern

thank you for your kind message today informing me that I was an alumnus
of the NYO, on the trombone, and inviting me to reconnect with your
orchestra and organisation.
 Unfortunately, I am in fact 56 years old and have never played a
trombone in my life. Excited as I am at the prospect of a new career, I
am afraid my total incompetence at this instrument, as well as my
precarious claims on 'youth', require that I decline your gracious
solicitation.

Regards

David Bircumshaw

Gnoetry

The Hotel Machine

It is a vast dome

glowing with a love for each

other. The ore in

the light. We learn all you are

in themselves so easily.

This tanka was created using Gnoetry 0.2 and the following:

Texts:

Horatio Alger Jr., Joe The Hotel Boy

A. Maude Royden, Sex And Common-Sense

H. G. Wells, The Time Machine

Tilton Cuttings

 Jurassic Huddle

Three bivalve fossils

about 185 million years old

looking as if

just arrived from yesterday

found like litter droppings

at the cliff bottom

of a disused country

branch line cutting

All

bunched in mudstone silt

like a little nucleated

swallowed family

Poised now

between index and thumb

like a calcite question

on the long animal

and cynosure

of this hand

Frederick the Great’s Christmas Preparation

             

                                         Advent Offensive

Obtain two large rubber boots (preferably same footed for inconvenience to the lower orders. See later.) Nota Bene: not Wellingtons. Procure one quart of rough brandy, if possible from under a Spaniard’s nose at breakfast, a magnum of any Grand Cru champagne, the more expensive the better, and two bottles of alleged cooking sherry from Happy Saturdays off-licence, 95 Al-Filreis Road, Sneinton, Nottingham, near Sherwood Forest, England. Admire the social disjunctions.

                                            Sankt Stockade

Avoid agitated Spaniard. Prepare one cup of your finest, favourite, darkest, ground coffee. Allow to drip meditatively. Scan any possible horizons for passing galleons, map-makers or magi. Compose tome on the socio-economic obsolescence of shepherds. Exchange a nod avec Voltaire.

                                            Herbst Enfilade

Take one large jar of German mustard (obtainable from any local hardware store or chemists). Paste throughout boots, liberally. Pour in coffee, brandy, sherry and champagne, in that precise order, order is all, ‘s exact precise price, dusting in between with hog hair and sawdust.

                                           Winter Garrison

Impress Swabian peasant. March impressed peasant around parade-ground square for two months in full battle-gear. O my bombardier. Exact price order. Be proclaimed among remote provinces. Hunch above maps and dialects. Stalk the borders of irreverent detail and rumbunctious gazetteers. Deny the allegations of unnatural stars. Recite the Odes of Anachronism. Upend Swabian and strain out winter warmer. Waes thu hael.

(Frederick the Great was apparently fond of adding champagne and mustard to his coffee. I have altered the recipe, as well as other facts, somewhat.)