Ha, thats really good. a) I forget the details right now but George Barker often took refuge in the Fitzroy after bruising it up/behaving monstrously at the French. b) you do something magic with how you get under the skin of what its like to be an adoring disciple, and tbh give me the key to read 'Remembering Lunch' in a way iyes' is otherwise be too obstuse to hear. But even more fun, to see how it (or Dunninequerie) surfaces as a completely new iceberg-philarmonic in 'A Private Bottling' for instance, though you inject hints of angostura bitters-like Martin Amis/Eminem to the cocktail proceedings, (which imo gets you well past half way to Catullus, where we all want to end up, no? ) I used to find Dunn too greyje (is that right, is that what one means to cross beige with hynge through greige?)... no longer...And the poets waiting for the burning tongues to fall onto the white table-cloth! ..Excellent. I've been reading Geoffrey Hill's Pindarics, which are excursions responding to single lines from Cesare Pavese's diaries 'the business of living'. Now if only we could get Dunn's to join that conversation....
“Feeling is what engages the reader, and it can’t be faked, as readers will see through you; so don’t write unless you either feel something or are prepared to.” Especially enjoyed this line. For me, feeling is where writing starts, but not where it ends. The work is in finding the sentences than can carry and convey the feeling.
For me, fwiw, that pocketful of bread and cheese rejecting the south is a nod to W S Graham's Loch Thom - the bramble jam scones. Tho I bet Dougie would say 'tosh' and this was reading too much in. I want to read a post about his theories about the history of rhubarb.
Douglas - pace all his erudition and talent - has always been so good at quiet humility: if he'd permit an oxymoron (he would not, in my experience) you could say the master of quiet humility
I finally read this post all the way through today, then promptly went out and bought the $20 (£10) secondhand copy that’s been glaring at me from the Archives shelf for months. It even came with a copy of the Poetry Book Society Bulletin recommending it (along with books by John Mole and Andrew Waterman) slipped inside, and a photocopied page with ‘The War in the Congo’ on it, dated 10th September 1984 with ‘COPY TO ALL STAFF FOR INFORMATION (from TLS 27/4/84)’. The title poem fair knocked my socks off.
Ha, thats really good. a) I forget the details right now but George Barker often took refuge in the Fitzroy after bruising it up/behaving monstrously at the French. b) you do something magic with how you get under the skin of what its like to be an adoring disciple, and tbh give me the key to read 'Remembering Lunch' in a way iyes' is otherwise be too obstuse to hear. But even more fun, to see how it (or Dunninequerie) surfaces as a completely new iceberg-philarmonic in 'A Private Bottling' for instance, though you inject hints of angostura bitters-like Martin Amis/Eminem to the cocktail proceedings, (which imo gets you well past half way to Catullus, where we all want to end up, no? ) I used to find Dunn too greyje (is that right, is that what one means to cross beige with hynge through greige?)... no longer...And the poets waiting for the burning tongues to fall onto the white table-cloth! ..Excellent. I've been reading Geoffrey Hill's Pindarics, which are excursions responding to single lines from Cesare Pavese's diaries 'the business of living'. Now if only we could get Dunn's to join that conversation....
It's a beautiful poem. Always so strange to read something that has nothing to do with you and everything to do with you.
Many thanks for sharing this wonderful poem and fascinating analysis.
“Feeling is what engages the reader, and it can’t be faked, as readers will see through you; so don’t write unless you either feel something or are prepared to.” Especially enjoyed this line. For me, feeling is where writing starts, but not where it ends. The work is in finding the sentences than can carry and convey the feeling.
For me, fwiw, that pocketful of bread and cheese rejecting the south is a nod to W S Graham's Loch Thom - the bramble jam scones. Tho I bet Dougie would say 'tosh' and this was reading too much in. I want to read a post about his theories about the history of rhubarb.
aye, I suspect he’d counsel us not to read too much in his lunch. the rhubarb post should def happen at some point, though …
Douglas - pace all his erudition and talent - has always been so good at quiet humility: if he'd permit an oxymoron (he would not, in my experience) you could say the master of quiet humility
I finally read this post all the way through today, then promptly went out and bought the $20 (£10) secondhand copy that’s been glaring at me from the Archives shelf for months. It even came with a copy of the Poetry Book Society Bulletin recommending it (along with books by John Mole and Andrew Waterman) slipped inside, and a photocopied page with ‘The War in the Congo’ on it, dated 10th September 1984 with ‘COPY TO ALL STAFF FOR INFORMATION (from TLS 27/4/84)’. The title poem fair knocked my socks off.