I'd love to have your opinions about my latest blog post.
A delightfully diverse source of examples identifying that someone is widely read.
A Song of the Sandbags
"They talks o' England's glory and a-'oldin' of our trade,
Of Empire and 'igh destiny until we're fair flim-flammed;
But if it's for the likes o' that that bloody war is made,
Then wot I say is: Empire and 'igh destiny be damned!
There's only one good cause, Bill, for poor blokes like us to fight:
That's self-defence, for 'earth and 'ome, and them that bears our name;
And that's wot I'm a-doin' by the sandbags 'ere to-night. .. . But Fritz out there will tell you 'e's a-doin' of the same.
Starin' over the sandbags,
Sick of the 'ole damn thing;
Firin' to keep meself awake,
'Earin' the bullets sing.
(Hiss! Twang! Tsing! Pang!
Saucy the bullets sing.)
Dreamin' 'ere by the sandbags
Of a day when war will cease,
When 'Ans and Fritz and Bill and me
Will clink our mugs in fraternity,
And the Brotherhood of Labour will be
The Brotherhood of Peace."
Robert W. Service
I love his ballads and WWI poems.
What? No McGonagall?
@Hellbent The Bellerive style is very familiar. My soldiers, and indeed grandfather, used to write in a similar vein. The Tolinda/winda rhyme is very CJ Dennis. Although "Household Mishap" recollects the first line of Plath's "Cut" (tongue firmly in cheek).
The chicken is a nobel beast
the cow is much forlorner
It stands alone upon a field
With a leg at every corner
Well written and nicely organized. It read well with good flow and just the right rhythm.
@Hellbent -- I dabble in poetry on occasion. This disturbs many.
Speeching of which, I just posted another of my older pieces. If you have the stomach for it, please have a look.
@Hellbent -- It has its adherents and those in opposition. The theory itself is not all that farfetched. There are three main ways in which this could have happened. 1) Lithopanspermia (interstellar panspermia) - impact-expelled rocks from a planet's surface serve as transfer vehicles for spreading biological material from one solar system to another. 2) Ballistic panspermia (interplanetary panspermia) - impact-expelled rocks from a planet's surface serve as transfer vehicles for spreading biological material from one planet to another within the same solar system. 3) Directed panspermia - the intentional spreading of the seeds of life to other planets by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, or the intentional spreading of the seeds of life from Earth to other planets by humans.
The first part of number 3 isn't taken too seriously, but the second part has been of serious concern in our own missions to, for example, Mars. We know that many of the basic building blocks for life exist in space, hence it is not too much of a reach to make the assumption that life has gotten a foothold elsewhere, but we have no direct evidence as yet, so it is also possible that life may not be as common as some think, and as for intelligent life it is entirely possible that we are it. As has been said, if we are indeed it, that is a disturbing thought. If intelligence is, on the other hand, common in our galaxy, that is an equally disturbing thought.
The discovery of a single extraterrestrial microbe will of course change the entire picture because it will tell us that life is possible anywhere it can take hold.
One of my short stories - Godship - deals with an interstellar seeding ship whose sole purpose is to plant basic genetic material on any planet it encounters where life may be supported.
Pretty good. I see my motto in there. You give a little, you take a little... the poems were great. I use to right colorful metaphors... never really used them anywhere but it was fun describing one thing and having people second guessing until you get to the end..
Pretty good. I see my motto in there. You give a little, you take a little... the poems were great. I use to right colorful metaphors... never really used them anywhere but it was fun describing one thing and having people second guessing until you get to the end..
Anyone with a heart should be a poet. Been making a fool of myself since age 14... first made in english so my friends couldn't read it well. Always been devious since birth I guess. Poetry is everywhere. I love to see it in paintings... where colors rhyme and composition mesh. I believe not all poetry is in a language or words. Melodies are poetry to me. I liked your latest blog post by the way
That was interesting. You mentioned a few of my favorites, Wallace Stevens and William Carlos Williams. I encounter poetry daily; I have facebook friends who are aficionados.
Good point about the poetry of lyrics...the lyrics of Noel Coward, Ira Gershwin...hell, Lin Manuel Miranda...are genius.
@Hellbent Miranda is the force behind the Broadway show "Hamilton".
I'm relatively new at this. How do I find it? Never mind. I figured it out. It's late.