Visitors to the Ce-Ment Pond: The Poetry of Birds

Last year, my wife decided she wanted a bird bath in the kitchen garden. She found one she liked, of concrete construction and simple in design. Our two sons helped move the bowl and pedestal from the car to the garden. It looks light – deceptively light; I can barely manage to empty the bowl when I clean it. 

I named it “the ce-ment pond,” in honor of one of my favorite childhood television shows, The Beverly Hillbillies. It has become an avian gathering place, a community center, a source of water in the St. Louis summer heat, and a communal bathtub. 

 

It’s also a source of discord. The birds fight over it.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Thursday Readings

 

Constantine Cavafy: The Making of a Poet – Gregory Jusdanis and Peter Jeffreys at Literary Hub.

 

Spring Thaw – poem by Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.

 

“A Farewell,” poem by Charles Kingsley – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

The Dinners of Old London – Spitalfields Life.

Poetry Becomes Theater: “The Last Days of Troy” by Simon Armitage

Britain’s poet laureate Simon Armitage has long been interested in myth and legend. He’s published retellings of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Death of King Arthur, The Odyssey, and The Iliad, and he’s reached into the mists of medieval England to translate two famous poems, The Owl and the Nightingale and Pearl. What all of these works have in common is that they were originally created in poetry, the common language of myth.  

A few years ago, before he became poet laureate, his work with The Iliad led to the creation of a play, The Last Days of Troy. It was first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester before moving to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London. Other productions have followed.

 

It’s a gripping piece of theater. It’s a griping piece of writing in general. Armitage doesn’t “improve upon” Homer; it’s more that he illuminates the great Greek story for a contemporary audience. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

Another Day – poem by Jerry Barrett at Gerald the Writer.

 

Poetry Prompt: I’m in Charge of Celebrations – L.L. Barkat at Tweetspeak Poetry. 

 

A forgotten writer of Pere Lachaise – Anthony Daniels at New Criterion on Enrique Gomez Carillo. 

 

“March,” poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

British Poet Laureate Writes Song Lyrics

British Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has translated medieval poems like Pearl and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. He’s tackled The Odyssey. He’s written plays, like about the last days of Troy. He’s written novels and published numerous poetry collections. He’s retold the death of King Arthur and published two poetry travel books. 

And, perhaps most surprisingly, this most literate of literary writers has also performed in two bands and written the lyrics for a considerable number of songs.

 

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. Poet Malcom Guite (another Brit) found time from his day job as Cambridge University college chaplain to perform in a band (he retired from the day job but still performs in gigs). And in 2016, American Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The literary times they are a changin’.

 

In his new publication Never Good with Horses: Assembled Lyrics, Armitage says right up front that “song lyrics are not poems and poems are not song lyrics.” The primary reason is that song lyrics come packaged with the significant element of music, which can change everything about the words.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

Many do – poem and artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher.

 

The Babylon Bee Founder Leaves the Company Due to ‘Burnout’ – Liz Lykins at The Roys Report.

 

Childhood Stories #1 – poem by Paul Wittenberger at Paul’s Substack.

 

On Writing Oklahoma City – Rod Roensch at Front Porch Republic.

Poets and Poems: Simon Armitage and "The Owl and the Nightingale"

The Owl and the Nightingale is one of the most famous poems to have emerged from medieval England. The story is straightforward. Two birds, a nightingale and an owl, face off across a clearing. The nightingale starts an argument that seems les an argument and more a stream of invective and insults aimed at the common owl (emphasis on “common”). The owl, taken aback by the verbal assault, gives back in kind, but she also seems to argue a more reasoned response. 

While reading this poem, it’s difficult not to imagine the two birds individually sporting colors of blue and red, one arguing from an elitist position and the other from that of the commoner. The only thing the nightingale doesn’t call the owl is “deplorable,” but you get the idea. Both birds make their arguments from Christian teaching; both constantly violate that teaching in how they argue. The nightingale, however, recognizes the merit in much of what the owl is saying, but is determined to yield no ground. The poem ends with both flying off to have the argument settled once and for all by Master Nicholas.

 

It’s the earliest example of debate poetry, sometimes called a verse contest, in Middle English. We know that the poem bears both Anglo-Saxon and French influences, which places it after the Norman Invasion of 1066. The poem is comprised of 1,800 lines written in iambic tetrameter, the most common poetic meter in English.

 

But from that point, the poem’s provenance gets murky. 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Simon Armitage, the New British Poet Laureate

In May, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Simon Armitage as the 21^st poet Laureate of the United Kingdom. Armitage’s literary and professional recognitions and accomplishments certainly merited the honor; not only had he published numerous collections of poetry, he had also published translations and retellings of classic British and Greek works. 

British poet laureates don’t have an official length for term in office. The first, John Dryden, was appointed by King Charles II in 1668 and served for almost 20 years; Alfred Lord Tennyson was poet laureate for almost 42 years. More recently, the poets appointed have served about 10 years. Some of the better-known laureates include Robert Southey, William Wordsworth, John Masefield, John Betjeman, Ted Hughes, Cecil Day-Lewis, and Andrew Motion. Armitage’s immediate predecessor, Carol Ann Duffy, was the first woman appointed to the position.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Photograph: Simon Armitage.

Poets and Poems: Simon Armitage Translates “Pearl”

By poetry standards, Simon Armitage is one of Britain’s most successful poets, with some 11 collections and numerous recognitions and awards. But his career has embraced far more than poetry. He’s written for opera, theatre, radio, television, and film. He’s published two novels and two travel books. He’s edited poetry anthologies. And he has translated Sir Gawain and the Green Knight from Middle to modern English, a work recognized by The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times as a book of the year.

You might think that translated from Middle to modern English shouldn’t be that difficult, until you try to read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in the original. What is curious about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a separate poem found in the manuscript with it, a poem simply called Pearl. It is the only known version of the poem in existence, and the manuscript is kept safely at the British Library in London.

No one know who the author of the poem might be. It’s possible that it’s also the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, since it was found in the same manuscript and clearly written or transcribed by the same hand.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.