Haven - Aspects of Water 4 - Travel

This week we looked at The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, The Great Clipper Race of 1866, and that literary classic to rival Coleridge's, The Pobble Who Has No Toes by Edward Lear. 

We listened to "Albatross" by Fleetwood Mac for further inspiration and tried not to think about that Monty Python sketch. Here are a few samples:

The great clipper race of 1866

The greatest and most famous clipper race took pace in 1866. 10 clippers bound for London set out from Fouchow on 28 May. Fastest away were Taeping, Fiery Cross and Serica, but Ariel swiftly gained on them. So evenly matched were these four ships and their crews that the clippers were frequently within sight of each other as they raced across the Indian Ocean, round the Cape of Good Hope and north across the great Atlantic. Huge sums had been bet on the ships.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner   - Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–98

The famous bits -

 

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

Albatross - “The Pious Bird of Good Omen” 

He prayeth best, who loveth best

 All things both great and small;

 Coleridge

The Pobble Who Has No Toes

by Edward Lear
 

First verse:

The Pobble who has no toes
Had once as many as we;
When they said "Some day you may lose them all;"
He replied "Fish, fiddle-de-dee!"
And his Aunt Jobiska made him drink
Lavender water tinged with pink,
For she said "The World in general knows
There's nothing so good for a Pobble's toes!"

and it all ends happily despite many accidents ....

Last verse:

The Pobble who has no toes
Was placed in a friendly Bark,
And they rowed him back, and carried him up
To his Aunt Jobiska's Park.
And she made him a feast at his earnest wish
Of eggs and buttercups fried with fish, -
And she said "It's a fact the whole world knows,
That Pobbles are happier without their toes!"

We spent virtual time aboard tall ships and some ship's logs were written with absolutely no mention of weevils or ship's biscuits (such a cliche) but there was a lot of rum, tar and swabbing.

Travel by water just isn't what it used to be... no scurvy, no press gangs, no Cat O' Nine Tails...

Haven - Aspects of Water 3 - Inhabitants

As a sort of prologue we read a poem that I recently discovered courtesy of a friend and felt I should pass on as it's such an encouraging piece - here's an extract:

The Laughing Heart (Charles Bukowski)

your life is your life

don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
be on the watch.
there are ways out.

there is a light somewhere.

On the watery theme we had Nightswimming by REM and You're by Sylvia Plath

We talked about humans in water and how we started off in the water element - both as  a species and as an individual.  We can't remember our time in the amniotic fluid but some people vividly recalled their experiences of skinny-dipping at night!! I'll update this post with some of the writing as soon as I've finished censoring it.

Meanwhile here are snatches from our two poems/lyrics.

REM - Nightswimming

Nightswimming deserves a quiet night

The photograph on the dashboard taken years ago,

turned around backwards so the windshield shows.

Every street light reveals a picture in reverse

Still it's so much clearer

I forgot my shirt at the water's edge

The moon is low tonight

You're

Sylvia Plath

Illustration by Jessie Wilcox Smith

  from “The Water Babies”

Clownlike, happiest on your hands,

               Feet to the stars, and moon-skulled,
           Gilled like a fish. A common-sense
               Thumbs-down on the dodo's mode.
                 Wrapped up in yourself like a spool,
      Trawling your dark as owls do.


Sonia 

Spinning Jennie

 Written after reading “You’re” by Sylvia Plath

Wrapped up in yourself

like a spool curled, unfurled

Floating yet attached

Alone, but not alone

Symphonies and sonatas

And the heartbeat

Holding the bobbin

Shaped by the stitching of time

Sewn into the fabric

You will discard at will

Weaving and threading

Your way

Into the light

 And, as a final thought, if you were a sea-creature (real or mythical) what would you be and why? here's one possibility: 

Sonia

A Sea-creature – you must be joking!

 – a Nonsense verse, the very worst

(extracts from a longer poem)

Oh for goodness sake! You’ve asked what creature

I would be deep, deep below in the sea

Well I wouldn’t be a halibut, plaice or hake

Nor netted tuna – oh man!

Squashed in brine, in a can….

I’d rather be a saucy fish

A glamorous angel fish

A fish with style on a centre-fold

In fetching colours on Page Three

With scales to die for and wispy fins

A “come hither” pouty grin….

But no, I’ll not be a Dover sole

Red mullet or sea bass

A whiting would be rather crass

A cod would be quite mundane

You’d think of chips and vinegar again

No! No! No!

It’s a ROBOT fish I’d rather be

Monitoring pollution in the sea

A fish with a sensor to let scientists know

Whether the pollutants are high or low

Yes, that’s me, that’s what I’ll be!

Transmitting data day and night

To keep the oceans clean will be a mighty fight

But you must admit

Being a Robot fish has a cerain ring

You certainly couldn’t bring

Me to your table as first course

Garnished with watercress sauce!

Next time - Travel by Water - May 25th

Haven - Aspects of Water 2 - Shape-shifting April 27th

This week we considered the remarkable shape-shifting abilities of water: liquid, ice, steam, vapour - and of course in terms of weather - cloud, mist, rain, rain, rain (all sorts of rain at the moment), snow, sleet, hail - you get the idea. 

Not surprisingly rain got into the choices of poems/lyrics but ice did get a look in and for "homework" people have promised to write some Hot Steamy Haiku to offset all that chill.

We read "Fire and Ice" by Robert Frost.  (See above) and one of the brilliant responses was this little ICE acrostic from Siriol:

It happened imperceptibly, a sequence of tiny blows,

and crystal by crystal, my heart froze

Cruelty I thought it was, because I couldn't see

that your heart was frozen and your ice froze me

Every frozen crystal thaws

my heart has healed, but I fear for yours.

We also read and listened to a Bob Dylan song that has been covered by many artists - notably Adele and our respect and awe for BD is unbounded - but we did have some dispute over whether or not he can actually sing. 

A tiny sample:

Make You Feel My Love  by Bob Dylan

When the rain is blowing in your face

And the whole world is on your case

I could offer you a warm embrace

To make you feel my love

It's the first line that clinched it!  If you don't know this amazingly good love song then go onto Youtube and check it out.  It's like a mental hug.

It was an especially wonderful session and we all felt warm and dry by the end.