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.be on the watch.
there are ways out.
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
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