THE WANDERER - MY POETRY BOOK SHELF

-

Introducing My poetry book shelf. A new Section of Moon Traveller Herald for 2019. Let's get it down!



Among the earliest poems in English is The Wanderer.The style then was musically heavy on alliteration which may have for those folks been a better mnemonic aid than rhyme. Grill Marcus spoke at one time about the Old Weird America. Here, the Old Weird Britain calls you by your name. Part of soliloquies bleak unto blues. Here's a bit:

Who liveth alone longeth for mercy
Maker's mercy
Though he must traverse tracks of sea
Sick at heart -
Trouble with oars ice cold waters
The ways of exile –
Weird is set fast.


Excerpt, p.70; The Wanderer, The Earliest English Poems, Penguin Classics, 1966

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Art of Jeff Hull

-
Image
Jeff Hull came by recently to check Jake’s portfolio. And we kind of looked at some of Jeff's own more recent stuff together. Which is on the Web via some shows he’s had in recent years. Now I am stuck as anyone reading this will agree with words. Which provide a poor translation of what goes on in true visual art. Here goes. Jeff Hull’s paintings transcend a life time; they cut through blue paradises of art think and explode, exotic, rich and watery. The ordinary world is here, and is seen in a universe of visual indications. Cells of modern mind float on the canvas, and one painting enters another. Images flop along side stones emanating molecular progressions. Color is all over the place, and you are on a magical ride. This art is feedback music in the domain of the eyeball. The sky, the ferns the beat. I see stories. I apply cut-up technique. The stuff pops up at you in spectral neural displays. Jeff’s objects comet forth. You attach what you bring. Ferns,...
Read more

List of Jack’s Best 2006

-
Image
Here’s this years picks that clicked. This year I’m gonna focus on songs rather than albums. Don’t know, may have done that last year too, for that matter. As we’ve said, the industry is moving back to this idea of the single. And it is probably what people want, and what the artists are capable of. I don’t mind paying 99 cents to see if there is a there there, as for example, with JJ Cale and Eric Clapton, or Cat Ibraham Stevens or the Holy Modal Rounders meet Godzilla. But before I babble on too much … here is the List of Jack’s Best 2006. The Levee’s Gonna Break - Bob Dylan, from Modern Times Till I Gain Control Again - Van Morrison, from Pay the Devil That Kind of Fool – Jerry Lee Lewis (duet with Keith Richards), from Last Man Standing Maimed Happiness – The New York Dolls, from One Day it Will Please Us to Remember Even This This Is Us – Mark Knopfler and Emmy Lou Harris Buried Alive in the Blues – Chicago Blues Reunion, from Buried Alive in the Blues But different this yea...
Read more

Bob Watt: Great Inferior Poet Passes

-
Image
How many beautiful bodies/can Dylan garner a night --/ 50 - 100? How many can James Dickey garner'/two - or three?/How do all the girls with beautiful bodies /who get aced out, for dickey or dylan feel? - Poetry & Beautiful Bodies (1970) Came to learn from Dave Murray recently that great Milwaukee poet Bob Watt died. It happened in January. It was old news to many, but it was new news to me. This set the mind neuros to popping. I think I’m going back to the time when Bob Watts’ poetry first blew my mind. I remember when I first heard Bob Watts poetry: it was sudden and familiar. Music of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Midwest. Most importantly it said that poetry was right here, where we were. Not far. Moreover it did not have to wear a sportscoat. One with leather elbow patches. Watt was an exterminator. On the outskirts. His obit tells us he was in the service in Japan. That gave him a jump on Zen, maybe.    In a local night club, a girl got drunk/ And yelled, “I...
Read more