manners – don't confuse the narrator

I’ve been to several poetry readings in the last couple of weeks, including an anthology launch where I was among the readers, and one by the elderly New Zealand poet C.K. Stead.

The launch lunch for The Apple Anthology (published by Nine Arches Press) was a fairly casual event, with a number of readers, and a varied audience eager to sample the cider, sandwiches – and inevitable apples.

The other events, though, were more formal and I was disconcerted to see people in the audience tapping away at their smart phones and laptop keyboards when I thought they should be listening. (That’s why I chose the photo of the owl, an eminently educated bird, with those marvellously disapproving eyebrows I can never hope to match however much I frown on modern youth.)
Continue reading “modern manners”

I’ve just signed up for FaceBook as so many people seem to think it’s the best way to keep in touch. In particular, there are poets I want to be in contact with and it seems to be where they hang out.

(It’s true that I also have friends, including some poets, who loathe and detest the system and think I must be mad, but I hope they won’t ‘unfriend me’ in Real Life because of it.)

When you sign up, the system asks for your date of birth, the theory being that you will then be shown age-appropriate content and adverts. Presumably like the one shown here, which seems to be telling me I am too old for FaceBook.
Continue reading “get off my lawn*”