weather – Page 44 – don't confuse the narrator

be careful what you wish for

telephone cables — not exactly a wireless connection

Where British Telecom users often say ‘Telecon’, Spanish customers of Telefónica refer to the company as ‘Timofónica’, and I suppose most other national telecommunications companies have similar nicknames.

Currently, I’m debating whether the situation is best described as tele-non-communication or being tele-incomunicada.

A fortnight ago, the router was destroyed by a mains glitch during a storm. Well, we weren’t actually here when it happened, but that seems the likely explanation as some hundred routers round the village needed replacing.

Then we had high winds and the internet connection kept waxing and waning and eventually the phone line died completely.
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a perfect pear

We may not be growing such good grapes as the previous house owner did, but the pears this year are magnificent.

Writing the post title – and remembering that this blog was originally intended to include poetry as well as random thoughts – I was reminded of Dorothy Parker’s One Perfect Rose.

Over the years, I’ve received my fair share of bouquets of flowers – though never (yet), I think, long-stemmed red roses – so I, too, wonder why no one ever thought to give me “one perfect limousine”.
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welsh leaks

A problem with the overflow at my mother’s house has reminded me of a poem I have never managed to polish to my complete satisfaction. The first stanza seems to have potential, I think, though the line breaks still bother me. It’s probably ‘finished’ enough to post here, and I’ll be glad if anyone wants to criticise or comment:

A heavy storm has made the flat roof leak
 and in the small hours, memories drip  
from the bedroom ceiling.  Unlike the rain
they cannot be absorbed  
by piles of folded towels,
or mopped  into a bucket, so  
she paddles through them, 
barefoot, towards dawn.

The poem was intended to be called something like All Hallows Anniversary and gets quite maudlin, but the fact I’ve thought about it now in August and under very different circumstances may, I hope, shake me out of my affection for the original idea.

All thoughts and commentary appreciated.

light interlude

Having very little to write about – and very little time to write – I thought a photo would brighten up the page:

This was taken by the Severn Estuary this afternoon and is, I think, typical of British summer weather where even a cloudy day can have a tremendous luminous quality.

prose poetry II

I said yesterday that I might post something I’d written at the American Poetry workshops in Nottingham, and then it seemed presumptuous to include what is no more than an initial workshop draft in a post where I mention so many recognised and respected poets, so I didn’t.

Here, though, is a piece from the prose poetry workshop that I may come back to and try and see where it leads. The words in italics are from a piece by Charles Simic.
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