Pestilence and Poetry
February 10th, 2010 by Becky
I’m sorry there’s been a bit of radio silence on the blog lately, but we have a good excuse: the cold virus appears to have taken up almost permanent residence at Fidra HQ, and none of us have been feeling tip-top. Vanessa and I were coughing in stereo last week – never good when customers recoil in horror when you begin to speak! We’re seriously considering wiping the picture flats with anti-bacterial gel to prevent further infection…
On a more cheerful note: the City of Literature campaign this year is the delightful Carry a Poem. They have produced a free book filled with some much-beloved poems, and they’re inviting people to tell them about how they carry their favourite poem. It’s been really popular initiative: we’ve even had some people come into bookshops to tell us their story, which is lovely (if a little unexpected!). Excitingly, love poetry is going to be projected on Castle Rock this weekend, which is the only time an outside organisation has been allowed to do so.
I’m going to jump on the bandwagon at this point: tell me your favourite poem and why. If we get some good stories, then I will randomly select someone and send them a copy of Carry a Poem plus a few of the Carry a Poem poetry cards. (Granted, not much of an incentive if you live in Edinburgh and can get it for free, but more fun if you aren’t a resident!)
I’ll start…
I find it almost impossible to pick a favourite, but if forced, I would probably go with Hope is the Thing with Feathers, by Emily Dickinson. I love the way her poetry often seems so stream of consciousness - a burst of emotion on the page – and yet fits together in perfectly-tesselating agreement. I enjoy a lot of her darker poems, but Hope is the Thing with Feathers catches (for me) that feeling of the determined something inside that flickers even when you feel low.
So, give me yours!
Am I only allowed one Becky? Terribly difficult!
“This is my own, my native land”
Sir Walter Scott.
I can still see myself standing outside the railway station in Edinburgh on my very quick trip in and out of the country of my ancestors and remembering my grandfather reciting this to me. I desperately wanted to stay longer but could not – but I had to be able to tell him I had been too! (Thinking of it makes me ‘homesick’ for Scotland – if you can be for a place you have never lived in.)
What an excellent idea.
Reminds me of the ToP Trumps for poets that Sourcebook’s DOminique Raccah has created to promote their new site (poetryspeaks.com) which is all about poetry!
I actually have emily dickensons top trump on my desk as I write!
All the best,
Eoin
My favourite poem is G.K. Chesterton’s The Last Hero; it’s at http://plagiarist.com/poetry/7777/ if you’d like to read it. I love the rhythm of it and the way the words sound as well as what they actually say.
I’ll cheat and give you two of mine, very short Sapphic fragments and both appropriate for today:
“The moon has set, and the Pleiades: middle night, the hour goes by, and I sleep alone.”
“You came, and I was mad for you. But you cooled my heart, burning with desire.”
Truly one of the greatest lyrical poets of the Western world and a tragedy that so little of her amazing work has survived. An epigram, ascribed to Plato, states “Some say the Muses are nine: how careless! Look, there’s Sappho too, from Lesbos, the tenth.” How can one not agree?
I am disappointed Becky – I thought there would be lots of other people’s favourite poems that I could use as pleasurable work avoidance. Dark Puss did cheat but I am glad he added an extra cat hair. I tend to carry bits of poems around in my head rather than the whole thing.
I know, Catriona, maybe people have gotten bored of waiting for us to post, or maybe they aren’t poetry lovers!
Eoin – what is her top trump? Or is she the top trum in general? Confused…
Dark Puss – I often forget about ancient poetry, but I like a lot of Catullus.
Rosie – I like the last stanza in particular…