ASF Poetry Thread

[2020hindsight]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prehistory_of_the_Far_Side

... Larson shows his cartoons that have provoked controversy, even outrage, and he reprints some of the indignant letters of protest. Some of his cartoons are thought to be in bad taste, as one featuring a couple of dogs playing "Tethercat." In such cases, he argues that readers either were oversensitive or misunderstood the cartoon.

One time, a representative of the Jane Goodall Institute attacked a Far Side cartoon in which two chimpanzees are grooming when one finds a human hair and asks, "Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?" Larson was ready to apologize to Goodall, until it came out that Goodall loved the cartoon and had no idea someone in her organization had complained.

one section to mistakes that he made, .....or scientific errors (like one featuring polar bears and penguins in the same habitat)

 

[2020hindsight]

Deteriorata (Fluke of the Universe)

National Lampoon, Deteriorata

Go placidly amid the noise and waste,
and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
Avoid quiet and passive persons, unless you are in need of sleep.
Rotate your tires.
Speak glowingly of those greater than yourself
and heed well their advice, even though they be turkeys.
Know what to kiss... and when.
Consider that two wrongs never make a right... but that three do.
Wherever possible, put people on hold.
Be comforted that in the face of all erridity and disallusionment,
and despite the changing fortunes of time,
there is always a big future in computer maintainance.

Remember the Pueblo.
Strive at all times to bend, fold, spindle, and mutilate.
Know yourself. If you need help, call the FBI.
Exercise caution in your daily affairs,
especially with those persons closest to you...
that lemon on your left, for instance.
Be assured that a walk through the ocean of most souls
would scarcely get your feet wet.
Fall not in love, therefore; it will stick to your face.
Gracefully surrender the things of youth,
birds, clean air, tuna, Taiwan,
and let not the sands of time get in your lunch.
Hire people with hooks.
For a good time call 606-4311. Ask for Ken.
Take heart amid the deepening gloom
that your dog is finally getting enough cheese,
and reflect that whatever misfortune may be your lot,
it could only be worse in Milwaukee.

You are a fluke of the Universe.
You have no right to be here,
and whether you can hear it or not,
the Universe is laughing behind your back.

Therefore, make peace with your god,
whatever you conceive him to be:
hairy thunderer or cosmic muffin.
With all its hopes, dreams, promises, and urban renewal,
the world continues to deteriorate.

Give up.

the original? ...
Desiderata MV

https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=156671&highlight=desiderata#post156671
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=156675&highlight=desiderata#post156675

 

[2020hindsight]

http://www.alistairdavidson.com/poetry_fictions__2002_the_tennis_racquet_poem_about_love.htm
A poem this bloke wrote after he'd been staring at big Taurus in the Heavens - 440 light years away (close)

A Thousand Stars Falling On Our Heads
Alistair Davidson
July 29, 2002, in memory of the Pleiades, last summer

We are all going to die
But I have lived
One night
When a thousand stars
Streaked orange and blue
White and red
Exploding
Across my dark sky

We called the incoming
So all could see
The invasion of light
Painting the night
With color
Streaking from left to right
Leaving visions swirling in our heads.

The earth rolled round
Ninety degrees of change
In six hours
As we lay
Wrapped against the cold
Of night
Huddled together under blankets
Sipping from a thermos of coffee
And during the brief fog passing over
In fitful sleep.

Oh, we are both going to die
But we have lived
One night
When a thousand stars
Streaked orange and blue
White and red
Exploding
Across our dark sky
Bringing in our new dawn.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades_(star_cluster)

 

[2020hindsight]

Larson... One time, a representative of the Jane Goodall Institute attacked a Far Side cartoon in which two chimpanzees are grooming when one finds a human hair and asks, "Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?" Larson was ready to apologize to Goodall, until it came out that Goodall loved the cartoon and had no idea someone in her organization had complained

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Goodall
Speaking of Jane Goodall, I found this poem of hers as well ..- see jpeg attached (Five Herons) - . (plus a few quotes)
http://www.lessonsforhope.org/scrapbook4.asp?sec=7&pgid=111

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/jane_goodall.htm

Selected Jane Goodall Quotations

• The greatest danger to our future is apathy.

• Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.

• If you really want something, and really work hard, and take advantage of opportunities, and never give up, you will find a way.

• Only if we understand can we care. Only if we care will we help. Only if we help shall they be saved.

• That I did not fail was due in part to patience....

• The least I can do is speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.

• I wanted to talk to the animals like Dr. Doolittle.

• Chimpanzees have given me so much. The long hours spent with them in the forest have enriched my life beyond measure. What I have learned from them has shaped my understanding of human behavior, of our place in nature.

• The more we learn of the true nature of non-human animals, especially those with complex brains and corresponding complex social behavior, the more ethical concerns are raised regarding their use in the service of man -- whether this be in entertainment, as "pets," for food, in research laboratories, or any of the other uses to which we subject them.

• People say to me so often, "Jane how can you be so peaceful when everywhere around you people want books signed, people are asking these questions and yet you seem peaceful," and I always answer that it is the peace of the forest that I carry inside.

•....

• We can't leave people in abject poverty, so we need to raise the standard of living for 80% of the world's people, while bringing it down considerably for the 20% who are destroying our natural resources.

•.....

• I do not want to discuss evolution in such depth, however, only touch on it from my own perspective: from the moment when I stood on the Serengeti plains holding the fossilized bones of ancient creatures in my hands to the moment when, staring into the eyes of a chimpanzee, I saw a thinking, reasoning personality looking back. You may not believe in evolution, and that is all right. How we humans came to be the way we are is far less important than how we should act now to get out of the mess we have made for ourselves.

• Anyone who tries to improve the lives of animals invariably comes in for criticism from those who believe such efforts are misplaced in a world of suffering humanity.

• In what terms should we think of these beings, nonhuman yet possessing so very many human-like characteristics? How should we treat them? Surely we should treat them with the same consideration and kindness as we show to other humans; and as we recognize human rights, so too should we recognize the rights of the great apes? Yes.

• There are an awful lot of scientists today who believe that before very long we shall have unraveled all the secrets of the universe. There will be no puzzles anymore. To me it'd be really, really tragic because I think one of the most exciting things is this feeling of mystery, feeling of awe, the feeling of looking at a little live thing and being amazed by it and how its emerged through these hundreds of years of evolution and there it is and it is perfect and why.

• I sometimes think that the chimps are expressing a feeling of awe, which must be very similar to that experience by early people when they worshipped water and the sun, things they didn't understand.

I heard her interviewed recently - and needless to say, she's terrified of what will happen to her chimps once she's gone, especially as a lot as being eaten by hungry refugees

 

[2020hindsight]

and ... Speaking of evolution... I found this on ABC website ...

"Were our ancestors intimate with Neanderthals"?

Now I wonder if they were consenting couples?
and which was the bloke and which was the girl?

and whether they ever imagined in their wildest dreams that they'd be found out ?

PS And here's a book of "Barry Humphries Signed Neglected Poems 1st Edition" up for sale on e-bay ..
Mint http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Barry-Humphr...tcZphotoQQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

and others...
http://search.ebay.com.au/search/poems_W0QQfclZ4QQfnuZ1

 

[2020hindsight]

ONE OUT OF FOUR IN THE CITIZENSHIP TEST

1. Who do you think was the greatest Aussie ever to play the game cricket?
CLICKET? mmm DON BLANDAM?

2. Here's a football, show us how you'd hold the thing and kick it ?
ahhh DON BLADMAN?

3. Who do you think was the best PM that Aussie's ever seen?
ooo ummm DON BLADMAN maybe?

4. And on top of the pile is a lady - what's the name of the current Queen?
mmm could vat be DON BLADMAN?

 

[BIG BWACULL]

ONE OUT OF FOUR IN THE CITIZENSHIP TEST

1. Who do you think was the greatest Aussie ever to play the game cricket?
CLICKET? mmm DON BLANDAM?

2. Here's a football, show us how you'd hold the thing and kick it ?
ahhh DON BLADMAN?

3. Who do you think was the best PM that Aussie's ever seen?
ooo ummm DON BLADMAN maybe?

4. And on top of the pile is a lady - what's the name of the current Queen?
mmm could vat be DON BLADMAN?

Sorry to hear you are not a citizen DON BLADMAN
But Geez your a great cricketer
Wonder what to say if they asked you your name
uuummmm ooohhh DON BLADMAN

 

[2020hindsight]

Apologies for the self indulgence here.

MEMORIES
Like the trinkets in a memory bank, old quotes from show and tell
old words - abrase with emery from before we learnt to spell
a coo-ee to old countrysides, an echo from some shell
a brew sometimes confronting,
the depths of a thoughtful well

 

[2020hindsight]

Think this has been discussed ad nausium before - but here it is again

I personally think it should be contemn - meaning to "treat with contempt"
rather than condemn - meaning "to judge"
(but I'm thoroughly outvoted lol)

http://www.anzacday.org.au/education/tff/rememwords.html

The Ode
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.


The Ode comes from For the Fallen, a poem by the English poet and writer Laurence Binyon and was published in London in The Winnowing Fan: Poems of the Great War in 1914. This verse, which became the Ode for the Returned and Services League, has been used in association with commemoration services in Australia since 1921.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Ode: is it ‘condemn’ or ‘contemn’?
Every year, after ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs receives many letters asking about The Ode.

The issue raised by most letters is whether the last word of the second line should be ‘condemn’ or ‘contemn’. Contemn means to ‘despise or treat with disregard’, so both words fit the context.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.

DVA’s Commemorations Branch has been researching the poem and its background. The lines comprise the fourth stanza of the poem For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon, and were written in the bleak early days of World War 1. By mid-September 1914, less than seven weeks after the outbreak of war, the British Expeditionary Force in France had already suffered severe casualties. During this time, long lists of the dead and wounded appeared in British newspapers. It was against this background that Binyon, then the Assistant Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, wrote For the Fallen. This poem was first published in The Times on 21 September 1914.

The Times shows ‘condemn’. Some people have suggested that the use of ‘condemn’ in The Times was a typographical error. If it were, one would have expected then that the word would be correctly shown in The Winnowing Fan, published only a few months later and for which Binyon would have had galley proofs on which to mark amendments. Binyon was a highly educated man and very precise in his language and use of words. There is no doubt that had he intended ‘contemn’, then it would have been used.

There have been variations in punctuation within the poem across the years and a change in the spelling from ‘stanch’ to ‘staunch’. Dr John Hatcher, who published in 1995 an exhaustive biography of Binyon, does not even refer to any possible doubt over condemn/contemn, despite devoting a solid chapter to For the Fallen.

The British Society of Authors, who are executors of the Binyon estate, says the word is definitely ‘condemn’, while the British Museum, where Binyon worked, says its memorial stone also shows ‘condemn’. Both expressed surprise when told there had been some debate about the matter in Australia. Interestingly, the text used in 1916 by Sir Edward Elgar to set the poem to music has eight stanzas; the eighth being inserted between what now is regarded as the third and fourth stanzas.

The condemn/contemn issue seems to be a distinctly Australian phenomenon. Inquiries with the British, Canadian, and American Legions reveal that none has heard of the debate. Despite an exhaustive search by Commemorations Branch through Binyon’s published anthologies, no copy of the poem using ‘contemn’ was found. The two-volume set Collected Poems, regarded as the definitive version of Binyon’s poems, uses ‘condemn’. Although inquiries are continuing, there now seems little prospect of finding anything to support even a little the ‘contemn’ claim.

In Australia, the Returned and Services League, in its League handbook, shows ‘condemn’, while a representative of the Australian War Memorial said it always uses ‘condemn’ in its ceremonies. So how did the confusion start? No-one knows, but certainly the question has been debated for many years. Surely now it’s time to put the matter to rest.

Information courtesy of Department of Veterans' Affairs

Other sites disagree
http://deadcantrant.com/blog/archiv...-sun-and-in-the-morning-we-will-remember-them

Laurence Bunyon, For The Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

 

[2020hindsight]

Sorry to hear you are not a citizen DON BLADMAN
But Geez your a great cricketer
Wonder what to say if they asked you your name
uuummmm ooohhh DON BLADMAN

lol - he'd be in trouble if he had a memory lapse there
Sorry old man- you're visa just expired lol

I hear Rudd is fighting to keep it in the list of questions, lol
He must be the closest thing to the original Aussie Bhudda yes?

Maybe we should suggest to "nomore4s" that there's a good case for choosing a middle name as "Bradman"

 

[2020hindsight]

for those kids starting tomorrow

http://www.poemsabout.com/poet/c-micheal-james-dennis/page-4/

That link is page4 of 9 by the way - here's page 1..
http://www.poemsabout.com/poet/c-micheal-james-dennis/

Going to School ... CJ Dennis

Did you see them pass to-day, Billy, Kate and Robin,
All astride upon the back of old grey Dobbin?
Jigging, jogging off to school, down the dusty track -
What must Dobbin think of it - three upon his back?
Robin at the bridle-rein, in the middle Kate,
Billy holding on behind, his legs out straight.

Now they're coming back from school, jig, jog, jig.
See them at the corner where the gums grow big;
Dobbin flicking off the flies and blinking at the sun -
Having three upon his back he thinks is splendid fun:
Robin at the bridle-rein, in the middle Kate,
Little Billy up behind, his legs out straight.

C Micheal James Dennis

 

[2020hindsight]

Ran into a couple of words today, and decided to write this bit of bludy nonsense.. I don't a-cclaim that it's any good - perhaps I should just a-cquit ... still better than being a-pathetic I guess

- just the difference between A-muse and A-moral the second use of "A-" to sorta reverse the meaning...

A-moral - having no moral standards, restraints, or principles; unaware of or indifferent to questions of right or wrong

Musing - A product of contemplation; a thought. "an elegant tapestry of quotations, musings, aphorisms, and autobiographical reflections".

A-ttributes to A-void

if a moral is a positive – much better than A-moral
should we twist the thing around and be A-war, and praps A-quarrel? [aware and A-war, and A-quarrel?]
if musings find unblinkered truth beneath the trough-fed news
does that mean that we’d do more thinking is their target wasn’t to A-muse?

if awake is bright eyed bushy tailed – is that the same as A-sleep?
are crowds of people laughing when they’re actually A-weep?
do we have a serious problem if accountants all A-ccount?
ahh
much more amour! , much less “A-more”! champagne! and forget the A-mount.

Is that glow a light or praps “A-light” at the end of the damp dark tunnel?
is the garden abloom or praps A-bloom , with the flowers are all a-funnel?
are the stars aligned or praps A-lined with respect to our own divinity?
I guess we’ll find out in the fullness of time – and so on until in-finity.

 

[2020hindsight]

are the stars aligned or praps A-lined with respect to our own divinity?
I guess we’ll find out in the fullness of time – and so on until in-finity.

and so on until A-ffinity?

PS
if A-theist means "not theist",
and A-symmetric means "not symmetric"
does A-pathetic mean "not pathetic"

just thinking A-loud - meaning "thinking softly" )

 

[2020hindsight]

Is the fact that these important matters don't get any attention due to ignorance or apathy?
I don't know and I don't care.

 

[2020hindsight]

THE BOOMERANG - ME AND MY BROTHER, MAN.

Me:

I’d like to go out in the bush with my brother
return to the scene of the crimes -
be there with the mrothers when Canberra and others
say sorry for stolen times,
I’d like to be round the campfire’s flare
to see those sad eyes partly mended
who were round or related to babies negated
their life Mother Nature intended

cos God gave em folks who loved em like spokes
in that wheel that their Serpent had made
they were loved yet were taken- their future forsaken
in scams of some white shoe brigade,
these ignorant prigs then just dumped em in "gigs"
that played out in neglected abyss
these ignorant fools who now bullsh1t like mules -
....
but then ignorance always loved bliss.


My Brother :

I’d like to go out for a last walkabout
beyond Namatjira’s Range
and meet Rainbow Serpent – as one of his servants
from the time when things didn’t change
overpowered as he was by the lord of the whites
who obvious knew about “best”
what a shame that this Jesus – so cruel as to seize us
and our lives as such just went west.

We’re still reaching for justice, reaching for help
reaching for “fair go my brother”
a Rudd-er with lustre, and freed from the kelp
and perhaps a quick meet with my mother
just a quick word “hello”, as old age deals its blow
and the oldie moves onto “next bus”
Hey Brendan, if we need you, just leave us your number
but we’ll ring you – please don’t ring us.

 

[2020hindsight]

WHERE DO THE POLLIES STAND ON SORRY
The Gospels of Malcolm Kevin Malcolm and Peter.
(Turnbull Rudd Fraser and Costello).

In the case of the sorry curveball
in this pilgrimage to heaven
do they stand with Malcolm Turnbull
or the gospel of Kev 07,
with the gospel of Peter Costello
and the “other-than-mean-and-heartless”
forget the rest – their opinions went west
cos it’s gonna happen regardless.

I could’ve sworn that the good book
says that peace and forgiveness are healthy
and like Robin Hood, take a good look
just how lucky are white blokes and wealthy,
and I can’t help thinking that Howard
was the most destructive of men
as for Brendan, he says he’ll allow it
but he’ll argue till hell about when.

If I want to go see entertainment
I guess there’s Abbott and Costello
I’d go see Peter – he’s merriment
He’s a worthwhile and Christian fellow,
as for listening to eggheads like Abbott
as he takes the spin-doctored piss.
He wouldn’t know Christian from rabbit
I think that I’d give it a miss.

 

[2020hindsight]

I know a bloke whose eardrums broke
from the wind of his wife's tongue waggin'
He'd say with a croak when he met new folk
"I'm St George, and this is ... the missus."

 

[2020hindsight]

SOME THOUGHTS AS WE GO TRADING AND BLUNDERING ON

All this nonsense about the blue of the sky
and pollution and stuff – who cares!
the only old growth I care about
is the rise in my blue chip shares,
and the streams are all rich with dioxins and such
and the incoming tide’s not much purer,
I like big income streams , and investment share schemes
I’ll retire to my world-wide sewer.

..........

I recall as a child with my hair coarse and wild
how we’d fish and dive in at the deep end
now the creeks gone all brown and the fish are all drowned
since I started this fishing for dividend
the creek bed is yuck since the death of the duck
now the birds live in bleak biohazard
and it's sad that I say, that the price that we pay
is the world lost to tangible assets.

Explored and exploited, the world’s reconnoitred
for chances to drill and pollute
Is man such a dope that he’ll place the noose rope
round his own neck and jump through the chute?
rounded and routed, trading floors shout it
animals hide from the noise
“mankinds gone quite mad - and it’s all so damned sad
what’s it mean? a mean death! - he destroys!”

:topic PS The bloke down the road thinks that this is a picture of a net tangible asset :-
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=252363&highlight=shots#post252363

 

[2020hindsight]

There's apparently a new Ad that asks poms (seriously paraphrased "Are you sick of things in UK - the weather etc - well then move to South Australia"

Here's an attempt by a hypothetical young Advertising clerk to write the Ad:- (3 minutes lol - as if it isn't obvious)

Come to Australia the land of the emu
a bird that is gawky and grounded
Don't be a failure- come find the "extreme you"
those parts that are probly unfounded...
Leave all those grey clouds, and juvenile breakouts
in pubs, "rose and shamrock".. or "thistle"
Come bring the missus - go camping - and make out...
- it's a lovely day for a whistle

 

[2020hindsight]

THE UM - NIPOTENCE OF YOUTH

the graphs of life go up and down
like yo-yo’s on a spit
back then my mates could paint the town
with youthful jokes and wit
whatever the opposite of omnipotent
that’s the word and we were it
perhaps we might have done things different
but the moving pen has writ.