Drawing a Veil…

I am totally fed up with hearing all of the clap-trap that is at present being bandied about concerning Muslim women wearing the veil; especially when we have The Scum and the rest of the tabloids using it to promote their own individual viscious kind of racism and bigotry. Personally I think that if if Muslim women want to wear the veil that is entirely their own choice; however they should respect my right to voice the opinion that it makes me feel uncomfortable. Leaving aside the whole argument about the subjugation of women (if a woman wants to allow herself to be subjugated she has that right), the veil makes me uncomfortable on several levels; for instance when in conversation with people one uses all sorts of indicators other than the words being spoken, such as facial expressions etc., the veil makes it impossible to see facial expressions, also the fact that women are forbidden to remove the veil in front of a male to whom the are not related sends out, in my opinion, the message that all men are sexual predators, and that makes me feel very uncomfortable indeed. I am not bigoted, racist, nor do I hold any strong religious beliefs; I respect that others have the right to follow their beliefs, but at the same time I expect them to respect my right to disagree with them, and my right to voice my opinion if something, like the wearing of the veil, makes me feel distinctly uncomfortable…

A Polish Theme

There seems to be a very Polish theme running through today; the first thing we get is a Polish plumber, who charges less for three hours labour plus parts than a British plumber would charge just to turn up. This evening we are hosting a 60th birthday party for a Polish friend, the catering for which is being done by, you guessed, Poles. I suppose some days just turn out like that…

On a more serious note, I am quite enamoured with the multicultualism that seems to abound in Edinburgh these days; I think that it makes an already interesting city so much more interesting. It also means that there are people who are willing to do odd jobs at a reasonable rate and not rip you off; the attitude being that they would rather take less money and be busy, which I for one find extremely refreshing…

Complaints

I have been having a lot of complaints recently all of them from the same source - BondWoman!!! She is bemoaning the fact that almost everytime she posts a comment my spam catcher puts her in the spam box; and despite my protests she will not believe that it is nothing to do with me. I am beginnng to wonder if my spam filter knows something that I don’t; perhaps BW has a secret that she is keeping from us… I mean if she is making lots of dosh from some dubious email scam I want my 25%

On Trolls

A troll was once a scary
Thing under the bridge,
All puffed up and full
Of its own importance.
The troll has mutated;
Still the same inflated
Ego, but now the
Natural tool of the
Troll is the keyboard!
The troll delights in
Personal attacks on
Those it deems to
Be weaker than itself;
It craves attention and
Feeds its ego on the
Discomfort of its
Target. But ignore
The troll and its ego
Will shrink, divert
Attention from it
And it will wither
And die. Roll on the
Death of the TROLL!

Poetry?

I would like to expand on yesterday’s post in which I stated why I write what I write. My tendency is to favour the poetic construct of free verse, because as an artist I do not like to be bound by rules; I also find that free verse gives me far more scope to express what I am feeling and thinking. I can understand that there are people out there who react against this poetic construct, but I cannot understand why because in refusing to acknowledge it they are missing out on so much great poetry; Walt Whitman, for example, being one of its finest exponents.

I would finish with two quotes from An Introduction to English Poetry by James Fenton:-

Consulting the Oxford Companion to English Literature (New Edition 1985) on the subject of metre, we find in the last paragraph that ‘Verse in the twentieth century has largely escaped the straitjacket of traditional metrics.’ Verse has escaped. It is not even a question of poetry having escaped, leaving verse (as in light verse) with arms bound tightly across its chest, in the manner of the traditional straitjacket. Verse has escaped. Verse is free.

The great thing, wherever you stand as a poet, is to avoid the kind of dichotomies implied by such a statement. Metrics are not a device for restraining the mad, any more than ‘open form’ or free verse is a prairie where man can do all kinds of manly things in a state of wholesome unrestrictedness.

and:-

One should say to the free spirits grazing their herds on open form: good luck, free spirits!

But if the land looks overgrazed, one should feel free to move on.

Literary Criticism

Recently I was subjected to a bit of literary criticism by that doyenne of the world of criticism and well known blogosphere troll David Duff; no, I am not going to give him the satisfaction of providing a link to his home… It was my poetry that he took objection to:-

“I think, by and large, on the whole and taking it in the round, as it were, poetry(?) is not your way out! Try knitting, or running a marathon, or join the il-Lib-non-Dems, or anything really, but not, I’m afraid to tell you, poetry.”

Now I do not mind criticism as long as it is constructive, however this was far from constructive; I am not sure what this person would call poetry, perhaps he likes the works of someone like Patience Strong. Personally, I find that sort of thing quite bland and not at all to my taste. Perhaps it was the content that he objected to, he actually didn’t ever manage to make it clear wht his objections were; he simply launched a personal attack, as is his wont on many other blogs. I have thought long and hard about what I write and would now like to set the record straight. I write what I think and what I feel, and if people don’t like it then I don’t force them to read it. My message to the David Duffs of the blogosphere is that, like it or not, poetry is about life in all of its guises. Sometimes it will be about being in a hay meadow on a brilliant sunny summer day surrounded by birds and bees (pass the bucket please), but more often than not it will reflect the gritty, grimy, shitty side of life! Life is not, to use a well worn cliche, a bowl of cherries; life can be a real shithole for some people, and the sooner that the Duffs of this world realise that the better…

Rant Over.

Big Cheese

Remaining on the theme of silly things this piece of video just shows the lengths that some people will go to for a little publicity…

Irishman wins World Oyster opening Championship

I found this story this morning, all I can say is “I wonder how many of them worked?”