Here’s an appeeling little poem to cheer you up. 🙂
“Orange” by Lu-Yong.
THE ORANGE by Wendy Cope
At lunchtime I bought a huge orange— The size of it made us all laugh. I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave— They got quarters and I got a half.
And that orange, it made me so happy, As ordinary things often do Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park. This is peace and contentment. It’s new.
The rest of the day was quite easy. I did all the jobs on my list And enjoyed them and had some time over. I love you. I’m glad I exist.
“Woman Writing Letter at Desk” by Henry Clive (ca. 1940s).
EXCHANGE OF LETTERS by Wendy Cope
'Man who is a serious novel would like to hear from a woman who is a poem' (classified advertisement, New York Review of Books).
Dear Serious Novel,
I am a terse assured lyric with impeccable rhythmic flow, some apt and original metaphors, and a music that is all my own. Some people say I am beautiful.
My vital statistics are eighteen lines, divided into three-line stanzas, with an average of four words per line.
My first husband was a cheap romance; the second was Wisden’s Cricketers’ Almanac. Most of the men I meet nowadays are autobiographies, but a substantial minority are books about photography or trains.
I have always hoped for a relationship with an upmarket work of fiction. Please write and tell me more about yourself.
Yours intensely, Song of the First Snowdrop
Dear Song of the First Snowdrop,
Many thanks for your letter. You sound like just the kind of poem I am hoping to find. I’ve always preferred short, lyrical women to the kind who go on for page after page.
I am an important 150,000 word comment on the dreams and dilemmas of twentieth-century Man. It took six years to attain my present weight and stature but all the twenty-seven publishers I have so far approached have failed to understand me. I have my share of sex and violence and a very good joke in chapter nine, but to no avail. I am sustained by the belief that I am ahead of my time.
Let’s meet as soon as possible. I am longing for you to read me from cover to cover and get to know my every word.
ENGINEERS' CORNER
by Wendy Cope
'Why isn't there an Engineers' Corner in Westminster Abbey? In Britain we've always made more fuss of a ballad than a blueprint . . . How many schoolchildren dream of becoming great engineers?' ~ Advertisement placed in The Times by the Engineering Council
We make more fuss of ballads than of blueprints --
That's why so many poets end up rich,
While engineers scrape by in cheerless garrets.
Who needs a bridge or dam? Who needs a ditch?
Whereas the person who can write a sonnet
Has got it made. It's always been the way,
For everybody knows that we need poems
And everybody reads them every day.
Yes, life is hard if you choose engineering --
You're sure to need another job as well;
You'll have to plan your projects in the evenings
Instead of going out. It must be hell.
While well-heeled poets ride around in Daimlers,
You'll burn the midnight oil to earn a crust,
With no hope of a status in the Abbey,
With no hope, even, of a modest bust.
No wonder small boys dream of writing couplets
And spurn the bike, the lorry and the train.
There's far too much encouragement of poets --
That's why this country's going down the drain.
~ from Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis (Faber & Faber, 1986)
I always enjoy Wendy Cope’s wit and humor, but when she discusses engineers and poets, it really hits home.
Talk about satire and irony. I’ve been married to an engineer for over 40 years and he’s never frequented “cheerless garrets,” nor has he had to “burn the midnight oil to earn a crust.” These scenarios are more in line with my own experience. 🙂
We must celebrate with what so many of us are craving after such a long hard winter: COLOR!
But why settle for plain blue when you can have indigo or blue moonshade? As for green, make mine Elysian. Let’s bask in the evocative names of colors and the flights of fancy they inspire. And yes, you may call me Sheba. 🙂
POEM FROM A COLOUR CHART OF HOUSEPAINTS by Wendy Cope
Limeglow of leaves –
elf, sapling
in Elysian green,
she’s jitterbugging
in the forest.
She is froth, the tang
of julep, capering
among the ferns.
Passion, the firedance
of her fantasy,
fireglow of poppy
and corona, ember.
Casanova, peerless
demon, jester!
She burns, a firefly,
Apollo’s geisha.
Her sandgold hair,
spun silk kimono,
melon and lemon sorbet
on the balcony,
white wine, gardenias.
That honeysuckle year –
if he could ransom
one sunlit day!
Indigo seascape –
Melissa in cool,
blue moonshade.
Harebell, naiad,
exotic ballerina,
she commands the bay,
the midnight swell,
the surf, pale gossamer.
Autumnal in brogues,
beige twinset, russet
tweeds, she takes
coffee at eleven,
sherry at noon –
dreams of Tarragona,
castanets, a man
who called her Sheba.
Her mood
is violet, nocturnal.
Aubrietia, phlox,
wisteria delight her
more than roses.
Solitude, a purple
robe, a last
long hazy evening.
To celebrate warmer days and the earth’s reawakening, we’re giving away one medium size (13″ x 19″) archival print of any one of Julie Paschkis’s paintings available at her new shop Julie Paprika! That’s right! Your choice!
Here are a few examples:
“Happy Family”
“Balanced Reader”
“Tortoise and Hare”
“Low Crow”
“Fruitful”
Gorgeous work! And any one of these (or another of your choosing) can be yours! Simply leave a comment at this post telling us what you’re most looking forward to now that Spring is here, no later than midnight (EDT) Wednesday, March 25, 2015. Giveaway open to U.S. residents only, please. Winner will be announced next Friday. Special thanks to Julie for this generous dash of Paprika in our Soup :). Good Luck!
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♦ 2015 POETRY MONTH KIDLITOSPHERE ROUNDUP ♦
If you’re doing something special on your blog for Poetry Month in April, please email me with your information: readermail (at) jamakimrattigan (dot) com, so I can include you in my Roundup post. Can’t wait to see what everyone will be up to!
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Beautiful and gracious Catherine is hosting today’s Roundup at Reading to the Core. Throw on a silk kimono, pour yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy the full menu of poetic goodness being shared in the blogosphere this week. Is it still too cold for lemon sorbet on the balcony?
Jama's Alphabet Soup 