Published January 18, 2007 by

e e cummings

Here’s a peculiar fellow.

Poetry and all.

Me up at does
by e e cummings

Me up at does

out of the floor
quietly Stare

a poisoned mouse

still who alive

is asking What
have i done that

You wouldn’t have

None too conventional. None too grammar-appeasing. All those sms/msn users and other such s acronymed methods of communication and perhaps the odd MySpace user should hold an e e cummings day! Celebrate the use of lowercase and random capitalisation, commas, full stops, apostrophes and quote word quote (that’s almost coding) in the wrong places.

Hey look, if he could claim it as poetry – be famous and all that while only leaving a few disgruntled literate geniuses in his wake then well there’s room for the emo in all of us to express things however we want to.

Onward ho!

Better still, let’s introduce e e cummings into our schools.

“Good morning English class, My name is Edward Estlin. Oh look, you don’t need my help, you just need to bluff your way into secondary school, onward through university and into the workforce where of course literacy is a given. We can always pay others who somehow actually learnt where a comma should go to write that next report. Or you know, you can always pull the word ‘art’ out of your handbag/backpack and claim the fame that follows. Good luck and good afternoon.”

Yet, I can actually find a little amusing quirk in his words. Make sense of this:

will you teach a wretch to live…
by e.e. cummings

(will you teach a wretch to live straighter than a needle) ask
her
ask
when
(ask and
ask
and ask
again and)ask a
brittle little
person fiddling
in
the
rain

And meanwhile, you msn users (and the like) have absolutely zero claim to e e cummings. Save the planet with exemplary grammar before we start to breed ignoramuses!

General Words

Published December 12, 2006 by

First Phrase

I post there occasionally, this was one of my ‘originals’ by way of blogging. A dumping ground for thoughts of other people (mostly wiser than myself) so it’s got a few gold quotes in a collection that is infinitely expandable.

I realised just today that I didn’t even bother linking there from here so I’ve remedied that.

Like Read and Blue, I’ve pulled it out of Blogger and into WordPress and had a bit of fun designing a girlyish/vintagey template for it. I am miffed that the template that I used to base the design on doesn’t support widgets, so I guess I shall make myself learn how to do that. It will undoubtedly be fiddly but really probably highly beneficial.

So please visit:

First Phrase

and if you have any wonderful pieces of advice by way of quote, please leave them lying around conspicuously.

Blogging General Words

Published November 19, 2006 by

A short rant on swearing

fingerA short rant on swearing

I am not a fan of swearing and I am not advocating it, as a general rule I don’t swear, but annoys the cack out of me when Christians get legalistic about it.

It took some ‘missionary sheltered kid’ getting used to certain friends ‘flipping the bird’ regularly at each other – at the risk of sounding well, I don’t know what, it is purely in jest/for fun and really hurts absolutely no one.

It amused me when my parents adopted the rare ‘crap’ into their repertoire. I use ‘crap’ now and then, I don’t particularly like it when I do but it’s not really the point (and ‘crap’ is pretty tame really).

This is the point: it angers me when someone in a semi-leadership position pulls an appropriately used emphatic ‘swear’ word out of what someone has written and makes an issue of it. AND When Christians make a bigger deal out of someone dropping in an unwanted word than they do about Christians being apathetic about unwanted people (as just one fractionally cliched but very real example).

Some words offensive 30 years ago now are commonplace terms. Where can you cross the line and extend the language and take liberties? Like it or not, English – a pathetically complicated language to start with, is evolving, or… devolving. Quoting Shakespeare is now a far less effective way to put across a point, although much more beautiful.

“You taught me language, and my profit on’t Is, I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language!“ – William Shakespeare

Comprendo?

Christianity General Words

Published November 9, 2006 by

The Happy Prince

read “Once upon a time in the town square there was a meaningful statue called the happy prince. An artist who was flying away from the onset of confusion alighted to rest on the shoulder of the happy prince. The statue spoke to the artist: ‘There are many bewildered people in this town – strip away my meaning and take it to them.’

So the artist began to strip away the meaningful features and take them to the people. ‘You must hurry,’ said the happy prince, ‘Or you will be caught up in the growing confusion.’ But the artist continued fearlessly until all that was left of the happy prince was his naked heart.

The townspeople did not understand hearts very well and were angered and embarrassed by the sight of it. And the artist fell down too exhausted to continue his flight to simplicity. The town council ordered the heart to be removed and replaced with something which could be understood. But nothing could alter the onset of confusion and meaninglessness. Nothing except a sense of mystery, which nurtured the artist and the exiled heart of the happy prince.” – Michael Leunig (The Happy Prince from Wild Figments)

john 12:1-8

-John 12:1-8

Books Christianity General Life Words

Published October 24, 2006 by

Sick of Being Sick

Stupidly relevant quote:

“Teach me the art of patience whilst I am well, and give me the use of it when I am sick.”
-Thomas Fuller: Good Thoughts in Bad Times.

General Words