notes
| 2K |
For third millennium dates,
this site uses 2K for 200x, appending a digit for the individual
year. 2K0 is 2000, 2K3 is 2003, 2Kx for any year in the millennium, etc.. If necessary, a colon and a month number
is appended: thus 2K2:6 is June 2002. Getting the pronunciation right is important in poetry. Because I recite to geek-free audiences, I use normal English date pronunciation, so 2K1 is neither 'two kay one' nor 'two kilo one' but 'two thousand and one'. Personally, I find the 'kay' sound neater. Top |
| Cambridge Poetry |
There seem to be at least four independent groups of poets in Cambridge.
The greatest are the academics; internationally renown, absolutely brilliant, and including some of the best poets in the English language (such as JH Prynne). These guys are taking the art forward. Then there are the town poets, a loose knit collection of individuals who, from time to time, share events (CB1, CamPoets, Borders). I'm one of them. Most of us are published, many collected (not me), but we won't change the art. Then there are the survivor poets, centred around (blast, I've forgotten the name of the place). These are the guys who get on TV and radio. Their work is written because it needs to be written. But don't knock it; some of these guys can write; some are published, a few collected. Finally, I know of at least one minor group of green putty poets, meeting once a month or so in a pub and keeping the landlord happy with work best appreciated when seriously drunk. Or am I being unfair? Top |
| Camera | The camera I used in most of my photography was a Pentax Me Super. Some photographs used pocket point-and-click devices; a few used a medium format model. I don't possess a digital camera; I'm awaiting a product which produces 35mm quality results which I can afford. Top |
| Gawain | Sir Harrison Birtwhistle's opera Gawain, based on "Gawain And The Green Knight", directly inspired my poem Accelerating Is Language English. Gawain leaves his fellow knights of the round table to go on a quest at the behest of the Green Knight. In the tale, he grows up, and returns to realise his fellow knights are immature drunks. Top |
| Henry VIII | The poem an engineering rush :: homework is based on a story familiar to most English school children. King Henry VIII (1491-1547), King of England (1509-1547) was declared "Defender Of The Faith" by the pope of the time. His Queen, Catherine of Aragon, gave birth to the future Mary I, but no sons. Henry decided to divorce her. The pope refused him permission. So Henry first divorced England from the Catholic Church, destroying its power by destroying the monasteries, creating the Church of England. This started the English reformation. He married six queens, divorcing two, beheading two (Anne Boleyn for adultery, ironic given he'd committed adultery with her before marrying her), loosing Jane Seymour to childbirth and being outlived by Catherine Parr. He was the king that declared the Empire to general international laughter. He reputèdly composed the folk song Greensleeves. He died of what is now diagnosed as syphilis. Top |
| Hymnen | My poem Hymnen summarises my postgrad doubts about Artificial Intelligence, and attempts to addresses them. It includes references to modern physics, with rather too much poetic licence. The great composer Karlheinz Stockhausen's electronic musical work of the same name indirectly inspired the poem, and I thank him for his kind permission to use the title. He kindly described my poem as being "important and true". Top |
| Hyperspace | Michio Kaku book "Hyperspace", referenced in an engineering rush :: new scientist (Oxford University Press, 1994, 0-19-508514-0), contains his theory that universes evolve from each other. He is a Professor of Physics in New York. A great deal has happened in cosmology since the book was published; I've no idea if the theory is still considered. Top |
| published |
What you get from a poem combines the poets words and your response.
My opinions of my own poems depends on me alone.
What you experience is not exactly what I write, and may
occasionally be entirely different.
This goes further. Editors, being human (honest), may like a poem I don't. I'm not well read; I cannot properly judge my own work. It would be arrogant of me to belittle their opinions by not submitting a poem they might appreciate just because I dislike it. Hence I submit all my poems for publication, even those I believe crap. Some I intensely dislike have been accepted. And this is why all my poems are on this site. I have censored nothing. You judge them. Top |
| Simulation Argument | My sequence of poems an engineering rush (particularly an engineering rush :: the argument) is really an opportunistic poetic misinterpretation of "the simulation argument". This is a modern philosophical position articulated by Nick Bostrom; visit his site to see what I've abused. I fist encountered it in the final July 2K2 edition of New Scientist. It seems to be rumbling around the science press; the New Scientist published another article in June 2K3 advising people to look for glitches in the real world (hence this). Top |
| The Slits |
This all girl punk band, mentioned in my poem
remembering the slits,
made the brilliant single "Typical Girls" backed by an excellent version of
"I Heard It Through The Grapevine", the album "Cut" in 1979 which, in my opinion,
didn't live up to their potential., and vanished in acrimony.
The album had a photo of them, topless, covered in mud; amazon warriors. Oh yes.
At least, that's what I remember; I lost touch.
Which shows how good my memories are: when I checked my record collection I found four singles (including a freebie) and two albums. I don't have a copy of "The John Peel Sessions". Unless I have. Some Slits are playing again. Top |
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2K
Cambridge Poetry
Camera
Gawain
Henry VIII
Hymnen
Hyperspace
published
Simulation Argument
The Slits