All Blacks v. Springboks and an exploration of Janet Frame that just kept going, finished up with bubbliness
Another entry well overdue - hi Dad! The rugby last night was amazing, the kind of game that gets rave write-ups in the newspaper (almost 4 pages total in the Otago Daily Times) and cliche after cliche from those oh-so-familiar announcers. "The game to end all games!"Look up - Rokocoko is baaaaaack!
On a different note (some more thoughts of mine, the kind that pop) I recently read a book of poems by a woman called Janet Frame. Most people overseas won't have heard of her, but here in New Zealand she's a cultural icon. The thing is - and this is what surprised me - her poems and thoughts are deeply negative. Cherry blossoms are bloody, the weather oppressive, cold, lonely and neglected. Any images that could maybe have had a positive spin - like that of Dunedin before it's discovery by British settlers - were always smothered by sadness or morbidity. It almost seemed like her inner joy was being denied. All the things I associated Janet Frame with before this were rural schools, derelict wooden houses, large families, threadbare clothes... It seems really sad that that kind of life produced someone with such a twisted sense of reality. Here's an example, maybe more justifiable than some (why I feel the need to justify it is another matter, lol), of a child dying of leukemia, 2nd and 3rd verses.
... who for six months has lain
his flesh at a touch bruised violet,
his face pale, his hate clearer
than milky love that would smooth over
the pebbles of diseased bone.
Pain spangles him like the sun,
He cries and cannot say why.
His blood blossoms like a pear tree.
He does not want to eat or keep
it's ugly windfall fruit.
I first read this particular poem last year in 4th form English, and then it had a weird, disquieting effect on me. Most probably this came simply from the subject, and not the language... but that same tone is evident in other poems, as well. This is from 'The Sun Shines All Day Vulgarly":
Even now, thinking about it, I'm feeling uncomfortable. Naivety, perhaps - I hope - as that's definitely something to celebrate. (Does being aware of naivety wipe out its existence?)
My English teacher, when he gave me that book, said "poems are food for the soul." It's true, but sometimes verses like that take a bit of swallowing. They make me long for "The Far-Away Horse."
-
The NZ Idols are doing Wham. "Wake me up before you go-go!" There's always some balance, isn't there? Incidentally, George Michael's pants in that video are waaaaay too tight. ^ - ^
*glances back at the tv* Ahhh! That's absurd!!!! 20-something men and women wearing leg-warmers and singing duncy 80's pop... and actually getting into it. Makes me smile, lol. Idol cheese is definitely big in NZ. *shakes head in bemusement* Oh, who am I to talk? American Idol 2 claimed my head for about a year - go Clay!
None told me that the sun would stay,
the cherry blossom wither and die,
and when its bloom was shed, the tree
cast off its guise of purity,
embrace light in its common mood
- wear a dark dress of blood.
My English teacher, when he gave me that book, said "poems are food for the soul." It's true, but sometimes verses like that take a bit of swallowing. They make me long for "The Far-Away Horse."
-
The NZ Idols are doing Wham. "Wake me up before you go-go!" There's always some balance, isn't there? Incidentally, George Michael's pants in that video are waaaaay too tight. ^ - ^
*glances back at the tv* Ahhh! That's absurd!!!! 20-something men and women wearing leg-warmers and singing duncy 80's pop... and actually getting into it. Makes me smile, lol. Idol cheese is definitely big in NZ. *shakes head in bemusement* Oh, who am I to talk? American Idol 2 claimed my head for about a year - go Clay!
posted by Anonymous @ 6:56 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home