| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 2:30:56 AM | | Consolation after discovering the affair on the upper west side. too many trips to Barney's. too many cosmopolitans in black silk stilettos looking for revenge. too many others wounded by such close proximity to the bomb blast. wearing the shrapnel like fine designer jewelry purchased at an exorbitant suicidal cost | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 4:49:35 AM | This rather intriguing little thread sent me off rummaging through my bookshelves to find a book by Gervase Phinn, and a beautiful little story contained within it.
Gervase Phinn was a teacher; then a education adviser on children’s language development and literacy; and later the Senior School Inspector for English and Drama in North Yorkshire, (which is in northern England). He has published 3 or 4 volumes of amusing memoirs about his time traveling around Yorkshire as a school inspector.
This is from his book “Over Hill and Dale”
-------------------------- 8<---- 8<--- snip, snip--- 8<--- 8< ---------------------------
“I once visited a large primary school in the middle of a dreadfully depressing inner city area. The work of the children consisted largely of arid exercises on the noun, the verb, and the adjective, but when questioned the children had not the first idea what the parts of speech were. Page after page was filled with dreary exercise after dreary exercise. There was the occasional story, the odd comprehension but not a sign of a poem. And then I found this nervous little boy in the corner of the classroom. When I asked if I could examine his book he looked at me with such large sad eyes and he said very quietly, “No.” I tried to coax him but he was adamant, saying that his work was not worth looking at. He couldn’t spell, his writing was untidy and he never got marks for his writing. The book was indeed very poor and like all the rest crammed with unmarked exercises. There was the occasional comment from his teacher in bright red ink for him to re-write or to take greater care.
Then, at the very back if the book I came upon a piece of writing in small crabbed print. I asked him if he had written it. He nodded. I asked him he had received any help with it. He shook his head. Well, it was quite a small masterpiece. He had written, and I remember the words so well:
Yesterday yesterday yesterday
Sorrow sorrow sorrow
Today today today
Hope hope hope
Tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow
Love love love
“What a wonderful little poem” I told him. He thought for a while, stared up at me with those sad eyes and announced:
“They’re mi spelling corrections, sir”
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For me it is a poem, - albeit with only 18 words, - but its one I’ve remembered over the years, and it seems rather appropriate for a site like this, given the reason why most of us are here. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 7:11:18 AM | | Little brown pub on 14th street. fermenting in rotted dreams. university of life crammed with professors emeritus of the crooked elbow. sawdusted pivot point. only western hemisphere locale with warm guinness . vortex of brouhaha. laughter. oratory. shadow play. shadowed days. shaded souls under shaded eyes. truth through a glass darkly | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 8:39:43 AM | | 1969 woodstock mud mud mud wavy mud mud mud cokker mud mud mud baez mud mud mud sly mud mud mud creedence mud mud mud santana mud mud mud janis mud mud mud jimi mud mud mud havens mud mud mud grateful mud mud mud airplane took me higher mudliciously | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 12:41:53 PM | | i had a moment last night...a lovely moment...my bionic friend came by for tandoori chicken and naan... more of a man than most who were both with the arm and legs he is missing...feel myself fallling....yearning intense...unsure of his feelings..overwhelmed by thoughts of him. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 2:41:40 PM | (*glaring error above...didn't catch it until now...hope all are well....)
i had a moment last night...a lovely moment...my bionic friend came by for tandoori chicken and naan... more of a man than most who were born with the arm and legs he is missing...feel myself fallling....yearning intense...unsure of his feelings..overwhelmed by thoughts of him. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 2:47:56 PM | | I Love You. I Give You My Heart, in an unspoken promise, that we won't betray. In you honor, in your defence, we'll tear apart the acqusations, the judges, the world to be at your feet. But I need you, all of you, You where my heart finds peace- rest. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 3:10:11 PM | Such a treasure to drop in here today..
I've always loved little slices of life. I sit here reading and feel humbled that others have found an interest in expressing a peek into their world in this way. This is the best reading I've done all day!
silverswan - What a prolific writer you are. Each a glimpse in one frame. Each so unique. Each with a depth that takes past the visual and into the soul of your world. Loved, especially, the slice on Woodstock. What can I say? I was 12 and there is no way Daddy would've let me go, even if I had known about it. But looking back. I so would've been there. Mud, mud, mud and all!
Brizo - I've enjoyed reading your words in other POF poetry forums. A pleasure to see them here. Completely drawn into the nature scene and pulled into your very being upon your conclusion. So appreciate your putting this here for all(me) to enjoy.
transcend - Imagery! Admitting I read your slice several times (more than 3-4) playing with each phrase, translating, rolling them over my senses, absorbing. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful imagery. You write with a depth of vocabulary that I envy. Welcome!
eyestothesky - Glorious healing. I so welcome your words. I am compelled to browse to read more of them. These, here, speak to me. Happy Easter back attcha.
Kasper Utz - Yes! LOVED your contribution. 18 words. Profound. I wanted to pick that young boy up and feed his self-worth and teach him he is all .. he is valuable .. he is good .. he is great.
Rose - "unsure of his feelings" .. I'm betting he is unsure of yours. Life will unfold as it's meant to. In the end, you'll see whatever that is, it is for the good. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 3:14:35 PM | | New reverie pours friendship into vessel void. Filling in dried seams with mortar. New buoyancy. Volumes of conversation. Lapsing into stories many times retold. Embracing this flower. This day. Birdsongs, sunshine, calm. Opening valves of color: warm yellow, terra cotta orange, natures greens ooze forth blending there .. lines of time | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 5:01:26 PM | | Song of Sappho from Orpheus's lyre. a song of light spilling forever into the drifting cosmos. honey born of fire. flame. sun warmed bodies on Aegean shores full of longing sipping the golden air like wine. Light foam flying from sapphire waves whisper eluetheria eluetheria eluetheria nothing holds my soul | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 5:07:35 PM | I wish I could claim this as mine, but its not. And at 92 words is rather stretching the 50 word limit, but having read through all the posts in this thread today, I couldn’t help but be reminded of it.
"To begin at the beginning: It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters'-and-rabbits' wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishingboatbobbing sea.
The houses are blind as moles (though moles see fine to-night in the snouting, velvet dingles) or blind as Captain Cat there in the muffled middle by the pump and the town clock, the shops in mourning, the Welfare Hall in widows' weeds. And all the people of the lulled and dumbfound town are sleeping now."
For those that don’t recognise it, these are the opening lines of Dylan Thomas’s “Under Milk Wood” Known as Thomas’s “play for voices”, it was originally a BBC radio play, and only later adapted for the stage. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 7:08:25 PM | | The engine turns but yearns for more. Perhaps it's tired of being used, perhaps it's worn from the effort that love and lust demand. Either way it's time for it to be replaced, so off to the junkyard it goes, to join the other Camaros, Novas and countless other forgotten heroes of better times, and it's here they hope and pray to be restored. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 10:37:43 PM | | daisy and i went chasing the sunset..watching the rippling waters reflect the sky...so good to be out of my head and breathe in life..ducks pair up once again while geese and cranes and herons pass through on their journey up north...the delta waters soothe my soul. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 10:38:43 PM | | Dadddy, which one did you send? The chocolate ones. Really there's so many of them. How was your day, did you have alot of fun? Yes, Dad you now were going to Grandma's. Say Hello, and Happy Easter and have a great time! I love you, talk to you later. | |
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mmmmmy
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Joined: 2/11/2008
Msg: 40 | |
| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/23/2008 10:47:03 PM | Say Goodbye to your 40's , unknown sights to see. Climb to the top of the rollercoaster and see what you can see, when we get to the top, scream out loud!
Scream like you never screamed before, its all downhill from here!Enjoy the Ride...Feel the otherside , Climb on!
Song: Top of the Rollercoaster
Artist : David Wilcox
 Rock on...my friends!  | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/24/2008 12:23:09 AM | religious experience
everyone, everywhere seems to have them..
..how can all religions strike such a similar note ,
the only thing in common is us...
are we creating pathways to generate our own energy ,
finding our own switches..triggering our own electrodes
Is it the lab monkey that can't stop pressing his own button? | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/24/2008 2:16:21 AM | Kasper.... that was great to read again.... we performed that in college.... (I did Mrs. Pugh and Lily Smalls and couple of misc. voices) just a blacked out stage, small lights clipped to music stands, was it six of us? I can't remember, just remember the delight hearing the words rolling off my tongue, speaking such brilliant tiny gems. I heartily recommend anyone going to their local library to find an old recording of this masterpiece, that you can only hear to truly appreciate. I don't care if it is going over the 50 word limit...here is a snippet near the ending:
Dusk is drowned for ever until to-morrow. It is all at once night now. The windy town is a hill of windows, and from the larrupped waves the lights of the lamps in the windows call back the day and the dead that have run away to sea. All over the calling dark, babies and old men are bribed and lullabied to sleep. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/24/2008 2:28:47 AM | | Memories. rattling windows. knocking at doors. finally seeping thru the cracks in concrete walls since erected, slowly , softly, like candle glow. youthful voice reciting careless joy. tilting the dome of time with a sigh, afraid to look, i look away. i lift an empty glass to the empty air. slainte. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/24/2008 11:25:30 AM | | ...it's already starting to sink in. the line of rich saur kraut . sour. that's the hour . some lost amish recipe. stirs at this time usually round the crock . lift the rock. put back in cold cellar. await arrival on the table with summer picnics. then one warm , spring day.... summer | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/24/2008 11:39:16 AM | | arrives like a swing of fresh air landing me on my derriere tuffet. playing with the drift of clouds dreaming on a whip-poor-wills song. deciphering the mood at last long. spring is arrived and it spreads thin the air . bringing in its' fair share of babies . soft short squeals abound | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/24/2008 11:39:52 AM | | I thought about the leap and what it would mean. I listened to the sound and wondered if you heard it the way I did. I saw the mountain, white capped glory and realized its strength...it's within me she said....all I need is within me. She's so wise. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/24/2008 12:17:14 PM | smiling brown eyes warms my heart and soul…… lost in play she feeds her rubber duckie pretend and laughs at the joke created… nana look! blue googles and red boa ready for the night on the town, she giggles in make believe..
i melt…Honey has never tasted so sweet. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/25/2008 4:04:25 AM | These 'slices'- they're so beautiful, so intense and moving. What a way to start the day! With your heart both broken and stirred in sympathy/empathy.
Beginning - heartbeat. Bolder feet begin the dance. Wildest rhythms quicken the air. Alive . Primal. Energy unleashed sustains, consumes, transforms me. Us. We're all a part, one ferociously beating heart. Hands flying. Plucking beats from air. Hips sway to pounding feet and we- you and I and we all- are one. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/25/2008 6:45:00 AM | Am enjoying the slices in here.
highways, sunshine, hands on the wheel, your hands on my thigh, watching me, that smile, electric touch, passing lane, transport trucks, 433 kilometers home, sigh, trade drivers, long passionate kisses and gas fill up, the heat of your leg, your arm, your glance, finally, home, scattered clothing on livingroom floor. | |
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| A Slice of Life In 50 Words .............
Posted: 3/25/2008 9:56:54 AM | Life...blowing breeze, gentle, but true
A beautiful sail, amidst sea's blue
It taunts, pulls you into its allure
And makes you want to know for sure
It tells of today and beckons tomorrow
It wipes away your tears of past sorrow
Sometimes beautiful, sometimes strong
Always right, never wrong. | |
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