Category Archives: current emanations

Gaarriye

Posted on October 2, 2012 by

(I was devastated to hear yesterday of the death of Gaarriye, one of the great Somali poets of his generation, and an under-sung, insufficiently-acknowledged figure in African and indeed world poetry. I am still reeling – the last I’d heard, … Continue reading →

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Idiot Parable 7

Posted on September 26, 2012 by

(Going through my papers from my recent trip to the Istanbul Poetry Festival, I found this among a set of scribbles done during those parts of readings where there’s no translation, and the rhythm and animated delivery of some reader … Continue reading →

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Idiot Parable 6

Posted on September 9, 2012 by

The Parable of the Bird and the Water Tank One morning there came a tapping from the shiny metal water tank that was set up on the small shed to provide the house with hot water. It consisted of a … Continue reading →

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Priest, Beast or Feast?

Posted on September 8, 2012 by

(Another couple of paragraphs found among last month’s notes.) Critics tend to the priestly; writers to the beastly. A happy few prefer the feastly, but many will, unchallenged, revert to stereotypes as though to membership of outmoded castes – one … Continue reading →

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Idiot Parable 5

Posted on September 6, 2012 by

(Thanks to David Edwick for finding this image.) The Parable of the Gecko and the Praying Mantis Kuhl’s flying gecko, Prychozoon kuhli, drawn on lithographic stone ready for printing by Frederick William Frohawk (1861-1946). Natural History Museum, London. At night, … Continue reading →

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Idiot Parable 4

Posted on September 3, 2012 by

(In order to get the blog rolling again after a long vacuous summer in which I stared gecko-like at flies, here is number 4 in an occasional series of which I have not yet posted the first three. Although one of … Continue reading →

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Interview with the Gumpire

Posted on June 5, 2012 by

(This is the text of an email interview a student conducted with me this April for a project – I didn’t know them and, while they gave permission for their questions to be reproduced here, they preferred not to give … Continue reading →

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The Nay I Know Not Seamless Garment Garment

Posted on May 19, 2012 by

An eminently sensible question from a former student, ‘Do you have different blogs for a reason? Maybe you should just choose one and stick to it?’ has made me go over this old niggle from a new angle. Whether we’re … Continue reading →

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The Academy of Errors?

Posted on May 16, 2012 by

News of the death of the very playful, very questioning ‘scul?tor’ George Wylie has made me think again about this wry, almost Socratic strain in the Scottish mind, as evidenced by figures as diverse as Wylie himself, Ivor Cutler, Chic … Continue reading →

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Bee-bread for the Poetry Lug

Posted on June 21, 2011 by

In St Augustine’s Confessions there’s a famous description of one of the key figures in the early Church, St Ambrose, the bishop of Milan: ‘When he read, his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning, but … Continue reading →

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