tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post755520948797350726..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Says Tweed to TillUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-15102688998224643942012-03-12T04:21:37.298-07:002012-03-12T04:21:37.298-07:00A pan dipped in the folkloric stream rarely fails ...A pan dipped in the folkloric stream rarely fails to turn up some glittering grain of poetry.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-36585689131639083212012-03-11T14:02:49.144-07:002012-03-11T14:02:49.144-07:00Reminds me a bit of Anna Liffey and her whispering...Reminds me a bit of Anna Liffey and her whisperings threading her way down toward Howth and the ancient Dublin city ...<br /><br />Beautiful photographic essay (almost wrote assay, which might be the better choice).Issa's Untidy Huthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07352841590717991698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-47174486775627951622012-03-06T14:48:50.338-08:002012-03-06T14:48:50.338-08:00Thanks tom for the response and the opportunity to...Thanks tom for the response and the opportunity to share somethingAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-88677464272499635562012-03-05T19:36:34.171-08:002012-03-05T19:36:34.171-08:00Brad,
Sorry about that, I hadn't noticed your...Brad,<br /><br />Sorry about that, I hadn't noticed your comment was stuck in the holding tank (speaking of brigands).<br /><br />I had hoped you'd see this one, in fact had thought of you and your background all through the construction of these last several posts.<br /><br />If ever a place merited that unconditional lost-in-the-clouds love, this must be it. At least you've got those memories.<br /><br />I too, in other times and other historical circumstances, had a long spell out of this country, and then a longer spell, once returned, of regarding with rue that fateful decision to come back.<br /><br />All these delayed departures, always so riddled with considerations and reconsiderations. <br /><br />Though back when I was negotiating these waters, one had to do so, in fact, by ship... a degree of difficulty that at least upped the ante just a tad. Or should have done, had one only possessed the mother wit.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-10038831601239552462012-03-05T19:25:27.862-08:002012-03-05T19:25:27.862-08:00dalriada,
A lovely and moving tribute that is. Ho...dalriada,<br /><br />A lovely and moving tribute that is. Honouring the origins, keeping the memories green -- I'm convinced the memorial function is the oldest and deepest use of poetry. That the things to which we have given care, and which have cared for us, not be forgotten. <br /><br /><br />Vassilis and Tom,<br /><br />Now we narrow in more closely upon't, putting a name to the troublous and contentious, lyrical and ultimately ineradicable wild spirit of the poetry of all historically disputed Borderlands. Brigands and cowboys, indeed. <br /><br />Where there's life there's hope (even if it doesn't come in the package deal with the diamonds and gold, the prizes, the grants and the tenure).TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-68749528516204123522012-03-05T19:12:44.392-08:002012-03-05T19:12:44.392-08:00These posts are taking me back to far happier time...These posts are taking me back to far happier times spent as a gadfly about Glasgow, purportedly a student at the ancient local university, but mostly just siphoning enough from room & board funds for bus rides to vaguely guttural sounding towns like Wick, Lairg, and Lochcarron, getting lost in clouds just long enough for fear but not long for desperation, and falling in love with a people. I wanted never to leave, and perhaps should've pressed the issue when the visa stamp on my passport indicated I needed to do so. I miss it still; and with these images & this language, I return.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-88864941965476617212012-03-05T16:02:30.458-08:002012-03-05T16:02:30.458-08:00"they prized a poem almost as much as plunder..."they prized a poem almost as much as plunder..."<br /><br />Sounds like "Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys":<br /><br />"Cowboys ain't easy to love and they're harder to hold.<br />They'd rather give you a song than diamonds or gold."Tom Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14211378281642641041noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-2693924675874176962012-03-05T12:31:10.965-08:002012-03-05T12:31:10.965-08:00My many thanks for the recent postings My father...My many thanks for the recent postings My father's ancestors to judge from the name were from the Border region of Scotland and my mother’s The Highlands Last week would have been my father's 83rd and today my mother's 80th had she not died in March last year shortly after her 79th<br /><br />I live in Massachusetts now<br /><br />Something impromptu:-<br /><br /><br />Faw water ae the River Till<br /><br />faws flowing through an overspill<br />The Tweed fae Glenbreck<br />rill on rill and Till by Jillyspoon<br />the memories stir -<br /> what yins<br />survive and aw that deid drooned<br />or drapped as the fish rose tae flies<br />whar Till and Tweed collide<br /><br />Frae Coldstream so my Borders kin<br />gang forth to Forth and settled in<br />leaving their land<br />their sheep-thieving ways behind<br /><br />Whar bigger battles fought defined<br />the course and sent the Scots<br />in rinning waves across the gorse - <br />frae Stirling tae America frae border roots<br />and Heilan’ crags whar mither’s clan<br />sang played and pranced <br /><br />Tae visit and revisit graves<br />smile and lament -<br />on birth days aye recall<br /><br />a pibroch air<br />a reel tae up and dancedalriada9https://www.blogger.com/profile/17990203576541463664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-69470708966705356562012-03-05T10:41:44.014-08:002012-03-05T10:41:44.014-08:00"they prized a poem almost as much as plunder..."they prized a poem almost as much as plunder..." indeed they did and we are sorely in need of such poetic brigands.vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14515165428574974933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-88735144525961384842012-03-05T08:48:27.731-08:002012-03-05T08:48:27.731-08:00Hazen,
Kicks galore here, as in batten down the w...Hazen,<br /><br />Kicks galore here, as in batten down the wee Tartan hatches.<br /><br />Our kilts are in disarray.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-20684937625968167382012-03-05T08:29:42.325-08:002012-03-05T08:29:42.325-08:00Down East here, I hadn’t yet heard about the tembl...Down East here, I hadn’t yet heard about the temblor out your way until I read the comments. Steady on. Anyway, I’m liking very much this ‘plaid kick’ you’re on. If I were still a travelin’ man’d I’d hie me to Scotland, in hopes of experiencing with my own eyes and ears a bit of what you offer.Hazenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13417573435195561519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-32959832636973308352012-03-05T07:12:37.685-08:002012-03-05T07:12:37.685-08:00Steve,
Aye, right under us -- a short sharp jolt,...Steve,<br /><br />Aye, right under us -- a short sharp jolt, followed by a pause, followed by a rocking freight-train rumble that knocked the antique dust catcher objects off the walls <br /><br />At the speed<br />of the Tweed<br /><br />a troubled river<br />receiving its tributary<br /><br />Dense cold fog shrouding all here, with high wind advisory.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-30608079357230464512012-03-05T06:48:02.925-08:002012-03-05T06:48:02.925-08:00Tom,
Aye laddie, 'twas a big one this mornin&...Tom,<br /><br />Aye laddie, 'twas a big one this mornin' (5:43 'twas it? Hayward fault say ye? -- methought 'twas right under me house, shakin' me awake, rattlin' bones and windows). Maybe 'tis time to head for the hills, or take our boats to the Tweed . . .<br /><br />3.5<br /><br />light coming into fog against invisible<br />ridge, first sparrow calling from field<br />in foreground, sound of wave in channel<br /><br /> in this sense space is mass<br /> of matter, that which<br /><br /> follows that, in accordance<br /> with, hence the other<br /><br />cloudless blue sky reflected in channel,<br />sunlit green of pine on tip of sandspitSTEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.com