tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post8518145322064645908..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Poetry and Extreme Weather Events: William McGonagall: The Tay Bridge DisasterUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-83182161149524471812015-02-25T08:49:08.336-08:002015-02-25T08:49:08.336-08:00The boat was gone this morning, dislodging the mid...The boat was gone this morning, dislodging the middle of the three pilings visible in the background as it went. We woke this morning to the gentle knocking of the former piling (now log?) against our hull.<br /><br />I should write a poem.Norahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14439557611640319928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-18588856566366805432015-02-25T04:52:04.215-08:002015-02-25T04:52:04.215-08:00Nora, that looks like the result of one of these p...Nora, that looks like the result of one of these powerful nor'easters we've been having.<br /><br />Easily strong enough to beach a cute toy boat.<br /><br />By inserting a bit of actual useful local knowledge into the comments, you've perhaps prevented future lookers from thinking it's some kind of cunning hoax. <br /><br />I call that a service.<br /><br />William McGonagall would undoubtedly have thought likewise, and likely would have declaimed upon that thought, in the event the next king tide was slow in arriving.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-71786014834295690152015-02-24T17:27:01.579-08:002015-02-24T17:27:01.579-08:00Oops, I should pay more attention when I'm typ...Oops, I should pay more attention when I'm typing. The previous post should say, "It looks like they just <i>used too</i> thin a line to hold their anchor." Norahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14439557611640319928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-66303398000225068402015-02-24T15:55:24.088-08:002015-02-24T15:55:24.088-08:00That is a fantastic poem. Also, as someone who is ...That is a fantastic poem. Also, as someone who is at the mercy of both wind and wave, a darn scary read.<br /><br />Just the other morning, we woke up to a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200323285840323&set=a.1230201490720.29265.1699601220&type=1&theater" rel="nofollow">new shipwreck</a> outside our back door. It looks like they'd just looked to thin a line to hold their anchor -- if we're ever wrecked, it'll be a more spectacular failure of engineering worthy of Wm McGonagall.Norahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14439557611640319928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-34067068425036453272015-02-23T19:13:00.352-08:002015-02-23T19:13:00.352-08:00billoo,
Very interesting article. Following out ...billoo, <br /><br />Very interesting article. Following out the implied proposition, that a Kyoto-style structure -- open, visibly fragile, vulnerable to winds and weather -- might not have simply presented to the world a far less formidable, imposing and dominating symbol of Money and Power (the real twin towers), but might also have seemed a far less effective target (after all, an attack on Humility and Vulnerability would be viewed far differently than an attack on the monolithic citadels of the global power of Capitalism), is a useful thought-exercise.<br /><br />But of course no such architectural plan could have been sold to New York in the first place. Once the architect said things like "Kyoto" and "unprotected" and "vulnerable" and "open to the winds", there would have ensued a brief period of semi-polite throat-clearing and glancing-at-watches, followed by some sort of conciliatory resolution, along the lines of "Who let this guy in here? -- he must be nuts!", and "Get him out of here right now... give him a broom and a bin on wheels, offer him a sub-janitor position, anything!" <br /><br />One suspects Mohamed Atta was a shrewd fellow who knew exactly what he was doing. He had done a long and careful study of urban design in his dissertation on Aleppo. He may even -- mirabile dictu! -- have known more about how cities are made, how they work, and how they can be made to fall, than, yes, Rudy Giuliani.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-47851117250960196692015-02-23T02:51:08.360-08:002015-02-23T02:51:08.360-08:00Tom, startling images and a haunting story.
I won...Tom, startling images and a haunting story.<br /><br />I wonder, though, if after a certain point building 'harder houses' makes us more likely to get killed?<br /><br />Rowan Moore had a fascinating article on the architect of the twin towers. In particular, the question that struck me was: what makes buildings and cities strong? Their opposition to nature?<br /><br />http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/features/minoruyamasaki<br /><br /><br /><br />billoohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10716970909272480118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-55626550899943405192015-02-22T17:55:33.355-08:002015-02-22T17:55:33.355-08:00Oh, McGonagall. Poor McGonagall. Every time anothe...Oh, McGonagall. Poor McGonagall. Every time another internet genius declares him the worst poet of all time, a handmedown opinion which has always been easier to pass along than to contest, a tiny thimbleful of blood, stored deep in the dusty cupboard of the heart, springs a leak.<br /><br />Just because you weren't meaning to be funny doesn't make your poems any the less funny and great, if you're McGonagall.<br /><br />If you checked out that short video link, you'll note that, toward the end, a descendant, dressed up in her best clothes, sitting in her best fake leather armchair (the one with black masking tape discreetly covering a rip in the armrest, a particularly touching detail for me, because I've had that same chair for almost 50 years, more than once actually carried it on my back, and carefully placed that same bit of home-repair black tape in exactly that same spot, though I can no longer sit in it without being swallowed up forever), tells the interviewer politely but firmly that No, she didn't like the Spike Milligan film about McGonagall, and didn't want to be involved in it, because, in fact, she thought her ancestor was, once again, being mocked, for what she suggested were/are "reasons" having to do with his being of low class, uneducated, and she was quite right, and I felt proud of her. <br /><br />The stories of McG's (non-, or fantasy-) relations with Queen V are too heartbreaking to think about for long without feeling awful.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-61196092138477509322015-02-22T05:43:31.186-08:002015-02-22T05:43:31.186-08:00When is William McGonagall going to get a bit of d...<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxfv5uDwMK0" rel="nofollow">When is William McGonagall going to get a bit of due credit?</a>TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.com