tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post3141057403484897319..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Stevie Smith: ScorpionUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-34346351601826082952012-01-11T09:10:32.117-08:002012-01-11T09:10:32.117-08:00This poem is absolutely amazing. I'm happy you...This poem is absolutely amazing. I'm happy you provided the background, because I was wondering / suspecting as much. What a delight. I will return to this, and her work, often.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-23419115141587657032012-01-11T02:39:37.503-08:002012-01-11T02:39:37.503-08:00Maybe my all time favourite poetic "vehicle&q...Maybe my all time favourite poetic "vehicle", and getting favourite-er all the time.<br /><br />Ah, but hitching a ride on that mercifully speedy scorpion-skua lightning-bolt, not so easy.<br /><br />Even after many and many a sleepless night of mentally wading the historical black eddies of morbid humour, who could ever top this --<br /><br />But all I can think of is the Out-Patients' Department --<br />'Are you Mrs. Briggs, dear?'<br />No, I am Scorpion. <br /><br />-- I esk ya.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-56696347461614279552012-01-11T01:15:00.349-08:002012-01-11T01:15:00.349-08:00Stevie Smith is a lightning bolt.Stevie Smith is a lightning bolt.vazambam (Vassilis Zambaras)https://www.blogger.com/profile/14515165428574974933noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-23468502820750473312012-01-10T11:15:22.812-08:002012-01-10T11:15:22.812-08:00I like how quirky she is/was. My mom had TB, too....I like how quirky she is/was. My mom had TB, too. She said it made her vow never want to spend a day inside again, and she almost lived up to that vowNin Andrewshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12643167108589844026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-21702048810329611092012-01-10T10:13:46.478-08:002012-01-10T10:13:46.478-08:00Tom,
"Circular diffraction of ripples at Poi...Tom,<br /><br />"Circular diffraction of ripples at Point Reyes. . ."<br /><br />"To waft over grass till it comes to the blue sea. . ."<br /><br />"A Great Skua swoops. . ."<br /><br />1.10<br /><br />line of pink cloud above still shadowed<br />ridge, white edge of moon behind branch<br />in foreground, sound of wave in channel<br /><br /> as such, that in everything<br /> there “put into words”<br /><br /> is in its place, background<br /> of tall trees, clouds<br /><br />orange circle of sun rising above ridge,<br />cormorant flapping toward point on leftSTEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-56224849688973501162012-01-10T09:27:21.041-08:002012-01-10T09:27:21.041-08:00This is extraordinary (obviously) and I'm stil...This is extraordinary (obviously) and I'm still wafting over the grass and sea of it. (The sea which somehow looks like a scorpion to me.) The poem reminds me of thoughts I had just last night lying in bed preparing to pass out. All of it is great, but <br /><br /><br />Sea and grass must be quite empty<br />Other souls can find somewhere else. <br /><br />really resonates for me.<br /><br />CurtisACravanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00315707533118640284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-37540703339242520652012-01-10T07:35:27.491-08:002012-01-10T07:35:27.491-08:00"Scorpion" was evidently Stevie Smith..."Scorpion" was evidently Stevie Smith's favourite among the final poems she collected for a projected book, before dying of a brain tumour in 1971.<br /><br />Its subject matter is not unfamiliar to readers of her earlier work.<br /><br />"When Stevie was five she developed tuberculous peritonitis and was sent to a sanatorium near Broadstairs, where she remained off and on for several years. She related that her preoccupation with death began when she was seven, at a time when she was very distressed at being sent away from her mother. She thought that if she kept on crying and refusing to eat she would die, and her misery would end. When she found she did not die immediately, she began to think that she need not die today, death could be put off to another day. However she always kept in her mind the thought that death could be summoned at any time if she decided that her suffering was more than she could bear. She continued to find this thought helpful when she became depressed. Death fascinated her and is the subject of many of her poems."<br /><br />Audio readings (and texts) for two of Stevie Smith's best poems can be found <a href="http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=7088#" rel="nofollow">here</a>.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.com