tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post5145436688839708159..comments2024-01-28T03:56:39.351-08:00Comments on TOM CLARK: Message from the CaptainUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-79096625034975296212011-09-06T02:48:39.756-07:002011-09-06T02:48:39.756-07:00Yes indeedy, and Massenet, and Isaiah.
I am incli...Yes indeedy, and Massenet, and Isaiah.<br /><br />I am inclined to be grateful for your fine ear.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-22789596620405040682011-09-05T11:04:18.859-07:002011-09-05T11:04:18.859-07:00This poem produced a strange combination of Laurie...This poem produced a strange combination of Laurie Anderson and Nazareth in my head. I like that, and am inclined to be pleased.Peter Greenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17806372860467057912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-16274949141746154312010-01-16T01:57:50.435-08:002010-01-16T01:57:50.435-08:00Curtis,
I remember my "flying days" as ...Curtis,<br /><br />I remember my "flying days" as one long nightmare.<br /><br />A DC-3 with one engine out, bouncing to a wobbly skid-stop on a golf course in Kent.<br /><br />An SFO/Seattle flight that had to turn back because--message from the Captain--one wheel wouldn't budge from a half-retracted position, and the Captain said, Get ready to see some sparks, folks. And we did.<br /><br />And that terrible "tight" (short) runway approach in San Diego, coming in from the East, yegads, the horror, more than once.<br /><br />Don't really understand why one would be afraid in such circumstances, what a clean, quick exit it would be, sans the horrors of beeps and lights and intubation in the institutional sundown sector.<br /><br />Probably just the creature deep inside saying, You shouldn't be in this metal tube up in the air.<br /><br />Never again, in any case.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-76688167648973741632010-01-15T07:35:51.383-08:002010-01-15T07:35:51.383-08:00I've had a prefiguration of death many times, ...I've had a prefiguration of death many times, while circling over airports, either just above the clouds or the twinkling incandescence of cities.<br /><br />Maybe jet flight is like being dead, circling around at 25,000 feet, freed from gravity and the cares of ground.Curtis Favillehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06213075853354387634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-89187121771783651522010-01-12T06:16:07.477-08:002010-01-12T06:16:07.477-08:00You're kidding! That graveyard?
It touches m...You're kidding! That graveyard? <br /><br />It touches me to hear that you were there. I think of things to post at Wordstrumpet pretty much daily but no time (as yet), no time.Rachel Lodenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07643048091966293914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-15201941260899550252010-01-10T01:39:46.320-08:002010-01-10T01:39:46.320-08:00Rachel,
Well, I think what it is is, we all have ...Rachel,<br /><br />Well, I think what it is is, we all have to make these concessions to our gods.<br /><br />Of course those closure gods can be dangerous, like the gods of the Mayans and the Aztecs.<br /><br />Once, when Ted was helpfully going through a bunch of my poems -- how else could he steal his friends' best lines, if he didn't studiously pore over all their new poems? (I remember he used to regularly sneak in and examine/pilfer Dick's when RG was out at work) -- he remarked that if they were his, he'd throw out all the last lines, so as to make the poems more mysterious.<br /><br />Reconsidering this remark over the years has made me feel variously bad and good, depending on the occasion.<br /><br />(And speaking of working in mysterious ways, while you were commenting here, guess where I was? In the afterlife? No. At Wordstrumpet? Yes.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-2438416223015545422010-01-10T01:14:59.272-08:002010-01-10T01:14:59.272-08:00Yeek. "I think I can make out the runway ligh...Yeek. "I think I can make out the runway lights" is a good line, and in fact my fingers twice typed "god line." <br /><br />So why after several readings do I still keep thinking that I want the poem to end (or really that it does end for me) in that devastating run-up to "happen"?Rachel Lodenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07643048091966293914noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-48237907993936726932010-01-10T00:11:40.718-08:002010-01-10T00:11:40.718-08:00Okay, so God is merely my co-pilot.
Takeoffs and...Okay, so God is merely my co-pilot. <br /><br />Takeoffs and landings are all that count. <br /><br />For a pelican, though, I suppose the important part of the flight is the fish you catch in the middle.<br /><br />(At least no mad bomber is ever going to bother to blow up a pelican.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-29194750649870208922010-01-09T21:03:57.417-08:002010-01-09T21:03:57.417-08:00whitman. "captain, oh my captain"whitman. "captain, oh my captain"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-85109160565452170932010-01-09T08:22:16.532-08:002010-01-09T08:22:16.532-08:00Thanks Tom, and what will take the place of the ch...Thanks Tom, and what will take the place of the channel? We'll see, but meanwhile ---<br /><br />1.9<br /><br />first pink-red of sky above still black <br />trees, waning white moon next to branch<br />in foreground, sound of wave in channel<br /><br /> standing-against the moment,<br /> in that case the word<br /><br /> hardly present, the picture,<br /> something happened on<br /><br />grey-white clouds reflected in channel,<br />wingspan of pelican flapping across itSTEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-48017575243535333282010-01-08T19:48:10.847-08:002010-01-08T19:48:10.847-08:00my father used to fly us
through the western penns...my father used to fly us<br />through the western pennsylvanian<br />ohio and west virginian skies. <br /><br />my brothers and i were always thrilled<br />to be invited along on that ride<br />although the joy was different for each. <br /><br />i do not know what kicks my brothers<br />gathered on those weekend afternoons<br />we didnt talk much then or even now<br /><br />i really enjoyed the feel of taking the stick<br />with my dad giving it over but more i loved<br />knowing that even so he was still captainAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-747657876997852802010-01-08T19:02:50.227-08:002010-01-08T19:02:50.227-08:00You always nail the landing. Loved the runway ligh...You always nail the landing. Loved the runway lights.~otto~https://www.blogger.com/profile/08859835662556335529noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-42623861691397272932010-01-08T17:43:45.688-08:002010-01-08T17:43:45.688-08:00Take-offs are so exciting! I refuse to have any lo...Take-offs are so exciting! I refuse to have any logical or scientific explanation of how such a huge structure can be suspended in the air. I prefer the magic of it.<br />Now touchdowns, whenever I am on a plane and it lands, a tear runs down my cheek. It is inevitable. Flying thrills me so much that I feel at peace once we are on solid ground again. It is the perfect finale for the adventure of flying.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-81517369510387337822010-01-08T08:37:27.232-08:002010-01-08T08:37:27.232-08:00Have a safe flight, Stephen. But I worry: what wil...Have a safe flight, Stephen. But I worry: what will the channels do without their laureate? Is there such a thing as a channel flowing in a forest, with no one to hear it, and is it therefore still a channel, etc.?<br /><br />On another perhaps relevant note -- after all we stretch relevance here much as the India rubber man stretches his appendages -- I hate to give away clues to the minimal obscurities that serve as the wobbly centres of my "texts" (ooh how precious that term has come to sound, unless of course you're in the "text" industry), but, in case it isn't really blindingly obvious, this post wasn't meant to be spoken by an airline pilot REALLY, no, the speaker was meant to be God. <br /><br />Ahem!<br /><br />(It's just a few moments ago been pointed out to me by a kind friend that two posts below I seem to have said I didn't believe in God, so this one amounts to an implicit denial and even a betrayal of my own atheism. Whether the result of short term memory failure or mere chronic vacillation, I suppose this does seem to be the case.)TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-61903561631327447842010-01-08T07:44:09.759-08:002010-01-08T07:44:09.759-08:00Tom,
Very scary! Going on NYC in a week, buckle ...Tom, <br />Very scary! Going on NYC in a week, buckle up. Meanwhile, in the parallel universe, something like "cloud cover" also here --<br /><br />1.8<br /><br />first pale orange of sky above blackness<br />of trees, whiteness of half moon by leaf<br />in foreground, sound of waves in channel<br /><br /> elements of picture, itself<br /> meaning in perception<br /><br /> e.g., the logical character<br /> of construction, fact<br /><br />grey-white clouds reflected in channel,<br />shadowed slope of cliff across from itSTEPHEN RATCLIFFEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12339481653546188412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-22441689061992533742010-01-08T07:00:26.573-08:002010-01-08T07:00:26.573-08:00You put your life in the Captain's hands.You put your life <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM2ZlTG0k8g" rel="nofollow">in the Captain's hands</a>.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-14681815729139158702010-01-08T06:40:00.183-08:002010-01-08T06:40:00.183-08:00Que será, será Tom,
Maybe the most gripping of pl...Que será, será Tom,<br /><br />Maybe the most gripping of plane tragedy cinema —<br /><br />"Whisky Romeo Zulu" (2005) is an Argentine drama film, directed by Enrique Piñeyro.<br /><br />Your own got our cold feet sweating!Bob Arnold / Longhousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00016178166202192089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4445844569294316288.post-77859313704425555702010-01-08T06:07:19.330-08:002010-01-08T06:07:19.330-08:00The Captain says: click on the image, fasten your ...The Captain says: click on the image, fasten your seatbelts, secure your trays...TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05915822857461178942noreply@blogger.com