On Experimental Poetry

Another week, another radical reimagining of everything I had decided on previously. I’ve rethought the weekly roundup idea. That being said, I do need some form of structure. Perhaps I’ll introduce monthly categories: Book of the Month, Performance of the Month, Thought of the Month (although, well, I’d hope I have more than one of each in the thirty-odd days comprising a calendar month)?

We’re currently reporting on Q1 at work, so translating that to this blog – I’ll implement structure in Q2. In the meantime, let’s discuss experimental poetry.

The universe does not centre on Swordfoosh,
Gripes Stompie with a demonstrative flourish.

My attempt at driving people to this blog has mostly been through Instagram, where I post images (usually royalty-free from Pexels, thought the above is one of mine) along with a Google Translate(d) poem. Does this count as experimental? The Pushkin Gallery in the Russian city of Zheleznovodsk followed me, so I must be doing something right.

In pursuit of correlating conundrums,
The victorious Swordfoosh trumpets. 

I’m strangely tempted to return to my weekly roundup idea. I’ve been in two countries again, still reading Immortality, and attended David Ireland’s play Cyprus Avenue (featuring my favourite actor Stephen Rea). The latter severely traumatised me. Which I guess was the point.

But coming back to the poetry, I took a walk with my grandmother through my neighbourhood this evening. And as we walked, inspiration struck.

Transcendent through the towering trees,
Walking this road Swordfoosh feels free.

Weekly Roundup: Finland, Chavs, Goethe, and Orange Wine

I’ve been thinking about the direction I want this blog to take. What started out as an experiment with SEO resulted in an amalgamation of unrelated topics. But perhaps it would be better to present these thoughts as a weekly roundup of things I’ve learnt, books I’ve read, or events I’ve attended.

This week, if we count Thursday to Thursday (as we should, considering I typically post on Thursdays), I’ve been in two countries, finished one book and started another, attended one concert and one experimental poetry evening. Also managed to develop an acute coffee addiction (without warning).

So where should we begin?

Perhaps, since it’s almost time for Book of the Month in any case, we can discuss Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class by Owen Jones.

I take issue with a lot of the author’s claims, especially because I find the conflation of chavs as a subculture and the working class as a whole misleading. It was an interesting read, but the same arguments were repeated over and over again. I feel almost as if the book could’ve been condensed into a single chapter. Or maybe even a sentence: Thatcher broke the working class by beating unions into submission, New Labour made it worse, now there’s no industry and the formerly respected working class communities are working low-paid service sector jobs while the middle and upper classes assume they’re all chavs, which is demeaning.

I then started a new book: Immortality by Milan Kundera. It taught me about Bettina von Arnim, who Kundera portrayed (seemingly, I’m not actually finished with the book yet, and I’m not sure if she will be mentioned again) as a rather unsympathetic character, but was actually widely regarded and revered. I mean, it’s arguable. And he does use the story of her relationship with Goethe as foundation for making some very insightful comments on immortality as a concept.

I really like Kundera. I find him so pleasant to read – it’s like finding a soulmate in the form of a book. He vocalises thoughts I didn’t know I had. And his style reminds me of Virginia Woolf, somehow – it’s so poetic that I can skim the text and capture the emotions more so than the precise meaning. Literary impressionism, if you will.

Books aside, I also went to a concert, which was great fun. And then to a collaborative project between two of my friends, wherein they were looked in a room for 24 hours, talking the entire time, and writing words on the wall. The results were fascinating to analyse, imagining the kind of conversations they must’ve had.

Then I tried orange wine.

How to Photograph Your Dog

This is a highly misleading title, for which I apologise. All I really wanted to do in this post is share photographs of my own dog. That being said, you’re still welcome to use some of his poses as inspiration for photographing your puppy.

This is Nole. He’s not actually much for photography, but he definitely knows how to pose when the feeling strikes him.

Nole is a Finnish Lapphund. According to Wikipedia, this is a medium-size breed of Spitz. Traditionally, Finnish Lapphunds were used to herd reindeer, which Nole demonstrated early on. He tried herding my mother.

Having decided that my mother was easier to herd than her considerably larger Finnish husband, he began nipping and pulling at her whenever she went to a different room.

Finnish Lapphunds are known to be obedient and intelligent, but also incredibly curious by nature. As a result, there’s often an inner battle between obedience and curiosity – admittedly, unless there’s a very clear reward offered, curiosity tends to win in Nole’s case.

He’s still adorable, though, isn’t he?

On Thoughts and Topics

I have a lot of thoughts. I just don’t know how interesting they are to the general public. For example, this morning I woke up thinking, “would a group of musicians playing the contrabass be called a contraband?”

Obviously, this isn’t something to discuss (because obviously it would be), but the point stands. As I mentioned in one of my other posts, I’m never short on ideas. I have multiple interests – theatre, novels, sports, coffee, to name a few – and I can talk endlessly. But that’s not enough. As I’m sure we’ve all encountered in the professional world, there is the ever present “so what” factor. Essentially, who cares?

Previously, I thought I was experimenting with SEO. Given my inability to stick to a specific topic to build up my credibility ratings, that’s pretty much gone out the window. So now this has essentially turned into a personal diary visible to the entire world (if they can find it, that is) for occasional perusal.

And, as my personal diary, it reflects exactly what’s on my mind. In this particular case, it’s Tuesday’s performance by Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Symphonic Orchestra, as well as my amazing Finnish fox tights (exhibited at said performance).

Speaking of Finland, I’m heading over to visit my family this weekend, so expect lots of dog photos in the next post. In fact, maybe I’ll dedicate an entire post to Finnish Lapphunds. Did you know they are shepherd dogs, but they herd reindeer rather than sheep?