Tag Archives: poetry

Day 20 — personal readings + brief verses

A second Festival of Grief poem although far from the worst day I’ve endured in these past 35 years. Playing round with the meaning of the word “reading” based around verses pertinent to today. I love how a theme can forge a type of poem you’d never consider otherwise. Factoid is short sharp & shiny.

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Three Readings

Halfwit 15:4 – And, behold, there was a great downpour upon the holy day: and the stone was rolled back, and all the waters swirled in fury down the hole; and the angel cried out in pain, and called his name; and lo, he ran in, but nothing could he do except embrace her for the messenger of the Lord had already decided, what was to be, and had descended from heaven, and sat upon their hopes. 

Fishtail 15:6 – And when they looked, they saw that another had come in, swiftly, sudden and unexpected, like a guest in the night filling that room from whence the stone had previously been rolled away: but lo, though she was quiet and calm and oh so gentle, she likewise could not stay; for her need elsewhere was very great; and so she departed causing a second great pain to the angels. 

Hijinks 21:7 – And so in this way, many moons passed and the dark cave was almost but not entirely forgotten, until much perplexed thereabouts, they found the old stone rolled across and the angels hearts’ at once gladdened and grew afraid lest the sadness be returned; and so it indeed came to pass that before the season’s end, two messengers stood by them in shining garments; took their hands and lead them away from the sepulchre to whence they were never to return. 

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Day 20 Factoid – shortest bible verse (is very short)

John 11:35

the short
est verse
in the Bi
ble is also
my favo
urite …

Jesus wept. 

Day 19 — Pookie & the Country Boy + Easter Leporidae

Been toying whether to include Pookie in this series or not given it’s a very different kind of book to the previous two; but ultimately decided I should. It’s a foundational document in my development, if not in fact, my psyche. Multiple things which appear throughout this series have become things I collect other books about.

The Poetic Factoid was a super easy one given the weekend we’re in ATM.

Note: As with previous LM poems you’ll need to click on the image to enlarge to get the full effect.

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Lawrence’s Maxim 03 – Pookie

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Day 19 Factoid – Easter Leporidae

identifying Easter 

Ears Up! originally the Easter “bunny” was a hare
(why? cos they’re a hundred times cooler, obviously)

sadly i don’t have the time (nor wisdom) to explain how 
a male bunny (Peter Cottontail) produces … eggs of all things

Day 18 — my antilibrary + definitions

A word I’ve long liked given I live within one is antilibrary — so today’s poem explores that idea in a magic realism kinda way. The Factoid is presented for those who do not know what an antilibrary is but want to know. Lifted straight from the dictionaries it is.

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My Antilibrary has no End

wake again : from the ancient childhood dream : drifting high above the sea : toward the house on the summit : of a mountain range long gone : our eternal sanctuary : respite : from mortal mistakes : our sempiternal palace : our immutable mansion : our cosy cottage : that scales in size as required : especially for us : where we go : our safe house : between sentences

the home that has held us : healed us : for centuries : millennia : & more

all my books : that endless room beyond my library : where exists every book never written : as well as all the ones that were : including many of my own : past present yet to be : books lost forever : in the fires of Alexandria : in fear driven religious pogroms of every stripe : in rising damp : in neglect : in forgotten buildings falling down quietly return to earth slow soft embrace : lost ledgers from ancient Egypt : Greece : the Xia dynasty : companions to the Bhagavad Gita : biographies of Buddha : Incan glyphs : Mayan & Aztec hieroglyphs : tomes from Timbuktu & Tibet : archives even from Atlantis, Avalon, Tír na nÓg : scrolls from beyond the stars 

wake again : from the room : where once i wandered : nightly : seeking that volume : that would save : my life : from turning away 

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Day 18 Factoid – an actual dictionary definition

antilibrary  / ˈantiˈlʌɪb(rə)ri / 

The [rather impressive] collection of books you own but have not yet read, for whatever reason, but would still like to one day, when they’re needed, all of which keep you intellectually curious & humble. Books which reminds you that there’s still plenty you don’t know (yet). Plenty you don’t even know you don’t know. These innumerable beautiful unread books, should not be viewed as failures, but as sources of inspiration & future learning. & you should not stop buying them, simply because shelf space is getting a little tightish or your mother tells you you should.

Day 17 — reading genes + reading droughts

April 17 is my grandmother’s birthday; she would’ve been 101 today. So I wanted to honour her again by a poem that explores my reading ancestry.

The Poetic Factoid was going to be about the correlation between reading & various genetic traits, until I came across a word in my research & I knew the poem had to be about that.

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the genetics of reading

looking back through time
     there’s a definite lineage
          a genetic heritage of literature

my mother’s always been deep
     into crime to which I was a late comer
          her greatest gift to me was green Anne
               the Poldarks surprised me by being 
                    much more than mere bodice 
                         ripping regency romances

— teen me returned the favour by hooking her on fabulous fantasy

mum was clearly given gifts from her mother as both
     delighted in the murders & mysteries of Dame Agatha
          Georgette Heyer & Dorothy L Sayers ; gran even
               read James Bond, Alistair McLean & similar thrillers
                    when younger before migrating to Danielle Steele &
                         almost anything Large Print by the end of her eyes

— wish I could’ve got her opinion on Julia Quinn

grandad was much more factual
     a biographical non-fiction kinda guy
          books on birds & the natural world
               histories  the English language 
                    the bulk of which I inherited 
                         including     naturally  fittingly

— his impressive leather bound editions of poetry 

          it gives me great pleasure sharing 
     these generational reading genes (even if 
my pants are a bit bigger than theirs)

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Day 17 Factoid — to read or not

A Presbyopian Inspired Drought

the one time in my life 
i’ve read very little 
was for a year or so 
a decade ago when 
every book bored me
when i could not
sit still long enough
to complete a chapter
even a couple of pages
it was aberrant behaviour 
for a life long wyrm 

finally i realised 
the print was blurring
eight to ten inches 
from my eyes — but 
within a month
the magic of specially 
tailored super glass
scientifically ordained
specifically adapted
for my ageing eyes
brought the magic back

Day 16 — reply to KonMari + copies sold

I’ve toyed with the idea of writing a response to KonMari & her method of keeping houses clean for a long while. There’s possibly another couple of related poems still to come out cos this wasn’t what I was expecting when I sat up to the puta. The Factoid is a purely economic one.

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The Life-Changing Magic of Having All The Books

Dear Marie Kondo,

As a matter of fact.

This book does spark joy.

As does this one.

And this.

And this stack here.

This stack, this stack & this very tall stack by my bed.

Here also this table full of books.

This desk with them all crowding my computer screen sometimes threatens to collapse … but it would be a joyous kind of collapse if they ever did.

This box in the hallway (except when I stub my toe on it going to the bathroom but that’s only like once, maybe twice a week) plenty of joy.

And once I’ve unpacked the other 17 boxes, no doubt they’ll spark joy too.

This bookcase. Big joy sparker. 4 cases, 8  shelves each, all screwed together. Floor to ceiling. Joy Joy Joy.

That room of books. 

The room beyond it.

The compactus full of books. Joy.

The ATCO outside full of non-fiction.

The shipping container stocked with spares.

Joy to my world, the books are here.

I don’t care if I’ve only ever vaguely dreamt of reading this book or wondered wispily that I would like to one day read this other book again or if I probably never will pick up this third book and read it cover to cover. Even forgotten I own that book. Simply don’t care. They all spark joy in me. Indeed giddy euphoria. Sheer unbridled glee. Manic bliss. Contentment.

30 volumes might do you at any one time, but I’ll stick with my 30,000, thanks all the same.

gareth

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Day 16 Factoid – She’s sold a lotta books

copies sold

TL-CMoTU
may have been 
translated 
into 44 languages
&
MK
you may have
sold more than 
14 million copies

— but not to me
you haven’t

Day 14 — one kinda torch + anudder torch

I’m reading books about reading this month (OMG so meta, so fun) & an element repeatedly brought up is not wanting to turn the light out on a book that’s thrilling you & sneak reading under covers. It affects readers across the spectrum. So I thought I’d attempt a poem exploring my experience of it — in a short lined conversational style similar to the YA verse novel I’m reading (Inside Out & Back Again by Vietnamese American poet Thanhha Lai). 

This then very quickly lead to an interesting Factoid about the other kind of torch you probably think of when you think torches & stories of the 76 Montreal Games Olympic flame going out & needing to be relit with a cigarette lighter of all things (haha). When I sought verification of this story from other sources, I came across a home grown torch story I’d never heard of. One that was even better.

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light’s (sorta) out

being an owlish teenager 
in a cock-a-doodle-do household
meant getting creative
to ensure the reading got done

i secretly saved pocket 
money for several weeks 
pretending i’d always spent 
slightly more than i had

so on one after-school shopping
spree i was able to procure
a small hand held torch
without mum observing 

unfortunately my maths
illiterate mind hadn’t 
factored batteries 
into the equation

but a fortnight or so
later i had the power
to continue the story
even after the official edict

light’s out always came too soon
however now i could resume 
adventures after a discreet
interval  either under covers or above

soon realised batteries don’t last 
long when used often  & so 
a rechargeable system was 
acquired in similar fashion

& sure — there were 
occasional altercations
between parent & progeny
shouting matches & such

about sleep  v  school yet  
the system was extremely 
efficient   & the illicit joy 
it delivered   immeasurable 

~

there are many fine things
to being an adult (& several 
that totally suck) — but leaving
lights on as long as i like.  wow.

LEDs will last forever   & so 
i drift asleep  book in hand, 
finger in page, glasses still on
dream for as long as needed

then   wake up   & resume 
from wherever i’d wafted off 
my teenage self & my flabbier
celled successor  both agree 

— this is living

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Day 14 Factoid – torches of all kinds

true Olympic spirit

in 56 : a future vet
presented a fake torch
— made of a chair leg 
painted silver : still wet 
a plum pudding can : 
& a pair of : burning 
jocks : soaked in kero —
to the mayor of Sydney
who proceeded : to speechify
while the protesting
prankster : slipped 
silkily : into the crowd
& away
             the following day
just before : taking an exam
his peers rose to their : feet 
applauding : their approval

the results of that test
are : less triumphant

Day 13 — aphorisms & platitudes + pearls

Read the latest Rupi Kaur today & I gotta confess. I just don’t get her Instapoesy thang. So much is just banal platitudes that have been done better dozens of times before (some of her longer poems about the migrant experience are actually kinda of interesting) — but the Temu-grade aphorisms do nothing for me. Anyhoo this is a pseudohomage to her by tweaking/reworking some of my fave reading memes.

The Poetic Factoid comes out of learning about Pearls of Wisdom.

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reading pl(attitudes)

1.
SIX MOTIVATIONALS
i.
You can’t read in bed all day …

… unless you start 
nice & early in the morning.

~

ii.
One does not simply 
walk into a bookstore …

… without an authorised list
detailing which specific book(s) 
you are going to purchase.

Bwahahahahahahaha hahahahahahaha huh 

~

iii.
Autumn is here. Winter coming …

… time to make like a scout & prepare
by ensuring you have between 33-42 
new books in your TBR stacks.

If you do not: to the bookshop — now!

~

iv.
Bookworms are cute
bookwyrms are better.

Our hoards of treasure
are ever so much bigger.

~

v.
If anyone needs me …

… I’ll be reading

WARNING: don’t need me.

~

vi.
I love books, my doggo
reading, & maybe 3 people.

You are not one of them.
Go.

~~~

2.
FOUR DEVOTIONALS
i.
My partner issued an ultimatum: 
Look. It’s books or me. Hmmm.
Was reading a Fielding novel last week
& I remembered her name. Aemelia.
Anna?  Anastasia perhaps?
Something ending with A anyway.
Or starting with it …

~

ii.
Tip to spice up your love life.
Get yourself pleasantly tipsy
Go to your fave online bookstore.
Spend up big. Sit back & wait
& see what the universe delivers you.

~

iii.
My ideal partner when I say
Turn me on:

Walks over
Whispers in my ear
Wanna go to the bookstore?

Instant goosebumps.

~

iv.
My ideal partner when I say
Talk dirty to me:

It’s cold out
It’s almost dark
I’ve done all the chores
There’s leftovers in the fridge
I lit the fireplace in the library an hour ago
The room is oh-so-toasty warm
I’m making us hot chocolates
It’s the weekend tomorrow 
I think that was thunder
It’s starting to rain

& while I was out earlier
I bought you the latest book in the series you love

~

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Day 13 Factoid – the usefulness of Wisdom Pearls

Pearl of Wisdom

Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding,  
for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold.
                                                                                                   Proverbs 3:13

TIL I learnt that Pearls of Wisdom 
have morphed from genuine spiritual insight 
to more rustic ironic home truths 

& I got to thinking wouldn’t it be 
wonderful if there was an actual mystic
Aunty Pearl who travelled the world

Dispensing advice to everyone annually
that you had to act on regardless of whether
you agreed with it (especially if you didn’t)

That combover doesn’t work 
— get a buzz cut, dye what’s left blonde
& go bald with chutzpah!

He’s never gonna leave his wife
Kick him to the curb sweetie
— find someone worthy of you!

You hate accountancy. Quit your job.
Play your guitar. You’ll never make much money
— but you’ll be happy till you die!

Anyone harbouring doubts over her advice
could come together on the seventh day of every month
surrounded by supporters to help them break out of their shells 

Day 12 — one magic book + gareth’s book of magic

1983 (age 13) was a crazy year for me, reading wise. The previous year I’d discovered The Lord of the Rings trilogy in the school library two days after my birthday. [A poem has already been written about this, though it might be cannibalised/expanded to fit the format of these Lawrence’s Maxim poems. Potentially interesting aside: I actually read the trilogy before The Hobbit not realising they were connected.]

That year I also dove headlong into fantasy in a big way. The Belgariad, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Pratchett’s first Discworld, The Colour of Magic, The original Shannara Trilogy, The Mists of Avalon, The Neverending Story with its coloured text, Mary Stewart’s Arthurian Saga, the first 4 or 5 L. Frank Baum Oz books, Watership Down & Duncton Wood, Prince Ombra, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea series, The Books of the Isle series & countless others in that & subsequent years. Many (if not most) of these books I still own.

And the book which forms the subject of this poem. Magician by Raymond E. Feist. Note: As with last Saturday’s poem I’ve played with the layout so you’ll need to click on the image to enlarge to get the full effect. I’m intending them all to ultimately form a sequence.

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Lawrence’s Maxim 02 – Magician

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Day 12 Factoid – my personalised magic book 

gareth’s grimoire 

a grimoire is a book of spells : a magic textbook : providing instruction in

producing : talismen  potions &  amulets
performing : spells  charms &  enchantments
summoning &/or invoking : the cornucopia of supernatural 
     entities such as angels  demons & the whole
     potpourri of  miscellaneous sprites
divining : things others don’t want known but you do

the only chapter i would want 
in a grimoire of my own is one entitled 

How to pause time           long enough to read every book I’ve ever wanted

Day 11 — sacred spaces + holy books

The poetry volume I read today was On the Wire, assembled by friends of Adelaide poet John Pfitzner (& one of my two fellow poets along with Rachael Mead in New Poets’ 17) after his death.  In that collection there’s a poem called “Sacred Place”. I combined this theme/idea with a NaPoWriMo prompt from a few days ago which I’ve been keen to try. It’s a form poem & I always like to do at least a couple of them during this month especially if I’ve never written one before. The form & idea seem to blend very well.

The ghazal originates in Arabic poetry, and is often used for love poems (especially spiritual/divine love). Ghazals commonly consist of five to fifteen couplets that are independent from each other but are nonetheless linked abstractly in their theme; and more concretely by their form. In English ghazals, the usual constraints are that:

the lines all have to be of around the same length (formal meter/syllable-counts are not employed);

and both lines of the first couplet end on the same word or words, which then form a refrain that is echoed at the end of each succeeding couplet.

Another aspect of the traditional ghazal form that has become popular in English is having the poet’s own name (or a reference to the poet – like a nickname) appear in the final couplet.

The Poetic Factoid came out of a google concerning THE Most Sacred/Holiest Books, of which oddly, there was little consensus. 

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sacred spaces: a ghazal

my 4 poster bed was chosen cos it also holds books
softest safest sublimest place i know to read books

air chairs under ancient elms float light as words
drift in & out of wispy worlds as i read books

Dorothea’s wingtip chair by the window more
a chairshelf ATM but where i’ve often read books

outdoor setting made from an old oak barrel 
there beneath the silver birch i read books

north-facing scorched wide-armed wooden bench 
in autumn setting sunshine i love to read books

beautiful bench of ceramic fish in the shade
an elegant corner to stay cool & read books

— the truth is every space becomes sacred
every time gareth takes out one of his books

settles in & experiences the miracle of reading

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Day 11 Factoid – Holy Books

most holey

google ain’t too definitive
regarding the holiest book
there are a few frequently 
mentioned contenders

Christianity’sBible(Old&NewTestaments)Islam’sQuranJudaism’sTanakh&TalmudHinduism’sBhagavadGita
VedasUpanishadsPuranasBuddhism’sTripitaka(PaliCanon)Sikhism’sGuruGranthSahibTaoism’sTaoTeChing
Jainism’sAagamConfucianism’sAnalectsShintoism’sKojikiNihonShokiZoroastrianism’sAvestaBaha’iFaithth
eKitábiAqdasKitábiÍqánScientology’sDianetics&TheLatterDaySaints’BookofMormonAnotherTestamentofJ
esusChristakaAnAccountWrittenbytheHandofMormonuponPlatesTakenfromthePlatesofNephi
among others

a lot of work working out the best one

my suggestion for a smaller list
Cosmos. Carl Sagan. The. End.

Day 10 – very serious book crimes + a very silly book heist

Pretty sure that’s not how it looked when I gave it to you

Two poems about very real crimes involving books today. One involving a book of my own (& generic crimes against books) & a Poetic Factoid about a very bungled book heist.

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rhyme & punishment (worse than death)

it’s a bit of a hot topic for me but
i’m not a big lender of books
most people (let’s be blunt) 
don’t know how to treat a book right
how to show it a good time
or at least  respect it in the morning 
if i really love a book & want others to too
where possible i’ll buy a second copy
designated purely for lending.

dog-earing  underlining   highlighting
note making in the margins
creasing (or cracking) the spines 
to the point pages are falling out
dropping it in the bath  or the sea 
getting so much sand in it we could build a castle
pages torn out  a bacon bookmark 
discovered greasy in chapter 33  all things 
that would cancel your gareth library card.

i don’t buy the kaka that a dog-eared
battered  beaten up  creased book 
is like the wrinkled face of someone 
who’s lived a full-on life & keeps on smiling
BS  it’s tomestic violence pure & simple.

all of which is reported purely to say this —
don’t think i’ve forgotten Anon Miti
(if indeed that is your real name)
how i leant you a copy of A Trip to the Stars
that you kept for ages  forever saying you’d 
return it  yet always conveniently “forgetting”
& when you did the book was so beaten up 
had green tea poured over half of it
& been used to put out a small brush fire
without technically burning it as some
of the less pleasant folks in history have done

— & yet this was still only the second 
worst thing you ever did to me.

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Day 10 Factoid – a pretty slapstick book crime

Special Collections: A Plan to Fail

four freshman friends while on orientation 
of Transylvania University, Kentucky
conclude rare books worth millions 
of dollars are resting in the college
library virtually unsecured
                                             a whacky 
heist  is plotted involving fake beards
& gray wigs  & step by step instructions
involving code names as if from a movie
Mr Green on lookout. Mr Yellow & Mr Pink 
proceed to the Rare Book Room where Mr Yellow 
“brings the elderly librarian down hard & fast” 
with a stun gun. Mr Pink then lets Mr Black
in to help grab the loot before escaping 
via the back exit
                          the plan almost immediately
goes very wrong  causing them to abandon 
many books (the 7 rare Audubons are 
“too heavy to carry”)  
                                   yet they still manage 
to flee the bungled scene  with several books 
total value: three quarters of a million bucks 

they contact Christie’s (using the same fake
email address they set up to contact the library
— & one of their actual cell phone numbers!)
for an appraisal rationalising  “they won’t 
suspect anything cos no one would bring 
in stolen books”
                            Christie’s did in fact 
suspect something
                                & they all spent 7 years in gaol