The Quisling

FinsburyParkCarrots

Some say he was an orphan boy, some say
one dusk, his mother fled back home alone
returning to her island. He would play
the mainland children's game, affect their tone
of loud command and keep in with his knife-
sharp keepers: Cold, drawn blades, colonial
administrators once upon a life,
upon that island where perennial
dreams of never ending suns cut down
into the soil that stained them with blood,
that blood the boy's own father's. He would disown
his bloodshod name to be just like the good
sharp sword of empire, steel proud Western Man.
He would never curse, this Caliban.

ISN

yes!!! and who is this Caliban.....is he a real person?

FinsburyParkCarrots

ISN wrote:

yes!!! and who is this Caliban.....is he a real person?

He may well be many, and in his colonial mimicry, no-one. Or his mimicry might fracture the authority of the colonialists he mimics by doubling it at a distance from its own claim to monolithic, absolute power.

ISN

He may well be many, and in his colonial mimicry, no-one. Or his mimicry might fracture the authority of the colonialists he mimics by doubling it at a distance from its own claim

I can certainly relate to that - I found living in the UK, that in order to assimilate into this former Colonial intimidator, I had to learn English very well, and affect a posh accent/south london accent, and I had to be old school - and I was old school....it helped that I was pretty and white, but I was never really accepted......the UK is changing rapidly......I have all the tricks in the book, I learnt them when I was there.......the only thing I couldn't master was actually feeling like I belonged there.......I worked for the Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society, and he showed me the original document which he had in his top drawer which was like the Magna Carta of the Commonwealth, old and crusty, like him......and when I first met him in my tattered threadbare clothes, he blithely told me that the room we were in (civil service) was the ante room to a bedroom of some Queen in her palace, where Tsar Nicholas had resigned......needless to say, I wasn't impressed.......it takes a lot to impress me......hehehehhee

Being Enlightened

Good to see a new one from ya, Fins! I dunno but for some reason this has me thinkin' of how I think of GWB. I wish I had the command of the Engliash language that you do! I like that I have to look up words to figure out what you're saying sometimes, it's fun.

FinsburyParkCarrots

ISN wrote:

I can certainly relate to that - I found living in the UK, that in order to assimilate into this former Colonial intimidator, I had to learn English very well, and affect a posh accent/south london accent, and I had to be old school - and I was old school....it helped that I was pretty and white, but I was never really accepted......the UK is changing rapidly......I have all the tricks in the book, I learnt them when I was there.......the only thing I couldn't master was actually feeling like I belonged there.......I worked for the Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society, and he showed me the original document which he had in his top drawer which was like the Magna Carta of the Commonwealth, old and crusty, like him......and when I first met him in my tattered threadbare clothes, he blithely told me that the room we were in (civil service) was the ante room to a bedroom of some Queen in her palace, where Tsar Nicholas had resigned......needless to say, I wasn't impressed.......it takes a lot to impress me......hehehehhee

That's exactly what I'm talking about. In my poem this Caliban's mother is no supernatural Sycorax. She is, perhaps, an economic migrant who had followed the colonialists back to the imperial "mainland" at the end of empire after her husband had died, bringing her child with her. But for some reason undisclosed here (and for the reader to decide), she has fled back to her old country. The child has subsequently been adopted by the former colonialists and brought up in their image.

I suppose the piece is allegorical.

ISN

be honest, is it you Fins?

FinsburyParkCarrots

ISN wrote:

be honest, is it you Fins?

No, far from it. I'd venture to say, exactly the opposite.

ISN

well, when/if I figure it out, I'll be a bit closer to understanding you - if you're the opposite of it......right now, it's a bit too much for me......I think it's like a board game where you get a limited amount of clues, and are then left to yoru own devices.......my devices are somewhat modest......as I'm in a crisis, but hopefully it will work itself out (shut up ISN)

FinsburyParkCarrots

ISN wrote:

well, when/if I figure it out, I'll be a bit closer to understanding you - if you're the opposite of it......right now, it's a bit too much for me......I think it's like a board game where you get a limited amount of clues, and are then left to yoru own devices.......my devices are somewhat modest......as I'm in a crisis, but hopefully it will work itself out (shut up ISN)

No no, I don't do autobiographical poems (unless I write about love). I didn't want to say anything for fear of swaying people's interpretations, but this poem's about a certain public figure of colonised heritage (who will remain nameless), who is making a name for himself by pretending to be a quintessential English Gentleman.

ISN

not that black MP whose name I can't remember? (Labour)

FinsburyParkCarrots

ISN wrote:

not that black MP whose name I can't remember? (Labour)

Nope. And I'm not going to say.

ISN

it's okay - it's very interesting and tantalizing, and I guess that's where its power lies......as I'm sure it's a complete state of identity that could be applied to quite a few........it's very difficult to be the victim of colonial powers, and then to have the galling experience of being very proficient in their language, and finding that the terms they will accept you on keep changing......I like Australia, here, where everything is above board, but I am grateful to the conquerors for having provided me with the best means of giving them a shock.....ie. language

FinsburyParkCarrots

ISN wrote:

it's okay - it's very interesting and tantalizing, and I guess that's where its power lies......as I'm sure it's a complete state of identity that could be applied to quite a few........it's very difficult to be the victim of colonial powers, and then to have the galling experience of being very proficient in their language, and finding that the terms they will accept you on keep changing......I like Australia, here, where everything is above board, but I am grateful to the conquerors for having provided me with the best means of giving them a shock.....ie. language

"But that's all them bastards have left us: words."

Derek Walcott, "The Schooner Flight"

FinsburyParkCarrots

Any suggestions? (I've tweaked things.)

Some say he was an orphan boy, some say
one dusk, his mother fled back home alone
returning to her island. He would play
the mainland children's game, affect their tone
of loud command and keep in with their knife-
sharp fathers: Cold, drawn blades, colonial
administrators. Once upon a life,
they had his island, where perennial
dreams of never ending suns cut down
into the soil, and stained all with blood.
Somewhere, his father lies. He would disown
his name for bloodshod dreams, to be the good
sharp sword of empire, steel proud Western Man.
He would never curse, this Caliban.

Ali

Caliban sounds a little foreign war-like to me....

Ali

Ali wrote:

Caliban sounds a little foreign war-like to me....

Like taliban.....ohh ! I did not say that!

FinsburyParkCarrots

You've not heard of Caliban? I thought every aspiring actress wants to play Ariel or Miranda at some point:

http://www.literaturepage.com/read/shakespeare-tempest-1.html

eden

FinsburyParkCarrots wrote:

You've not heard of Caliban? I thought every aspiring actress wants to play Ariel or Miranda at some point:

http://www.literaturepage.com/read/shakespeare-tempest-1.html

What would we do without our Fin
to keep us all culturally aware ?:)

ISN

and, to that, I say 'Amen'.......

FinsburyParkCarrots

If this thread's good for anything at all, please, those who haven't read Shakespeare's "The Tempest", do so! It will only take you a couple of hours and it will stay with you for your lifetime.