My only exposure to Heaney was Death of a Naturalist back in GCSE English (or maybe even before, I can't remember), which I liked at the time. Is North where all his staunch anti-imperialistic pieces ended up then?
I don't know so much about what happened to the Gaelic cultures in Éire and I'm gonna assume you do. So was it essentially the same deal over there? I won't apologise for the past cos my Breton ancestors probably helped you guys out at some point
Watch from around 4:40 for 'the antisocial movement' which looks like a great example of this 'intentionally putting up barriers' in language I'm on about. Now we've got to figure out how to do this in forward time.
I don't know so much about what happened to the Gaelic cultures in Éire and I'm gonna assume you do. So was it essentially the same deal over there? I won't apologise for the past cos my Breton ancestors probably helped you guys out at some point
Here's a Wikipedia link that should start to answer a couple of those points!
Wow, complicated stuff! 'Hiberno-Normans' of all people! So if I understand right the tactic was being used in this instance to try and preserve the 'English' culture whose power was waning at the time - all those defectors being 'more Irish than the Irish themselves'. How long were these measures unsuccessful then - until the 'Tudor re-conquest'?
Hedge Schools sounded pretty cool - we could do with some of those about today. I doubt somehow that kids would've learnt much about the 'Irish bardic tradition' while at the mercy of the 'competent teachers' the Catholics deemed adequately certified to teach in their National Schools.
Here's an epiphany of sorts from January 2nd furiously jotted down early, early in the morning whilst tightly, tightly wired on caffeine-induced insomnia and the last remnants of a filthy New Year's hangover. The first word launched me seemingly a million miles away from the subject that I originally intended to address (so that I could get to sleep), namely the isolation suffered during 'normal' times by that special breed of character which can only shine during times of 'disaster' (who defines these terms?). It was a long journey with lots of sharp turns, but I think I got there in the end
---
Specialise, specialise, specialise...
Special eyes whose uniqueness (measured
in pain by rust brown, for instance) can be
altered through a conscious effort. Look. Hard
enough and you can see your own way:
they present Image to the world & to the
self in perception open to a gradual evolution.
When they look you in the eyes, what do you want
them to see?
Realise, realise, realise...
Real eyes: the tools of your own making;
they can be made into tools that people have no
current use for. Recognise. There is in this
situation no respect for the Real or the Special,
but still you can't be content with the everyday debasement
of your qualities to fit, torturously, the most
mundane, thinkable uses.
No.
So
you widen the distance still further, and,
quietly, you sharpen and dust and polish
and wait in the darkening corners for the
day when your services - indispensible -
will be required.
Thanks Justam (you always have a nice word to say!). I was worried this one was too ... difficult, with jagged edges-a-plenty to snag the unwary reader and test his/her patience. I don't do it on purpose, honest!
Thanks Justam (you always have a nice word to say!). I was worried this one was too ... difficult, with jagged edges-a-plenty to snag the unwary reader and test his/her patience. I don't do it on purpose, honest!
No, not too difficult.
Besides, I like the subject matter. It reminded me of something nice a doctor told me about my son when I asked him why Asperger's was still in the gene-pool.
She told me that the reason exceptional people are still in our collection is that groups of people NEED the special skills that these people have...especially in the past, we needed people with the unusually large capacity to remember details and information...we needed people who were exceptionally focused on some special interest...these people made huge contributions by having these different skills.
Maybe I read too much into your poem but that what it reminded me of.
Nice interpretation - probably one that should've occurred to me There's something incredibly brutal about most people's interpretation of natural selection. I can't help thinking all the 'red in tooth and claw' stuff is a bit of a projection of our own society's 'dog-eat-dog' barbarism. In fact, any species that makes its living as part a group dramatically limits the dictatorial power of 'survival of the fittest' on the individual. Human tribes succeeded (and still succeed in some corners) as the sum of their parts, so the more diversity of character contained within them the better equipped they were for facing all kinds of challenges. Somewhere along the line this all went to hell...
Not sure how it might relate to Asperger's, but have you heard about Thom Hartmann's work on ADD/ADHD? Basically he argues that we only think of it as a disease because it makes for disruptive behaviour in the sedentary farming cultures that have been dominant on this planet for the last 5,000 years or so. But in the hunter/gatherer context (which is much older, and hence more likely to be deeply imprinted in the genome) Hartmann thinks ADD/ADHD actually works as adaptive behaviour. More:
So I guess the 'no respect for the Real or the Special' in our situation could refer to all the aspects of our characters (as human beings with evolved expectations) that must be suppressed if we are to fit in to the drudgery and boredom of agricultural/industrial living.
I draw my breath but do not hold it in waiting
for others to join, inspired, to form the same tired ranks
of voice in bludgeoned, bloody Opposition.
I feel the last earnest word I will ever have to say
to those who would hold my share of unimagined spirit murder
clutched in gnarled steel to the last rust-reddening breastplate.
I feel its rise, writhing an uncurled trail of sputum,
bubbling a faltered, fetid grasp in my throat, before
lunging at last to the open air in glorious obscenity:
"Disinvest" I shout, "DISINVEST!!"
and turn my back with my own, final
disinterest.
I draw my breath but do not hold it in waiting
for others to join, inspired, to form the same tired ranks
of voice in bludgeoned, bloody Opposition.
I feel the last earnest word I will ever have to say
to those who would hold my share of unimagined spirit murder
clutched in gnarled steel to the last rust-reddening breastplate.
I feel its rise, writhing an uncurled trail of sputum,
bubbling a faltered, fetid grasp in my throat, before
lunging at last to the open air in glorious obscenity:
"Disinvest" I shout, "DISINVEST!!"
and turn my back with my own, final
disinterest.
My source has mostly dried up this Autumn (for various reasons but mostly because of oppressive living conditions), so all I have for you is this measly trickle of an aphorism:
Language without the will to communicate
is just so many ways of telling the other person
to ‘fuck off and leave me alone’.
---
Sorry PastaNazi, I missed your response! Did you put up your version of the poem in the end?
Comments
My only exposure to Heaney was Death of a Naturalist back in GCSE English (or maybe even before, I can't remember), which I liked at the time. Is North where all his staunch anti-imperialistic pieces ended up then?
I don't know so much about what happened to the Gaelic cultures in Éire and I'm gonna assume you do. So was it essentially the same deal over there? I won't apologise for the past cos my Breton ancestors probably helped you guys out at some point
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4036274727036229911
Watch from around 4:40 for 'the antisocial movement' which looks like a great example of this 'intentionally putting up barriers' in language I'm on about. Now we've got to figure out how to do this in forward time.
Here's a Wikipedia link that should start to answer a couple of those points!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statutes_of_Kilkenny
Hedge Schools sounded pretty cool - we could do with some of those about today. I doubt somehow that kids would've learnt much about the 'Irish bardic tradition' while at the mercy of the 'competent teachers' the Catholics deemed adequately certified to teach in their National Schools.
---
Specialise, specialise, specialise...
Special eyes whose uniqueness (measured
in pain by rust brown, for instance) can be
altered through a conscious effort. Look. Hard
enough and you can see your own way:
they present Image to the world & to the
self in perception open to a gradual evolution.
When they look you in the eyes, what do you want
them to see?
Realise, realise, realise...
Real eyes: the tools of your own making;
they can be made into tools that people have no
current use for. Recognise. There is in this
situation no respect for the Real or the Special,
but still you can't be content with the everyday debasement
of your qualities to fit, torturously, the most
mundane, thinkable uses.
No.
So
you widen the distance still further, and,
quietly, you sharpen and dust and polish
and wait in the darkening corners for the
day when your services - indispensible -
will be required.
Thanks Justam (you always have a nice word to say!). I was worried this one was too ... difficult, with jagged edges-a-plenty to snag the unwary reader and test his/her patience. I don't do it on purpose, honest!
No, not too difficult.
Besides, I like the subject matter. It reminded me of something nice a doctor told me about my son when I asked him why Asperger's was still in the gene-pool.
She told me that the reason exceptional people are still in our collection is that groups of people NEED the special skills that these people have...especially in the past, we needed people with the unusually large capacity to remember details and information...we needed people who were exceptionally focused on some special interest...these people made huge contributions by having these different skills.
Maybe I read too much into your poem but that what it reminded me of.
Not sure how it might relate to Asperger's, but have you heard about Thom Hartmann's work on ADD/ADHD? Basically he argues that we only think of it as a disease because it makes for disruptive behaviour in the sedentary farming cultures that have been dominant on this planet for the last 5,000 years or so. But in the hunter/gatherer context (which is much older, and hence more likely to be deeply imprinted in the genome) Hartmann thinks ADD/ADHD actually works as adaptive behaviour. More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_vs._farmer_theory
So I guess the 'no respect for the Real or the Special' in our situation could refer to all the aspects of our characters (as human beings with evolved expectations) that must be suppressed if we are to fit in to the drudgery and boredom of agricultural/industrial living.
(For more illuminating stuff about how we read our civilised condition into the natural world, check out Idle Theory: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/cuius/idle/evolution/index.html )
You understood what I was saying and your example of ADHD perhaps being adaptive in the past is perfect!
I draw my breath but do not hold it in waiting
for others to join, inspired, to form the same tired ranks
of voice in bludgeoned, bloody Opposition.
I feel the last earnest word I will ever have to say
to those who would hold my share of unimagined spirit murder
clutched in gnarled steel to the last rust-reddening breastplate.
I feel its rise, writhing an uncurled trail of sputum,
bubbling a faltered, fetid grasp in my throat, before
lunging at last to the open air in glorious obscenity:
"Disinvest" I shout, "DISINVEST!!"
and turn my back with my own, final
disinterest.
---
in response to my own question-begging here:
http://ruggedindoorsman.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/crunch-or-crash-the-idiots-guide/
anyone wanting to pitch in and add another dimension to a rather one-sided conversation is welcome
lol... i came here today to write this same poem... of course, it would've come out a lot differently but, still.... i am going to try
Language without the will to communicate
is just so many ways of telling the other person
to ‘fuck off and leave me alone’.
---
Sorry PastaNazi, I missed your response! Did you put up your version of the poem in the end?
http://forums.pearljam.com/showthread.php?t=304390
Thanks