Clean Gas in Unclean Bottles

Why the ugly, dirty, rusty, scornful-looking, unhygienic cooking gas bottles one must be forced to accept and store in one's kitchen?

Should not there be some sort of standard where the companies are expected to clean the bottles before refilling and to paint them now and then.

I suppose that would mean an increase in the price of a bottle of gas but please, Bureau of Standards, can't we do better than that?

Police Exposure

So now the well meaning Police Service, in their Information Advisory, are advising the bandits exactly where to look for your laptops and other valuables in your car.

Would it not have been sufficient if they stopped at saying, "Do not leave valuables exposed in your vehicle"?

Poetic Licence?

Is poetry the highest form of creative writing? There are those who will so lay claim but of course this is debatable. For me, poetry is the essence of creative writing but more important is the fact that all writing requires, no, demands that the writer strive for excellence.

Please people, I agree that poets possess poetic licence to break conventional rules of writing but at least one should be aware of the rules that are being broken and why (e.g. local or Caribbean dialectal constructs); rules should not be broken 'vikey vie' i.e. thoughtlessly and erratically without any deliberation.

Poetic licence certainly does not give one the right to arbitrarily write bad grammar (e.g. tense, subject/verb singular/plural agreement, etc), bad punctuation, bad spelling, typos and generally sloppy writing. Please proof read or edit your poems before posting or publishing.

And while we are at it, let's dispel the sorry myth about getting inspiration, writing a poem and not daring to touch it afterwards even if it is full of crap. If you recognize an error or something that can be improved, give it some thought and make corrections; and please, correct the typos picked up, even after posting, cause if you don't readers will recognize them.

Althea Romeo-Mark says "...a freshly composed poem is like a block of marble or a large piece of wood that must be chiseled and carved until it reaches a shape of perfection that pleases the eye. Similar with a raw poem, you chisel away excess words until you reach a form that is concise, concrete and conveys meaning in brief, vivid phrases that evoke a response in the reader."

Let's take some pride in our work. If we don't we are doing a disservice to both ourselves and other poets who would like readers to take poetry seriously.

Of Camels, Zebras and Jackasses

Say 'hump' anywhere in the world and one automatically thinks of roads and camels; in my country, say 'hump' and I think of roads, camels, zebras and jackasses.

There are no camels or zebras here but the people who place on our roads, steep, sometimes narrow, sometimes malformed, ugly, vicious humps without painting them with white stripes have got to be jackasses. Maybe they could use the paint to paint themselves with white stripes, then they could be mistaken for zebras.

I understand the need for humps as much as I understand the need for speed (no pun intended) but should not the humps be painted to be clearly visible and to indicate that a hump is ahead?

But then again, they could be part of a conspiracy with the pot-hole people, spare-part dealers and auto mechanics to mash up your vehicle so that you have to purchase parts and fix every day.

Sound like another jackass conspiracy theory?

And oh! I forgot about the other 'hump'; like in "the people who place on our roads, steep, sometimes narrow, sometimes malformed, ugly, vicious humps without painting them with white stripes..." have got to be enjoying humping us all.

A Library at Last! Hurrah!!!

Oh the fond memories of afternoons, after school, heading for the Scarborough Library at the top of Burnett Street, pausing at the two record shops on the two up-and-down streets along the way, of course. And the not so fond memories of under-stocked, under-utilized and defunct school libraries, but that was a long, long time ago.

Why are we so capital-centric or city-centric or north-centric, if you like, in Trinidad and Tobago? I love the idea of having a magnificent edifice called the National Library in Port of Spain but what is the sense when the majority ( I stand to be corrected on this) of villages, towns and boroughs all over the country do not have proper libraries, if any at all, including school libraries?

When last I visited the Carnegie Library at San Fernando, the other city, students were sitting on the floor due to the cramped space. Princes Town was a little hole. Rio Claro had none. There is the mobile library system but can't we do better than that? Would not a library in every town and village be of tremendous value to the citizenry, particularly the children. Of course the concept of a library is no longer just books but also digital, multimedia, workshops and events, computers and internet access.

Think of the poor child, not fortunate to possess these capabilities at home but who may have the aptitude or potential to be a doctor or scientist. Think of the potential leader who, if not channelled down the positive path, may graduate to become a gang leader.

For years, even before the murder of deceased chairman Hansraj Sumairsingh (God rest his soul) and his vision in 1999, my good friend, Esther Noel (God bless her), and I, lobbied ceaselessly, to no avail, at the Rio Claro Regional Corporation for a library in Rio Claro, an important town with many dependencies in the south east of Trinidad. The sad thing is that there are many corporate citizens who would gladly support any library venture and I had secured the pledge of a big oil-exploration company at the time.

It warmed my heart to hear the Honourable Winston Peters announce recently that, at long last, Rio Claro will get a library of which the residents can be proud. All power to you, sir. We await with bated breath (even though I do not presently reside there).

Joseph Campbell on Form

It is in the fields of the arts that the reductive, life-diminishing effect of the loss of all sense of form is today most disquieting; for it is in their arts that the creative energies of a people are best displayed and can best be measured...

The point I would make -- and which I believe was also Nietzsche's -- is that form is the medium, the vehicle, through which life becomes manifest in its grand style, articulate and grandiose, and that the mere shattering of form is for human as well as for animal life a disaster, ritual and decorum being the structuring forms of all civilization...

The only term of comparison I could think of at the time was the poetic art of the sonnet; for there too is a very demanding form; yet the poet acquires within it a force and range of expression that he could never have gained without it, and thereby a new order of freedom...

(Joseph Campbell -- 'Myths To Live By')

Ezra Pound on Imagism

Pay no attention to the criticisms of men who have never themselves written a notable work.     

Use no superfluous word and no adjective which does not reveal something.    

Go in fear of abstractions. Don't retail in mediocre verse what has already been done in good prose.

Don't imagine that the art of poetry is any simpler than the art of music or that you can please the expert before you have spent at least as much effort on the art of verse as the average piano teacher spends on the art of music.

Be influenced by as many great artists as you can, but have the decency either to acknowledge the debt outright or try to conceal it.

Consider the definiteness of Dante's presentation as compared with Milton's. Read as much of Wordsworth as does not seem to be unutterably dull.
If you want the gist of the matter go to Sappho, Catullus, Villon when he is in the vein, Gautier when he is not too frigid, or if yon have not the tongues seek out the leisurely Chaucer.

Good prose will do you no harm. There is good discipline to be had by trying to write it. Translation is also good training.

(Ezra Pound)

Happy Republic Day, T&T.

"but Edward, lover of England,
her shrubs, her birds, her soil, her sand;
my country means as much to me
as your country meant to you."

http://newton-chance.blogspot.com/2010/03/edward.html

Hello World

Hi Folks,

On this auspicious Republic Day, welcome to my new prose blog, companion to my poetry blog (Muse Bemuse Amuse), in which I propose to prick my fingers while, maybe, picking a few roses.

As the name suggests I will be rambling randomly about anything on my mind. I will also post excerpts from public domain writings of famous writers.

So here goes.