Journal Entries
Cockroach
Posted Aug 2, 2003
Thought it was time to post a different verse.
Cockroach.( A true story )
The roaches in South India
Are smug and sleek and slow
Unlike our native species
And some other ones I know
(Like the scary ones in Lisbon
Which are skinny, black and frightening.
If you turn on kitchen lights at night
They vanish like greased lightning.)
In the cheap Hotel Trishula
In Tiruvannamalai
I was eating a simple supper
When a cockroach ambled by.
He staggered from the kitchen
And headed for the door,
I could swear his legs were buckling
And his belly touched the floor.
At my table sat a woman
Who was elderly and Dutch
And she talked about her feelings
How she liked to be "in touch"
And "really live like Indians
And travel on the bus,"
No air conditioning for her.
But she really made a fuss
About her food, surprisingly
She didn't like the spices
And always ate in Western style
And whined about the prices.
Her back was to the kitchen
And I watched in rapt attention
As the cockroach wandered past her feet -
(A fact I failed to mention
As I wasn't sure how far her love
Of Indian things extended
And the presence of the cockroach
Might have seen her idyll ended!)
The roaches in South India
Are well-fed, fat and slow.
One lodged in my basin
In the water overflow.
It just sat there and looked at me -
Its antennae finely tapered -
Until I poked it with my toothbrush
And blocked the hole with paper.
Discuss this Journal entry [26]
Latest reply: Aug 2, 2003
The Mond of Dromo Land
Posted Jul 21, 2003
( With apologies to Edward Lear's "Akond of Swat," the following lines were dedicated to Conor OBrien, 18th Baron Inchiquin, The OBrien of Thomond, formerly of Dromoland Castle, Co. Clare, on his 60th birthday...an occasion he celebrated by buying an Aston Martin!)
Far away in the West, in a strangely remote and wet country called Dromo, there lives a monarch, whose title, surprisingly, is The "Mond" of Dromo Land. Surrounded as he is by mystery and speculation, we can only ask meaningless questions about his presence in Dromo Land......
Is the Mond a modest and humble chap...or frightfully grand
In Dromo Land?
Does he like his curries cooked fiercely hot...or bland
In Dromo Land?
Does he like a big juicy steak...or an obscure gland
In Dromo Land?
Does he like pineapple freshly picked...or canned
In Dromo Land?
Does he like his creme caramel flambeed...or flanned
In Dromo Land?
When his Mum comes into the room does he stay sitting down...or stand
In Dromo Land?
Does he like the sound of a string quartet...or a rubber band
In Dromo Land?
Does he like to sail in a boat alone...or manned
In Dromo Land?
When he's feeling hot does he like to lie down... and be fanned
In Dromo Land?
Does he keep his money beneath the mat...in golden rand
In Dromo Land?
When he's up on stage are there rave reviews...is he panned
In Dromo Land?
When he's playing tennis does he serve at speed...or underhand
In Dromo Land?
Does he think that pop, hip-hop and rap are cool...or should be banned
In Dromo Land?
Is his writing sprawly, small or neat...does he use shorthand
In Dromo Land?
When he writes at speed does he use a squiggle or plus...as an ampersand
In Dromo Land?
Does he go for a constitutional walk...or a jog on the strand
In Dromo Land?
Does he dance a tango, a waltz or a jig...or a sarabande
In Dromo Land?
Does he spit out cherry pips using his lips or his teeth...or his hand
In Dromo Land?
When he's shooting game does he sit on a shooting stick...or stand
In Dromo Land?
Does he tell the time by a clock...or an hourglass full of sand
In Dromo Land?
Does he like his queen to be strangely pale...or darkly tanned
In Dromo Land?
Does he like his parties wild and free...or carefully planned
In Dromo Land?
The Mond , the Mond, the mysterious Mond
Does he rave with a wave of his magical wand?
He's bought a car just like James Bond
Did he get it cheap or was he conned?
Is he going to dye his grey bits blonde?
Can anyone know or understand
The marvellous Mond of Dromo Land?
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Jul 21, 2003
Thallabawn Haiku
Posted Jul 10, 2003
Thallabawn.
The ocean silence -
Here so strong it drowns the sound
Of the crashing waves.
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Jul 10, 2003
Poetry - An Epitaph
Posted Jun 14, 2003
The Ballad of Grimley Moer got me reading an anthology of Victorian verse. What struck me was that somewhere between the seriousness of contemporary, literary poetry, political satire and the wackier wing of comic verse, we've lost the time for inconsequential verse, of the sort that the Victorians seemed to publish in reams. Well, much of it makes pretty tedious reading, admittedly, but all the same, there's a place for the vaguely entertaining pome. So here's a space-filler, a piece of poetic styrofoam.
POETRY, AN EPITAPH
Poetry, ah, poetry.
I wonder do you know a tree
That bears such very varied fruit,
So many forms of thought to suit.
Here's the "Roman de la Rose"
And there's some tangled semi-prose.
This branch, lines to make a sonnet,
That one has an epic on it,
Over there a sombre ballad,
Here's a richly comic salad.
Well, when my time, through some ill curse
Has come, and I my sins rehearse,
Unheeded by the public purse
Unheard but by some kindly nurse,
I won't need epitaphs in terse
Brief couplets, no, alas, far worse,
My Himalayan heap of verse
Will any kindly thoughts disperse
And every line that I coerce,
Will vanish from the universe.
Discuss this Journal entry [9]
Latest reply: Jun 14, 2003
The Origin of the Universe
Posted Jun 13, 2003
F19585?thread=283765&skip=166
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Jun 13, 2003
chaiwallah
Researcher U219914
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."