We Pass Into April As If Into A Colder Month

[vern.silver]

We pass into April as if into a colder month
snow blowing on an icy wind, all thought
of spring turned round and gone to ground.
This is the season we wait for brought
to us on the end of a long cold winter drawing
towards summer; one turning lost within another:
moved by the symptoms of the soon to be knowing
grass will soon turn green, trees will leaf,
flowers come to bloom. Gone will be the ruin
of the colder months. Of days spent in dread belief
that winter does not end, that summer will not come.
So another spring begins; so another romance spins
on the icy cold winds of hesitancy. Will love come?
We pass into April as if into a colder month.

[Geoffrey]

this is a nice sonnit vern .but who is the "we" is it everybody or is it some of us only ?cos i dont think i pass into april as if it was colder .i dont even think a bout it at alltoo much i just dont look at what the date is .what a bout people in austuralia what a bout them cos there seesans are diffrent to ares .

[Sideways]

this is a nice sonnit vern .but who is the "we" is it everybody or is it some of us only ?cos i dont think i pass into april as if it was colder .i dont even think a bout it at alltoo much i just dont look at what the date is .what a bout people in austuralia what a bout them cos there seesans are diffrent to ares .

Dear Geoffrey, only 2 out of 10 for grammar and spelling! A number of boo-boos

1. "vern" needs a capital V as it is a name.

2. "dont" should be spelt "don't". it is a shortening of "do not".

3. "april" is a name of a month and needs a capital A.

4. you have written "alltoo" but there should be two separate words, "all too".

5. "Australia" is a country and is not spelt "austuralia".

6. "a bout" suggest a fight or contest! I believe you may have meant "about" which means "concerning".

7. you wrote "seesans" but you meant "seasons".

8. "diffrent" is your very different spelling of "different"!

9. you wrote "ares" whereas you are actually an "arse"

Geoffrey, you may have made other blunders as well. I suggest you take your time before you post and check your writing word by word

much love

Sue

[lizzytysh]

Hi Vern ~

I really liked this, but as Geoffrey said, it has not taken into account the difference in seasons between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and, in fact, the seasons are rather different on Venus and Mars, too, and I can't believe you didn't factor that into it, either . In fact, I liked how you used the seasons and the feelings. I just liked being immersed in them both. Just plain liked it.


~ Lizzy

[News Gal]

It's a localized observation. Of COURSE it won't take into account any other place than the one it's about. That part of Canada's been hit with blizzards--it's been on the wires for a week.

Don't let the obvious escape you by analyzing things too much.

[Geoffrey]

News Gal wrote:
>It's a localized observation. Of COURSE it won't take into account any other place than the one it's about. That part of Canada's been hit with blizzards--it's been on the wires for a week. Don't let the obvious escape you by analyzing things too much.

Well, who are the 'we' upon whose behalf and authority this spokesman talks, then? What gives him the cheek to claim that everybody else thinks like him? Some cowards say 'we' because they don't dare to stand alone in their judgement - when really they mean 'I'. Martin Luther King didn't say 'We had a dream', now did he!!

[News Gal]

News Gal wrote:
>It's a localized observation. Of COURSE it won't take into account any other place than the one it's about. That part of Canada's been hit with blizzards--it's been on the wires for a week. Don't let the obvious escape you by analyzing things too much.

Well, who are the 'we' upon whose behalf and authority this spokesman talks, then? What gives him the cheek to claim that everybody else thinks like him? Some cowards say 'we' because they don't dare to stand alone in their judgement - when really they mean 'I'. Martin Luther King didn't say 'We had a dream', now did he!!

Before I answer, can I ask where you're from? I think this could be a cultural issue and not a simple misunderstanding. The poem has an Indigenous feel to it, a people who are awaiting spring as a new beginning. I can tell you in my culture, "we" is more commonly used because "I" is considered selfish when speaking of a community There is never one Cherokee, rather a Cherokee Nation.

I for one can't understand what the issue you have is. It comes off as more of a clash of cultural terms.

[Sideways]

Well, News Gal, Geoffrey is actually right when he said "Martin Luther King didn't say 'We had a dream', ". In fact it was Abba and they sang it. Here are the full lyrics


I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

I have a dream, a fantasy
To help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness still another mile

I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail

I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

quite why it became some sort of anthem for Coloured Folk is beyond me,

Sue

[Geoffrey]

News Gal wrote:
>Before I answer, can I ask where you're from?

Uley, Glos. Educated at Stout's Hill Boys School.

>The poem has an Indigenous feel to it, a people who are awaiting spring as a new beginning.

It also contains a lot of antidisestablishmentarianism.

>There is never one Cherokee, rather a Cherokee Nation.

In one song Leonard sings that he broke into a prism and saw that his damned nation was poisoned with rainbows - that was Canada I presume.

>I for one can't understand what the issue you have is.

Well, the poem reeks of jactatation (a speech with false premises). The author is trying to walk with tramps and not use the royal crutch.

[News Gal]

News Gal wrote:
>Before I answer, can I ask where you're from?

Uley, Glos. Educated at Stout's Hill Boys School.

That answers many questions I had. I knew you were a European from the way you didn't understand how the author was using "we." A common cross-cultural issue, and not a bad thing--just a different way of viewing the world. My specialty other than journalism is intercultural communication, and this is something I've encountered more than once.

[Geoffrey]

News Gal wrote:
>That answers many questions I had. I knew you were a European from the way you didn't understand how the author was using "we."


What else do Europeans fail to understand, according to you?

[News Gal]

News Gal wrote:
>That answers many questions I had. I knew you were a European from the way you didn't understand how the author was using "we."


What else do Europeans fail to understand, according to you?

They tend to see the world as operating on their terms, without regard for the fact that other viewpoints exist. Probably the residual effects of colonialism, which was mostly European in origin. I've dealt with that attitude often in my work. It's sad to see


Just found a good link to something that may be of interest on the subject:

http://orvillejenkins.com/langlearn/pdf ... ooklet.pdf

[Geoffrey]

News Gal wrote:
>They tend to see the world as operating on their terms, without regard for the fact that other viewpoints exist. Probably the residual effects of colonialism, which was mostly European in origin.


Well, perhaps the Europeans should have just brought shiploads of Africans home with them instead, like you lot kindly did.

[News Gal]

News Gal wrote:
>They tend to see the world as operating on their terms, without regard for the fact that other viewpoints exist. Probably the residual effects of colonialism, which was mostly European in origin.


Well, perhaps the Europeans should have just brought shiploads of Africans home with us instead, like you lot kindly did.

Actually, I am Cherokee Native, and we didn't ship slaves. The British started the slave trade. You have no argument, and you make a grave mistake lumping a Native American in as just "American." We were here before "America" existed, and we have our own bone to pick with mainstream America. Read about the Indian Removal Act.

[Geoffrey]

News Gal wrote:
>Actually, I am Cherokee Native, and we didn't ship slaves. The British started the slave trade. You have no argument, and you make a grave mistake lumping a Native American in as just "American."


And I am not British. My father was a ship's carpenter from Karlskrona and my mother a tinker with unknown eastern block origin. I don't know much about Red Indians except that they murdered that nice Colonel Custer at Little Big Horn. Everybody still talks about that.