Official Announcement

[Christine]

All right, let's summarize then. The diamond in the ruff: "Later this tummer (M_One's typo, I corrected it before he posted - who will disagree with me?) I will write a poem."

And here's ours...

"one summer
on Hydra, I shall dress
as a burlesque poem"

So the copyright may only apply to the words 'I' and 'a' and who could possibly claim those as their own? It's ours. No doubt in my mind. But where should we submit it for publishing? And must I 'aye' again in the absence of Manna and BM? Are you on board, damellon?

Diane's in charge of M_One's possible mis-posting. Could he possibly be that silly when he's written such A Work?

[Byron]

later this summer I will write a poem.

The photograph is showing us the society we live in and acts as a mirror to that society. Man in black dress wearing red bra, unaware of naked man holding a door behind him. The clothes are representative of societal mores which force us all to be hidden beneath manufactured cloths paid for by the sweat of our labours. The naked man holds the door ajar to show the viewer (not the man in the dress) that there is 'another way' which we can take. We can all go naked through the symbolic opening into a new world that we are not as yet aware of. The man in the dress is a typical character in a pretty poor stage play, in that we all know what is going on, but the character doesn't. He sits there in his make believe world oblivious to what is really happening. His thoughts are centred around the clothes he has bought and whether a size 14 wouldn't have been a better fit. He his engrossed in material satisfaction in a materialistic world. He represents all that is wrong with western society and its exploitation of workers by overpaid capitalist hedonists, whether they be 'straight,' 'cross dressers,' 'bisexual,' 'transexual,' 'show offs,' or 'feeble of mind.'

The true hero in this piece is the naked man at the door. He stands partly unseen, but clearly comfortable with his nakedness, and directing us towards an innocence and reward which is beyond our western understanding. The declaration that, 'later this summer I will write a poem,' is a literary guidance for each of us to anticipate the beauty and enthrallment, which shall follow in due course, as long as we accept that we can shed our clothes; can walk through any open door; can call ourselves children of the photograph.

The words and the photograph are two parts of the same intent, joined together by pixel and jpeg. We live in a new age and MO is leading us into his vision of a nirvanic state, be it ethereal, corporeal or illegal. Being a lawyer he strives to shed himself of not only his accoutriments of office, wig, gown, pin-stripe suit, but also of the 'baggage' that society places upon all of us.

This is a piece declaring a new Rebellion for a new Age and is earth shattering in its depth, imagery, and near 'monotone' effect of the photograph. The red bra coyly hints at the 'Colours' awaiting those who would venture forth into a 'rainbow' of happiness beyond our chosen door. To be able to spend time viewing the piece allows one to indulge in transcendental meandering, as the layers which bind society are gradually stripped away before our eyes, opened by the 19th century invention of photography. Here again, the use of photography alludes to a time scale beyond our earthly years and implies that we are far more than just lumps of meat waiting for the wooden overcoat. Even in death we are clothed.

The only question we must ask of the author is what F stop did he use?

[Christine]

The declaration that, 'later this summer I will write a poem,' is a literary guidance for each of us to anticipate the beauty and enthrallment, which shall follow in due course, as long as we accept that we can shed our clothes; can walk through any open door; can call ourselves children of the photograph.

Damn, Dam, we wasted all night working on a poem of a poem that was already fabulous from the get-go? "Later this summer I will write a poem." A lotterary guidance. Shite!

The words and the photograph are two parts of the same intent, joined together by pixel and jpeg. We live in a new age and MO is leading us into his vision of a nirvanic state, be it ethereal, corporeal or illegal. Being a lawyer he strives to shed himself of not only his accoutriments of office, wig, gown, pin-stripe suit, but also of the 'baggage' that society places upon all of us.

Arghhhhhhh! Byron, where were you before we spent hours on this? Do you have any comments at all on our poem please? Shall I repost it? And what d'you mean illegal?

The red bra coyly hints at the 'Colours' awaiting those who would venture forth into a 'rainbow' of happiness beyond our chosen door. To be able to spend time viewing the piece allows one to indulge in transcendental meandering, as the layers which bind society are gradually stripped away before our eyes, opened by the 19th century invention of photography. Here again, the use of photography alludes to a time scale beyond our earthly years and implies that we are far more than just lumps of meat waiting for the wooden overcoat. Even in death we are clothed.

Did he use an F stop? Is he wearing a Hat? Byron, you haven't never mentioned the ferret yet.

And where is mickey_one?????

[damellon]

Byron - not being there, we cannot guage the F.stop so the question does not further our understanding of the scene. Although focus is important I get the strong sense that the protagonist here is about to flash and that for the viewer/recorder of the situation the ensuing blindness will be a cataclysmic event. How to find our way out of the perpetual darkness? Is this perhaps the question the poet is posing? And is the answer ‘Later this summer I will write a poem’ - poetry being revelation, lighting the way to our personal salvation? Might that be the riddle solved? I agree with you that the figure in the background is to be preferred to the tragi-comic protagonist. The life in the shadows is always more interesting than the one in the spotlight. A glimpse more tantalising than the whole.
This still leaves the role of the photographer unexplored.

[Christine]

The man in the dress is a typical character in a pretty poor stage play, in that we all know what is going on, but the character doesn't. He sits there in his make believe world oblivious to what is really happening. His thoughts are centred around the clothes he has bought and whether a size 14 wouldn't have been a better fit. He his engrossed in material satisfaction in a materialistic world. He represents all that is wrong with western society and its exploitation of workers by overpaid capitalist hedonists, whether they be 'straight,' 'cross dressers,' 'bisexual,' 'transexual,' 'show offs,' or 'feeble of mind.'

Are we talking of our poet here? Say it ain't so!

[damellon]

Christine - please repost our poem, I've lost count of which draft we're on. Maybe Byron will critique it for us.

[Christine]

Jarkko, did you bychance take the picture you posted? There is some intrigue here.

[Christine]

10-4, here she blows.......

one summer
on Hydra, I shall dress
as a burlesque poem

[damellon]

Just a teeny query Byron....Is it 'The layers (or the lawyers) which bind society are gradually stripped before our eyes'?

[Christine]

Being a lawyer he strives to shed himself of not only his accoutriments of office, wig, gown, pin-stripe suit, but also of the 'baggage' that society places upon all of us.

"Later this summer I will write a poem."

Our poet will also strip off his wig and his gown. Are we certain the pin stripe goes? I mean, that takes up back to his frilly slip and red brazier. Are we sure this is what the writer had in mind? How can we take him seriously in his slip? Who is the naked man? There is no F Stop.

[Byron]

'layers' as in Greek cake, or onion, or Vietnamese multicoloured and elaborately dressed fighting three legged ferrets.

Your poem is 'nice' but it doesn't rhyme.

'one summer
on Hydra, I shall dress
as a burlesque poem'

We know his bra's red
Hydra's a rock
Beneath his black dress
Hides a poem to mock

Surely that makes more use of the real poetry what we learnt at school.

Could 'summer' be the name of an american lady friend? We know how much americans like to give their children weird first names.
The phrase 'one swallow doesn't make a summer,' comes to mind. Burlesque appertains to historical theatrical performances and performers. Is he acknowledging that he is out-dated,' and therefore a 'has-been.'? (where does the bloody question mark go in that sentence?) If one accepts that he is aware of his failing faculties, perhaps he could argue that a poem, any poem, might bring him some of the glory of his earlier years. However, we all know that he's living in a dreamland. He 'sits astride the arm of the chair like a colossal' artist's model, decked out in cheap finery, daydreaming of past poems. The man from 'social services' has just been cleaning his bathroom, and hence the need to be undressed in order to avoid 'soiling' his own clothes while liberally using the 'Jif' to scour the toilet bowl. The near naked man holds the bathroom door open to help ventilate the room and feels only compassion for this poor, solitary, unloved, dishevelled answer for a human being, one who he once looked up to in his student days, as an Eng. Lit., scholar, but now reduced to cleaning up other people's crap in order to get enough money to pay off his student loan and the Vet's Fees for his pet ferret called Pherdinand.
Hydra remains a dream for both of the characters we see. One is of past memories, t'other is of hopes and hard saving. Hydra is what binds them together in a strange way and let's be honest here, that photo is of some rather strange behaviour.
Salvaging any semblance of meaning from the poem as disclosed in its original posting is difficult to say the least. The re-worked and latest offering does take us some some way down the road to eventual habitation and notary on the island. But once again we must return to the clever use of the original words. He knows that lawyers can be 'notaries' and once more sends us off in tangentental diversions in a deliberate move to extend our appreciation of the workings of his mind. We are indeed dealing with a genius of some talent. I believe that what we surmise to be a red bra is in fact a red string vest, showing us the roots and poverty from whence he came as a young boy tied to the apron strings of his grandfather who baked bread, in temperatures that would destroy a normal mortal. And we have seen from the photograph that he is not a normal mortal.
Only time will tell, and to be perfectly honest, I haven't got the time.

[damellon]

Christine

- I think Byron is right about there being an F stop, there must be one, it's a necessity, but I think we don't need to know the nature of it, just what it meant to the person(s) taking the photograph. It is after all only another prop.
Have you any ideas on the role of the photographer here? - innocent passer-by, instigator, director?
I have to go now, but I shall give some more thought to that naked man. We haven't decided yet to jettison our own admirable effort have we? I have a lingering fondness for it. Could it be a companion piece? A child of the original? Blonde Madonna and Manna must be consulted again when they wake up.

[mickey_one]

oy, the humiliation of this thread. I made several typing errors in my original post which was intended as a private communication with my father.

It should have read
"Pater, I am in Ann Summers writing a poem". I then attached the photo of me in the changing area of that well-known sex-shop chain, and if you look carefully you can see a young Leonard Cohen standing naked in the corner, watching with a somewhat envious veneer.

I am sorry for any distress caused etc.


mickey_one (in Spain and writing a memorial booklet about his dad who died 10 years ago).

[Byron]

It could be argued that we are all 'the photographer' as we decide which 'button' to press and how hard we want to press it. The F stop is a surrogate for our individual closed and blinkered view of our world. Not content with being out of focus as we struggle to find artistic meaning in this piece, we are left with the dilemma of were to push our metaphorical finger and how would we approach the fantasy of having this camera before us. Is the camera one with a cable release, and/or self timer? If so, this would enable each of us to put ourselves in the picture.

My God that's it! We are the man (take your pick) in the photograph! This is a piece about our acceptance of our own sexuality. Man dressed (rather badly) as woman, man undressed as man. Two men in a relationship in which one of them doesn't know if he is male in a mental sense rather than male in a physical sense. The man (clothed in a dress) may be a manifestation of a lesbian trapped in a man's body! (I have to thank Eddie Izzard for that conjectural concept)

M_O is asking us to look at ourselves in public (hence the 'prop' of the camera) and wanting us to undress down to our basic humanity. The body exists, but the mind is merely carried around inside the body and separate from it. He is saying that we can be anything we want to be, as long as we are lawyers. Yes, the man is a genius. That's why lawyers get paid so much.

[Byron]

Bugger!!!