Weather Report

Andrew McGeever · Post by **Andrew McGeever** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 3:52 pm

"The poet of angst and misery".
"His music is wrist-slitting stuff".
"He's raised depression to an art form".
These are some stereotypical views of a 70 year old man who possesses (and always had) a sense of humour. Please accept "Weather Report", as read by Leonard Cohen.

Weather Report
(as read by Leonard Cohen).

A pessimist is someone

who goes around saying

it's going to rain.

I am not a pessimist:

I'm soaked to the skin.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 5:37 pm

Hi Andrew ~

That is so appropriate for posting, whilst we acknowledge Leonard's relatively-newly found happier state of mind and being, as he again cited while speaking with the man from Maclean's. He's no longer soaked to the skin, but has found shelter, taken a warming bath, toweled, and is wearing dry clothes. By the same token, at this point, calling him an optimist would be just as erroneous. I've always loved that brief poem.

~ Elizabeth

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 8:46 pm

Andrew~

To me, this is very poignant. With just a few lines and words, a circular maze of understanding takes place...full of things NOT said at all, but steered by the poet, without doubt. This my favorite of all your great poems i have read.

regards,
Laurie

Andrew McGeever · Post by **Andrew McGeever** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 1:39 am

Most people watch T.V.
If they watch the news, it's usually followed by a weather report.
All I did was to imagine Leonard Cohen reading the weather report.
This scenario has exercised me from time to time: to imagine others doing the weather report.
I have more in mind: any takers for this one?
Andrew.
P.S. I'll even include Florida.

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Mon Oct 11, 2004 3:27 am

You'll even include Florida

? On that note, even with the dwindling funds of the "No Child Left Behind" 'program' for education, I don't think Florida ever quite accomplished her literacy goal. If you care to give her a voice, however, please do

. She may tend to get a bit repetitious, of course, saying the same thing four times

.

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 12:59 am

Andrew~

okay, here is my parody weather report from the late (great!) Sylvia Plath:

This evening,
The full moon shines brightly
through the yew trees.
It is cold. Cold and dark.
The sun will wake its critical eye
in the cauldron of the morning
Till clouds creep in, big and grey
And it will rain, hard as a funeral
For many days to come.

cheers (?)

Laurie

lizzytysh · Post by **lizzytysh** » Tue Oct 12, 2004 5:15 am

That's excellent, Laurie. From what I know, through reading about Sylvia, and a few of her poems, you capture her [former

] world well.

~ Lizzy

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:15 am

Thanks Lizzy~

I actually felt sort of guilty about parodying (sp?) her. Then i remembered a hilarious poem i read in a book of mine that is written as if by writers dogs called, "Unleashed." In it is a poem called "mommy" written in the style and cadence of Plath's well known poem "daddy."
So now i don't feel quite so guilty and i am dusting off my Unleashed for a re-read

....later, L

Andrew McGeever · Post by **Andrew McGeever** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:24 am

Dear LaurieAK,
I've re-read Sylvia's "Daddy", (from her "Ariel" collection, 1965), all sixteen stanzas, each five lines long.
Apart from "moon", "through", and "you", there is no identification between Plath's poem and your parody.
Achoo to the Jew who's through.
Read it , LaurieAK, please.
Place that poem beside the means of her suicide.
With respect,
Andrew.

Andrew McGeever · Post by **Andrew McGeever** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:46 am

Or maybe (?) it was "The Moon and the Yew Tree", in which case cancel my reply , but I'm still not sure where you're coming from.
Is there someone out there who can do a weather report?
Someone like....................?
I'm biting my lip

Andrew.
P.S. I've several names in the frame, and they all have the advantage of being alive

Young dr. Freud · Post by **Young dr. Freud** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 6:56 am

Andrew

Your envy of Laurie is quite transparent. You interest me. Slightly.

YdF

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Sat Oct 16, 2004 1:16 pm

Hi Andrew~

Sorry. My comments were misleading in their tangent.

My poem (i mean my 'weather report') was written with "The Moon And The Yew Tree" in mind (mostly).

My comments were about a poem in a book i have called, "Unleashed" in which all the poems are written as if by different writer's dogs. The poem i mentioned (Mommy) was written very tongue in cheek. Irreverant, but funny. When I felt guilty about writing the 'weather report,' having read this other silly take on Plath came to mind.

You need to know i am a long time Plath admirer of both her art and life. I have collected her works for over ten years and have a prized first (British) edition of the The Bell Jar. And even a couple of yearbooks from her time at Smith College. I have a poem written for Plath a couple of years ago on this very page, in case you have not seen it. I'm feeling a bit defense about this because i think you have the impression I am diminishing the impact of her poetry, specifically "Daddy." I love this poem. I have a critique I wrote on this poem on the sylviaplathforum.com (they have a forum to critique certain of her poems there).

Since you mentioned these specific items from "Daddy"

Achoo to the Jew who's through.

I don't want anyone out there surmising 'daddy' is about The Holocaust, it is not. If you're not familiar with it, you'll need to read the entire poem. Also knowing a bit about her other poetry and even a bit about her life helps to put it into perspective. It is a great poem.

On the thread of my Plath poem, I mention that in November a facisimile of Plath's Ariel will be printed in its original, intended form. The one that out now is how Ted Hughes altered it after her suicide. I hear that Frieda Hughes, their daughter has written a foward for it.

Okay. Hope I cleared up the misunderstanding.

Anyone else wanna write about the weather...thing about it is, we complain, but do nothing about it....

regards,
Laurie p.s. Andrew, besides "The Moon/Yew Tree" being my muse, I also thought of 'daddy' when using the word "gray" as in "...grey...big as a Frisco seal..." and almost referred to Frisco in my 'report'. And of course the poem Ariel itself was used with its "...cauldron of the morning" ending.

Andrew McGeever · Post by **Andrew McGeever** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 8:25 pm

Dear LaurieAK,
I apologise for taking so long to reply: far from diminishing Sylvia, you, through your writing and study, are part of a community which recognises the legacy of one of the finest female poets to have lived and died in Britain in the last century.
Things could have been different: if she had support when it mattered, if post -natal depression had been invented, if, if, if.....
Andrew.

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 10:03 pm

Hi Andrew~

Thanks for your comments. When taking university classes in my early 30's, i discovered her poetry and then the infinately interesting and frustrating story of her life and death. And so the story goes. If. If. If. So many factors added up to her demise.

Her poetry lives on as it deserves to, not because of her tragic story.

Although she did marry, live and die in Britain, her poetry/legacy is a shared asset for Britain and the U.S. Neither being expendable parts of the whole.

Even her children seem to have split the difference, with Frieda staying in Britain and Nicholas actually living and teaching in my great state of Alaska, last i read.

regards,
Laurie

Andrew McGeever · Post by **Andrew McGeever** » Sat Oct 23, 2004 10:38 pm

Dear LaurieAK,
In my teens (14?) , I recall studying Ted Hughes's "Pike" at high school.
His "Poetry in the Making" (Faber and Faber, 1967) overtook any book written by Sylvia. My English teacher concentrated on the living, as opposed to the dead, especially when it came to recently deceased poets.
I wish he'd given me "Morning Song" or "The Applicant" instead.
It's been a long time, Laurie
Andrew.