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Friday 20 May 2011

Stand Up


I am in awe of Ben Cohen he is such an amazing man. He recently retired from professional rugby to focus on his Stand Up Foundation tackling bullying and homophobia, not just in this country but over in the USA too. I really want to support this amazing man and what he is standing for, so just wanted to share that there is a movement on Facebook to support this, and get word about, by changing profile pictures to one of the following colour variations below, if you want to support this cause please feel free to copy them:

Wednesday 4 May 2011

Matilda

Following on from my last post, and for those of you who do not know Hillaire Belloc's work, here is my favourite poem of all time, one that was first heard when it was read by the deputy headmaster of my infant / junior school during many school assemblies:


Matilda

Who told Lies, and was Burned to Death


Matilda told such dreadful lies,

It made one gasp and stretch one's eyes;

Her aunt, who, from her earliest youth,

Had kept a strict regard for truth,

Attempted to believe Matilda:

The effort very nearly killed her,

And would have done so, had not she

Discovered this infirmity.

For once, towards the close of day,

Matilda, growing tired of play,

And finding she was left alone,

Went tiptoe to the telephone

And summoned the immediate aid

Of London's noble fire-brigade.

Within the hour the gallant band

Were pouring in on every hand,

From Putney, Hackney Downs and Bow,

With courage high and hearts a-glow

They galloped, roaring through the town,

"Matilda's house is burning down!"

Inspired by British cheers and loud

Proceeding from the frenzied crowd,

They ran their ladders through a score

Of windows on the ball room floor;

And took peculiar pains to souse

The pictures up and down the house,

Until Matilda's aunt succeeded

In showing them they were not needed

And even then she had to pay

To get the men to go away!

. . . . . . . . .

It happened that a few weeks later

her aunt was off to the theatre

To see that interesting play

The Second Mrs Tanqueray.

She had refused to take her niece

To hear this entertaining piece:

A deprivation just and wise

To punish her for telling lies.

That night a fire did break out -

You should have heard Matilda shout!

You should have heard her scream and bawl,

And throw the window up and call

To people passing in the street -

(The rapidly increasing heat

Encouraging her to obtain

Their confidence) - but all in vain!

For every time she shouted "Fire!"

They only answered "Little Liar!"

And therefore when her aunt returned,

Matilda, and the house, were burned.

Challenge

Just over a week ago I received a challenge from a blog reader I'd been in contact with via email. I'd been saying how bored I was at work and how I wanted to put my writing skills to use, but was lacking an idea of what to write. I wanted someone to give me a task, to tell me what to write and he gave me the task of writing a song!!
Not an easy task, and not exactly the sort of writing I am used to (especially as I am not a musician in any way, shape or form, and have little understanding of form and tempo etc).
I initially thought of adapting one of 50-odd poem that I'd written years ago, but most were written during depressive episodes or times and my challenge had been two-fold. I had to write a song and it had to be up-beat, "Nothing depressing, something fun." Talk about challenging!!

The first night I really gave it a good try. I even got a bit of a tune in my head and tried to think of something good or happy in my life that I could write about. It's said to be best to write about what you know. I just couldn't think of anything specifically in my past that was positive and of a subject suitable for song. Most songs tend to be about relationships and I only have the one to draw on. So, I decided instead to make up a situation and write about that. I wasn't happy with the result, as it seemed very amateurish, as were many of my poems. I dabbled around with some other ideas and then I guess I gave up. Sorry Sloan.

Tonight I decided to have a good look through my poems, I have them all collected, hand-written in one notebook. The last of them was written in 2002, not long after I had begun getting help for my my depression. Sadly, but as expected, I only found about 5 upbeat poems, and only one of them was possibly suitable for a song (the others being in the style of Hillaire Belloc, the first poet I was ever interested in). The one that is possibly suitable will have to be adapted, at the very least the last two verses need to be rewritten just to work as a poem. I've got some night shifts coming up, so I'll give it another go then I think.