misfit

Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Wed, 01 Dec 1999 20:47:04 +0000

    '... if we'd be satisfied with it all being "a random lottery 
    of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes" 
    ...  if that "answer" took care of it all, then my guess 
    is we wouldn't be here on this list, any of us ...'

    I guess this does indeed illuminate my sense of being 
    a stranger on this list.  In my own case, the meaninglessness
    is more comedic than tragic but certainly 'near escapes' 
    or 'lucky escapes' is on the button.  Is it just my advanced 
    years that gives me such a distrust of any poetry - any language - 
    not firmly rooted in the earth & the body?  I can sense my own 
    datedness in feeling so at one with old Ernest as he stands 
    with his company, half-hearing in the distance through 
    the falling rain all those grand words  & concepts - or watching 
    those shadowy women lamenting to the sound of the lyre.

    They will never mean as much to me as a quarter pounder   
    with cheese - or a man's watch with a broken crystal wrapped
    in tissue paper.
    
    Scottie B.