Older blog entries for marnanel (starting at number 1047)

39 today

Scene: An office. Enter Marn.
Marn: Morning, everyone.
Office: Morning.
Coworker: And... happy birthday?
Marn: Thank you! and well remembered.
Office: Ooh.
Marn: And it occurs to me... oh, don't worry, I'm not going to make a speech...
Coworker: No more than any other day, anyway.

This entry was originally posted at http://marnanel.dreamwidth.org/290292.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Syndicated 2014-01-30 09:31:03 from Monument

double dactyl

Writing this down so I can sleep:

Greekery meekery
Paul the Apostle has
Sent many letters to
Corinth and all;
Why were their answers kept
Extracanonical?
Readers discovered they
Started... to pall.

This entry was originally posted at http://marnanel.dreamwidth.org/289843.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Syndicated 2014-01-12 23:20:19 from Monument

My ggg-grandparents

My ggg-grandparents, Thomas Thurman (1826-1912) and Mary Thurman née Gilderthorpe (1826-1890).



This entry was originally posted at http://marnanel.dreamwidth.org/289615.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Syndicated 2014-01-11 21:17:07 from Monument

Epiphany

I walked in darkness. Many a lonely mile,
my eyes and footsteps stumbling and blind,
I sought a kindly light I could not find
in land or ocean, asking all the while
if lightless lives are taken in exchange
for light eternal; memories of sight
would whisper, even I shall see the light!

I never thought the light would look so strange.
Not in a temple, echoing and awed,
nor in a palace, glistening and grand,
nor in my home, nor any friendly land,
but distant, dirty, in a shed abroad,
I met a maiden bloody from a birth
and in her arms, the light of all the earth.

This entry was originally posted at http://marnanel.dreamwidth.org/289280.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Syndicated 2014-01-06 13:59:35 from Monument

Dogged Scribblings - newly on Kindle

Love advice from a fishmonger, what puppies dream about, the invention of flatulence, an unusually honest job application, why King Arthur enjoys a good cuppa, and ten more short poems: Dogged Scribblings is a chapbook of my poetry newly published on Kindle. Reviews and ratings are always welcome!

Click here to buy on amazon.com for $1.99

Click here to buy on amazon.co.uk for 99p

(cover image here)

This entry was originally posted at http://marnanel.dreamwidth.org/289146.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Syndicated 2014-01-05 16:31:26 (Updated 2014-01-05 16:32:32) from Monument

on a night of snow

This is among my favourite sonnets; I wish it were better known, so here it is:

ON A NIGHT OF SNOW
by Elizabeth Coatsworth

"Cat, if you go outdoors you must walk in the snow.
You will come back with little white shoes on your feet,
little white slippers of snow that have heels of sleet.
Stay by the fire, my Cat. Lie still, do not go.
See how the flames are leaping and hissing low.
I will bring you a saucer of milk like a marguerite,
so white and so smooth, so spherical and so sweet–
stay with me, Cat. Outdoors the wild winds blow."

"Outdoors the wild winds blow, Mistress, and dark is the night.
Strange voices cry in the trees, intoning strange lore;
and more than cats move, lit by our eyes’ green light,
on silent feet where the meadow grasses hang hoar–
Mistress, there are portents abroad of magic and might,
and things that are yet to be done. Open the door!"

This entry was originally posted at http://marnanel.dreamwidth.org/288843.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Syndicated 2013-12-23 13:57:53 (Updated 2013-12-23 13:58:27) from Monument

from Iolanthe

TOLLOLLER:
Of all the young ladies I know,
This pretty young lady's the fairest ;
Her lips have the rosiest show.
Her eyes are the richest and rarest.
Her origin's lowly, it's true.
But of birth and position I've plenty ;
I've grammar and spelling for two.
And blood and behavior for twenty!

MOUNTARARAT:
Though the views of the House have diverged
On every conceivable motion,
All questions of party are merged
In a frenzy of love and devotion.
If you ask us distinctly to say
What party we claim to belong to,
We reply, without doubt or delay,
The party I'm singing this song to.

PHYLLIS:
I'm very much pained to refuse,
But I'll stick to my pipes and my tabors;
I can spell all the words that I use,
And my grammar's as good as my neighbour's.
As for birth, I was bom like the rest.
My behavior is rustic, but hearty.
And I know where to turn for the best
When I want a particular party!

This entry was originally posted at http://marnanel.dreamwidth.org/288208.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Syndicated 2013-12-13 11:05:40 from Monument

Controversial and offensive

I wrote a thing about the problems with the words "controversial" and "offensive".

This entry was originally posted at http://marnanel.dreamwidth.org/287594.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Syndicated 2013-12-11 15:16:37 from Monument

World united in mourning Mandela



This entry was originally posted at http://marnanel.dreamwidth.org/287242.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Syndicated 2013-12-09 11:24:13 from Monument

Don't pass by on the other side.

Don't pass by on the other side.

http://prostitutescollective.net/2013/12/05/police-raids-against-sex-workers-in-soho-central-london/

No, I've never been involved in sex work, buying or selling, and this still makes me angry. You know why? Because while the authorities are dealing with it by carrying out this sort of raid on those who aren't even breaking the law, then at best we live in a society that shoots its wounded. And whatever your views for or against the morality of these women's work, you and I are implicated in the violence if we turn a blind eye.

Don't pass by on the other side. Share and raise your voice. Thank you.

This entry was originally posted at http://marnanel.dreamwidth.org/286961.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Syndicated 2013-12-05 17:02:31 from Monument

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