Have a Nice Day by Spike Milligan

Obviously the poem -  Have a Nice Day- is still in copyright, so instead of posting it here are a number of links,

video https://vimeo.com/96133058
Poetry site http://allpoetry.com/Have-A-Nice-day

Have a Nice Day starts...
'Help, help, ' said a man. 'I'm drowning.'
'Hang on, ' said a man from the shore.
'Help, help, ' said the man. 'I'm not clowning.'
'Yes, I know, I heard you before...
...

Spike Milligan

Spike Milligan is one of the people in this world who was happy to turn his hand to anything, television, writing, poetry, all with an endearing gusto and often biting black humour. He had severe bipolar disorder,

"I have got so low that I have asked to be hospitalised and for deep narcosis (sleep). I cannot stand being awake. The pain is too much ... Something has happened to me, this vital spark has stopped burning – I go to a dinner table now and I don't say a word, just sit there like a dodo. Normally I am the centre of attention, keep the conversation going – so that is depressing in itself. It's like another person taking over, very strange. The most important thing I say is 'good evening' and then I go quiet.^"

 ^{Why I chose this poem even though I couldn't actually post it..}

Even without Spike Milligan's history it's pretty obvious the absent Dr Browning is no bit-player in this poem - but in the face of death and disaster the protagonist says he's had a very nice day. The stiff upper lip, ubiquitous phrases that permeate modern (and not so modern) life, "have a nice day" "how are you/I'm well" "good evening" where nobody says it like it is. So yes, I really enjoyed it, as it hit the spot on the complain-o-meter without actually complaining ;)

So that's it for this week, a total cheat, and remember not to have maybe not a nice day, but a fantastic week! Hopefully will be up for a poem by then.

A.J.

Tuesday Poem: Johnny Cash's version of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails

(I believe, and hope this is the official version. It seemed to have the correct copyright on the video at the end - if the video above doesn't work try the YouTube link:  here  )

Yes, this version of "Hurt" is a slightly different version to the original by Nine Inch Nails,with a twist away from the drug references, shunting the song a fraction away from a haunting tale of drugs destroying relationships -- "What have I become My sweetest friend Everyone I know goes away In the end" becomes something almost nostalgic, recognising the impermanence of life -- made even more poignant by the singer's obvious ill health, and the fact he died shortly after its release.

The deep tones of melancholy echo through the melody -- yes, "you can have it all,"  a whole empire of it but what is "it all" anyway in the end except dirt and pain? 

So, on that cheery note, I'll leave you with a part of my favourite verse:


"Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
You are someone else
I am still right here"



Ka kite anō

A.J. Ponder

This Year of Fire

Michael demanded a rhyming poem before he went to bed - citing only rhyming poetry was proper poetry and the rest was just prose and far too easy.  Yeah right - cue the Tui billboard.  In any case, I have worked hard tonight to comply with his "request" - but even so this almost sonnet, almost certainly needs a little work...or at least the cold light of day.  Or should I say the far too hot light of day? 
 

This Year of Fire
by A.J. Ponder

This year is sorrow as the flowers bloom

the blush of petals flawed with pockmark trails

clutch withered seedpods and fade all too soon

before they fall into the wailing wind -

tears blown against the murky sky, the year

bruised dull grey and faded in its sorrow 

as the sun beats down in heated fear

past all boiling point, sublimed snow and fire -

an endless rage against an endless year.

Now we must bring a cool change, a frost bite,

a deadly drowning lest we persevere

with hope.  Lest we dare fight the raging tide

and fall not with the solar wind and searing rain,

but hold an icy compress against this pain.

Fav's this week are Helen Rickerby's choice of Incident by Fleur Adcock, thanks Mary McCallum for putting me on to Alice Spider, by Janis Freegard,  Harvey Molloy's The Schoolboy by William Blake, and Robert Sullivan's New Eclipse, for Ralph Hotere.

cheers,
A.J. Ponder

P.S. If you love sonnets and want to read some more "Running Away with a Christmas Sonnet"  and "Sonnet to the Muse" are fun, and if you want to learn how to write a sonnet The The Poetically Incorrect English Sonnet is there to help (watch out for the bad language though! 

A.J. Ponder's books are available through Rona Gallery, Amazon, Paper Plus and good Wellington bookstores.