I was wondering why I preferred your afters to Joe Brainard’s befores, and on a second read-through thought, yes, it’s not just the generational or cultural differences but a commitment to the aural-verbal essentially rather than the visual medium.
I aimed only to land somewhere between pale imitation and homage, with poetry thrown in! But I wonder if what you describe reflects the fact that the Brainard influence was mediated for me by Philip Terry’s A Belfast Childhood (2019), which takes the I Remember formula and makes a sort of extended abecedarian sestina out of it…
I have one of those clocks! Mine is so old that the recordings sound squeaky now — probably the technology was less good back then, or the little chip or whatever it is degrades over time. Recently gave a modern one to friends, and the birdsong on theirs lasts for 40 seconds every time the hour turns, very lovely.
Thank you for the Tennyson line. I had to look it up, and now it’s in my memory list too. Plus have been reading the poem, which I must have read at some point years ago but feels fresh to me now.
It would be over 15 years since I saw this one! I wonder if it’s chip is still chirping. The Tennyson is one of those lovely lines that comes to mind all the time once swallowed whole.
Lovely and so relatable. 👍
Rusty staples: markers of age in two senses.
I remember a journalist from The Irish Times phoning me to talk about a poet for an obit.
I also remember Poetry of the Thirties, but then again it's not that long since the last time I took it down to dip into.
Hi Jeremy! Hope is ok to share: back in November I also borrowed the mode of Brainard's book to talk about poetry, though just a single poem -- https://robynskyrme.substack.com/p/memories-of-mist-place
I was wondering why I preferred your afters to Joe Brainard’s befores, and on a second read-through thought, yes, it’s not just the generational or cultural differences but a commitment to the aural-verbal essentially rather than the visual medium.
I aimed only to land somewhere between pale imitation and homage, with poetry thrown in! But I wonder if what you describe reflects the fact that the Brainard influence was mediated for me by Philip Terry’s A Belfast Childhood (2019), which takes the I Remember formula and makes a sort of extended abecedarian sestina out of it…
I have one of those clocks! Mine is so old that the recordings sound squeaky now — probably the technology was less good back then, or the little chip or whatever it is degrades over time. Recently gave a modern one to friends, and the birdsong on theirs lasts for 40 seconds every time the hour turns, very lovely.
Thank you for the Tennyson line. I had to look it up, and now it’s in my memory list too. Plus have been reading the poem, which I must have read at some point years ago but feels fresh to me now.
It would be over 15 years since I saw this one! I wonder if it’s chip is still chirping. The Tennyson is one of those lovely lines that comes to mind all the time once swallowed whole.