Tuesday 12 January 2010

The Night Stallions


I don’t know if it’s the snow, lying silent and motionless on the land and now a little threatening with its ice and dark echo on the roads – but dreams have been trampling noisily around my head all night, waking me often and leaving me troubled and exhausted.

The local estate agent selling dusty antiques in the disused foyer of my childhood cinema, a Charlie Chaplin rug, a hole where his moustache ought to be, a marble game for pre-school kids that teaches “if it’s too difficult I’ll give up” in the printed rules and a gilt framed but mould infested print of Fred and Ginger.

A stranger, trying to balance a clay pot on his head that I rescue from the sea, asking my advice and announcing we are neighbours over the-end-of-garden fence, a place I never go since my Dad’s death, and nor he since he moved long before.

The high street of my youth peopled and personed with the folk and events of today or less recent.

Undercurrent of imprecise concerns.

11 comments:

Anne Hodgson said...

Fight those crazy mares with wild little pigs for a refreshing daydream:

Snow flakes, by Emily Dickinson

I counted till they danced so
Their slippers leaped the town,
And then I took a pencil
To note the rebels down.
And then they grew so jolly
I did resign the prig,
And ten of my once stately toes
Are marshalled for a jig!

popps said...

Ah thankyou, all i need now is a podcast of you reading it!

Anonymous said...

I will not concur on it. I regard as precise post. Particularly the designation attracted me to read the unscathed story.

popps said...

Er...yes.
Possibly.

Janet Bianchini said...

You have done nothing but lead one to reflect. That is definitely not a crime, so don't feel bad about it!! I have just read your comment on Anne's page.
J x

popps said...

Thnx Janet - it's ok - i know she is an adult and in full control of her choices.

popps said...

anonymous - are you translating something? why do you say unscathed?
anyone else - what am i missing?

Anne Hodgson said...

Hi Chris,

I think Anonymous might not be a person, this might be spam. Almost intelligible, but not quite. (Anonymous, do you have anything to say for yourself?)

Janet, sorry it took me so long to answer! Certainly didn't want to put you on the spot, Chris, I just liked that post. I don't actually think I've ever been in full control of anything. But choices, yep, pretty good at those ;)

popps said...

Hi Anne, my initial reaction was "tis is spam i'll delete it" but then i thought "what if it isn't and i destroy an innocent comment".
But i was mightily confused.
So i left it, tried to reply in a way that was neither mean or hard and asked for other's views.
So if it is spam waht exactly is it spamming because there seems to be know link, or is it a new type of stealth spam?

Vicki Hollett said...

Ah, I think Anne is right. But I had a similar experience with a posting recently - wondering whether it was spam or not.
Some of those bots are getting entrancingly poetic.
Maybe we are approaching a time when a machine will be able to pass the Turing test?

Janet Bianchini said...

Hi all

You should check out this link for a really useful article on spam scams and how to spot them and how to deal with them.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/01/avoiding-comment-spam-scams.html