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Thread: Nano story contest

  1. #166
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Thanks, tailor. So let's go on with Frederico García Lorca

    Lament for Ignacio Sanchez Mejias

    1. Cogida and death (first part of the lament)

    At five in the afternoon.
    It was exactly five in the afternoon.
    A boy brought the white sheet
    at five in the afternoon.
    A frail of lime ready prepared
    at five in the afternoon.
    The rest was death, and death alone.

    The wind carried away the cottonwool
    at five in the afternoon.
    And the oxide scattered crystal and nickel
    at five in the afternoon.
    Now the dove and the leopard wrestle
    at five in the afternoon.
    And a thigh with a desolated horn
    at five in the afternoon.
    The bass-string struck up
    at five in the afternoon.
    Arsenic bells and smoke
    at five in the afternoon.
    Groups of silence in the corners
    at five in the afternoon.
    And the bull alone with a high heart!
    At five in the afternoon.
    When the sweat of snow was coming
    at five in the afternoon,
    when the bull ring was covered with iodine
    at five in the afternoon.
    Death laid eggs in the wound
    at five in the afternoon.
    At five in the afternoon.
    At five o'clock in the afternoon.

    A coffin on wheels is his bed
    at five in the afternoon.
    Bones and flutes resound in his ears
    at five in the afternoon.
    Now the bull was bellowing through his forehead
    at five in the afternoon.
    The room was iridiscent with agony
    at five in the afternoon.
    In the distance the gangrene now comes
    at five in the afternoon.
    Horn of the lily through green groins
    at five in the afternoon.
    The wounds were burning like suns
    at five in the afternoon.
    At five in the afternoon.
    Ah, that fatal five in the afternoon!
    It was five by all the clocks!
    It was five in the shade of the afternoon!

    http://boppin.com/lorca/lament.html
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  2. #167
    Registered User tailor STATELY's Avatar
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    Quite poignant... the droning of time accentuates the tension. I'm thinking a bull fight fatality before I click the link...

    Ignacio must have been an important bull fighter, at least to the writer, to receive such praise and lament. Back in the late '60's my father would watch bullfighting on the telly and I would watch with him sometimes. The sport was majestic to watch, gore not withstanding. One gets a grand feel of place, and time, through the descriptive devices of the writer. Enjoyed this offering very much.

    Two of my favorite short stories by the master Poe: The Tell Tale Heart...
    TRUE!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses—not destroyed—not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily—how calmly I can tell you the whole story.

    It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture—a pale blue eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold; and so by degrees—very gradually—I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.
    ... https://americanenglish.state.gov/fi...le_heart_0.pdf

    and The Cask of Amontillado...
    The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled—but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.
    ...
    https://archive.org/stream/thecaskof...63gut/1063.txt

    Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
    tailor
    tailor

    who am I but a stitch in time
    what if I were to bare my soul
    would you see me origami

    7-8-2015

  3. #168
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Personally I hate bullfights and am frankly on the bulls side. Here is some more information on Sanches Mejias.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaci...ez_Mej%C3%ADas
    But the poem as such is impressive.
    Thanks for the Poe stories, very fitting for this LitNet moment:

    I found a tale by Horácio Quiroga:


    La Insolación / Sunstroke

    “La Insolación / Sunstroke”

    Old, the puppy, went out through the door and crossed the patio with a slow and upright gait. He stopped at the edge of the field, stretched out on the hill, his eyes half-closed, wiggled his nose, and laid down calmly. He looked out at the monotonous plains of Chaco that switched between fields and hills, hills and fields colorless besides the cream white of the grass and the black of the bush. Some two hundred meters out, the hill cut off the horizon on all three sides by the corn fields. Towards the west, the fields widened and extended out into the valley, framed by the inescapable shadowed line in the distance."
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  4. #169
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Oooops! I forgot the link to the stories!
    https://quirogatranslated.wordpress....ion-sunstroke/
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  5. #170
    Registered User tailor STATELY's Avatar
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    Fascinating wiki. Agree, bullfighting is anathema nowadays, Mexico & Spain notwithstanding - where I imagine it is still quite a spectacle.

    “There are so many thorns.”... "At midnight they heard his steps and the thud of his two boots on the floorboards before the light came on. The dogs could then feel the change of owner closing in on them. Alone, at the foot of the sleeping house, they began to cry."

    An interesting perspective. To think dogs/cats/etc might have a heightened sense of imminent death is an intriguing notion. Here's one account of cats: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...sing-home.html

    I'll try to come up with a story later tonight... grand-daughter coming over for help with her homework (college math) in a minute and FHE tonight )

    Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
    tailor
    tailor

    who am I but a stitch in time
    what if I were to bare my soul
    would you see me origami

    7-8-2015

  6. #171
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Enjoy the visit of your granddaughter! If you prefer to post a poem, that will be fine, too. I've read more stories than poems.
    Thanks for sharing the link on cats.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  7. #172
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Enjoy the visit of your granddaughter! If you prefer to post a poem, that will be fine, too. I've read more stories than poems.
    Thanks for sharing the link on Oskar. Someone actually wrote a short story based on him. The thread is buried somewhere in the forum.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  8. #173
    Registered User tailor STATELY's Avatar
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    An old favorite poem of mine is by Don Marquis. Here's a taste followed by a link to the poem
    ... it is better to be a part of beauty
    for one instant and then cease to
    exist than to exist forever
    and never be a part of beauty...
    https://followingpulitzer.wordpress....g/don-marquis/

    Also staying with the theme of cats Don Marquis' song of mehitabel...
    this is the song of mehitabel
    of mehitabel the alley cat
    as i wrote you before boss
    mehitabel is a believer
    in the pythagorean
    theory of the transmigration
    of the soul and she claims
    that formerly her spirit
    was incarnated in the body
    of cleopatra...
    https://www.blueridgejournal.com/poems/dm

    Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
    tailor
    tailor

    who am I but a stitch in time
    what if I were to bare my soul
    would you see me origami

    7-8-2015

  9. #174
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    To be sure:

    it is better to be happy
    for a moment
    and be burned up with beauty
    than to live a long time
    and be bored all the while
    https://followingpulitzer.wordpress....g/don-marquis/
    and

    do you think that i would change
    my present freedom to range
    for a castle or moated grange
    wotthehell wotthehell
    do you think that i would change
    my present freedom to range
    for a castle or moated grange
    wotthehell wotthehell
    Lol! Particularely liked the "wotthehells"
    Last edited by Danik 2016; 09-03-2019 at 06:16 AM.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  10. #175
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    A cat tragedy

    Eight times emerging from the flood
    She mewed to every watery god,
    Some speedy aid to send.
    No dolphin came, no Nereid stirred;
    Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard;
    A Favourite has no friend!
    https://interestingliterature.com/20...of-goldfishes/
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  11. #176
    Registered User tailor STATELY's Avatar
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    Loved the pretension of the poem and the moral ending:
    From hence, ye beauties, undeceived,
    Know, one false step is ne’er retrieved,
    And be with caution bold.
    Not all that tempts your wandering eyes
    And heedless hearts, is lawful prize;
    Nor all that glisters, gold
    Some more cat poems from some of my favorite poets; some of which I had never read before!? including:

    Le Chat (The Cat) by Charles Baudelaire...
    Come, superb cat, to my amorous heart;
    Hold back the talons of your paws,
    Let me gaze into your beautiful eyes
    Of metal and agate.
    I particularly like Baudelaire's poem because he brings to mind my dear departed Odie who had a cream coloured coat and the most amazing gold flecked-coloured eyes

    https://lithub.com/15-great-cat-poem...itten-by-cats/

    And a poem I penned and posted on LitNet 6-years ago:

    My Kitties Gone Home 2013

    Beloved SnoBall, Tai, my dearest Pi
    Gone home to rest unto the eternities
    So tired my tears, so tried my fears
    For Doodles and Odie, my remaining kitties
    O' heaven's bright beam, make this a dream
    Let me awaken to better days gone past
    Where is the justice? Why all the fuss?
    For three departed kitties sorely missed

    9/10/2013


    As I said Odie has since passed on. Taffydoodles (Doodles/TD/fuzzy-butt/Taffy) is quite old now (15?+); we also have Rosie and Tinker Bell in the family now, although Rosie is now relegated to being outdoors for being a bad kitty (she unpotty-trained herself after 5-years!).

    Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
    tailor
    tailor

    who am I but a stitch in time
    what if I were to bare my soul
    would you see me origami

    7-8-2015

  12. #177
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Loved both poems. Read a Baudelaire poem on cats before, but it wasn´t this one. Only cat lovers know the sadness of losing a cat. Fortunately you have three. That about Rosie is strange, if it was a male cat it might be marking the territory. But a female,? Have you talked to the vet about it?


    Muier
    By William Carlos Williams

    Oh, black Persian cat!
    Was not your life
    already cursed with offspring?
    We took you for rest to that old
    Yankee farm, — so lonely
    and with so many field mice
    in the long grass —
    and you return to us
    in this condition —!

    Oh, black Persian cat.

    (This time I couldn´t edit it)
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  13. #178
    Registered User tailor STATELY's Avatar
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    (lol) I love WCW's poems. No, I hadn't thought of taking Rosie to the vet at all... she all of a sudden started bolting outdoors anytime the door was opened in addition to her bad-kittyness. I thought she had just received the call of the wild; now we have to worry about her being preyed upon (foxes/mountain lions/bobcats/martins/bears/skunks/etc)... as well as her preying on the California quail, and other birds, I love.

    https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-call-of-the-wild/

    One more: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-...wings/#content

    Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
    tailor
    tailor

    who am I but a stitch in time
    what if I were to bare my soul
    would you see me origami

    7-8-2015

  14. #179
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    Thanks for the poems, I'll post something tomorrow when I'm on the PC again. On tablet( Android) things are a bit more difficult, for example I couldn't open poem hunter.
    Meanwhile a link that might be useful:
    https://www.quora.com/My-cat-was-pot...e-what-do-I-do
    Both my cats lived in the garden before I adopted them and I was astonished how automatically they took to the litter box. Only my male cat sprayed around before he was neutered.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

  15. #180
    On the road, but not! Danik 2016's Avatar
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    So now, with silvery tab reminding me of my silver cat:

    "And then the vision that I had
    Of Tabbie soaring through the night,
    Quick vanished, and I felt so sad
    For that poor pussy's piteous plight.
    For though frustration has it stings,
    Its mockeries in Hope's despite,
    The hell of hells is to have wings
    Yet be denied the bliss of flight."

    "So now, with silvery tab reminding me of my silver cat:
    "And then the vision that I had
    Of Tabbie soaring through the night,
    Quick vanished, and I felt so sad
    For that poor pussy's piteous plight.
    For though frustration has it stings,
    Its mockeries in Hope's despite,
    The hell of hells is to have wings
    Yet be denied the bliss of flight."

    Beautiful poems, specially the call of the wild
    Last edited by Danik 2016; 09-04-2019 at 07:11 AM.
    "I seemed to have sensed also from an early age that some of my experiences as a reader would change me more as a person than would many an event in the world where I sat and read. "
    Gerald Murnane, Tamarisk Row

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