A Quarterlight Goodbye

A filmless camera opened its shutter - closed.

I knew I'd see her again.

Her backwards look with pain at parting.

I knew I'd see her again.

Her backwards look with pain now departing.

Gone. Never to see her sweet face again.

Something for Nothing

Someone said to me earlier that "classical music is boring" and that they "only like things that immediately grab" them. The person involved seems to lack the concept of 'proactive immersion' in an experience.

It's not possible to stand in front of a painting and say: "Go on, entertain me." (Well, it is possible, but you'd come across as a bit of a knob.) For any form of music, literature, dance, visual art or any other medium, only some parts may grab you. But the imperative is that you should try to grab what you don't immediately 'get'.

Personal 'truth' in art, science and faith are all the same in that they are only currently currently held hypotheses that are waiting to be improved upon or disproved. Engaging with, and asking questions of, what we don't fully understand is the only way forward, and also the only chance of personal development.

I wish I'd asked the person in question if they'd cook a special meal, put it on a plate, and wait for it to jump into their mouth.

Letterbox

Once, She held my heart
in her hand.

That Hand which promised
a letter not received.

Getting home.
Door stuck on junk...

...and I'm free
until tomorrow.

Alphabetical Twittelation

Twenty-six consecutive tweets to keep me amused. It was actually quite hard to do without making anything up.




All my ideas for wasting a Sunday afternoon seem to have dried up. :o(>

@matt-fwyalchen - 15:06 20/02/11


Beer does taste better on a Sunday afternoon than it does at any other juncture of the week. Fact.

@matt-fwyalchen - 15:14 20/02/11


Critically, sport is exactly like life: you can do everything perfectly correctly and still not 'get the girl'. @'withheld'

@matt-fwyalchen - 15:26 20/02/11


Damn right! If you completely counter another team you are just giving them 'carte blanche' to have their preferred tactics. @'withheld'

@matt-fwyalchen - 15:35 20/02/11


Every time I do the Sunday Times crossword it stumps me with two clues which I look at an hour later, get immediately, and feel stupid.

@matt-fwyalchen - 15:59 20/02/11


French mustard does not go with roast beef. #justsaying

@matt-fwyalchen - 16:06 20/02/11


Gravy + jeans = washing powder + white, cuboid whirry thing in the kitchen.

@matt-fwyalchen - 16:15 20/02/11


Horseradish sauce has arrived. The day is saved. Hurrah! Hurrah! And thrice, hurrah!!

@matt-fwyalchen - 16:17 20/02/11


I think the 'UK Pushchairs in Pubs Society' should be outlawed. They hunt in packs.

@matt-fwyalchen - 16:50 20/02/11


Joyous news! I've just seen a chav walk into a lamppost. Praise be to the Great Arbiter!

@matt-fwyalchen - 16:56 20/02/11


Kids should not be carted round as an accessory (baggage) to their parents' lifestyle choices. That's all I have to say. @'withheld'

@matt-fwyalchen - 17:04 20/02/11


Lifestyle is (of course) a personal choice. I was agreeing with you. Take a pushchair round 18 holes of golf?! @'withheld'

@matt-fwyalchen - 17:20 20/02/11


Must remember to put the washing on tonight or it'll end up like the time I found myself with one clean sock.

@matt-fwyalchen - 17:40 20/02/11


Now 4 washing loads puts me in my place! I quite like this time of year though. The smell of fresh washing on toasty radiators. @'withheld'

@matt-fwyalchen - 17:50 20/02/11


Off to make myself look human for Monday. My stubble is currently shaming several of the local privets!

@matt-fwyalchen - 18:08 20/02/11


Perhaps secateurs will do the job?!

@matt-fwyalchen - 18:11 20/02/11


Quiche it is for supper, then. Half price in Spar. I do like a good quitch almost as much as a good cwtch.

@matt-fwyalchen - 18:20 20/02/11


Real men MAKE quiche!! (I just don't have time tonight.) @'withheld'

@matt-fwyalchen - 18:28 20/02/11


Seriously, now 'Jus-Rol' do a good shortcrust, I make loads. Surely he can chop cheese, onion and bacon and whisk eggs?! @'withheld'

@matt-fwyalchen - 18:41 20/02/11


Too true, Gareth. Too true. @'withheld'

@matt-fwyalchen - 18:43 20/02/11


Under International Law, and in a Citzens Arrest kind of way, can gobby yoofs be slung 'neath the most convenient local bough?

@matt-fwyalchen - 18:59 20/02/11


Vegans are safe then! @'withheld' @'withheld'

@matt-fwyalchen - 19:04 20/02/11


Why don't satsumas have zips? *Bathes eye.*

@matt-fwyalchen - 19:31 20/02/11


X-ratable bawdiness in form of song coming over my back wall from the pub beer garden tonight. Anyone got a 'Greek Fire' recipe to hand?

@matt-fwyalchen - 19:37 20/02/11


Yes, I'll admit it! I have been very bored and had a lot of time on my hands this afternoon. I apologise now for either verbosity or spamming.

@matt-fwyalchen - 19:41 20/02/11


Zounds and egad! I seem to have run out of letters! If this makes no sense, check my blog. http://fwyalchen.blogspot.com/

@matt-fwyalchen - 20:50 20/02/11

Separated From Animals

"Don't worry yourself, Snap!" Dad said. "They're only dumb animals and can't think for themselves. Just look at what they do! They're always fighting, ripping up their beds and leaving the mess all over the place."

Looking for an excuse to stop and think, I picked up the nearest 'useful thing' and combed his hair. "Couldn't we train them and make them useful?" I usefully suggested. "Sorry, Son. Many have tried but all they do is just grunt, sniff and go on doing what beasts do. They don't understand language so we can't help them, and the messiness of the fallen trees will continue. You see, my Son, that is what separates us orang-utans from animals. Sleep now, Snap."

(A touch of 'The Great Orang-utangle' that I currently have on the back burner. And yes, I do have a copyright draft.)

Richard of York

There are seven colours in a rainbow, right? Wrong. It contains every colour we can see. The same holds true for most things in life: science, music, personality, art, sexuality, politics and favoured combinations of pizza toppings. But we take each subject and impose the restricted colours of the rainbow onto them - those "boxes" that I hate.

Taking those "boxes" to that previous list: chemistry, Romantic, self-confident, Pre-Raphaelite, intuitive, Liberal with extra pepperoni and anchovies. That may be the recipe for my perfect woman, but it's also an example of not understanding any of the subjects.

Q.) Where, within biochemistry, does pure biology end and pure chemistry begin?

A.) Nowhere.


Q.) When, in music, does Classical turn to Romantic?

A.) It doesn't. I can cite examples of both in a 50 year window.



The examples go on and on: Picasso (nuff said), heterosexual/bisexual/homosexual, Liberal/Social Democrat, capers/olives/spicy chicken.

These are all just words that filter out some of the colours that we would be able to see if we were not conditioned by classification. I have never in my life met an extrovert who is not also an introvert. I have never in my life come across an introvert who is incapable of façade. Everything and everyone we experience is unique and cannot be described exactly. Each experience is, by definition, a step into the future.

Of course we need these "marker words" in order to both properly navigate and describe the world we live in. But they are not words in impenetrable "boxes"; they are markers on the axles of cogs.

Just Over a League Away

I know you're there. You have to be there - obscured from view, so close I can see your breath in the sky. You rise as I fall away, holding station with reason but not with hope. The path between us is not flat, but bent by the physical laws of life.

I was happy in the mountains. I even think from the highest point I may have been able to see you through the haze. When the fear came I tried to run to you. Down the scree and then falling, sliding until I could fall no more. Water's edge. No further.

The lapping folds trim half the grey sky. I cannot see you now.

I know you're there. You have to be there.

I'll climb again, regain my vantage - but I'll stay here awhile. I can't see you. But standing here with water at my feet, I know you are just over a league away.