Enga mellom fjella

Flight feathers

Flight feathers

A red leaf quivers
among the tangle of twigs,
flies off while the white striped sparrow,
a fleck on the stump,
pecks at the millet and milo.

It's my belief,
that joy gives them wings.

From the other side of the window,
I gape behind drapes,
rest, crouched on the couch,
my flight feathers clipped.
I sip
cream sweetened coffee
that churns in my stomach,
wears at my gut,
feeds the cancerous thoughts:

oh,
to feed on a meagre portion of grain,
to flex wings.

© Kåre Enga 2008 [164.543] 2008-03-06

IMAGES and MUSINGS:

It is snowing. It is March. It is white. Spring is NOT here (or anywhere near).
It is death-white and snowing.

NEWS/ON-LINE:

Recently there was this article at Yahoo on Nigerian Encglish:

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20080303/twl-nigeria-english-o-1be00ca.html

In fact, if "Nigerian English" is googled, there are many hits (355 just for news stories). As a lingua franca, English has entered various cultures all over the world. An argument could be made that this is even the case in North America where there is a sense of "Native-American English" as well as dialects strongly influenced by the ethnic mix that settled the area. Anyone who has seen the movie "Fargo" or visited Minnesota (and heard Minnesotan) has experienced this. And when I use the expression side-by-each do you know which ethnic influence it reflects?

Every culture that adapts English ... for whatever reason ... adds to the lexicon and richness of what is becoming a "family of languages".

ME:

I bought three books (30% off ) on Irish-English, Australian-English and Brazilian-Protuguese. I'm armed and ready to fly ... (if only I had wings).

The young woman who sold me my low-flight ticket last night is going by way of the high-road to London, Dublin and Amsterdam next week. She'll be with family in London. Her folks just got back from Nigeria (her dad is Yoruban). She doesn't speak Yoruban, though she does speak Spanish.

I am going to the Land of Misery (Missouri). I will be in Springfield all day next Thursday the 13th. Ruth tells me they have a Krispy Kreme place there. Fortunately, a bus system runs around town and they have 3 universities and coffee shops. I need to find somewhere with internet, a park to hang out in, the campuses aren't too far from the Aer Greyhound Station.

This way I spend less time on the bus. I'm not stuck in the St. Louis station for 3 hours. And I get to see a place I've only driven through before.

Then I'll be in St. Robert next to Fort Leonard Wood for 3 days, spending the time with family.

Costs? Going to Missoula and spending a week there would be as cheap. Lodging is very expensive in many cities where the small mom-and-pop motels no longer exist. The big chains promote their expensive amenities. I just want a room. I'm not going there to spend my time in a hot tub.

Got to a poetry reading (poor venue, couldn't hear a thing) and a lecture by Lyn Hejinian. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/396 I found some of it quite interesting, but, as I told one of the students sitting near me (I gave her a copy of Gzaibun ... why not?) I am a WRITER; I'm not into literary critique, movements, et cetera ...

Three things:

There is money in selling correspondence between writers. Perhaps as much as the writers will ever make selling a poem.

There are aspects of translation that are hard to surmont. Ms. Hejinian mentioned the rhyme and exuberance of a contemporary Russian poet. English (as presently envisioned) just doesn't have the means to express it.

The "Language poets" are putting out 10 issues of "Piano" (not sure of title) where the ten collaborators each lead in one issue that the others follow. Sound familiar? The issues will explore the times when they all met at the Piano to discuss (argue?) poetry in Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco in the late 70s.

Siting of The Penguin last summer:



Kansas: Grey and white and 21º.

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