The round earth's imagined corners

Okay, you can call off the wake. Despite having not posted for TWO WHOLE DAYS now, I'm not dead and decaying in my own stench, as some of you have helpfully suggested. I have merely been away living it up in Manhattan (I love New York - how can you not adore a city where it's impossible to get a place to sit in a Starbucks at 8:30 am on a Sunday morning? That's what I call civilisation!) and have therefore had neither the space nor time to blog.

At any rate, I had an amazing weekend, which began with a glorious New York Philharmonic concert to commemorate Mozart's 250th (more on that later) and consisted of a string of movies (Antonioni's Blow-up, Ford's The Searchers and the delightful Tristram Shandy) punctuated by, in order: Nasi Goreng, Lemon Zesty Tuna Salad, Chicken Chipotle Burrito and some sushi whose name I can't remember (not to mention chocolate mousse cake at Veniero's accompanied by the find of the weekend - Mexican Coffee - black coffee, kahlua, tequila and whipped cream!). But perhaps the most deliriously happy moment in the whole trip was finding this gem of a Wendy Cope poem in the February issue of Poetry on the train in:

Differences of Opinion

1

HE TELLS HER

He tells her that the earth is flat -
He knows the facts and that is that.
In altercations fierce and long
She tries her best to prove him wrong.
But he has learned to argue well.
He calls her arguments unsound
And often asks her not to yell.
She cannot win. He stands his ground.

The planet goes on being round.

2

YOUR MOTHER KNOWS

Your mother knows the earth's a plane
And, challenged, sheds a martyr's tear.
God give her strength to bear this pain -
A child who says the world's a sphere!

Challenged, she sheds a martyr's tear.
It's bad to make your mother cry
By telling her the world's a sphere.
It's very bad to tell a lie.

It's bad to make your mother cry.
It's bad to think your mother odd.
It's very bad to tell a lie.
All this has been ordained by God.

It's bad to think your mother odd.
The world is round. That's also true.
All this has been ordained by God.
It's hard to see what you can do.

The world is round. That must be true.
She's praying, hoping you will change.
It's hard to see what you can do.
Already people find you strange.

She's praying, hoping you will change.
You're difficult. You don't fit in.
Already people find you strange.
You know your anger is a sin.

You're difficult. You don't fit in.
God give her strength to bear this pain.
You know your anger is a sin.
Your mother knows the earth's a plane.

- Wendy Cope

p.s. just in case you've never come across one before (or just happened not to notice), the second part is, of course, a pantoum - not quite a perfect one - but the imperfections only add to the charm.

Categories: Personal, Poetry