I think that I was misled by the word: webinar. The excitement of coming into contact with a
useful neologism got me up at the crack of dawn to participate in a web-based
discussion called, you’ve guessed it, a ‘webinar’.
As this was
being hosted in America the time was in EST, which I duly translated into
Madrid time. And was twelve hours out in
my calculations! A mistake anyone can
make, though the six hours difference should have been added rather than taken
away from their starting time. If I had
thought about it for longer than a Nano second I might have worked out that the
USA is to the west of us and that the sun rises in the east and . . . well,
there is no excuse really.
And when,
twelve hours later, I finally joined the webinar (having decided that this
mixture of web and seminar was not really so clever) I discovered that the
whole enterprise was actually a selling opportunity for the couple of hosts who
were taking the webinar. I have to admit
that they did give some good advice and I did have the muted thrill of hearing
the title of my forthcoming book, ‘Flesh Can Be Bright’ read out by the female
host, so a few hundred people have heard the title, which is the first stage, I
suppose, towards buying the thing!
The shock of the day was finding out, when I attempted to
park in the leisure centre, that all the trees had been cut down! I never like seeing trees destroyed, but this
seemed worse somehow as these trees have been my on-going inspiration for a
whole series of poems and are the basis for a continuing series of poems. I did, of course make copious notes as I
sipped my tea and watched the workmen operating the grab and scooping up the
remains of the shattered vegetation.
This is the poem I wrote:
Winter Trees
ii. Gone
The blossom
headed grab
picks up
what’s left of
twenty
trees.
When this
year’s growth
was not cut
back,
I should
have known
that
something was afoot.
And now
these winter-winnowed
twigs
protrude from that
closed
metal sphere
like so
much wayward hair.
Spaced
equally, the twenty
shallow
pits share emptiness
concave,
not deep.
How easy to
remove.
And
cut.
Fresh,
pungent stumps
that flaunt
their age
in death.
Those trees
were never huggable.
The rough,
stained, ulcered bark
defied
caress. And yet.
Will asphalt
fill the cavities
where roots
once were?
And cars
park easily
on obstacle
free ground?
And memory
forget
that there
were ever trees?
This poem
is the second that I have written about Winter trees and I hope, eventually, it
will be a continuation of the series that I have already written on Autumn
trees. My latest poems can be found at: http://smrnewpoems.blogspot.com.es/ I am thinking about this series as forming
part of my next but one book of poems!
There is nothing like thinking ahead.
I would like this series to be accompanied by original drawings, just as
I hope the ‘Autumn trees’ series will be in ‘Flesh Can Be Bright’ to be
published this September. That all
sounds so professional, I can almost believe it!
Lunch today
was spectacular, one of the best that we have had in Castelldefels. I had a started of Carpaccio of beef that I
last had in Paris. This was
substantially better, and a bloody sight cheaper! My whole meal cost about ten quid, including
a class of Cava and coffee with ice. The
homemade tiramisu was something that my friend Paul would have killed for. You can see photos of most of the dishes in http://catalunyaplacetoeat.blogspot.com.es/
You will not see photos of the postres
because we both started eating them before I thought of using the camera! Again!
Toni’s blog is growing nicely and the photos
are a vivid reminder of the excellence of the eating experience that
Castelldefels offers at such a reasonable cost.
Our eventual hope is that the blog will
eventually be recognized as one of the formative eating guides and we will be
fed for nothing where ’ere we go! Fond
hope. But the blog is looking good and
it is a clear guide about where to go for a good meal at more than reasonable
cost.
