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Unread 02-09-2012, 02:31 AM
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John Whitworth John Whitworth is offline
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Location: United Kingdom
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I got this from Janet Kenny. Good on yer, Janet.


Here is the best tribute to Charles Dickens that I have read.

The New Zealand novelist, the late Maurice Shadbolt in 'One of Ben's', tells this tale about the wonderful witty New Zealand poet, the late Denis Glover:

"Denis was between marriages, often drunk,and also depressed. He confessed that he had seen suicide as a solution to his problems. A gas oven looked the most useful means. He put his head in the oven and turned on the gas. Waiting on oblivion, he felt there must be a more dignified way to die. He heaved mattress and pillow into the kitchen and sealed up windows and doors. He arranged mattress and pillow to his satisfaction. At least this new posture was comfortable. Then he turned on the gas again. It hissed steadily, beginning to fill the kitchen, but taking too long. Boredom set in. Denis found himself in need of a time-killing book. He turned off the gas, unsealed the kitchen and hunted along his bookshelves for a likely volume. Here was a pickle. What was his last book to be? It had to be an old favourite. He was never going to finish it; a fresh story wouldn't do. He fell on 'The Pickwick Papers', bore it off to the kitchen, resealed the room, turned on the gas,and was soon absorbed in his book. Soon he was laughing so much that he reached for cigarettes and matches. On the verge of lighting up he was struck by the thought: If I light this cigarette I'll kill myself.
Dickens kept Denis writing for another two decades."

And here is what Janet says is Glover's best poem. I love it.

The Magpies

When Tom and Elizabeth took the farm
The bracken made their bed
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

Tom's hand was strong to the plough
and Elizabeth's lips were red
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

Year in year out they worked
while the pines grew overhead
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

But all the beautiful crops soon went
to the mortgage man instead
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

Elizabeth is dead now (it's long ago)
Old Tom's gone light in the head
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies said

The farms still there. Mortgage corporations
couldn't give it away
and Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle
The magpies say.
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