At MOTW, Ian writes of why we should read, respect, and learn to appreciate poetry [https://www.menofthewest.net/poetry-and-you/]. No, not the self indulgent crap angsty teenagers put to paper, but the real stuff. Also not generally the shit they shoved down your throat at school - though several of them I ran into courtesy of english teachers have held up where the books and stories they tried to plug my mind with generally haven't. > Why should you care about it? The Iliad, the Odyssey, the…
All posts in poetry
Not much of a spoiler here, so no real warning. One of the things that caught my attention in the film 1917 was the way that cultural touchstones were shared. Among them, there's a scene at the end where a soldier is synging a hymn, from memory, no songsheets, and everyone is sitting listening. Another is near the beginning where the General Erinmore, sending the Blake and Schofield off, explains his choice with a line of poetry. This of course brought to mind the Copy-Book Headings [http://w…
One of the poems I came across in high school, in the selfsame collection of collected Kipling verse that still has a place of pride on my day-to-day work desk, was a ditty that even then I recognized the toxic, bitter loser, a.k.a. the "gamma". At first it almost sounds like justified contempt for an incompetent, but by the third stanza, the ulterior motive begins to become clear. This ditty is a string of lies. But-how the deuce did Gubbins rise? Potiphar Gubbins, C.E. Stands at the top of…
Prelude (To “The Departmental Ditties”) by Rudyard Kipling I have eaten your bread and salt. I have drunk your water and wine. The deaths ye died I have watched beside, And the lives ye led were mine. Was there aught that I did not share In vigil or toil or ease, – One joy or woe that I did not know, Dear hearts across the seas? I have written the tale of our life For a sheltered people’s mirth, In jesting guise – but ye are wise, And ye shall know what the jest is worth.…
First, as Cataline notes [http://reactionarytimes.blogspot.com/2018/11/new-release.html], we have a sequel to the excellent Soda Pop Soldier. You may recall I very much liked the first one [https://thelastredoubt.com/soda-pop-soldier/], and am also looking forward to whatever is next in his Wyrd series. Brian Niemeier is promoting what sounds like a really cool series [https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/galaxy-ascendant-book-3-a-shifting-alliance#/] . Downside is that it’s on indiegogo - upside…