I've been meaning to post this for a while now, a poem I'd surely never allow to be taught in any poetry class. Inclines me to remember why some people deserve very nasty punishment.
Click the image to see the larger version. Dare I note the date on this poem, published in my (gasp!) last year of high school? Oh, age is a rotten, fetid bitch, isn't she?
Omnia, for the record, was my old high-school newspaper, of which I was editor for around 3 years. The authors of said poem, I guess it hardly needs saying, were waiting with bated breath for this, even then-seeming, "old dog" to bugger the hell off. That was over 13, closer to 14, years ago. Arf, arf.
8 comments:
As a first visitor to your "other site", can I ask how many fictional Selves you have, Dr. J? Are the female authors of "That Strapping Blue Lad" real people?
A suggestion: perhaps you can name this site "That Strapping Blue Lad's Site"--I love it! And "Omnia"!!!--What a name! May be "OMNIA REVISITED"? You surely had your fun in high school.
How about a third site: "The Real Life of Dr. J"? (Have you read Nabokov's "The Real Life of Sebastian Knight"?) I would enjoy visiting that one, no matter how eventless it may seem to you.
Dr.R.
Oh, yes, the authors are very real, one of whom remains a good friend and whose wedding I attended recently. As for renaming this site-- well, I am now neither strapping nor as given to blue as I once was. And "Dr J" isn't a fictional self, though it's not an entirely unfictional one, either, as any of my friends and/or regular readers will attest.
High school is something I try very hard to forget. Very hard. There wasn't nearly enough ready-alcohol in high school to make it memorable.
As for the Real Life of Doctor J-- well, in a way, that's closer to what this site is, more given to actual facts and details (memorial or otherwise) than the jokey and crabby other site. This one, though, is still in a rather embryonic state. It may yet prove still-born. Who knows.... And no, I haven't read that Nabokov, alas; only Lolita and Pale Fire and Speak, Memory, as well as some shorter stuff of his.
Well, Dr R, welcome to this site (and the other one, for that matter). Feel free to drop by and jump in on any discussions as you like. Cheers & best,
J.
I asked because I have been visiting your sites and silently enjoying them--they often bring some light into the harsh reality of my life (they make me laugh), so I wanted to get some sense of what's real here. Hope I wasn't rude.
What's with the "Generally-Not-So-Good Dr J"? Is there a story behind that awful adjective? I think you are very good, judging by the long list of primary texts you recommended to students (an excellent selection!)in your other site.
Please satisfy my curiosity (that psychotic human weakness) and I will leave you alone: What's the best and the worst thing you've ever done? (Too private for Dr J?)
Dr R
First off: I did not think you rude-- not in the slightest.
As for the N-S-G Doctor: there's a bit of a tale to that, much of which is largely verbal. A good friend of mine-- and one of those who first christened me with the "Dr J" moniker many years ago-- tendentiously and all-too-kindly refers to me as "the Good Doctor," borrowing, as he well knows, on an age-old cliché. My, er, occasional, uhm, er, shall we say, rakeish and less-than-Good behaviour has necessitated the qualification. As you've surely surmised, the N-S-G Doctor would be a hypocrite (and an outright liar) if he described himself in other terms.
This blog was never, officially, meant for students, although several of the regular readers here are former students (goodness knows why!). It was always an indulgence on my part-- in the little stories that amuse me, the goofy or aggarvating things that arouse response, and, of course, the bits and pieces of thought and literature that intrigue me, entertain me, and so and so forth. Both blogs, in their own ways, are open notebooks, and I try (usually with little success, if any) to turn heads towards texts that catch my eye or my ear, or some other assemblance of receiving devices. It's also more random than systematic; sometimes, it's simply the discovery of a poem I'd never read before; sometimes, it's the pointing to of a piece I think others should read; others, it's a rediscovery of something I thought I had forgotten. That's about it, really. I just try to share what I discover/rediscover/think relevant/et cetera.
Your last paragraph stymies me slightly, because it's a little vague. (And, no, be aware I'm not trying to get you-- or anyone else-- to leave me alone, so feel free to ask what you want. I entertain all legitimate questions, and will try to answer them as honestly as I can. Within reason, of course.) But your question leaves me wondering what you're talking about-- the best/worst I've done in what sense(s)? Moral? Ethical? Personal? Intellectual? Spiritual? Just plain general? I pose this because the answers aren't exactly the same across those boards. I assure you, it's not evasiveness.
Generally, I don't know what the worst/best things I've done are; it's hard to quantify. The worst? That's probably slightly easier than figuring out the best. Ironically, though, in the general sense, they're probably both the same: the worst things I've done have been to believe in things and people in which I should not have, or to have believed in them much longer than I should have. The best? That I've tried to believe in things and people in which I should not have, and believed in them longer than I should have. Go figure. To reinvoke one of my oldest personal metaphors, it's that of Don Quixote tilting at windmills, even if, deep down, he suspects they are windmills more often than not. Once more unto the breach, as Henry says. There's also the opposite, I should add. Such is the world of paradox. The capitalist/Communist dichotomy may have fallen, but it's still a Graham Greene world out there.
I've gone on too long. (I have a tendency to do that.) Hope I've addressed your questions. If not, let me know. I'm glad you've been enjoying my sites; hopefully now you won't feel you should do so (or not doing so) silently. Cheers & best,
J.
Thank you. You are very kind.
Dr R
So the first hint of age,
and blurry i'tis.
But best I can see, 1891's a
long time in the biz. ;)
Of course we all know Dr. J was done high school at the mere age of 7.
Q
Oh, Queenie, would it were true, would it were true....
And, cbeck, yes, it's been a long time, but my old friend Methusaleh keeps snorting that I'm just a whipper-snap (and going on and on about how when he went to school). What's a hundred and thirteen years in the grand scheme of things? ;-)
Cheers.
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