Waterskiing on Poetry - Waving hello to poems and poets with Neil Elder

Buffaloes And The Blue Planet

Ep 14. Recorded on Sir David Attenborough's 100th birthday, this episode treads an ecological path. We explore 'The Flower-Fed Buffaloes' by Vachel Lindsay, and 'Report To Wordsworth' by Boey Kim Cheng. Both poems raise the matter of how human activity impacts the environment - and at the end of our skim across those poetic waters, I offer my poem in honour of Sir David. To read the poems go here - https://allpoetry.com/The-Flower-Fed-Buffaloes⁠ [https://allpoetry.com/The-Flower-Fed-Buffaloes]https://big-slate.com/study/en/c/85e7bbea/report-to-wordsworth-boey-kim-cheng [https://big-slate.com/study/en/c/85e7bbea/report-to-wordsworth-boey-kim-cheng] To hear Vachel Lindsay read the poem go here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-GyPsFcnLQ [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-GyPsFcnLQ]

Ep 13. Who's Leaving Who?

Leaving home ain’t easyOn the one you're leaving home (Brian May) In this episode we explore the inevitable sense of love and loss that has to happen when children become independent and move beyond the orbit of their parents. Our exploration of this theme is built around the poems 'Walking Away' by C.Day Lewis, and 'To A Daughter Leaving Home' by Linda Pastan; two poems we hold up to the light and admire. Does the parent feel the dread of starting school more than the child? And how can riding a bicycle be a metaphor for growing up? We discover in this episode - oh, and we reference a couple of songs by Queen that also deal with the process of leaving. The poems can be found here - C. Day Lewis - ⁠https://holytrinity.academy/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Walking-Away-Worksheet-1.pdf⁠ [https://holytrinity.academy/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Walking-Away-Worksheet-1.pdf] Linda Pastan - ⁠https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/poetry-180/all-poems/item/poetry-180-075/to-a-daughter-leaving-home/⁠ [https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/poetry-180/all-poems/item/poetry-180-075/to-a-daughter-leaving-home/]

Ep 12. Imagined Museums

Imagine a museum of the future. What would you put in it? Would you put your vinyl, video cassettes and cheque book in there? Oh, and what would you leave out of the museum display? Do you have anything that is just too valuable and personal for the public gaze? Are we in danger of forgetting things if they are not preserved? When we all move to Mars some time in the future, could emotions like love become concepts from the past? These thoughts are all explored in the poems held up to the light in this episode. Tracy K Smith's poem The Museum of Obsolescence and Rebecca Lindenberg's The Museum of Lost Objects take us into imagined museums. You can read the poems here https://genius.com/Tracy-k-smith-the-museum-of-obsolescence- [herehttps://genius.com/Tracy-k-smith-the-museum-of-obsolescence-] annotatedhttps://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55526/in-the-museum-of-lost-objects [annotatedhttps://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55526/in-the-museum-of-lost-objects] The interview with Rebecca Lindenberg that I refer to is here - https://www.cincinnatireview.com/on-craft/poetry-at-the-museum/ [https://www.cincinnatireview.com/on-craft/poetry-at-the-museum/]

Ep 11. Dog Lovers Beware!

Love dogs or hate dogs? Either way, this one is for you. Here we wave hello to Billy Collins and Jack Underwood with their poems Another Reason Why I Don't Keep a Gun in the House and A man is dragging a dead dog, respectively. But these poems take us further than just having a nice time reading about dogs; they raise questions about the role of the reader, and highlight the way imagination underpins our reading. There's humour and darkness in equal measure. We bounce from barking dogs to Beethoven to a bizarre street scene where the reader takes over the role of the main character. Listen and enjoy! Instagram = @WaterskiingOn Poetry https://www.instagram.com/waterskiingonpoetry/ [https://www.instagram.com/waterskiingonpoetry/] To read the poems use these links - Billy Collins - https://allpoetry.com/Another-Reason-Why-I-Don't-Keep-A-Gun-In-The-House [https://allpoetry.com/Another-Reason-Why-I-Don't-Keep-A-Gun-In-The-House] Jack Underwood - https://poetryarchive.org/poem/man-dragging-dead-dog/ [https://poetryarchive.org/poem/man-dragging-dead-dog/] Essay by Jack Underwood - https://poetrysociety.org.uk/underwood-uncertain-subjects/ [https://poetrysociety.org.uk/underwood-uncertain-subjects/]

Ep 10. War And Pancakes

How do we get through the day when war is on our televisions, and who cares about that stuff when we've got cartoons to watch and pubs to go to? Carol Ann Duffy and George Bilgere help explore the matter in War Photographer and Pancake Dilemma. War is serious - so is it okay if one of these poems is actually funny? Find the poems here - https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/war-photographer/ https://rattle.com/pancake-dilemma-by-george-bilgere/ George Bilgere is here https://www.georgebilgere.com/ See Don McCullin photographs here https://donmccullin.com/