That first poem—Rushlight—is just amazing. He so captures that moment of a first kiss, the tension, the buildup, the relief. So lovely. I’m looking forward to your essay.
I know right! That poem blows me away - so tender and full of that sense of anticipation. So lovely! Aw cheers LeeAnn - essay is progressing - slow but steady hopefully!
Sounds likely haha. I think my family's surname (my ancestors were Irish) was just a wholesale English replacement, and might once have been Bán? Records are scant though, so it's hard to know for sure.
The English changed the Irish names but I think mainly from the Act of Union onwards. My grandad Brennan’s cousins, O’Gobhann had their name changed to Smith round that time and changed it back after independence. There was a de Whyte went over with Richard de Clare, settled in the West, I think. They were quite an important family so maybe that’s where your name come from.
Cheers Hasse! :-) Yeah I used to teach a couple of queer theory papers and my research led me to the same conclusion. Prior to Constantine’s sons in Rome same-sex marriages were happening, for instance - during their reigns an obsessive insistence of men not allowing themselves to be “penetrated like a woman” came into effect. And it wasn’t until until the 1500s in England that a legal effort was made to try and outlaw gay relationships, particularly between men (women were at the time considered property, so no specific laws related to them in this way).
But even then it didn’t stick - however in the 1800s suddenly all over Europe laws started to crop up making gay relationships “indecent” under the law, effectively inventing heterosexuality as a “norm”. There is a lot of good writing connecting this to the growth of capitalism and the need for workers’ families to be modelled on the factory - i.e. in which sex was defined by its capacity to produce more workers. Fascinating stuff! :-)
Thanks for sharing these poems, Dick. I especially enjoyed the second one. Several lines stand out, but the rhyming couplet,
"And the greyness of the sky
Will be the sorrow in her eyes."
It may be my favorites.
Ah lovely lines! Always a pleasure Rod. :-)
That first poem—Rushlight—is just amazing. He so captures that moment of a first kiss, the tension, the buildup, the relief. So lovely. I’m looking forward to your essay.
I know right! That poem blows me away - so tender and full of that sense of anticipation. So lovely! Aw cheers LeeAnn - essay is progressing - slow but steady hopefully!
These are two lovely poems, especially the second one that reads like a translation from Scots Gaelic or Irish.
Definitely - I wonder if you are right - it may even be an interpretation/inspired by a traditional song or poem?
The cadence makes me think Hiberno-English though the name isn’t an obviously Irish one.
Interesting :-) I wonder if the surname is an English alteration of McCready, itself already an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Mac Riada?
Could be. I looked it up and it's so rare as a surname that it's probably just a spelling mistake made by some illiterate clerk.
Sounds likely haha. I think my family's surname (my ancestors were Irish) was just a wholesale English replacement, and might once have been Bán? Records are scant though, so it's hard to know for sure.
The English changed the Irish names but I think mainly from the Act of Union onwards. My grandad Brennan’s cousins, O’Gobhann had their name changed to Smith round that time and changed it back after independence. There was a de Whyte went over with Richard de Clare, settled in the West, I think. They were quite an important family so maybe that’s where your name come from.
O pen, I love your words :)
Awwww thanks Fotini :-) means a lot!
Beautiful poems.
I'm looking forward to that upcoming project :)
It has been said that heterosexuality is an "invention of the late 1800s" -- I find that perspective really intriguing.
Cheers Hasse! :-) Yeah I used to teach a couple of queer theory papers and my research led me to the same conclusion. Prior to Constantine’s sons in Rome same-sex marriages were happening, for instance - during their reigns an obsessive insistence of men not allowing themselves to be “penetrated like a woman” came into effect. And it wasn’t until until the 1500s in England that a legal effort was made to try and outlaw gay relationships, particularly between men (women were at the time considered property, so no specific laws related to them in this way).
But even then it didn’t stick - however in the 1800s suddenly all over Europe laws started to crop up making gay relationships “indecent” under the law, effectively inventing heterosexuality as a “norm”. There is a lot of good writing connecting this to the growth of capitalism and the need for workers’ families to be modelled on the factory - i.e. in which sex was defined by its capacity to produce more workers. Fascinating stuff! :-)
Fascinating indeed! Thank you for the history lesson... Looks like I wasn't led astray with that statement then.
:-)