Just to say, this is my favourite sign. There is the artfully smudged blue paint, the strange spelling and the overpowering poignancy of the poem/instructions. The harsh irony of that 'enjoy the view' borders on the inhuman. The second stanza makes hot tears spurt. The final stanza is, of course, unbearable. The telescope in question is at Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. It was there that H.G.Wells told his son to take a photograph of him. 'There,' he said, 'now you have a picture of Wells next the sea in Wells-next-the-Sea.' Greatness.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Homage to H.G.Wells and the Telescope Sign
Just to say, this is my favourite sign. There is the artfully smudged blue paint, the strange spelling and the overpowering poignancy of the poem/instructions. The harsh irony of that 'enjoy the view' borders on the inhuman. The second stanza makes hot tears spurt. The final stanza is, of course, unbearable. The telescope in question is at Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk. It was there that H.G.Wells told his son to take a photograph of him. 'There,' he said, 'now you have a picture of Wells next the sea in Wells-next-the-Sea.' Greatness.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
That is a lovely example of 'found poetry' (the apotheosis of which is Radio 4 LW's Shipping Forecast).
ReplyDeleteThe quickest source of found poetry these days is email spam. Here's one I made earlier from a day's worth of subject lines:
Non-english nut-gathering?
Thanks Placemats Turkey!
Peach blister New Hampshire,
ore smelter mis-mark
lamb preparatory.
Can you use the telescope if you don't have a child to hand?
ReplyDeleteThank you, Brit, loved the lamb preparatory. And, Neil, perhaps a child is provided or some local tyke is chained to the telescope ready to stand on the footstand for a few coppers.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone top this Spam Poem? If they can I'll eat my hat.
ReplyDelete