Wednesday, February 28, 2007

POST #6

a - quotes

IRISH HAIKU
Few editors and scholars acknowledge—or are even aware—that the pithy fílíocht now referred to by the Japanese word, Haiku, originated in Galway eleven and a half centuries ago. Scientific legend documents that the terse Irish bards were drawn to short works. Thus, the wee people of the shanties developed ‘tóins’. As is their way the Irish don’t boast about these adornments to world culture.

Norsemen are credited with transporting the traditional Irish tóins to the Japanese home islands. With the luck of the Japanese, they adopted the form, calling the resulting poems Haiku. Over the past century, the content shifted from the characteristic Irish concern for human foibles to the Japanese contemplation of nature and seasonal frailties. Something was lost, or gained, in this transformation. Shakespeare, in the English way, pilfered many Irish tóins and used them in his conceits.

Typical Tóins

The man works
from sun to sun
The woman’s work
is never done.

Beg your pardon
grant your grace
hope the cat will spit
in your face.

The light that lies
in young lads' eyes
and lies and lies
and lies.

Here I am
without a plea
except the clothes that
cover me.

Excuse me she said
as she lept out of bed
‘twas an awkward time
for the excitement.

Thank God for that bite
many a man
woulda called it
a meal.

Horses sweat,
men perspire,
women…
women glow.

A loaf of wine
a jug of bread
beneath ahh...’tis time
for a wee nap.

This selection is taken from the over 421 Irish tóins collected by the twice blessed Margaret Regina Sweeney, a shanty lady who, as a child, was a consultant to the wee people. Sweeney, Irish as Sally’s sow, brashed in where the more polite Japanese declined to enter. No further publication is planned. If you would like to know more about these tóins I suggest you stop a while in Galway.
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b. Continuing my report on Caico:
(see two previous reports on Caico below.)

Saturday Afternoon: Edilma’s cousin Erivan - very friendly and welcoming - drove me around Caicó a couple of hours, described what I was seeing into my halting ears. My eyes can take it in; my ears need a few more years conditioning.


I liked Caicó. How can a community feel relaxed? Don’t exactly know: perhaps because it seems more spacious. Whatever, Caicó is tranquilo.

The main roads here are paved and 4 plus cars wide. In the center city the buildings are mostly well maintained and there is an open-air community plaza with seating and tables for food and beer that probably seats 400 to 500. You have your choice of some twenty surrounding food booths. The plaza is centuries old; a continuation of european patterns and a precursor of shopping-mall food courts.

No high rises! Tallest building I saw was five stories. Some condo buildings. The small wealthy section is easily recognized; large houses set back on plots, with manicured grounds surrounded by free standing walls and fences.

Middle income areas are more diverse. Outside there is little concern for landscaping, while inside these casas can be anything from highly decorated to functional. These small compounds are protected behind walls or iron gates integrated into the structure, as is Maria Rosa’s.

Secondary roads are usually paved with paralelepipedo (a brasilian tongue twister meaning cobblestones as in West Greenwich village in NYC). Side streets, particularly as you move to the edges of town, are hard packed earth.

There is extensive use of speed bumps which literally work wonders to keep the speed down and thereby reduce the number of smashed dogs, cats and people. The need for policemen is also reduced. But, speed bumps raise the need for shops specializing in undercarriage repair.

Erivan drove through two poor areas, favelas, where the roads were narrow and the houses and stores are shabby. Most had no protective gates... but then favelas in Manhattan, Chicago, across the US, across the world tend to be shabby and unprotected.

What is the most popular hat in Caicó? Not a straw for sun protection, not a baseball cap. Motorcycle helmets! The year-round warm weather and relatively low cost make Caicó and surrounds, even more than Natal, perfect for motorcycles (motos); they are everywhere and their drivers are required to wear helmets.

Motos are ridden by all. I saw grandmothers and fathers, women single and some with child, and families with a child or two wedged between the driver and the passenger. There is a service called “moto-taxi”; you simply flag one of the many moto-taxis going by, hop on the back, tuck the child between you and the driver and off you go. Cost; 50 centavos (20 cents) to any place in town. Go shopping, take a moto home holding on to the driver, your packages, your grandmother and your child using both knees and all three hands.

Sunday
The next day Erivan drove Edilma and I along with his daughter and a young friend out to the Sabugi River where a dam made a large swimming hole. As soon as we left the city we were on secondary desert roads of hard packed dirt. These are in good shape but need to be driven with care; 10-15 mph. Walkers, bike riders, and donkeys are softer than cars and move slower.

An occasional deep pothole is best avoided; you will know of it because here someone will certainly have stuck a tree branch in it as a warning. Also it takes a bit of maneuvering crossing cattle guards and over humps built to protect irrigation pipes: everybody out to let the car rise the necessary inch to clear.

Great to watch Erivan, a big man - one of his hands could hold both of mine and have a good grip on my left foot - tending and playing with two small children in the water.

A few other families were there, one of whom had a radio blaring. . . (discouraging echo of the US). A bunch of teenage boys were doing dives and flips off the dam. What else is new?

Edilma and I walked around, talked, laughed and watched. She’s a tad too pregnant to go in swimming, I’m a tad too old for back flips.

Back to Maria Rosa’s for almoço (main meal of the day). Did a little writing and skilfully loafed the afternoon and evening by.
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c. Poems

Two new poems:

RIGHT ON!

Born right, raised right
did everything right
granpop, poppa
granma, mama
right on to Yale
Skulk and Bones

The ayes of Texas
The right gang
- Zaney and Reeve
The righteous have won
MISTER President!

Ooooops!
- - - - - - -

POLI SCI 101
Mentor - Will Rogers

Riding ahead of the herd?
Look back
now and then
make sure it's
still there

In a hole?
Stop digging

Never miss
a chance
to shut up
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