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by Cynthia Buell Thomas

Monday 12th March 2012 11:31 am (first posted Friday 25th February 2011 3:58 pm)

in the crepuscular wash of sodden November

ambiguous buildings in damp lethargy

lean over militant shoulders

umbrella bonneted

cast eyes glare pavement blinded

pragmatic heels bark through pools

dogged determination

crammed trams and insular buses

wheels hissing

rails clicking

fast night pissing

iconoclastic rush hour

Manchester

up North.

(a writing exercise done in a workshop class where five non-related words from five different persons were given: crepuscular, ambiguous, lethargy, exhausted, iconoclastic)

Cynthia Buell Thomas

Comments

David Cooke

Sun 27th Mar 2011 16:34

Yes, Cynthia, You did pretty well with the words you were given. Personally, I hate writing workshops. Just can't write to order - maybe wish I could have a go, but I can't!

winston plowes

Wed 2nd Mar 2011 16:51

Interesting how you have incorporated the words here Cynthia. Many of these lines are reasons I moved out of Manchester! Win x

Rachel Bond

Sat 26th Feb 2011 14:47

i esp. like,

'buildings in damp lethergy'

'cast eyes glare pavement blinded
pragmatic heels bark through pools.'

'fast night pissing'

its a great piece of abservation and could use some of these words for my project. is it ok to use them? im not sure how just yet. ive previously used words as text projection. maybe something similar?

Graham Sherwood

Sat 26th Feb 2011 14:26

Thank God for your explanation. I thought you'd swallowed a thesaurus Cynthia. I would have slapped the two who ventured crepuscular and iconoclastic who were obviously taking the mickey. Interesting to see that you felt that you needed to use three of the five in the first two lines that really put me off.

I did however like pragmatic heels barking and the fast night pissing.

I hope you gave the other poets a tricky word yourself. I always think prestidigitator goes down well.

<Deleted User> (7212)

Fri 25th Feb 2011 20:36

this sounds like Bolton when I was a kid. I'm now so ancient, I still remember trolley buses & part-cobbles on Great Moor Street. It always seemed to be raining as well. xx B

Philipos

Fri 25th Feb 2011 16:23

This is what you call a poem - liked especially crammed trams and insular buses - which did bring to mind insolent conductors who rang the bell just as you caught up with the bus and split their sides laughing thinking it a huge joke that you had to wait 30 mins for the next one x

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