Saturday, 10 April 2010
Posthumous Reply to Gavin Ewart
On behalf of 21st century women...
Antiphon
Women prefer to have their imagination
cajole, caress, woo them - not rape.
Leave that to misogynistic men,
who overpower tender emotions
with vocabulary more suited to battle
or world domination.
Perhaps, when Ewart wrote, he'd not foreseen
the new breed of emancipated women
who'd take their place on equal terms with men
in poetry, and theatres of war.
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Touché, Jinksy! Very well said.
ReplyDeleteMaybe both genders are merging to middle ground?
ReplyDeleteWait...is Gavin posthumous or are you?
ReplyDeleteLet 'em have it with both pen and pencil, Jinksy! We are women, hear us roar!!
ReplyDeleteAh ah! You told them!
ReplyDeletegreat comeback! i don't think i like his views...
ReplyDeleteAlso on equal terms with men in business, politics, community...Their war is one of balanced, respectful engagement.
ReplyDeleteCheckmate!!!!! Wonderful, Jinks! No one could do it better than you!!! Love you! Janine XO
ReplyDeletehey, we must be reading a different Gavin Ewart. He is one of my favourite moderns. He is totally irreverent about most subjects, knows how to rouse hackles, but is funny as well as hitting nerves at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI think he is paraphrasing K.Amis in the poem you reproduced; Amis was a nasty, greedy, drunk, a notorious misogynist. I shall have to hunt out a few poems of Ewart's which I like; hope to be able to change your mind.
Friko - 42 pages of his book of poetry that I've read so far haven't changed my mind. I grant you he can be witty, and has a great way with langauge, but that doesn't make me like the guy whose character seems to be coming across from behind the words...
ReplyDeleteHi!!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you mentioned you were having trouble reading over the blue denim background of my blog! Thank you, it's much appreciated. And I just finished working on a new design, hopefully that'll do the trick...making it easier to read for you. If you have time...come back and check. Don't hesitate to say it's not working better.
You certainly said it for me, well done Jinksy. Mighty clever with words was Mr Ewart no doubt about that, somewhat coarse and always when reading his poems, makes me feel I would not like him very much as a person(should that put me off his words?) He was at Christs College with my husbands father, pity he is no longer with us -I would have loved the low-down!
ReplyDeletenice. no need for a war, love my woman.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure Ewart wasn't being deliberately controversial. He was that kind of guy. Doesn't mean he didn't deserve Jinksy's reply!
ReplyDelete