A Serious Man

There seem to be a number of things the Coen Brothers got just right in their recent film, A Serious Man. The first thing I noticed about it was the pace was right – for a film that tells the story of an ordinary life, the narrative ambles, with extended scenes (longer than they need to be) made up of everyday dialogue. It’s deliberately slow to go anywhere which entirely suits its subject matter. When it does appear to venture out beyond the ordinary, like when Larry’s depressed brother crosses the border into Canada, we find that Larry’s only dreaming. So we come back to Larry’s plethora of problems. This is where it works. Too many films purport to tell stories of the everyday only to lose sight of that intention, developing an ending that seems altogether extraordinary, or at least out there and beyond any of the experiences most of us have had living in suburbia. Sure these things happen but…So this Coen film is about control. As a film whose topic is ordinary things, it insists on its own ordinariness, which paradoxically lifts it out of the ordinary. It’s slow, a bit ponderous, but never banal. It got mainly middling reviews, the grounds for which I can’t remember. It’s worth a look.

Last Day of Term

Get among

that rusty filing cabinet's unruly drawers.

Half a class

Says the holidays have begun.

Video filler.

Heath Ledger's Lord Ulrich

(von Liechtenstein)

cashing in

at the armoury exchange

all talk's in florins.

shades of Ned Kelly

behind the visor

his Saxon blood

the 'modern' soundtrack

surprises with Golden Years

Noone knows Bowie's

an exaggeration -

Brandon does.

sport

the sun wouldn’t look out of place
here but doesn’t show & leaves the beach

cold. this side of a window streaked with rain
the lifesaver finishes her Reflections trilogy.

new southerly

The new issue of Southerly is out; it features poetry by Pam Brown, Peter Dawncy, John Tranter, Keri Glastonbury, Ken Bolton, Laurie Duggan, Kate Lilley, Gig Ryan, Kerry Leves, Ali Jane smith, Connie Barber, Rae Desmond Jones, Lucy Dougan, myself, and many others. It also contains some compelling critical work including a piece by John Tranter in which he examines his many, varied approaches to writing poetry (worth it for this item alone).

venerdi

foam:e

The new foam:e (7) is online. This issue's editor, Louise Waller, did a great job - correspondence was prompt and I thought it was a good idea that she posted a test site which accommodated any late changes contributors wanted to make. The current issue features work by KJ, Iain Britton, Jena Woodhouse, Stu Hatton, Lyn Reeves, Michael Aiken, Natalie Knight and others including me. (A link to my two poems.)

programming

"i couldnt help but notice

in your powerpoint

presentation a typo

graphical world war eleven"


the way the girls

in the middle row

custom those circles

& hearts over their eyes


or pock-marked walls

wear posters as masks

note passing? verbal detour

with eyes like these eyes fore


see the next blind consensus

call this kind of rhyme coincidence?

school bell/e & siren alike

to your minimalist shoelaces -


know nothing eludes me