Words

For whatever reason, I just cast an eye over my post from yesterday. Either I hung my cursor over the wrong button on the spellchecker, or Blogger was being cute with me. A "u" had mysteriously vanished from the word "labour", harrumph, and "Colinette" had transmogrified into "colonnade". One or two other things. Of course, if there is a spirit abroad, it will happen again, and then I'll be scared......

I woke up this mornin'...ahem. The words "naming of parts" sprang fully formed into my mind. Actually, this does happen a fair bit, because "Naming of Parts" by Henry Reed is one of my favourite poems.

To-day we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And to-morrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But today,
To-day we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighbouring gardens,
And to-day we have naming of parts.

This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
Which in our case we have not got.

This is the safety-catch, which is always released
With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see
Any of them using their finger.

And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
They call it easing the Spring.

They call it easing the Spring; it is perfectly easy
If you have any strength in your thumb; like the bolt,
And the breech, and the cockingpiece, and the point of balance,
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond blossom
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards
For to-day we have naming of parts.

So I shall put it here, just because. Why do I love it? Oh, lots of reasons. It reminds me of lessons in summer, when it was a warm afternoon and the last thing we wanted to be doing was maths or Latin or some other abomination. Because it is such a subtle anti-war poem. The voice of the instructor, heard so pedantically droning on - "which in our case we have not got" creeps in to my everyday conversation from time to time as well. The fragile, warm, buzzing of life outside the window contrasted with the oily metal hardness of the - I believe Lee Enfield, but I could be wrong - it doesn't really matter.

But this morning it came in to my mind, and was rapidly followed by the thought that, no, not naming of parts, naming of the whole. Quite what this means I am as yet uncertain. I have inklings and I will ponder. I think I know, but it is so flaky....can't quite be certain.

I did finish the watch bracelet, only to find that the watch has defunctified itself - ptui. Fortunately, I should be able to remove the bracelet and re-use. But - silk! It is looking quite good this time. Still wet, and I want to photograph it dry, so no image yet. But a distinct improvement. Ye-hah.

gw