My mind will settle not on literature
Like stories, novels, chick lit, shades of grey.
Instead, I’m forced to books that will ensure
No critic  will despise my chosen way

Unconscious phantasy exists in all, Freud said
By radios, I’ve now become obsessed
I tinker with   their chargers  from  my bed
Not for those vibrators,  they’re so sad.

Hence, instead of grieving I caress,
Sadly wish I’d got him  better  radio sets
I’ve made a  little shrine upon his desk
Radio, long candles , woollen vests

His ashes  dwell inside  a hessian bag
I cannot climb Sca Fell with him to drag!

I’d throw him in the sea but he’d get mad

I’ll  put him in a plant pot here instead

I came home from the funeral weeping blood

It got inside the hoover while I blogged

I think I might  well bury him with dad.

I’ll keep him till I die  then he’ll feel glad

When I  leave you, do not shout and cry.
Remember ancient joy and sunlit lands
We must find a way to say, goodbye.

We need to part, to cut the strings that tie.
Never clutch me with your  uncrossed hands
When I  leave you, do not mope and cry.

It were easier had I not stopped by,
That I were injured by  the molten  ones
We must find a day to say, goodbye.

I have lost a sense of  what is mine
For my wishes, you did countermand
When I  leave you, speak and do not cry.

Intimacy has its many lies
Ambivalent, we  crave to understand
I will  distant be from  your  near sight

Drawn by dreams to seas and foreign lands
I am living ,so I make my plans
When I   go, please do not shout and cry
Your vocation is not to be my spy.

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We can communicate via images too.

As I was sitting here reflecting on a comment Rommel had made on my post “Style” I realised that as long as  our use of language was mainly oral we would not  have been worrying about apostrophes in the  sentence.

The cat ate it’s dinner v The cat ate its dinner.

The main reason,.I have thought of  , is that when we are talking to somebody in the flesh we have a lot more information about the situation we are in.If we had a dog called “It” my husband would know that the cat might:

Eat It’s dinner.

But he would probably be happy if the cat having been ill

ate its dinner.

When we move to written communication we have many advantages like being able to know   what ,others elsewhere think , share information , read books etc but we have to be careful to make sure that we get over exactly what we intend and I think this is when punctuation helps and why it is so important.Of course we can say,I mean the cat ate its own dinner…etc but sometimes people misinterpret what another person writes and don’t know that they have done that.Also I find writing poetry that it may have meanings I never noticed.

One reason that Bible reading was not allowed in the Catholic church before the Reformation is that it was thought people needed to be learned about  the time the Bible was written, about different translations etc. So the priest would expound to them upon a reading.I don’t know if they could ask questions.It seems unlikely but they could ask privately.

Many people don’t know that the Gospels were not written for many years after Jesus died so  the claim they are literally true might be misleading.The people  such as MMLJ who wrote them were in a small community where no doubt being Jews [yes!] they would discuss things at length and compare ideas and discuss what to write and how to explain  it to the larger group.When the Church grew  enormously that was hard to maintain.The split between Jews and Christians came in after the fall of Jerusalem in 70  CE when nearly all the Jews were killed by the Romans.The Rabbinical  sect and the Christian  sect were the survivors according to Karen Armstrong.They went separate ways.And  even with the Christians there had been conflicts about whether non Jews could become Christian.St Paul who wrote before the Gospels were written believed that non Jews were permitted to join but not everyone agreed, which led to a conflict between Jews who became Christians and Gentile Christians…. which led perhaps to the persecution of the Jews down the ages.

What we call the Old Testament is a selective rewriting of the Hebrew Bible which  has an even more complex history.Many of the stories are metaphorical as indeed they are in the New Testament.And many are now misunderstood like  ” an eye for an eye”

When we get the News now it’s not usually oral [I exclude TV as it is  not mutual].We get it in writing in the newspaper or on the screen here   and that is already an interpretation based on a  selective  choice from all that is happening..Again journalists need to know style, grammar and punctuation to make their writing transparent.Of the tabloid press, we might wish otherwise!We might choose to read other newspapers in other countries but time is a problem

If you disagree with me you can comment or ask me to clarify but if you disagree with BBC News or The Times it takes longer and may not have any effect.

I conclude that as humans move away from talking face to face it is harder to understand just what they mean when they use language..Talking together, we need no semi colons.As we moved into  using widespread written communication, we then needed ways to make clear our meaning but  in the end it is talking  between people which is primary and we need no lessons in grammar for that.I am surprise how no-one mentions how amazing it is that babies learn to talk without having lessons [but reading is harder for most children]

.Of course talking face to face has its own problems especially relating to power imbalances.And I have seen many articles about how we rarely listen properly and attentively to the person.Cultural differences also matter.I have taught many Muslim students and also interacted on-line and I find the men more courteous than   many  men from my  culture.It’s almost as if men here think, OK you want to be equal,we’ll hit you like we would a man or we’ll swear and curse in front of you or at you.Alas, many people don’t even know they are cursing and swearing as it is so common in soap operas.Why  even Alfred, my part time cat sometimes gives me a dirty look and a loud whine and might say something rude if he could talk in English.Thank God, he can’t

The power of meaning,  is that a  new idea;
No longer happiness or controlled thoughts?
With meaning , we can live with pain severe

When God was love , we knew the ritual sphere.
We did  not what we liked but what we ought
Is the power of meaning new and clear?

Religion left us many souvenirs
Although Indulgences cannot be sought
With meaning , we can live with pain severe

With religion ,we sought wholeness here
We indulge today in all that we have bought
Is the power of meaning new and clear?

Postmodern  Fascism, New Age spirits ,Fear.
Is this society  worthy of much thought?
With meaning, we can live with grief severe.

From God’s love , we thought  grace freely poured
Now  holy angels seem to  men  like whores
The power of meaning,  what an old idea!
With  less  meaning , life grows more severe