http://jacketmagazine.com/29/north2.html

O

https://victorianweb.org/philosophy/langer1.html

As far as thought is concerned, and at all-levels of thought, it [mental life] is a symbolic process. It is mental not because the symbols are immaterial, for they are often material, perhaps always material, but because they are symbols. . . . The essential act of thought is symbolization. — A. D. Ritchie, The Natural History of the Mind

Symbolization is the essential act of mind

Not higher sensitivity, not longer memory or even quicker association sets man so far above other animals that he can regard them as denizens of a lower world: no, it is the power of using symbols—the power of speech—that makes him lord of the earth. So our interest in the mind has shifted more and more from the acquisition of experience, the domain of sense, to the uses of sense-data, the realm of conception and expression. The importance of symbol-using, once admitted, soon becomes paramount in the study of intelligence. . . . Symbolism is the recognized key to that mental life which is characteristically human and above the level of sheer animality. Symbol and meaning make man’s world, far more than sensation; Miss Helen Keller, bereft of sight and hearing, or even a person like the late Laura Bridgman, with the single sense of touch, is capable of living in a wider and richer World than a dog or an ape with all his senses alert. [33, 35]

Mary goes to the clinic and meets David Cameron

Mary was sitting down feeling quite lonely in the waiting room outside the doctor’s office when she saw Emile hiding under a chair..
What are you doing,she whispered.I’m glad of your company though.
I jumped into your cab, the cheeky cat informed her proudly
I want to be there when he examines you in case he makes vulgar remarks
Don’t worry,she answered,they always have a chaperone nowadays.
Just then a pretty young black nurse took Mary into a room and said to her
Take off your underpants!
I don’t wear underpants,said Mary,but I can go home and get my husband’s if you want me to.
We use underpants as a generic term,the nurse informed her in a kindly yet menacing voice.
Wow,they are so intelligent nowadays,I don’t think I knew what generic meant till recently Mary told herself stupidly
I have no underpants,Emile meowed. crossly
No and I am not making you any.I have quite enough washing to do already.Mary responded like a mother.
It’s not fair, said Emile.All my friends have underpants and T shirts too.
Soon the doctor came in and looked nervously at Mary and then at her female parts.
Mary was used to this but all of a sudden she got a nasty pain
Ow,ow,ow,she shrieked,what is that?
It’s ok,said the nurse,just older ladies are not used to this sort of thing.
I’ll have you know many older ladies are very used to it but not when they are unaroused.Besides men’s organs are kinder than metal or plastic if the lady is willing.Can’t you put more lubricant on the damned thing
The doctor tried to remove the speculum but was clearly somewhat agitated.
Ouch,cried Mary.Ouch.
Thank goodness I didn’t know it would hurt.Do you think we should be shown a romantic mildly arousing film in the waiting room to make it easier?
We can’t do that,said the nurse.We might be accused of running a brothel.Still ,we could use more money in here.
But the doctor is not paying me,said Mary.I am paying him, in a sense,as a taxpayer.And you too,dear.
You are too clever for me,said the nurse sharply as she admired Mary’s tan leather handbag from TKMaxx stuffed with set squares and cameras
I shall bring a vibrator next time,Mary told her,though she had never even seen a vibrator except in a picture.Still.she had to say something.And why should she not benefit from modern science?Boots sell them,she seemed to recall…
You can’t bring a vibrator in here or the doctor will be angry ,as he might be accused of misconduct if you enjoyed yourself, the nurse whispered, though why should you not enjoy it,she said in a puzzled tone ;as if she had never thought like this before.
I thought it was only misconduct if the doctor enjoyed himself,Mary cried loudly.
He has seen so many ladies, it is just like seeing into a mouth for him,said the nurse churlishly thus taking away Mary’s pride in her unique anatomy.
I expect one gets used to anything in time,Mary murmured,but I hope he will not need to do that again to me.
No, you seem ok,the doctor said,but I seem to imagine I can see a cat under the table.What is he doing?
I am just keeping an eye on you,mewed Emile.I live with Mary.
No animals are allowed in here ,the doctor shouted in a paranoid manner.
A bit late now,meowed the cat.Are you sending for the cat police?
Dr.Grey picked up a very large speculum and threatened to strike Emile with it
Now then,said the nurse, he might scratch my legs.Leave him alone.He’s just protecting her.And I had just sterilised that.
Fat lot of good Emile was,Mary thought to herself.
The doctor approached Mary and told her she would be seeing a consultant soon… in the meantime should she do anything to prepare… she asked.
Well, do try to relax if you can, he told her gently.It is trying for ladies of riper years to attend hospitals but we only want to help you.
I’ll have to help myself,Mary thought wryly, laughing inside, as she got down off the table and put on her red and purple knickers or “underpants” as they are now referred to by health professionals
.Thank God,that is over,she whispered to Emile.Let’s run out and get a cab.
She hobbled to the door and phoned the taxi firm with her mobile.I just want to get home she told the driver.
Don’t we all, he said in an Eton accent.Surely it’s not David Cameron in disguise canvassing patients?Thank God he’s not conducting pelvic exams on them!That would lose him the election whether he was any good or not… in my view,but then what do I know about the British electorate?It might be the key to our future as a nation.Think about it!No,stop!

Please pray before leaving the car park.

We have residential Barking in our Street. Wh

The just men come around once a week. But the sun shines on the unjust as well

The Catholic church has a long stay harp park.

The plumber gave me a quotation. He said it’s from the Bible but did they have central heating in the copper age?

The policeman said who do you think you are? So I said well I’m not a murderer. But he was also a psychoanalyst so he arrested me immediately.I said hang on a minute I’ve not done it yet. Time  has become confused around here. Why was relativity special anywhere?

Children go to school without being toilet trained. Does this mean that teachers have to learn how to change nappies. Is this what they call  the missing stink?

Do they read Palms instead of books?

You don’t need to go to university for that!

I just don’t know what to think now but I never did know what to think until I heard myself speaking and then I agreed with it. I didn’t want a civil war in my head. Once they begin,it’s difficult to stop until everybody’s dead and then there’s nobody to declare the end. Maybe a cock would crow

Just a big empty space with a sign saying.. wait here for the 10 commandments. Contactless credit available except on the Sabbath

But there was nobody there when I went and I’m wondering am I the only person left on earth? Because if so I will never know anything without being able to have a conversation unless I can speak to God but can god speak a language or does he speak only in images?

And that was on the news today. Would I tell a lie?

Please play before parking your car
Don’t go home without your dripping
Please use a different credit marred
Please be police to other passengers on this plane
Do as you would be stunned by
Don’t be anti-specific in this Motel
Keep Britain Pernicious
Are you a Fascist? Free tuition in the UK
Please drive your car to the Brexit gate before decaying
Keep your seat polished in Church.Sit and prey.
Don’t leave the IOU today
Johnson said, “what EU” to my cat
The Sermon on our Doubt
Are you racist about God?
What a Gnostic! It’s Greek to me.
The Church of England is praying in Europe this week
Leave the memories be kind
My sister likes to pray on her piano every day
What’s on the TV? Just the cat I’m afraid.
Income Tax goes out but what comes in.. just everything really?

For so long you loved and imitated me

Then we were students at the university

Without you, I won’t feel like anyone

To whom shall I turn when you are gone?

When you’re the one who shared my infant bed

When you’re the one who treasured all I said

When you’re the one I held in the dark night

When you are gone there can be no more light

When the moment comes,I must believe

For trees shall weep their leaves as if bereaved

Then will my sister heart with sadness heave.

Oh do itnot do not ,do not ,do not leave

Is It Time to Cancel Cancel Culture? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/24/opinion/the-argument-cancel-culture-media.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

The Middle-Aged Sadness Behind the Cancel Culture Panic https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/opinion/generation-cancel-culture.html?smid=nytcore-android-share

https://www.poetryarchive.org/interview/wendy-cope-interview

 

“What do you see as the role of humour in poetry?

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/heaven-hell/

I’ve come to the conclusion that G.od made the world

by knitting.

My bones have been knitting too but when you do knitting on needles with wool you can undo it if you make a mistake.

Yet God can’t undo the world because we would all die.

Of course that would solve an awful lot of problems like the middle East but it just seems rather extreme.

Maybe he doesn’t want to do that because he said look at them they’re doing it all themselves

DIY… Kill your neighbour ..

It seems like the opposite of what we really need or who knows perhaps I’m crazy because I want the world to be knitted together and our hearts to be listening together.

So let’s try to do our knitting every day and if we make a mistake let’s try to undo it before it becomes permanent.

Yes if you do your knitting well it’s a life saver I should know

Rhythmic poetry echoes our own rhythms

The way the heart beats and the flow of blood.

Music is biology at play

The joy of being alive is well and good

There is no no need for willpower and its strains

Does the River have to push itself?

Does the tide need training who could tell?

Imitating these is poetrys stealth.

Overwork is easy but it’s wrong.

Distracks us from the pain of life and death

Both can come together in a song

Let your mind be vacant till you find

The evidence that there is another mind

An American filmmaker actor and playwright.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyler_Perry

“Poetry is a mirror which makes beautiful that which is distorted.” Writing poems, particularly the elegy poems about my mother, did this for me.

Is it still hard to talk about what happened?
Sure. Even this level of conversation I am having with you is very hard. It’s not simply that I am sad. It is much more complex than that. I at once hold these two emotions and one of them is this sense of bereavement that I have lived with my entire adult life. The other is a real sense of happiness because I can talk about her and someone will listen.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/19/natasha-trethewey-i-decided-i-was-going-to-be-the-one-to-tell-my-mothers-story?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/feb/25/catherine-coldstream-cloistered-my-years-as-a-nun-god-interview

https://thehumanist.com/magazine/july-august-2019/features/imperial-borders-and-mythical-frontiers/

If today’s mass immigration is going to end in anything but catastrophe, it’s going to require facing unpleasant truths about American empire and global capitalism. It’s much easier to panic about the Hispanic roofer who just moved to town than to confront those who control the economic and political forces that pushed him there. But that’s exactly what we must do. We can weep and woe about either the plight or burden of immigrants, but if we don’t address why they’re migrating then we’re just going to see, as Barack Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano put it, fifty-one-foot ladders for every fifty-foot wall.

1. Rice pudding is very nutritious and you can make it yourself or you can buy it in the supermarket.

2. Cheesecake nutritious but it can also be full of sugar and fat.

3. Fruit with egg custard.

4 Milk based desserts.

5mInstead of cream you scream mixed with natural yoghurt

Things that you can make without shopping if you have a store cupboard and vegetable

Eggs in onion sauce with rice

Eggs in curry sauce with rice naan bread etc

Red lentils in cheese sauce… With rice or quick hook macaroni

Potato omelette

Spanish omelette

Cheese tart or onion

Let’s have a leader from a humble home.

Let’s have someone intelligent but also wise.

Someone who’s not full of himself or herself.

Someone is in touch with reality as it’s being experienced by the poor and the needy and children living in poverty

Let someone come who will give hope even if it’s only in a small quantity

If we have no hope then we will die spiritually and emotionally and given the shortage of money in the working classes it’s possible that people are literally dying as food is so expensive and

Hospitals…. What is going on?

We can create some hope votiing for the best people to win the next election or helping others

Let’s hope extremism is not going to develop any further. There’s enough alienation already

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-dryden

England’s first poet laureate

https://lynettebye.com/blog/2021/1/31/the-10000-hour-rule-is-a-myth

The pebbled beach on which we walked at dawn
The sun was dancing singing stone to stone
The sea was pale as silk and gently ran
The tide was coming in, the day began

Why is my memory so deficient here?
I remember little but you near
I remember Portland Bill at dusk
The sea was wilder then with its fierce thrusts

Happiness was like a golden shawl
A world like Eden, man before the Fall
Today they say, illusion, I say, no
What matters is where this insight makes you go

The fruits of meditation are its test
May we be generous,kind, may souls be blessed

S

Now the black sheep’s back inside the fold.

The lost are found,the gate is open wide

We all eat together,timid bold

We weep for joy,our love is not denied

The years of trudging on . through mud and mire

The wounded heart the tears love wiped away

Consolation came, the saints conspired.

The children learnt in stages what to say.

Before we reach the end of earthly life

Before our minds dissolve, before the fire.

Before the husband’s dragged away from wife

Before the eye of God, beyond desire..

The final act of love is reached at last

We know so clearly now that love is just

I saw, while half asleep,  her face was gone
She faded, like the mist does at the dawn,
From the gallery of my most loved ones

Ungrounded by the loss, fearful, forlorn,
Skinless like a worm  picked off a lawn,
I saw, while half asleep,  her face was gone

Do not leave me, do not my love scorn
Lost and gone are my beloved ones
I  am human in both ghost and form

Heart constricted, lungs  pant out my pain
Haunted and bereft of human warmth
I saw, while half asleep,  her face was gone

I shall have no mother but that one
Now I have become a dried out corm
Lost and gone are  my beloved ones

Like a little leaf from its plant torn
Gnawed by slugs,  fragmented  till unborn
I saw, while half asleep, her face was gone
With the gallery of my lost, loved ones

A  homeless woman crouched in bitter  cold
Her face was clean, her entire body  shook
Trembling  in the wind, so rough and bold

Though she was young quite soon she would look old
Her  heart bereft she gave me a  dark look
A  homeless woman crouched in bitter  cold

Was she the sheep that left the fold
That Jesus would not leave to fate  so bleak?
She trembles  in the wind, so rough and bold

A coat I’ll bring tomorrow,I’m appalled.
With her   childlike hand she touched my cheek
A  homeless woman crouched in bitter  cold

Then a humble  Cross between her fingers showed
A flame glowed in her eye, a golden streak
Trembling  in the wind, so rough and bold

 

For the  mystical we do not seek
We are affected by the lost  we meet
A  homeless woman shone in bitter  cold
Trembling  in the wind, her  love,her gold

 

About the golden light what can I say
Love is near and we don’t need to pray
Enter into darkness without fear
Another hand will guide help us steer

I had lost my faith I was bereft
I could not speak, and sinking was my craft
Then a the soft bright cloud embraced me whole.
I felt a presence and I saw the light

Why should I be helped when many die?
The mystery ,of God the soul destroyed