Thursday 2 August 2007

Britains Brainiest Bench?

The campaign for filling & nutritious lunch time reading
Can I claim a stake to have sat on the brainiest bench in London? Just had me lunch and all three people on my bench (in Hanover Sq) were reading. Nothing new there. But what books, no copies of Ok! , no Tabloids, no over long tediously popular children’s books being read by adults, no proper godamn Culture (should that be KULTUR).
The young woman at the end was most of the way through Crime and Punishment (he dies at the end); the young student type next to me was intently reading (while eating some excellent looking sushi) Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity by Marc Auge (Author), John Howe (Translator)

It looked very complicated; I just looked up a website about it all. Non-places are airport lounges, shopping mall walkways and I hope those greened up bits in the middle of traffic islands that I always thought would be a good places for building dens, when I was kid ( well I still do really ).

Oh and what was I reading well, I read the paper for a bit including some news, (a bridge has collapsed) and something about defence spending and then not to be outdone by my admiral fellow munchers and readers, I pulled out my emergency slim volume of Auden Poems. I know, I know but bear with me.
When his anniversary came up a few weeks ago I checked out my verse shelf and it was a bit empty of old crinkle features. So I bought a slim selection. Last week I was tiding up and was about to throw out a Borders bag and found the Auden. So to avoid reading about Lindsay Lohan in the free papers, I slipped it into day pack and have it to hand when inspiration or faulty doors on the Jubilee line strikes. You never know when you are going to need a poem about a quarry! The one from Four weddings bears re-reading as your race under Southwark too. And remember only in Britain would reading poetry (something we are very good at) in Public be seen as pretentious. So the campaign starts here once in while let’s put away the trash and forgo a suduko and read something different, something sustaining, something good.

Ps apologises if you already do, you can have badge though and membership card.

Want to make the best sandwich ever?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Top deck of the number 29.
Two kids sit down in front of me
and I find myself thinking:

These are the jeans that get you fucked,
This is the hair that gets cocks sucked,
This is the stuff that keeps the big wheel turning.

BLTP said...

Welcome pittie, I'm afraid I've not made the badges but comments in verse deserve a medal with laurel leaves well done. You are most welcome.

Anonymous said...

Dad was standing on the patio
when the beast appeared from around the corner.

It ripped him apart from head to toe
before it lurched towards the French Window.

BLTP said...

I'm renaming this corner of the blog "poets corner"