http://www.johnhudson.info en-gb johnhudson.info 2011-11-28T00:00:00Z johnhudson.info http://www.johnhudson.info/page20.htm#107717 The idea came sitting in the garden thats why gardens are important and the climate to enjoy them. John Adams has written a piece of music called A Guide to Strange Places. Well my places arent strange they occur on a country path not far from Bordeaux but it suddenly occurred to me that each of us have different emotions as we walk along that path and that certain points on the path will have diverse associations for so many people. We so readily reject our personal experience as well purely personal but it occured to me that these intense feelings one has at certain points although peculiar to me or strange are in fact common to everyone. The experience happened to me just here by this bench under this bridge by this tree... it was the arrival of sad news a death of a friend the emotion coloured the scene is forever associated with this event in my life. For someelse it may be quite different happy news a first kiss a joke that made them laugh so much they cried. So by confessing my ... 2011-11-28 18:00:43 http://www.johnhudson.info/page20.htm#92142 2011-4-20 14:16:22 http://www.johnhudson.info/page20.htm#80727 Back in Scotland a month and I read an interview with John Cleese. He says he cant take another British winter all gloom a spluttery coughs and colds. Yes I ache from lack of exercise. Every time I look out the trees are bending through a contorting lens of windows lashed by rain. I step out of my work room at 2pm and the outside halogen lamp flashes on to guid me to my car. Maybe if I didnt need to earn a living I would be able to write poetry but this gloom and gurgling gutters is too much on top of writing articles. I am brain dead and depressed by 4pm and in the dark. 2010-11-19 14:14:45 http://www.johnhudson.info/page20.htm#79101 Somebody asked me a question about the opening poem of my new collection which sparked the usual torrent of ideas in response from me. I suppose the excitement generated is due to someone anyone taking interest but something always comes from these sudden explanations and it often comes down to the fact that you didnt realise what you meant when you wrote it. It is as if someone elses gaze offers new interpretative possibilities and you end up thinking Wow did I mean that Of course sometimes anothers gaze shows the weaknesses the possibilities for misinterpretation. That is why reading in public is so good for poets. They see their work through others eyes or should that be hear it through others ears probably both. You can often be recomposing the 10th line when you are reading aloud line 5 because you are suddenly painfully aware that line 10 is a dud even though you spent hours working at it a couple of weeks ago I might add at this point that I have been dipping into others work ... 2010-10-30 11:05:58 http://www.johnhudson.info/page20.htm#78024 I rarely get lines of others poems jumping into my head it is usually music that swirls around my brain uninvited but over the past few days lines from Keats To Autumn keep pressing their attentions on me. Why The season I guess. However I am currently in the Sud Charente which brings me to my point. Since visiting this region regularly to write I have seen every season. The movement through the year chimes with something fundamental in the English psyche regards our idealised vision of the seasons much more so than in Britain itself. Summers are warm and long Spring is colouful and fresh Winter crisp and clear with enough snow and frost to keep the romantics happy and Autumn is well a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Whereas in Britain the seasons are often confused especially in Scotland which can feel like Winter in June here there are definite periods or phases. The whole procession connects with us deeply. I wonder why Farfetched but the Hundred Years war did spring t... 2010-10-16 11:31:50 http://www.johnhudson.info/page20.htm#77886 Reading Onegin in translation good to return to the real story rather than the handmedowns. Struck by the difficulty of the rhyme scheme in English especially in 4 beat lines. Used to love doing this kind of thing showing off I suppose. Its hard in English easier I believe for Pushkin in Russian and the odd French import. However now I am coming round to Miltons POV. English doesnt sit happily when being contorted to land on a rhyme. Naturalness goes and with it emotional truth. You can achieve effective rhymes in shorter poems say a sonnet but sustaining it is just too baroque. I have to say tho that Onegins translator does a great and ingenious job. Seem to be in the middle of Lizst fest which again is a bit florid for my tatse. Lizst always impresses but you come away feeling as if you have just read eloquent advertising copy. Fortunately the concert I was at on Tuesday last also had the Mozart C Major K330 and Chopin. Tonight in Bordeaux its Bruckners 9th prefaced by guess wh... 2010-10-14 10:44:29 http://www.johnhudson.info/page20.htm#77634 After 25 years of living in rural Scotland I am still a townee so a mouse in my kitchen in my digs in France where I am working on my book warranted poison laid for my peace of mind. However am I supposed to be feeding it and a family It got through a yoghurt tub of the stuff last night. Dont know whether to feel guilty relieved or concerned that Ill be victim to an angry army of dehydrating drunken mice before dawn... not much poetry getting written... 2010-10-11 20:04:21 http://www.johnhudson.info/page20.htm#77519 Trying to finish off the next set of revisions to my collection Earth. Distracted by huge spiders and a mouse that find the oncoming cold season no fun and want to hare my work room. 2010-10-10 17:11:02 http://www.johnhudson.info/page20.htm#77527 Arrived in Poitiers before heading south. What an evening. Balmy sunny so relaxed. Foggy Stansted left behind and rainy windy Scotland. Hoping to get some head and spirit space to roam around in to advance Earth. Didnt really work out last time as managaed to get a toothache not good for poetry as Im sure Mr Burns would have agreed. 2010-10-8 17:16:36 http://www.johnhudson.info/page20.htm#77534 Saw a performance of Onegin Crankos ballet at the ROH. Recommended. Went straight back to the hotel and downloaded Pushkins poem onto my Kindle god dropping tech names again. Read before falling asleep. Good intro in the penguin edition. 2010-10-7 17:21:02 http://www.johnhudson.info/page20.htm#77522 Back from a quick hop over to New York City. Still love the place. Had a great line for a villanelle jump into my jetlagged brain. Problem is you need two great repeatable lines for a villanelle. 2010-10-4 17:13:32