Dream Diary Thursday 16 January 1975

Thursday 16 January 1975

Dreamt of TRUDY. I leant forward to kiss her, but she tried to put me off but finally succumbed.

            Coincidence: ‘If You are But a Dream’ by Frank Sinatra on tape as I write!

Reviews of British Standards

I'm pleased to say that there has been a positive review of the third part of The English Strain project, British Standards, which was published late last year. It is by Billy Mills and he reviews it with the experience of having reviewed the first two volumes. Here's his account of those volumes: The English Strain and Bad Idea by Robert Sheppard: A Review – Elliptical Movements. 'This third and final volume focuses on the Romantic period and is structured as a number of sets of poems writing through well-known, and some not so well known, sonnets of the era, much like a jazz musician reimagining standard songs (one of the layers on which the book title operates).' 

'The tone is wildly satiric, as far from Wordsworth as one might imagine,' he says, before plunging into an account of how I have variously transposed Romantic sonnets. 'Sheppard moves towards a more measured mode, the humour giving way as the poetry realises the limitations of satire in the face of the unthinkable, which requires a different response: "Not everything true is funny. Laughter is slaughter".' I'm glad he registers this shift, which I try to reflect on performing the poems, a shift I'm not sure an audience follows (retaining the stuff they've laughed at. 'Now that he has reimagined and expanded the entire canon of the English sonnet,' Billy notes, too kindly, 'I can’t wait to see where he takes us next.' Yes, where next? Thanks for the push, Billy!

The review may be read here: (it's the second of my two books): The English Strain and Bad Idea by Robert Sheppard: A Review – Elliptical Movements.

The book may be purchased here:  https://www.shearsman.com/store/Robert-Sheppard-British-Standards-p661920471

And I say a little about the book here (and there are a lot of posts on this blog about the collection; its progress was exhaustively chronicled): Pages: British Standards published by Shearsman - out now

Dream Diary Wednesday 15 January 1975

Wednesday 15 January 1975 

Woke up with ‘MILTON’ on my lips.

Dream Diary Monday 13 January 1975

Monday 13 January 1975 

Stephen in wheelchair. He runs but feels numbness. He’s been a terminal cancer patient for years.

            I pity him. He meets another like him.

Dream Diary Sunday 12 January 1975

Sunday 12 January 1975

Julian and his wife. [Southwick publicans] Talk of ghosts. She goes white.

            ‘What, upstairs?’

            ‘Yes.’

            Julian says it’s not at the Pilot, but at their training house for managers. Which is Grandma Sheppard’s old house in Melrose Avenue.

Dream Diary Friday 10 January 1975

Friday 10 January 1975 

Talking to Maggie in a pub. Getting angry like I do at her for smoking, about the political torture abroad.

Dream Diary Wednesday 8 January 1975

Wednesday 8 January 1975 

Fighting for the Anglo-Saxons against the Normans. Down a ditch [diagram of ‘Me’ in a ditch and the two armies at each side]. Had to get back without getting killed. Go, I lit a fire, disappearing under cover of smoke.

Dream Diary Tuesday 7 January 1975

Tuesday 7 January 1975 

Granny here. We say we want to watch a programme on the TV. She says she ‘doesn’t mind watching intelligent stuff’ though she’d rather watch ‘the funny coloured man on the other side’.

            I go along another path to avoid washing up.

            I’m at a crossroads. Forward the road continues. I turn right. I see a mud path through woods leading up a steep path to top of hill.

            Could be half a mile high.