Monday 15 December 2008

Zeno and Alva, a play

Zeno and Alva is the working title for a play that Poet-in-Residence is now working on. It may never be performed on the stage, but as with anything in life, one never knows. And does it matter anyway? The day to day doing of it is the thing. The joy to be found in the act of creation is its own reward.
The play is a natural development from what has gone before; that is, Genteel Messages' current resplendence as the Purple Patch Awards 'best individual small press poetry collection of 2008'.
Zeno and Alva appears to be taking a very Beckett like turn, but as there's a poem about Samuel Beckett in Genteel Messages maybe that's one of the reasons. Another reason might be in connection with a work in progress that Poet-in-Residence has been asked to look at; a poem by Evelyn Holloway about her real life meeting with Beckett in Oxford in the 1970s.
There's a small poem, recited or sung by Zeno, to be written into the play. Its origin is unknown; but it's possibly traditional and probably Welsh:

Going to the garden
to cut a posy
passing the lavender
and the lily
passing the pinks
and the red roses
cutting a posy
of stinging nettles.

Any reader interested in following the progress of this venture may do so. See LINK LIST for ZENO AND ALVA.

4 comments:

  1. Interesting poem - seemingly very simple, short lines, listing of flowers etc., then suddenly the
    denoument (don't think i have spelt that right but it is too chilly to go and get a dictionary as I am sitting by a radiator!)
    That last line gives me a lot of food for thought, and leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

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  2. I have to leave a comment to say hi, I think! Being a ´myspacer´ I´m new to this Blog stuff. Sounds like an interesting play in progress. You´´ll have to tell me more next time we meet. Have a great Christmas, Neil.

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  3. Thank you Neil, and have a great Christmas yourself.

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  4. The song about the stinging nettles has now been incorporated into the Zeno and Ava text, but not as planned to be sung by Zeno, but by a young girl offstage.

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