powlow's stuff + things » writing

morning pasty

powlow — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 10:21:25 +0000

morning pastiness is with me
as I go through my morning rituals
as if in a daze, in a cloud
the week’s start seems alien, aggressive
as if all the poeple around are going through the same thing
experiencing the same cloudiness

sleepy eyed and sandy eyelids
can’t seem to get the engine running

thinking of the week to come
with a desire for vitality
can’t shake the tiredness of too much spread too thin
can’t wait to give in to a new mode
i can see it up ahead…

Posted in blog Tagged: lang:en, writing

Saving the English language?

powlow — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:05:54 +0000

Just read a pretty interesting article by Geroge Orwell about saving the english language from unnecessary aloofness. Its worth struggling throught the start of the article as it gets the brain going after a while. Its more relevant to politcal and probably management language (as in this 43 Folders article). Orwell lays out 6 “rules” which I think are good points to remember when writing anything :

Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
Never use a long word where a short one will do.
If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
Never use the passive where you can use the active.
Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

This all seems relevant to political, financial and management terms and writing. I’ve definately read articles or listened to a speech from someone active in one of these areas and wondered firstly, what the hell is he talking about, and then secondly, wondered why he didn’t say it in a much simpler way. Of course many times its just a way of masking what’s being said and is also used to create an exclusiveness whereby you have to “learn the language” to be able to follow things being said. Creating this exclusiveness is not necessarily a bad thing as it can create a basic level of acceptable skills but of course, like most exclusivenes, its evolved into something detached from real language. Wouldn’t it be great to make such talk unfashionable, as Orwell puts it? Maybe then at least politicians wouldn’t be able to get away with murder and put people off even getting interested in what they say.

Summer People

powlow — Thu, 24 May 2007 10:47:10 +0000

People walk among the crowds
As the sun is shining down
Smiling, laughing, shouting, crying
summer’s heat begins to melt

Tables full of shining people
Their faces tell me nothing
A blankness I can’t comprehend
Do I see myself?

Once caught up in strictly trying
Time passes and something’s changed
Life seems short for mistrust
But its set in, hard to shake

Still the summer starts to melt me
Coldness leaving like a thaw
Standing wet in what does melt
Summer’s here
I’m standing, wet

Thoughts

powlow — Tue, 23 May 2006 06:58:39 +0000

Thoughts enter and leave, like birds in flight. Simple looks on the bus and on the street unchain whole thought processes, unleashing old ghosts and gems, things you’d forgotten and things you thought you’d forgotten. Thoughts that make no sense. Thoughts of agression. Thoughts of pleasure. Thoughts of happines and that bring happiness. Positive thoughts. Negative thoughts. My hearing is nulified by the music I hear and I can’t bear to look at people today. The city seems to close in on me and everything seems to ring the same. I’ve seen this before. I’ve been here before. What is it that makes these little sink holes that appear everynow and again. Longing for warmth and humanity on cold sunny streets. You know you won’t find it and that looking for it will only make it worse. You always get what you look for though. Negative thoughts seem to attract the very thoughts you are trying to shed. Another glance reveals hostility perhaps? Or is it indiference? Or is it just someone thinking the same thing. Misinterpretation. Too much infering into a superficial look. The city seems to consume. Sometimes the city seems so infinite and sometimes so absurd and cold. So small and pety. So governed by ridiculous rules of conduct that instantly pigeon-hole you. Although, sometimes, the city takes you in a warm embrace where you seem to float from gem to gem in a haze of positivety. Although, sometimes it doesn’t.