tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post3744561651340405888..comments2024-02-23T13:47:30.790-08:00Comments on First Known When Lost: Lists, Part Four: "Field Names"Stephen Pentzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-72980983603983825692011-08-16T20:43:20.023-07:002011-08-16T20:43:20.023-07:00Mr. Noel-Tod: thank you for visiting again. And t...Mr. Noel-Tod: thank you for visiting again. And thank you for the poem by Wendell Berry. He is right: I don't know how it is in England, but over here most towns of a certain size (even, sometimes, those in the desert) have their Walnut, Oak, Sycamore, Elm, Maple (et cetera) Streets. <br /><br />But we do go further afield: a friend of mine once lived on Shakespeare Street in Houston. Among the roads to the south of Shakespeare Street are: Dryden Road, Swift Boulevard, Addison Road, Goldsmith Street, and Wordsworth Street, with a sylvan Chaucer Drive tucked away to the northeast.<br /><br />As ever, thank you for your thoughts.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-38443053214651013932011-08-16T20:25:10.255-07:002011-08-16T20:25:10.255-07:00Shelley: as always, thank you for your thoughts. ...Shelley: as always, thank you for your thoughts. Yes, "Starvecrow Land" is very good, isn't it? I particularly like "Bedlam" and "Flower-in-Hand" as well. I agree that "they startle the lawyers' deeds" is a fine and unexpected touch.<br /><br />Thanks again.Stephen Pentzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14882220887712092005noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-37788139941265779872011-08-16T08:57:26.207-07:002011-08-16T08:57:26.207-07:00Interesting how poetry using field names seems to ...Interesting how poetry using field names seems to emphasise the emotional and historical connection between human activity and the landscape, while the use of tree names for built development often (if unintentionally) only serves to emphasis the removal of such a landscape for some suburban street - at best now shaded by a smattering of alien species such Japanese Flowering Cherry and Leylandii. Reading Sansom's 'Field Names' I was reminded of a short poem by Wendell Berry (b.1934):<br /><br />Walnut St., Oak St., Sycamore St., etc.<br /><br />So this is what happened<br />to the names of trees !<br />I heard them fly up,<br />whistling, out of the woods.<br />But I did not know<br />where they had gone.Alex Noel-Todnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5010170380967519230.post-14994034921755095142011-08-15T08:03:14.075-07:002011-08-15T08:03:14.075-07:00I think the terrain I write about might be renamed...I think the terrain I write about might be renamed "Starvecrow Land"! Love the line about startling the lawyers' deeds....Shelleyhttp://dustbowlpoetry.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com