 A Capital Friendly Culture for Further Education
Academy Chains
After the Hillcole Group
Against What We Are Worth
Ambassadors of Capital in Schools
An Educational Mansion House for Business
Apprenticeship and the Use-value Aspect of Labour Power
Artistic Outlook
Ayers Rocked In His Own Universe
B Generation
Bourdieu on Capital
Bourdieu on Cultural Capital
Bourdieu on Social Capital
Brown PFI Monster
Business Sponsorship of Schools
Business Takeover of Further Education
Cambridge University Occupation
Caught in the Storm of Capital
Co-payment in Hospitals and Schools
Cold Hands and Quarter Moon
Communitarianism for Schools
Compulsory Consumption and Uni-Nanny
Conforming Schools Conforming Kids
Copy/South Dossier
Creating Monsters
Creeping Privatisation in Higher Education
Critical Mass
Critical Pedagogy and Capitalism
Critical Space in Education
Delivering E-Learning
Digital Rights Management
Distillation
Dorothy L. Sayers
Douglas Kennedy: best-selling novelist
E-learning for Free at the BBC
Edison Schools in the UK
Education and Inspections Bill (2006)
Education As Culture Machine
Education Fireworks
Education for Debt
Education Incorporated
Education Markets and Missing Products
Education Repetition
Education the HSBC Way
Education White Paper
Education, Globalisation and the Learning Society
Employers and School Leavers
Evaluating Different Teaching Methods
Everything Louder Than Everything Else
Finance and Fear
Five Endings of Desires
Foibles, Frolics and Phantasms
Freedom
Freewill
French New Wave Cinema
Full Report Ruth Rikowski's Book Launch for Globalisation, Information and Libraries
Gender and Spokesperson in Group Work Issues
Global Trading
Globalisation and Education Revisited
Habituation of the Nation
Higher Education and Confused Employer Syndrome
Hitchcock: classic auteur
Human capital, the knowledge economy and business
In Retro Glide
In the Dentist's Chair
Kids in the Land of No Dreams
KM Critique
Lazy Brit Kids
Learning in the Earthworks of Capital
Learning Investments
Learning to the Max
Librarianship and Human Rights
Lifelong Learning and the Political Economy of Containment
LSBU Strategy
Marketisation of the Schools System in England
Marx and Education Revisited
Marx and the Future of the Human
Marxism and Education Revisited
Marxist Educational Theory Unplugged
Maturity and Freedom
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Moneythought in Higher Education
Mrs Thatcher and Holes in the Kitchen Floor
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My Tony Blair
New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's Book - Part 1
New Ideas in Ruth Rikowski's Book - Part 2
New Labour Policy for Schools
Nietzsche's School
Nihilism and Educational Values
No Learner Left Unhassled
Notes on the Confessions of John Denham
On Education for Its Own Sake
On Education Studies
On the Capitalisation of Schools in England
On Transhumanism and Education
Open Access
Outsourcing Public Services
Peter Wilby on School Privatisation
Planet of the Capitorg
Plato
Playgound Risks and Handcuffed Kids
Poems by Gregory Rikowski
Poems by Victor Rikowski
Post-Fordism and Schools
Post-Fordism in Primary Schools
Postmodern Dereliction in the Face of Neoliberal Education Policy
PowerPointlessness in Higher Education
Private Schools as Charities
Privatisation of Schools in England
Privatisation of Student Debt
Races in the Imperial War
Readings for Teaching Course
Recruitment and Labour Power
Revealed Recruitment Criteria through the Use-value Aspect of Labour-power
Robotic Ethics
Ruth Rikowski Updates (Archives)
Ruth Rikowski Updates (Archives)
School Fees and the 1944 Education Act
Schools: Building for Business
Science Fiction Films and Horror
Second Time as Farce
Snowballs and Risk in Schools
Social Contract Theory and Political Obligations
Socialism is not Dead
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Speed of Life - Part Two
Stroppy Individuals and Oppositional Cultures in Schools
Sustainability Policy at London South Bank University
Ten Points on Marx, Class and Education
The Business of Becoming a Business for Academies
The Capitalisation of Schools - Federations and Academies
The CBI and the Business Takeover of Schools
The Commodification of Education
The Education White Paper and the Marketisation of Schools
The Evolution of Federations of Schools
The Last Parents Evening
The New Japanisation of Schools
The Profit Virus - The Business Takeover of Schools
The Standards Language-game for Schools in England
The Which Blair Project
Three Types of Apprenticeship - Three Forms of Mastery
Tony and Caroline Benn
Tony Benn: Letters to Grandchildren
Transport
Turney's and PPU
Uninspiring Towers
Universe of Capital and My Space
Universities in a Neoliberal World
Utopia and Education
What Can Nietzsche Teach Ya
When Bullies Roam the School
When the Bowers Break
Why Employers Can't Ever Get What They Want
Will Hutton and His E-Foss
Wolf on Marx Without Sparks
Women in World Wars
| Foibles, Frolics and Phantasms: Illustrated poems (1995-2005)
by Paul Catherall
PublishAmerica, 2006
ISBN 1 4241 1399 7
A review by Ruth Rikowski
This is a wonderful, moving book, which takes us to a world far beyond our every day existence. It contains a variety of poems, all written by Paul Catherall from North Wales, who by day works as an information professional in higher education. The poems have been written over a 10-year period. There are also many illustrations throughout it, also all by the poet, and this includes the captivating cover itself.
The poems cover a variety of themes, and as Catherall says, they:
…deal with a range of themes ranging from the simple to the complex and from the transcendental to the macabre… (p.7)
A unifying theme that runs through them though, I think, is the way in which the poet compares and contrasts urban life with nature and rural life. The poet has been inspired by poets such as Sylvia Plath, Francis Berry and Al Alvarez.
The book contains different types of poems. There are ‘Haiku-style poems’ for example, which are:
…a traditional Japanese verse form often conveying wisdom or an allegorical story within a short length. (Catherall, p.66)
I did not know that so much could be said in 3 lines! Take this ‘Haiku-style’ poem, for example:
‘Gift’
Birthday party gift
Lovingly wrapped in paper –
Already got one. (p.69)
Then there are ‘Englynion-style poems’, which are an ancient Welsh verse-form and:
…they are typically composed of any number of short three-line stanzas. (p. 59)
Here is an extract from ‘Walking in Cader Idris’, for example:
“Hard to recall in the silence of mists,
Urban sounds, whir and frenzy –
Other-worldly it seemed and ethereal. (p.61)
I was also particularly moved by the poem ‘Tendon’ (p.45), which is about Repetitive Strain Injury. Catherall describes how the tendon in his hand first incurred his woes, but now he feels sorry for it. He points out the fact that he must be patient. RSI is a common problem today, and we must be careful not to put unnecessary demands on our bodies, as we try to deal with all this new technology.
Then, there is ‘Monoglot’, which begins:
“I approach a dull mountain;
below me,
figures distant
on an innate horizon
wave inscrutable gestures.” (p.13)
This poem conveys something to us, perhaps, about feelings of alienation, and being an observer of society, engulfed in silence, rather than actually being part of society in some fundamental way.
Whilst ‘Poem for a Poet’ says that:
“The poem is our consciousness
come alive,
reflections of the architect’s dream,
or the proud
moments
when the heart leaps.” (p.31)
The final section is entitled “Excerpts from ‘The Legends of Ossian’”. ‘The Legends of Ossian’ is a novel in progress by Paul Catherall, which is set in a fictional Dark Age British kingdom, called Beltain. One of the poems, ‘The Lay of Vir’ begins:
“Sons of Bailto harken!
The long years pass like leaves blown in the autumn wind,
Dry are the bones of the founding sires of Ilyrion
Iron citadel of the High Kings of Beltain. (p.81)
Catherall thinks that poetry is sadly in decline. Yet, surely the arts always struggle to survive in capitalism – money cannot easily be made from the arts, and the arts cannot readily be transformed into saleable, tradable commodities. Indeed, it is fascinating to realise the extent to which the genius Mozart himself seemed to feel this. In a letter that Mozart wrote to an Italian friend on 4th September 1776, he said:
Most beloved and esteemed signor, I beg you to tell me what you think of my most humble music. We live in a world where the arts should be encouraged so that we may enlighten one another. But in the country where I live music must struggle even to exist.
Hopefully, Catherall’s book will inspire others to think further about the value and beauty of poetry, as well as the value of the arts more in general. Also, that it will encourage and inspire others to read and write more poetry themselves. Indeed, my own children are all keen on writing poetry and there is a selection of their poems on this website - in the articles section. Let poetry and the arts continue to thrive in one way or another, and in various shapes and forms, and let beauty and wonder shine through in our lives.
© Copyright, Ruth Rikowski, August 2006
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