The Laurelude

by Herbert, W. N.

• ISBN13: 9781852244644
• ISBN10: 185224464X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-08-01
• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books Ltd

Summary

For nearly three hundred years Scotland and England were the Laurel and Hardy of nations. For nearly two hundred years The Prelude was a poem by Wordsworth. Something had to give. As Britain begins to resemble a cut-up by William Burroughs, and the heritage of Robert Burns is flushed down a lavvie in Leith, one verse-monger steps forward to do battle with (or possibly for) cultural chaos.
Like Oliver Hardy this volume refuses to be slim: it bursts all borders, literary and political, creating a zone where the Hollywood musical meets the Jolly Beggars, where lament bumps into love lyric, where the dictionaries go to die.

Table of Contents

The Laurelude	p. 10
The Cutting Up of the UK	p. 48
Address to the English	p. 49
Breakfrost	p. 53
The Black Wet	p. 54
A Cockermouth Ballad	p. 56
A Heart of Trees	p. 61
Whispering Through Ice	p. 62
Our Lady of the Shells, Our Lady of the Buttons	p. 66
The Manuscript of Feathers	p. 68
The Wives of Weinsberg	p. 70
The Starling Trees	p. 72
The Baby Poem Industry Poem	p. 73
Cromag	p. 74
The Doll's Tale	p. 75
The Giraffe of Urr	p. 76
Grey Thrums	p. 78
Whilst I Was Asleep	p. 80
AB Buff	p. 82
BC	p. 84
Deep C	p. 85
Scaldfoot	p. 88
First Fit	p. 90
The Gardener	p. 93
Hyper	p. 96
In Memoriam Bill Burroughs	p. 99
Jacobite's Ladder	p. 112
Farewell to a Stone	p. 114
Port Selda	p. 116
Posada	p. 118
A Breakfast Wreath	p. 120
Nostalgia for Slush	p. 122
Lament for Burt Lancaster	p. 123
Czech Cartoon Poem	p. 125
Remote	p. 128
To a Mousse	p. 130
Chopsticks	p. 131
Gin	p. 132
History of Sock	p. 134
Letterbomb	p. 136
Free London Now	p. 138
No Joy	p. 140
The Madmen of Elgin	p. 142
Beppe	p. 154
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.