tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post4876614563741958806..comments2024-03-20T16:46:13.343-04:00Comments on Marly Youmans / The Palace at 2:00 a.m. / poems, stories, novels: Dreaming backMarly Youmanshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-64331664391651072742016-04-28T07:40:01.635-04:002016-04-28T07:40:01.635-04:00I should say (not in defense but in confession) th...I should say (not in defense but in confession) that I didn't even grasp the idea of plot twist for a while. For that matter, I didn't grasp plot. I thought it was silly and artificial when I first started writing fiction--now I'm quite willing to introduce plots and twists into a poem. Life, so tricksy!Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-5366165074147810432016-04-28T07:33:25.207-04:002016-04-28T07:33:25.207-04:00What I am up to... Shall take you literally! I wok...What I am up to... Shall take you literally! I woke up at six and began sorting a big box of papers in my writing room. Found all sorts of trash (dental records, out-of-date contracts, etc.), along with little things created by my children and heaps of poems that I had wholly forgotten and seem like something written by another person. I am taking a break, feeling appalled (well, maybe not Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-4179688561404722532016-04-28T03:05:23.600-04:002016-04-28T03:05:23.600-04:00Our fictional impulses start from opposing points ...Our fictional impulses start from opposing points of the compass: I would find no escape from a life defined by wattle daub, smoky interiors, weak home-brewed beer, rough tunics and cock-fighting; you would be equally trapped by a plot twist that involved the ingenious, even horrific, application of an angle-grinder. (Second thoughts: I may be wrong about this, you have a formidable list of Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-12809836184012287552016-04-27T23:40:26.322-04:002016-04-27T23:40:26.322-04:00Glittery! Perhaps they are sending a message.Glittery! Perhaps they are sending a message.Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-32593391051802600022016-04-27T23:27:20.507-04:002016-04-27T23:27:20.507-04:00it's startling to watch, like semaphore or som...it's startling to watch, like semaphore or something...Mudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17194891656971454279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-32073571215388574132016-04-27T18:26:45.565-04:002016-04-27T18:26:45.565-04:00That giant one is a bad-for-trees fungus, though.....That giant one is a bad-for-trees fungus, though... And supposed to weigh more than 200 gray whales. That's a lot of fungus! And it is quite protean and can look radically different from one phase or spot to another. I'm fascinated by tree stories, but that one is sad.<br /><br />It reminds me of how (though this is a prettier story) aspen groves are said to be one organism, and probably Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-39080264912416687412016-04-27T18:06:47.426-04:002016-04-27T18:06:47.426-04:00i've heard about some of that; there's so...i've heard about some of that; there's so much we don't know about this small planet; and we're busy...grrrr..... Oregon is supposed to have the largest fungus in the world, i remember reading somewhere. it's in the subsurface and is, like(don't quote me), 500 square miles large. it's associated with old growth forest i think...Mudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17194891656971454279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-13469906935534540472016-04-27T14:52:21.137-04:002016-04-27T14:52:21.137-04:00But there's more and more out there to say tha...But there's more and more out there to say that trees do talk! Maybe not quite like Ents, but they communicate. And trees turn out to be kind to one another.<br /><br />There's this, from Wired: Two studies published in 1983 demonstrated that willow trees, poplars and sugar maples can warn each other about insect attacks: Intact, undamaged trees near ones that are infested with hungry Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-40454478267271810842016-04-27T14:38:45.776-04:002016-04-27T14:38:45.776-04:00the better half and i were discussing this morning...the better half and i were discussing this morning what humans would be like if language had never been invented. would we still be smart? would technology still exist? maybe we'd be telepathic... maybe trees would have evolved to fill the niche, and at the present time would be harvesting humans for fertilizer... i think i'll write a book about that and earn a million $. hahanotMudpuddlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17194891656971454279noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-28333413784408909332016-04-26T23:05:19.297-04:002016-04-26T23:05:19.297-04:00It seems strange but true that we often find only ...It seems strange but true that we often find only what we seek to find, and that so often we can't see the past through the lens of our own day. I like to think about the past as a place where I still can go and wander, if I'll only obey the laws of that world--a place where people are in many ways different from those I know.Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-52604752764010877302016-04-26T22:22:44.288-04:002016-04-26T22:22:44.288-04:00Yes—I continue to see scholars and pundits across ...Yes—I continue to see scholars and pundits across the ideological spectrum cite the Middle Ages and pronounce with risible confidence that the "lessons of history" coincide, mirabile visu, with the social and political prescriptions they were already inclined to favor!Jeffhttp://www.quidplura.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-15026737393807520122016-04-26T16:35:25.207-04:002016-04-26T16:35:25.207-04:00That's such a good thought. Yes. I do not thin...That's such a good thought. Yes. I do not think we are in general good at discerning such things. If we were, historical novels would be better, with fewer characters that seem moderns in fancy dress.Marly Youmanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02377938366750387442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11539948.post-35871811988026553252016-04-26T15:11:00.003-04:002016-04-26T15:11:00.003-04:00Thanks for the links! (After nine years, my blog h...Thanks for the links! (After nine years, my blog has really turned into a scattershot encyclopedia of American medievalism.) <br /><br />I'm glad not to be living in the Middle Ages as well, but when we peel away the stereotypes (knights, castles, plague) I think there's much we can learn from the poets, thinkers, artists, and artisans of the time. I've often said that my fixation on Jeffhttp://www.quidplura.comnoreply@blogger.com