#Robert W. Service

[haveyoureadthispoem-poll]

"There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold..."

Read it here | Reblog for a larger sample size!

[canadachronicles]

"Let laureates sing with rapturous swing Of the wonder and glory of work; Let pulpiteers preach and with passion impeach The indolent wretches who shirk. No doubt they are right: in the stress of the fight It's the slackers who go to the wall; So though it's my shame I perversely proclaim It's fine to do nothing at all. It's fine to recline on the flat of one's spine, With never a thought in one's head: It's lovely to le staring up at the sky When others are earning their bread. It's great to feel one with the soil and the sun, Drowned deep in the grasses so tall; Oh it's noble to sweat, pounds and dollars to get, But; it's grand to do nothing at all. So sing to the praise of the fellows who laze Instead of lambasting the soil; The vagabonds gay who lounge by the way, Conscientious objectors to toil. But lest you should think, by this spatter of ink, The Muses still hold me in thrall, I'll round out my rhyme, and (until the next time) Work like hell; doing nothing at all."

--Laziness, Robert William Service

I am still jet-lagged, and I've caught a violent cold, returning from warmer climes; thus I can say, without any shame, I am thoroughly enjoying a little laziness!

[travsd]

Born 150 Years Ago Today: Robert W. Service, Bard of the Yukon

The British-Canadian poet Robert W. Service (1874-1958) was born this day 150 years ago. I’m quite certain I posted on him here many years ago, but later trashed it in a one-time frenzy a while back when I decided to prune back un-read posts. But I can hardly ignore this benchmark! And by now, the Travalanche section on literary people has grown substantially, so we give it another go. I can’t…

[knightotoc]

best origin story for a poem hahaha

[uwmspeccoll]

Publisher’s Binding Thursday

Hello and welcome to another installation of Publisher’s Binding Thursday! This week we have Rhymes of a Red Cross Man by British-Canadian writer Robert W. Service (1874-1958). Published in 1916 by Barse and Hopkins, the book is filled with verse related to Service’s service with the  Ambulance Corps of the American Red Cross—he worked as a stretcher bearer and ambulance driver during the World War I after being turned down when he tried to enlist. Service wrote several popular books of verse and was clear not to call it poetry, saying of his work: 

“Verse, not poetry, is what I was after ... something the man in the street would take notice of and the sweet old lady would paste in her album; something the schoolboy would spout and the fellow in the pub would quote. Yet I never wrote to please anyone but myself; it just happened. I belonged to the simple folks whom I liked to please."

The binding is quite nice, featuring a Red Cross man standing on the battlefield looking through binoculars in front of a gold backdrop with a large red cross. There are clouds or smoke in the background that I assume would once have all been white, but have worn away to a reddish-purple color. 

--  Alice, Special Collections Department Manager

[eomnwe]

There are strange things done in the midnight sun By the men who moil for gold; The arctic trails have their secret tales That would make your blood run cold; The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, But the queerest they ever did see Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee.

[willjones7087]

[duck-duck-newton]

I made a Robert W. Service Quiz. You should take it

[allottavabassa]

We can all agree Robert W. Service had a crush on Sam, right?

"And the northern lights have seen queer sights" Yeah, I bet they have 😉

[blasphemous-bill]

I took a contract to bury the body of blasphemous Bill MacKie,

Whenever, wherever or whatsoever the manner of death he die —

Whether he die in the light o’ day or under the peak-faced moon;

In cabin or dance-hall, camp or dive, mucklucks or patent shoon;

On velvet tundra or virgin peak, by glacier, drift or draw;

In muskeg hollow or canyon gloom, by avalanche, fang or claw;

By battle, murder or sudden wealth, by pestilence, hooch or lead —

I swore on the Book I would follow and look till I found my tombless dead.

For Bill was a dainty kind of cuss, and his mind was mighty sot

On a dinky patch with flowers and grass in a civilized boneyard lot.

And where he died or how he died, it didn’t matter a damn

So long as he had a grave with frills and a tombstone “epigram.”

So I promised him, and he paid the price in good cheechako coin

(Which the same I blowed in that very night down in the Tenderloin).

Then I painted a three-foot slab of pine: “Here lies poor Bill MacKie,”

And I hung it up on my cabin wall and I waited for Bill to die.

Years passed away, and at last one day came a squaw with a story strange,

Of a long-deserted line of traps ’way back of the Bighorn range,

Of a little hut by the great divide, and a white man stiff and still,

Lying there by his lonesome self, and I figured it must be Bill.

So I thought of the contract I’d made with him, and I took down from the shelf

The swell black box with the silver plate he’d picked out for hisself;

And I packed it full of grub and “hooch,” and I slung it on the sleigh;

Then I harnessed up my team of dogs and was off at dawn of day.

You know what it’s like in the Yukon wild when it’s sixty-nine below;

When the ice-worms wriggle their purple heads through the crust of the pale blue snow;

When the pine-trees crack like little guns in the silence of the wood,

And the icicles hang down like tusks under the parka hood;

When the stove-pipe smoke breaks sudden off, and the sky is weirdly lit,

And the careless feel of a bit of steel burns like a red-hot spit;

When the mercury is a frozen ball, and the frost-fiend stalks to kill —

Well, it was just like that that day when I set out to look for Bill.

Oh, the awful hush that seemed to crush me down on every hand,

As I blundered blind with a trail to find through that blank and bitter land;

Half dazed, half crazed in the winter wild, with its grim heartbreaking woes,

And the ruthless strife for a grip on life that only the sourdough knows!

North by the compass, North I pressed; river and peak and plain

Passed like a dream I slept to lose and I waked to dream again.

River and plain and mighty peak — and who could stand unawed?

As their summits blazed, he could stand undazed at the foot of the throne of God.

North, aye, North, through a land accurst, shunned by the scouring brutes,

And all I heard was my own harsh word and the whine of the malamutes,

Till at last I came to a cabin squat, built in the side of a hill,

And I burst in the door, and there on the floor, frozen to death, lay Bill.

Ice, white ice, like a winding-sheet, sheathing each smoke-grimed wall;

Ice on the stove-pipe, ice on the bed, ice gleaming over all;

Sparkling ice on the dead man’s chest, glittering ice in his hair,

Ice on his fingers, ice in his heart, ice in his glassy stare;

Hard as a log and trussed like a frog, with his arms and legs outspread.

I gazed at the coffin I’d brought for him, and I gazed at the gruesome dead,

And at last I spoke: “Bill liked his joke; but still, goldarn his eyes,

A man had ought to consider his mates in the way he goes and dies.”

Have you ever stood in an Arctic hut in the shadow of the Pole,

With a little coffin six by three and a grief you can’t control?

Have you ever sat by a frozen corpse that looks at you with a grin,

And that seems to say: “You may try all day, but you’ll never jam me in”?

I’m not a man of the quitting kind, but I never felt so blue

As I sat there gazing at that stiff and studying what I’d do.

Then I rose and I kicked off the husky dogs that were nosing round about,

And I lit a roaring fire in the stove, and I started to thaw Bill out.

Well, I thawed and thawed for thirteen days, but it didn’t seem no good;

His arms and legs stuck out like pegs, as if they was made of wood.

Till at last I said: “It ain’t no use — he’s froze too hard to thaw;

He’s obstinate, and he won’t lie straight, so I guess I got to — saw.”

So I sawed off poor Bill’s arms and legs, and I laid him snug and straight

In the little coffin he picked hisself, with the dinky silver plate,

And I came nigh near to shedding a tear as I nailed him safely down;

Then I stowed him away in my Yukon sleigh, and I started back to town.

So I buried him as the contract was in a narrow grave and deep,

And there he’s waiting the Great Clean-up, when the Judgment sluice-heads sweep;

And I smoke my pipe and I meditate in the light of the Midnight Sun,

And sometimes I wonder if they was, the awful things I done.

And as I sit and the parson talks, expounding of the Law,

I often think of poor old Bill — and how hard he was to saw.

- Robert W. Service

[neil-gaiman]

Neil I need poetry recommendations!

There is an old man at work who has decided he wants to have a poetry reciting contest with me.

It's nice that for once someone thinks I'm smart and it also makes me want to throw up but I agreed to it immediately because I am a go-getter.

So if you have a minute I would greatly appreciate a few suggestions that would impress a poetry fan.

P.S. I haven't smoked at all since I asked you to tell me it was gross a year ago.

(Well done on the smoking)

These are all things it's fun to recite and easy to learn.

1) Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.

2) Robert W Service - the Cremation of Sam McGee

3) the love song of J Alfred Prufrock - T. S. Eliot (skip the opening Italian bit)

4) Keats, La Belle Dame Sans Merci

5) Tennyson, The Lady of Shallot

6) Masefield, Cargoes

7) personally I love the poetry of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, but it's mostly NSFW.

8) WE Henley Invictus or Madame Life's A Piece in Bloom.

9) Yeats Song of the wandering Aengus

That's a few to be going on with.

[canadachronicles]

"Of all the meals that glad my day My morning one's the best; Purveyed me on a silver tray, Immaculately dressed. I rouse me when the dawn is bright; I leap into the sea, Returning with a rare delight To honey, toast and tea. My appetite was razor edged When I was in my prime; To eggs and bacon I was pledged . . . Ala! the March of Time; For now a genial old gent With journal on my knee, I sip and take with vast content My honey, toast and tea. So set me up for my delight The harvest of the bee; Brown, crispy toast with butter bright, Ceylon; two cups or three. Let others lunch or dinner praise, But I regale with glee, As I regard with grateful gaze Just honey, toast and tea."

--Breakfast, Robert William Service.

I, for one, am still young, and love variety in my morning meals, and sharing them in bed with my girl... But it so happens that before leaving Rotorua today, Ava and I had "just honey, toast and tea"!

[astroaid]

Moon in Pisces

But the further you scroll, the more specific the placement is analyzed.

Generally, if you have this placement you are…

🌙 Prone to escape into a private world to cope with your emotions. This can be creating a fantasy world in your head, music, films, novels, anything that allows you to feel your emotions through others. You feel the need to lose yourself in something or someone. Many great actors have this placement.

🌙 You love to yearn. Love mixed with a bit of pain is an addictive ache. You long from a distance. The distance may secretly feel safer to you.

🌙 Pisces moon are likely to feel comfortable crying when crying with or for someone else (even if that person is a non existent character). They get in touch with their emotions through others.

🌙 You do not have to try when putting yourself in the shoes of others. You are naturally inclined to pick up on the needs and emotions of other’s. This results in you being very compassionate and (if not paired with many fixed signs, ex: mars scorpio) you can be a forgiving person. You are likely to sacrifice your own emotional expression to help another with theirs.

🌙 However, the downside is becoming very moody and irritable. You can almost hide your own emotions from yourself. EX: Convincing yourself a traumatic event didn’t affect you. You understand why they did it to you. It doesn’t matter, you’re fine. This results in your sadness turning into anger. You can unleash it at the wrong person or at the wrong time.

🌙 This is a mutable sign (pisces) in a fast moving planet (moon). I’ve noticed this makes aspects and house placement VERY important when determining how the placement manifests.

For example: I have this placement but express my self a lot differently than the person I know with a pisces moon. I think it has to do with how pisces is naturally connected to the 12th house. We tend to hide our emotional and private selfs.

A pisces moon’s public emotional expression can be calculated and possibly manipulative. Once again, so many great actors and directors have this placement and the ability to manipulate the emotions of their audience. Sometimes without the use of words, it’s their body language and energy.

Examples of iconic artists w pisces moons: Timothee Chalamet, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Robin Williams, Winona Ryder, Jacob Elordi.

Creating art is a positive manifestation of this ability. Others who have this placement may use manipulative tactics to gaslight their victims.

Okay so now to get oddly specific with random aspects…

Pisces Moon in 6th House

[Aspects to the Moon & your entire chart will greatly influence accuracy]

This would make you a libra rising. This can manifest as that compassionate nature being expressed through acts of service. You can feel inclined to take care of those in need. Humans and animals. If you are a libra rising, your 10th house is in cancer, ruled by the moon. You will likely decide on a career that allows you to take care of others. Whether it is through physical acts or providing helpful information. This is because 6th is naturally associated with the 6th sign, virgo, which loves taking in information, and analyzing down to the details. With this placement you would do well in careers like nursing, counselling, physiotherapy, etc.

Moon Sextile Venus

This is an indicator of love marriage. There is little to no thought for the other’s appearance, resources or what can they do for me type thinking. However, let’s say venus is in 2nd house scorpio, this would change that. As your love is directly tied to your resources and other’s.

But still moon sextile venus creates a kind and admirable personality. You are genuinely very well-liked. People can see your good intentions. You are a considerate person who genuinely desires fair resolution, no matter what side you are on.

Moon trine Neptune

Generally, trines are positive aspects. However, when a chart has too many trines it can indicate laziness. You can dream up exactly what you want but when it is time to plan or take action, you struggle to move. You are almost stuck in the daydream.

And due to pisces escapist tendency, you may not see exactly how harmful your choice of escape has become.

Moon square North Node

Your desire to be comfortable clashes with your true purpose. Life will force you to step out your comfort zone to conquer your destiny. It will not feel good but the journey will be a process that makes you stronger.

Example: You may not have been nurtured by your parents in the way you needed, but it has forced you to be more independent. Sometimes an emotionally distant parent saves you from taking on their personality, their beliefs and their wishes for your future.

Moon Square Pluto

Your desire for true connection clashes with your fears. You may feel you need to manipulate or be offering a person something to keep them. When hurt and trying to express yourself, you can be very intense. This leads other’s who witness your reaction, to believe you are the villain. Your lack of trust and fear of being betrayed or left, creates a self fulfilling prophecy. You will likely end up in a period of isolation from others at some point in your life. This will inevitably bring on the death and rebirth process.

Thanks for reading. Would love to know your experience if you are or know a pisces moon <3

[sidneyprescottswhore]

MASTERLIST

SCREAM

* smut

• fluff

all x afab reader im so sorry

___________________________________________

SIDNEY PRESCOTT

LET THEM WATCH YOU *

TAKE ME ONE MORE TIME *

SIDNEY PRESCOTT HEADCANNONS *

SIDNEY HUMILIATING YOU *

MOMMY KINK W/ SID *

GETTING CAUGHT BY JILL*•

SERVICE TOP!READER *

SPANKING KINK*

WHAT NAMES SHE LIKES TO BE CALLED*

OVERSTIMMING SID*

FUCKING SID UNDERNEATH THE TABLE*

PRAISING SID*

DADDY*

YOUR FIRST TIME*

SIDNEY PRESCOTT HEADCANNONS 2*

SIDNEY PRESCOTT WHO:*

SAM CARPENTER

SMUT PROMPT LIST*

SAM CARPENTER WHO:*

G!P SAM*

MINDY MEEKS MARTIN

MINDY MEEKS WHO:*

AMBER FREEMAN

AMBER FREEMAN HEADCANNONS*

AMBER FREEMAN WHO:*

AMBER X JILL X READER*

G!P GHOSTFACE AMBER X READER*

JILL ROBERTS

GETTING CAUGHT WITH SIDNEY*•

JILL ROBERTS HEADCANNONS*

SMUT PROMPT LIST*

7 MINUTES IN HEAVEN*

JILL ROBERTS WHO:*

AMBER X JILL X READER*

[jockpoetry]

golden lovers (2018-2023)

to the dead - frank bidart // njpw road to tokyo dome (photo credit) - 12/15/18 // langston hughes // starrcast 2 // njpw wrestle kingdom 15 01/05/2021 // i have some friends - robert w. service // aew dynamite - 10/31/19 // wrestling with angels - robert stock // njpw g1 climax 28 & aew full gear 2020 // song of myself - walt whitman // 01/30/2021 // wild geese - mary oliver // aew full gear 2021 // wrestling - louisa s. bevington // 09/15/22 // 01/04/23 // aew dynamite - 07/12/23 // to you - frank o'hara // aew dynamite - 07/19/2023 // to the dead - frank bidart

[charlottan]

every book i read at least a good chunk of in 2023 ranked under the cut grin😁

1. American Gods (2001)  by Neil Gaiman (currently reading) - simply a terrific book. Neil Gaiman at what I believe to be his best. Classic novel

2. Dhalgren (1975) by Samuel R. Delaney (currently reading) - monolithic 70s postmodern book that touches on issues of gender and race. very very good

3. Shantaram (2003) by Gregory David Roberts (currently reading) - very loveable and long book about the true story of an Australian man, arrested on heroin charges, who escapes prison to India and gets involved in arms trading. I'm only on like page 70 out of 900 but I'm deeply in love.

4. Going Postal (2004) by Terry Pratchett (currently reading) - discworld’s postal service! Plenty of hijinks. excellent book

5. Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller (currently reading) - classic anti war satire, what can you say. Still ridiculously funny, the humor really doesnt age at all. it’s very screwball in a way that holds up. Such a joy to read

6. Sirens of Titan (1959) by Kurt Vonnegut - beautiful book, definitely my favorite of the three Vonnys that i finished this year. you can feel his love, as always

7. Cloud Cuckoo Land (2021) by Anthony Doerr- Charming book that spans multiple characters and time periods, all concerned with an ancient codex that symbolizes a sense of faith. I don't really remember this one much but I know I had a lot of fun reading it. Would recommend to anybody

8. Hell’s Angels (1967) by Hunter S. Thompson (currently reading) - very interesting book about, of course, the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club. Thompson becomes a fly on the wall, giving the reader a very, very, perhaps almost too close look at the bikers’ ways and rituals. Very good book if you’re into that sort of thing

9. Infinite Jest (1996) by David Foster Wallace (currently reading)- not much to say about the old Jest. classic annoying book. i read a good chunk this year :thumbsup:

10. Bag of Bones (1998) by Stephen King - average 90s era King. still just as gripping as his 70s and 80s work but with a more comfortable writing style i think. pretty good

11. Detransition, Baby (2021) by Torrey Peters (currently reading) - not much to say about this one really. Its pretty good so far though, pretty classic transfem lit

12. The Dead Zone (1979) by Stephen King - this book had a terrifically gripping second act but then it kindof goes off in a different direction in act 3. Or rather, it feels like act 3 could have been its own decent short story, with the first two acts together being their own novel.

13. Equal Rites (1987) by Terry Pratchett - transmasc king. Girl wants to be a wizard instead of a witch, average discworld novel, nothing memorable but still pretty good

14. Galapagos (1985) by Kurt Vonnegut - Ok vonny book. It definitely had some strong Vonny moments but overall felt a little Different from the rest of his stuff. But maybe in a good way

15. Deadeye Dick (1982) by Kurt Vonnegut - middling vonnegut novel. It was ok. But an ok kurt vonnegut book is still a really good book

16. On the Road (1957) by Jack Kerouac - classic beat novel. pretty good if you're into slice of life 1940s/50s stuff, which you probably arent, but if you are and you haven’t checked this out, go for it!

17. Nevada (2013) by Imogen Binnie - Decent, however it felt very bare bones in a way that, for instance, Detransition, Baby makes up for.

18. The Rum Diary (1998) by Hunter S. Thompson - To be honest I don’t remember this one At All but i know i read it in like 3 days so its gotta be good. Still cant put it too high in the ranking though sorry hunter

19. And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (1945) by Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs - first ever book written by either of them, and it’s ok. It’s supposed to be a murder mystery but the murder doesnt happen until like the last 20 pages so idk

20. The Colour of Magic (1983) by Terry Pratchett - first discworld. Not that memorable but i wouldnt say it was bad either

21. 1Q84 (2009) by Haruki Murakami (dropped) - I really wanted to like this one. And i did, *mostly*. However, Murakami has this writing style that is obsessively technical and formal and makes for incredibly unnatural monologues, for one thing. This is just a personal preference though; I know it's very acclaimed. I'm honestly sad I couldn't make it past the writing style to enjoy it at least enough to make it through.

22. The Road (2006) by Cormac McCarthy (dropped) - too edgy