#fanthorpe

[bella-but-not-hadid444]

tracked down a good pdf of one of my favourite poems, and thought i’d share the screenshot, just for the sake of sharing it

[shy-girl04]

Atlas

There is a kind of love called maintenance,

Which stores the WD40 and knows when to use it;

Which checks the insurance, and doesn’t forget

The milkman; which remembers to plant bulbs;

Which answers letters; which knows the way

The money goes; which deals with dentists

And Road Fund Tax and meeting trains,

And postcards to the lonely; which upholds

The permanently ricketty elaborate

Structures of living; which is Atlas.

And maintenance is the sensible side of love,

Which knows what time and weather are doing

To my brickwork; insulates my faulty wiring;

Laughs at my dryrotten jokes; remembers

My need for gloss and grouting; which keeps

My suspect edifice upright in air,

As Atlas did the sky.

U. A. Fanthorpe

[hug-your-face]

(some lovely tags on this post inspired me to share related sentiments)

[haveyoureadthispoem-poll]

"There is a kind of love called maintenance / Which stores the WD40 and knows when to use it..."

Read it here | Reblog for a larger sample size!

[unhavoc]

"But the woods caught up with him; woods do."

- U. A. Fanthorpe, Morning After

[peacockstalemusicalstorytelling]

The Christmas Party

[poem-today]

A poem by U. A. Fanthorpe

CHRISTMAS  SOUNDS

Boeings wing softly over Earth Humming like enormous Messiahs Bringing everyone home for Christmas;

Children wailing impossible wants, Housewives worrying in case enough isn’t, Parsons, with prevenient care, sucking Strepsils,

Telly jingling twinkling mistletoe-ing, Cash tills recording glad tidings of profit, Office parties munching through menus  -

Crackers!  Champagne corks!

At the heart of it all, in the hay, No sound at all but the cattle Endlessly chewing it over.

U. A. Fanthorpe (1929 – 2009)

[hgeeky]

I'm getting somewhat off topic because this starts with my favourite George and the Dragon painting, and it's my favourite because there's a great poem written about it. It's called "Not my best side" by U.A. Fanthorpe. It gives you a section from the perspective of each character, the dragon, the princess and George. If you like Carol Ann Duffy's The World's Wife poems, I recommend this.

Ever see a depiction of St. George and the Dragon? It's pretty fair to say if you've seen one, you've seen them all: Georgie on a horse stabbing a flailing dragon creature, princess piously kneeling in the background, vague landscape alluding to the homeland of the artist's patron.

The most varied part is the dragons. No one had a real definition for the thing, it seemed. For your pleasure and entertainment, I have ranked some medieval depictions based on how impressive George's feat seems once you see the dragon.

Paolo Uccello, 1456

This is a terrifying beast. The hell is that. Uccello was one of the first experimenters with perspective, so the thing also looks surreal, like it's taking place on Mars, or a Windows 95 screensaver. I would not want to fight that, I would not want to be tied to that. (Sometimes the princess is tied to the dragon for some reason.) 10/10

Horse thoughts: Maybe if I look at the ground it will be gone when I look up

Unknown artist, c. 1505

This is a rare change of form for the dragon; it's the only one I've seen actually flying (or at least falling with style). It doesn't look particularly deterred by the spear through its throat, either. Also, George looks appropriately nervous. On the other hand, it hasn't got teeth, it seems to be fuzzy rather than having scaly armor, and George is bolstered by his army of Henry VII and his children, most of whom definitely didn't actually die in infancy. Still, wouldn't want to fight it, wouldn't want my pet sheep near it. (Sometimes the princess has a pet sheep for some reason.) 9/10

Horse thoughts: I am so glad I wore my mightiest feather helmet for this

Raphael, 1505

We are coming to Dragons With Problems. This guy looks about comparable in size to George, and does have wings, but doesn't seem to be using these things to his advantage (and has he only got one wing?) And how does he deal with the neck? He does have a comically small head, but holding it up with such a twisty neck seems complicated at best. But most egregiously, he is doing the shitty superheroine pose where he is somehow simultaneously showcasing his chest and his butt, with its unnecessarily defined butthole (more on this later) (regrettably). 8/10 bc it's Raphael

Horse thoughts: AM I THE BESTEST BOI? AM I DOING SUCH A GOOD JOB? WE R DRAGON SLAYING BUDDIEZ

The Beauchamp Hours, c. 1401

We had a spirited debate about this one at work. Again, the dragon has gotten smaller, and this one hasn't got even one wing. He's basically a crocodile. So the debate became: would you want to fight a crocodile if you had a horse and a pointy stick? Would the horse trample the animal, who can't get on its hind legs, or freak out and throw its rider? Would the pointy stick be enough to pierce the croc's thick hide? In this case, George seems to be controlling his horse and putting his pointy stick in the dragon's weak spot, so we can be impressed by his skill and strategy. However, his hat is dumb. 7/10

Horse thoughts: Dehhhh

Book of Hours, c. 1480

Here we have the same kind of croco-dragon, but George's focus on his strategy has gone out the window. He's flailing around, not even looking at his target, he's about to lose his pointy stick, he hasn't got a hand on the reins, and his sword seems to only be poking the invisible dragon over his shoulder. All he's got going for him is that his hat is slightly less dumb. 6/10

Horse thoughts: Yay, new friend! Come play with me, new fr- what is happening

Final dragons put behind this Read More for your safety:

Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1432

I'm thinking this guy is at least semi-aquatic. Webbed feet, wings that seem more like fins, bipedal but top-heavy, jaws that seem more for scooping than biting. Maybe she's crawled up here from the nearby body of water to lay her eggs, and this is all a big misunderstanding. Moreover, George's dagged sleeves seem entirely impractical for the situation. 5/10

Horse thoughts: i got my hed stuk in a jar and now it is this way forever

Unknown artist, c. 15th century

I hate this. I hate everything about it. Why has it got human eyes and teeth. Why is its nose melting. Why has it got a dick on its face and balls under its chin. The fin/wings are back but they look even more useless. Also, George is shifty as hell, schlumped over in his saddle with his bowler hat thing over his eyes. The baby dragon at the bottom eating some hapless would-be rescuer is kind of metal. 4/10 at least the thing is gonna die

Horse thoughts: I Have Smoked So Much Crack

Book of Hours, c. 1450

Remember what I said about the buttholes? First, sorry. Second, yeah, we're back to that. I'll admit this one is less about the danger from the dragon itself than the very specific choices the artist has made. They didn't need to do that. It's a lizard. They don't even have. And it's like they had an orifice budget and they skipped an exit wound for the spear to focus. Elsewhere. It's so detailed. And George had an even dumber hat. 2/10 take it away

Horse thoughts: I Have Smoked So Much Weed

Book of Hours, c. 1415

This is just bullying. There isn't even a princess. That is clearly an infant. Look at that smug look on George's face as he swings his sword that's bigger than the whole little guy. This is the equivalent of when DJT Jr. hunted those sleeping endangered sheep. 1/10

Horse thoughts: ....yikes

And this is the previous one, but now the baby dragon is cute. He's chubby. He's got toe beans. He's Puff the Magic Dragon. His eyes have already gone white, implying that George is just kicking its corpse around for funsies. What's the difference between the dragon and the lamb in the background? That the dragon is dead, like our innocence. This George is truly deserving of the dumbest hat of all. 0/10 plus one more butthole for the road

Horse thoughts: Perhaps it is we who are the buttholes.

[elinekeit-artstuff]

Nightmare // Hair Care @jonmartinweek

I would like you think I love you warmly Like brown cat yawning among sheets in the linen cupboard.

Excerpt from The Absent Minded Lover's Apology by U.A. Fanthorpe

[metamorphesque]

hi! I hope it's okay to ask this but I was wondering if you have any poems about quiet, simple love or the kind of love that is soft and gentle and transcends time, not because it's out of this world or needs big gestures or is about star crossed lovers, but because it's safe, and it's about two people who find happiness and pleasure in the small things, dancing in the kitchen, shopping together, cooking together? Im not sure how to explain it, i tried to paint an imagine, maybe it helps. Thank you so much ♥️

Having a Coke with You by Frank O'Hara

For Keeps by Joy Harjo

Mountain Dew Commercial Disguised as a Love Poem by Matthew Olzmann

The Orange by Wendy Cope

Our Beautiful Life When It’s Filled with Shrieks by Christopher Citro

On Loving by Forough Farrokhzad

Yours by Daniel Hoffman

Atlas by U.A. Fanthorpe

Camomile Tea by Katherine Mansfield

Always For The First Time by Andre Breton

You Are the Penultimate Love of My Life. by Rebecca Hazelton

To Be In Love Poem by Gwendolyn Brooks

[mamotretos]

gameraboy2 Hand  of Doom by R. L. Fanthorpe Badger Books SF-44, 1960 Cover by Ed Emshwiller

[gameraboy2]

The Unconfined by R.L. Fanthorpe Badger Books SN-102 (1966) Cover by Henry Fox

[lifewithaview]

MyAnna Buring in Ripper Street (2012–2016) A Man of My Company

S1E7

Millionaire shipping magnate Theodore Swift arrives from America with an armed bodyguard of Pinkerton detectives,to buy out the ailing Argentine Marine shipping line. Reid sees it as no accident that the body of Samuel Fanthorpe,the engineer who has designed a revolutionary engine which will save the company,is fished from the docks. At the same time journalist Fred Best finds out that Jackson is actually Matthew Judge,a renegade Pinkertoon officer,who abducted Swift's daughter and killed a man in the resultant shoot-out. Frank Goodnight,Swift's chief bodyguard,is out for revenge. Following a raid on the brothel and the disappearance of Fanthorpe's wife Reid discovers the double purpose of the Americans' visit,leading to an opportunity for Jackson to find redemption.

*The episode title "A Man of My Company," is spoken by Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfadyen). "But a man from my company got in their road. And he paid for it with his life."

[trashmenace]

The Lone Wolf 3: Boston Avenger by Mike Barry

The Lone Wolf 3 Boston Avenger by Mike Barry (Barry N. Malzberg) 1973, Berkley Medallion

Ex-cop on the run Wulff heads to Boston with twenty pounds of heroin he scored in the last book. He survives an assassination attempt at a toll booth but loses the heroin to two thugs who run off with it. Wulff tosses a grenade at a memorial at a mob mansion, while the two thugs try to sell the heroin to a Harvard associate professor who sidelines as a dealer.

Wulff is captured by the local mafia who agree to let him live if he recovers the heroin. Wulff goes after the prof, who had turned himself in to the cops. Wulff chases the police and recovers the heroin, but finds himself in a dragnet closing in. His master plan to evade the police involves crashing his car in the woods, walking thirty feet into the forest, and taking a nap. Not sure why he didn't just pull over if it was that easy.

The prof goes home, Wulff follows, the mob shows up, people are shot, the end.

Goes hard into characterizations, which might have worked if the story did. None of the motivations checked out - Wulff, anti-heroin crusader, wanted to recover the junk, to the point of shooting cops over it, for ill defined reasons other that using it for bait, somehow. The mafia don wanted the junk gone, something about avoiding flooding the market and lowering prices, as if storing it or moving it to a different territory wasn't an option. Both of them seem to change their minds.

Wulff's man on the run bit didn't play well with the fact that the mafia knows where he is at all times, even knowing what route he's driving. Four different times the mob just shows up, only twice to try and kill him - if the mob's informant network is that comprehensive, they need better reasons why Wulff is still alive. For part of the story they want Wulff to take care of the Prof, which they can't do themselves for undisclosed reasons.

I liked the tone, the most nihilistic of the Mack Bolan clones, but the actual prose is atrocious. Not quite at Lionel Fanthorpe levels, there is constant repetition, with characters repeating things back to each other and repeating that they don't need to repeat things. Wulff himself is Jimmy Two Times. Probably wouldn't have crossed a hundred pages without the filler

There's a line of opinion that this is subversive satire, or that it's building up to a climax in book 14 that will make it all worthwhile but you have to read the whole series to get the whole effect. I think this is based on Malzberg's positive reputation as a science fiction writer. Whether there's a master plan that pays off at the end or Malzberg's phoning it in at a genre he doesn't respect, there's too much pulp and not enough juice.

From Amazon

[gotjacobian]

Atlas, UA Fanthorpe

[heather-collins]

purple and honey for the colour asks 💛

kayley! hi 💛

purple: a poem you think describes your closest friend

what a beautiful q! my very best friend is my lovely soulmate sis P. she lives across the country from me. this poem always reminds me of her because she keeps me true and will call me OUT if need be <3

Atlas There is a kind of love called maintenance Which stores the WD40 and knows when to use it; Which checks the insurance, and doesn’t forget The milkman; which remembers to plant bulbs; Which answers letters; which knows the way The money goes; which deals with dentists And Road Fund Tax and meeting trains, And postcards to the lonely; which upholds The permanently rickety elaborate Structures of living, which is Atlas. And maintenance is the sensible side of love, Which knows what time and weather are doing To my brickwork; insulates my faulty wiring; Laughs at my dryrotten jokes; remembers My need for gloss and grouting; which keeps My suspect edifice upright in air, As Atlas did the sky. UA Fanthorpe, from Safe as Houses (Peterloo Poets, 1995)

honey: your thoughts on magic- does it exist?

it does in every day practical magic to me. i believe in manifestation and speaking things into existence through belief, hope, an ounce of luck and timing, and hard work. if you continuously speak ill on someone or something, that is also a form of nasty magic. i believe it causes ripples and can wear down and dissolve something maliciously

-

send me color asks!