Waterskiing on Poetry - Waving hello to poems and poets with Neil Elder

Imagine a museum of the future. What would you put in it? Would you put your vinyl, video cassettes and cheque book in there? Oh, and what would you leave out of the museum display? Do you have anything that is just too valuable and personal for the public gaze? Are we in danger of forgetting things if they are not preserved? When we all move to Mars some time in the future, could emotions like love become concepts from the past?These thoughts are all explored in the poems held up to the light in this episode. Tracy K Smith's poem The Museum of Obsolescence and Rebecca Lindenberg's The Museum of Lost Objects take us into imagined museums.You can read the poems here https://genius.com/Tracy-k-smith-the-museum-of-obsolescence-annotatedhttps://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55526/in-the-museum-of-lost-objectsThe interview with Rebecca Lindenberg that I refer to is here - https://www.cincinnatireview.com/on-craft/poetry-at-the-museum/

Love dogs or hate dogs? Either way, this one is for you. Here we wave hello to Billy Collins and Jack Underwood with their poems Another Reason Why I Don't Keep a Gun in the House and A man is dragging a dead dog, respectively.But these poems take us further than just having a nice time reading about dogs; they raise questions about the role of the reader, and highlight the way imagination underpins our reading.There's humour and darkness in equal measure. We bounce from barking dogs to Beethoven to a bizarre street scene where the reader takes over the role of the main character. Listen and enjoy!Instagram = @WaterskiingOn Poetry https://www.instagram.com/waterskiingonpoetry/To read the poems use these links - Billy Collins -https://allpoetry.com/Another-Reason-Why-I-Don't-Keep-A-Gun-In-The-HouseJack Underwood -https://poetryarchive.org/poem/man-dragging-dead-dog/Essay by Jack Underwood - https://poetrysociety.org.uk/underwood-uncertain-subjects/

How do we get through the day when war is on our televisions, and who cares about that stuff when we've got cartoons to watch and pubs to go to? Carol Ann Duffy and George Bilgere help explore the matter in War Photographer and Pancake Dilemma. War is serious - so is it okay if one of these poems is actually funny?Find the poems here - https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/war-photographer/https://rattle.com/pancake-dilemma-by-george-bilgere/George Bilgere is here https://www.georgebilgere.com/See Don McCullin photographs here https://donmccullin.com/

Two stellar poems are being held up to the light for our exploration. In the Paul Farley poem a whole city disappears, but only for a moment. Whilst in the Louis MacNeice poem the concept of time is stretched out to an astronomical scale. Find the poems here https://allpoetry.com/poem/8495809-Star-Gazer-by-Louis-MacNeicehttps://www.poetryinternational.com/en/poets-poems/poems/poem/103-17537_LIVERPOOL-DISAPPEARS-FOR-A-BILLIONTH-OF-A-SECONDLet me know what you think of the poems on here or on Instagram - at WaterskiingOnPoetry

What would life be without a bit of leisure, doing nothing, staring out the window? Butt wait, there's that nagging feeling you should be doing something 'useful'.In this episode we put two poems head to head in the Beauty V Duty battle. Who will win?!Find the poems here - Robert Frost = https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-eveningWH Davies = https://www.poetrybyheart.org.uk/poems/leisureLet me know your winner on Instagram -- https://www.instagram.com/waterskiingonpoetry/?igsh=MXVhcnJ5MXI0aTNiNg%3D%3D#

I've been guilty in my time of taking my mother for advantage, let's face it, we all have. So let's make amends and let's celebrate the mothers in this world who do so much that goes unnoticed by the people they care for... until one day they show people they've still got it!In this episode. 'The Raincoat' by Ada Limón is put alongside 'Mother, Diving' by Andrew Forster - and the mother of all surprises results. Find the poems here -'The Raincoat' by Ada Limónhttps://poets.org/poem/raincoat'Mother, Diving' by Andrew Forster (see page 6)https://delasalleenglish.weebly.com/uploads/5/9/0/8/5908529/unit_2_poetry_across_time_specimen_exam__f.pdfLet me know what you think of the poems on here -- https://www.instagram.com/waterskiingonpoetry/?igsh=MXVhcnJ5MXI0aTNiNg%3D%3D#

Today Neil goes waterskiing across the past, future and present with 'Old Man' by Edward Thomas and 'Blueberries' by James Lasdun. Thoughts about our early memories, and also the question "Where will you be in twenty years?" are brought to the surface in these time-bending poems.Instagram - WaterskiingOnPoetry https://www.instagram.com/waterskiingonpoetry?igsh=MXVhcnJ5MXI0aTNiNg==Find the poems here - Edward Thomas, Old Man https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/57210/old-man-56d23a7a628f2James Lasdun, Blueberries https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89519/blueberries

Leaving school and getting out into the big wide world - exciting or terrifying? Let's see what Carol Ann Duffy says in her poem 'In Mrs Tilscher's Class' and also what Seamus Heaney has to say in 'Death of a Naturalist', two terrific poems that might make us long for the past when life seemed a little easier.I'm on Instagram at WaterskiingonPoetryhttps://www.instagram.com/waterskiingonpoetry?igsh=MXVhcnJ5MXI0aTNiNg==

Put 'Birds of Prey' by Claude McKay next to 'Hawk Roosting' by Ted Hughes and boy, do they sing to each other!Are we really reading poems about birds? Yes - and no! Let's see how how politics, dictators and the ruthless desire for power is really at the heart of these poems.I'm on Instagram at WaterskiingOnPoetry https://www.instagram.com/waterskiingonpoetry?igsh=MXVhcnJ5MXI0aTNiNg==https://neilelderpoetry.wordpress.com/

In this episode, Neil waves hello to WH Auden's 'Musée Des Beaux Arts' and considers how this poem still connects with the busy lives we lead. Also in the programme is 'Icarus', by the American poet George Bilgere, with a lesson to us all to look up from our phones.Im WaterskiingOnPoetry at Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/waterskiingonpoetry?igsh=MXVhcnJ5MXI0aTNiNg==

Neil takes a look at two poems that feature daffodils, but what are the poems really about? With background information on Wordsworth's oh so famous poem' I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud" Neil seeks a link beyond the yellow flower, with the Gillian Clarke poem 'Miracle on St David's Day'.Instagram at WaterskiingOnPoetry https://www.instagram.com/waterskiingonpoetry?igsh=MXVhcnJ5MXI0aTNiNg==

Encounters with animals can be startling, magical and memorable. Neil takes a look at the challenge presented in William Stafford's poem 'Traveling Through The Dark' and sees how the presentation of an encounter with an animal can differ quite remarkably by then looking at 'Roe Deer' by Ted Hughes.I'm on Instagram - WaterskiingOnPoetry https://www.instagram.com/waterskiingonpoetry?igsh=MXVhcnJ5MXI0aTNiNg==