Wednesday, August 16, 2017

In praise of: Taylor Swift

Well, more a poem for David Mueller, the creep recently convicted of sexual assault on singer Taylor Swift. It is by Denis Glover and it goes like this:
I’m an Odd Fish
I’m an Odd Fish
A No-Hoper:
Among Men a Snapper,
Among Women
A Groper.
This poem from his collection Dancing to My Tune (Catspaw Press, 1974: my copy is signed by Lauris Edmond for some reason) is perhaps not as funny now as it seemed at the time.

So here is Taylor Swift with “Shake It Off”:

3 comments:

Martin Edmond said...

That is odd, Stephen. But Lauris and Denis were close around then. It must have been her copy? I remember (how?) visiting him when he was living in a caravan in Motueka or somewhere like that. With Lyn, his American wife, and a gargle of vodka bottles.

Stephen Stratford said...

Yes, odd. Lauris as you will know compiled and edited that book for him. Can't imagine she would have given her own copy away - she and I were friendly in the late 80s but I think I bought this at the Auckland UBS in the year of publication. Maybe she did that clever author's trick (even though just editor/midwife) of signing every copy available so the bookseller could not return them to the publisher. In this case, probably her or him.

Martin Edmond said...

No I didn't know that. But she would not have given her own copy away so your supposition is probably correct. How far away and long ago those days seem now.