"Slightly Inperfect"

"The poetry that most moved us moved us to a need for poetry".

(Robert Duncan, Preface (1972) to 'Caesar's Gate')

Spot on.

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Yesterday afternoon I read 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' & - as I go on my daily walk round the neighbourhood - start thinking of the relationship between the pairs of characters in terms of Deleuze's reading of Nietschean forces. Shakespearean Comedy working as a presentation of Becoming. Maybe.

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BBC 4's bio-documentary on Ivor Cutler took a familiar path: the later work 'diagnosed' in terms of the early childhood-mother-son trauma with seasonings of Jewish immigrant memory & military service. Then the soundbites from family, friends and showbiz people (Robert Wyatt in bowler hat, Paul MacCartney in 'just a friend of his' mode, and Billy Connelly who could easily pass for the older Zappa if anyone was thinking of making such a film).

Nevertheless a few things stood out: Cutler's refusal of 'celebrity' bonhomie - "Mr Cutler, to you"; his years as a teacher of Summerhill (now that makes sense); his rolls of stickers - 'Slightly Inperfect' - ; a song about Cosmic Love revolving about a cup of tea; the bulldog clip and string method of getting his post up to his thirdfloor flat.

Syd Barrett, Viv Stanshall, Ivor Cutler ... what beautiful music they must be making somewhere.