What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.– from “Leisure,” by W.H. Davies
I started this post looking for a photo to post with this wonderful davies quote. I was rapidly sucked in by flickr and found this brilliant photo from AntiMethod (one of MANY) that does not fit at all. Fuck it.
WH Davies was quite a fellow. from wikipedia:
WH Davies was a Welsh poet and writer. He spent most of his life as a tramp in the United States and United Kingdom, but became known as one of the most popular poets of his time.
The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp (1908) is an account of his times in the USA 1893 – ‘99, during which he lived as a vagrant. He lost a leg while jumping a train in Canada, and wore a wooden leg.
He returned to England, living a rough life in London in particular. His first book of poetry, in 1905, was the beginning of success and a growing reputation; he drew extensively on his experiences with the seamier side for material. By the time of his prominent place in the Edward Marsh Georgian poetry series, he was an established figure.
He married in 1923 Helen Payne, an ex-prostitute and his junior by three decades; his frank account of how this came about was only published in 1980.
on vagrants: http://www.billdaniel.net/who_is_bozo_texino/
bill daniel came and spoke at MIT on this sorta-documentary about the 80 years of myth and intrigue surrounding bozo texino, the tag of a mysterious freight train artist. the film is insane, beautiful and totally amazing.
I found what appears to be the only free e-book of Super-Tramp here. If you can get past the images of the 1st 3 chapters, you can cut and paste the rest of the book into something a little less painful on the eyes. I’ve made it through chapter 7 so far and have loved every bit of it. Thanks for the recommendation.
Jaime