tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867774275131956123.post5935991812697919481..comments2024-03-20T16:50:22.955-07:00Comments on Ran Away From The Subscriber: Flax to Linen, the 1765 Way, Part III: Gathering, Rippling, RettingUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867774275131956123.post-28010588849625719622014-12-29T12:14:23.412-08:002014-12-29T12:14:23.412-08:00Perhaps you know Seamus Heaney's great poem ab...Perhaps you know Seamus Heaney's great poem about (in part) retting flax, "Death of a Naturalist":<br /> <br />All the year the flax-dam festered in the heart<br />Of the townland; green and heavy headed<br />Flax had rotted there, weighted down by huge sods.<br />Daily it sweltered in the punishing sun.<br />Bubbles gargled delicately, bluebottles<br />Wove a strong gauze of sound around the smell.<br />There were dragon-flies, spotted butterflies,<br />But best of all was the warm thick slobber<br />Of frogspawn that grew like clotted water<br />In the shade of the banks. Here, every spring<br />I would fill jampots full of the jellied<br />Specks to range on the window-sills at home,<br />On shelves at school, and wait and watch until<br />The fattening dots burst into nimble-<br />Swimming tadpoles. Miss Walls would tell us how<br />The daddy frog was called a bullfrog<br />And how he croaked and how the mammy frog<br />Laid hundreds of little eggs and this was<br />Frogspawn. You could tell the weather by frogs too<br />For they were yellow in the sun and brown<br />In rain.<br /><br />Then one hot day when fields were rank<br />With cowdung in the grass the angry frogs<br />Invaded the flax-dam; I ducked through hedges<br />To a coarse croaking that I had not heard<br />Before. The air was thick with a bass chorus.<br />Right down the dam gross-bellied frogs were cocked<br />On sods; their loose necks pulsed like snails. Some hopped:<br />The slap and plop were obscene threats. Some sat<br />Poised like mud grenades, their blunt heads farting.<br />I sickened, turned, and ran. The great slime kings<br />Were gathered there for vengeance and I knew<br />That if I dipped my hand the spawn would clutch it.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06485410374923842372noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867774275131956123.post-21888618625123799382014-10-09T14:20:17.156-07:002014-10-09T14:20:17.156-07:00Thanks! Your blog has some great stuff as well,
...Thanks! Your blog has some great stuff as well,<br /> -TylerTyler Putmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15554457939862423632noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1867774275131956123.post-10446269667633352412014-09-28T18:31:37.749-07:002014-09-28T18:31:37.749-07:00Great post on your experimentation. Looking forwa...Great post on your experimentation. Looking forward to reading further! Following, as well.<br /><br />-Cincinnatus<br />http://johannfactotum.blogspot.com/Cincinnatushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13023772657591711604noreply@blogger.com