Category Archives: Oxford Blues

REMEMBRANCE MONDAY

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Universal Octopus

Remembranceis invalidunlessit goes right back to the beginning. Cats know thisand complete their lives in the present. Humans don’twhich makes their workincompleteand invalid;a building lacking its foundation. .

Posted in Oxford Blues | Tagged beginning, building, cats, Foundation, Humans, present, Remembrance Monday, work | Leave a comment

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

Posted on November 8, 2020 by Universal Octopus

November RosePink and white and mauve.Solitary, still,among the rosemary and late autumnal gorse. Sea winds have blown.The first frosts have frozen the short grass.Spring and summer are memories,midwinter an echo in reverse. November Rose for the dying.November Poppies for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Oxford Blues | Tagged autumnal gorse, dead, first frosts, Flanders, midwinter, new birth, November Poppies, November Rose, Remembrance Sunday, Rosemary | Leave a comment

MAGDALEN

Posted on September 29, 2020 by Universal Octopus

In the Fellows’ Gardens,past the Deer Park,a willow twists and stretchesout of a brown poollike a giant Nāgatrailing garlands of green lace. Along the avenues of Addison’s Walk,among birch and beech,chestnuts stretch out their brancheslike semaphores,and hang their leaves like … Continue reading →

Posted in Oxford Blues | Tagged Academics, beech, birch, chestnuts, Deer Park, living, Magdalen, Michaelmas, Odysseus, Oxford, Oxford University, World's End | Leave a comment

UPWARDLY MOBILE CAT

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Universal Octopus

The cat sitsin the Provost’s chair! Wisdom,being devoidof Right Understanding,has become Worldly Savoir-Faire. (poem from OXFORD BLUES) .

Posted in Oxford Blues | Tagged cat, moblie, Oxford Blues, savoir-faire, understanding, wisdom, worldly | Leave a comment

WAITING

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Universal Octopus

Magdalen’s groundsare full of life,full of space. Space, which is mownand cleared,tended and enclosed,its waterways unchoked,brown and sparkling clear. It is home to ducksand coots,to dragonflies and deer. Grass and paths and gatesand streamsand yesterday’s undergraduatesare waiting. Not for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Oxford Blues | Tagged being, dragonflies, ducks, future, Magdalen, Oxford, Oxford Blues, past, peace, space, undergradutes, waiting, waterways, Yes! | Leave a comment

AREOPAGITICA

Posted on April 23, 2020 by Universal Octopus

The Vice Chancellor is leaving!And the mourners go about the streets,throwing their mortar boards in the airand waving their gownslike bullfighters’ capes. In the Vivisection Laboratory,the faintest of grey lightsslants through the bars of cageswhere animals waitto be scientifically torturedfor … Continue reading →

Posted in Oxford Blues | Tagged Chancellor, God, laboratory, makind, Oxford, Oxford Blues, scientifically tortured, Vice, vivisection | Leave a comment

TRUTH IN THE BOTANIC GARDENS

Posted on March 6, 2020 by Universal Octopus

Thousands of magnolia flowers,by Danby’s gateand yellowstone walls,test vernal powersagainst the winds of March; and wait. Slowly, blossoms fall,like heavy snowflakes, one by one,lit by a dull and clouded sun. Tourists have gathered here to seethe wonder of this snow-blossom … Continue reading →

Posted in Oxford Blues | Tagged blossoms, Botanic Gardens, harvest, inner eye, magnolia, Oxford, photography, snow-blossom, snowflakes, tourists, winds of March | Leave a comment

T.S. ELIOT AT 4.00 PM

Posted on March 3, 2020 by Universal Octopus

Ten thousand pieces on the floorreconstruct his own jigsaw,each one shaped at the five sense doorsto compose the picture he is looking for.Achensee with snowflakes?Earl Grey tea and cakes? He cannot hide.He cannot escape into the seascape’s swell,nor is the … Continue reading →

Posted in Oxford Blues | Tagged cakes, drabness, dull and empty, Earl Grey tea, five sense doors, jigsaw, mountainscape, Oxford Blues, snowflakes, Sunday afternoon, T. S. Eliot, Vision of Eternity | Leave a comment

POST IMPERIAL BLUES

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Universal Octopus

A terrorist gets his way by violence. Like Alexander,he would prefer a city to surrender peacefully.Like Alexander,he will destroy it if it doesn’tand enslave its population. A successful terrorist,like a successful leopard,does not change his spots. A pugilist can break … Continue reading →

Posted in Oxford Blues | Tagged Alexander, Congo, don, footprints, leopard, lions, massacre, Nigeria, Oxford, post imperial, poverty, Rwanda, statistics, student, terrorist | Leave a comment

GUESTS

Posted on February 13, 2020 by Universal Octopus

Who are the deadI have not reached(or been unable to find)who wait with such patiencein quiet corners of my mind? Seek with the mindyou get thoughts.Seek with the heartyou get understanding.Speak with thoughtsyou reach a man’s mind.Speak with understandingyou reach … Continue reading →