from Heart of Darkness, Snake, image by Mike Ferguson
excerpts from Novel Finds
Great Expectations –
Charles Dickens
Ours
Seems to me that
the small miles of the sea
are low buried,
ours.
The distant sea
is a leaden line beyond,
intersected with dark,
raw,
bleak places
feeding on beginnings
overgrown with
shivers.
My impression is
our sea
shivers too,
growing afraid.
Pork
(Not Alone) With Gravy
There’s
a subject!
There’s
a subject!
Gravy!
(spooned onto my plate)
in parenthesis
A
discourse!
A
homily!
Gravy!
(a pint onto my plate}
in parenthesis
A
Sermon!
Hypothetical!
Gravy!
(pork gravy on my plate)
in parenthesis
Subject!
Text!
Gravy!
(plenty of gravy today)
in parenthesis:
A Carvery
for Ray.
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
Long
Tongue
“Hm,” he said.
“Well,” I sighed.
“It’s not easy to describe. I really am
ashamed of my long tongue.”
“Yes, I think it is,” I said.
I want to ask, but with weight of
consideration and obviously sullenness in the bargain I can’t.
“You see,” he said.
“Must be deformed?” I inquired.
“No, sir,” he presently resumed, “something
displeasing. I use it I know.”
“What sort of man…..”
“I am of the other party.”
“You might have warned me. Detestable.”
He was an extraordinary looking man.
Pedantically exact. A down-right long tongue. I saw him use it.
Possibility
This dreadful
shipwreck,
the duality
of a man
Dreadful
man
in
this
duality
of
a
shipwreck
I told myself
exposed to
discoveries
I had learned
both truths
Exposed
to
learned
truths
I
myself
told
both
discoveries
Struggling
Pleasure
Together
Evil
Knowledge
Knowledge
Evil
Together
Pleasure
Struggling
Struggling with
evil,
the pleasure
of knowledge
The
pleasure of
evil
knowledge
with
struggling
To dwell in
the duality
I pass beyond the
point of
primitive possibility
I
pass the
possibility
of
beyond duality
to
dwell in the
primitive
point
The Hound of the Baskervilles – Arthur Conan Doyle
Inferences
His calling-card
a mischievous smile
broad enough
for a mastiff,
too broad
in my opinion.
I said,
My
dear fellow
you
have a
dog’s
jaw.
Astutely
observed,
he said,
dog teeth very
plainly visible.
My inferences
were unambitious.
Surprise
Interrogation
Watson: What is it?
Holmes: A terrible sound.
Watson: How do you know?
Holmes: The growling ground.
Watson: Where did you hear it?
Holmes: Inside the hound.
Watson: When were you there?
Holmes: Once he was found.
Watson: Why did you listen?
Holmes: I was duty bound.
from Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
Horror
The expression
The horror!
is more than a
breath.
If a whisper,
The horror!
cried in
ruthless surrender.
The veil of a
hopeless
The horror!
is a hopeless
desire.
Did he?
Did he?
Oh….
—Mike Ferguson
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