\nWhy should I sit with a straight back
\nwhen there are so many more interesting positions to take up?\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ivor Cutler<\/a>‘s poem “To take” (from his album A wet handle<\/em>) in its entirety.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

I suggested earlier<\/a> that people should write a strange little poem and have the courage to share it as a tribute to this wonderful fellow. A strange little poem didn’t come to right away, but I decided to instead attempt to realize an photographic idea that’s been rattling around my odd head for quite a while.<\/p>\n

These were some pretty weird stocking stuffers that WeatherGirl<\/a> got for Sub-Evil Boy<\/a> and I at Christmas. We each got a glow in the dark frog and a pack of the Cat Butt Gum (she was obviously channeling an 8 year old boy). I then got the weird snake\/mermaid lady, and he got the “Plastic hut: Educational and funny toy”, which still completely cracks me up every time I think about it.<\/p>\n

I’d been thinking about creating a still life with these oddments ever since Christmas, but had never gotten around to it. I figured that Ivor deserved a tribute, and that this would be appropriate in its strange way, so here you have it. For those interested in more traditional tribute images, I highly recommend this wonderful shot<\/a> by mikey delgado.<\/p>\n

The book in the background is Concerto for stray hand on upright piano by Charlie Fowler, who’s a pretty Ivor-Cutler-like character here in Morris, Minnsota. His book Plenty of room between the trees<\/cite> is an absolute classic and most definitely recommended. (I think you can buy copies at the PRCA Gallery<\/acronym><\/a>.)<\/p>\n

I’ll close with this wonderful excerpt from “A pain in the neck”, also from A wet handle<\/cite>:<\/p>\n

\nGod: “What’s going on out there?”
\nSt. Peter: “It’s Ivor Cutler. He doesn’t like the set up.”
\nGod: “Tell him to go to hell.”
\nSt. Peter: “But you said…”
\nGod: “Never mind what I said. He’s always been a pain in the neck. He’ll be happy there.”
\nSt. Peter: “Well, you heard what he said.”
\nIvor Cutler: “I did. Hey, he doesn’t sound so bad as I thought. A bit grumpy. That’s a good sign. Maybe I should stay. … No, not to sit at his feet. Tell him ‘thank you’. See you. Hell, here I come.”
\nSt. Peter: “Oh, hang on. God’s coming with you. He wants to check out what it’s like. Just to refresh his memory … he says. Here he comes.”
\nGod: “All right Ivor, let’s go.”
\n
\nExeunt omnis<\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why should I sit with a straight back when there are so many more interesting positions to take up? Ivor Cutler‘s poem “To take” (from his album A wet handle) in its entirety. I suggested earlier that people should write a strange little poem and have the courage to share it as a tribute to … Continue reading “In memory of Ivor Cutler”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,20,3,7],"tags":[869],"class_list":["post-322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-photography","category-radio","category-writing","tag-photography"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p90sy-5c","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":321,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2006\/03\/10\/ivor-cutler-rip\/","url_meta":{"origin":322,"position":0},"title":"Ivor Cutler, R.I.P.","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"10 Mar 06","format":false,"excerpt":"Photo by Mikey Delgado I am sad to report the death a few days ago of Ivor Cutler. If the character of a nation is measured in part by its eccentrics, then the UK (and the world) is a slightly poorer place for his passing. Cutler was a multi-talented creator\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ivor Cutler montage by mikey delgado from Flickr","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.flickr.com\/42\/109181815_e780479f32.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":326,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2006\/03\/17\/a-wonderful-ivor-cutler-clip\/","url_meta":{"origin":322,"position":1},"title":"A wonderful Ivor Cutler clip","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"17 Mar 06","format":false,"excerpt":"In one of those happy on-line community moments, I got a cool pointer on Flickr from imago (who has some very cool photos - see the example to the right) to a neat clip of Ivor Cutler performing a great little song \"Shoplifting\". This was pulled from an old UK\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2005\/01\/12\/sub-evil-boys-new-poem\/","url_meta":{"origin":322,"position":2},"title":"Sub-Evil Boy’s new poem","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"12 Jan 05","format":false,"excerpt":"Sub-Evil Boy's at it again, and wrote a really nice poem yesterday about his unfortunate experiences with a bat and way too many rabies shots. Very cool poem. He graciously doesn't doesn't mention how my lack of action put his life at serious risk. So I will. Public flagellation is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":554,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2007\/05\/08\/the-power-of-free-speech\/","url_meta":{"origin":322,"position":3},"title":"The power of (free) speech","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"8 May 07","format":false,"excerpt":"House Poem, originally uploaded by Hryckowian. This wonderful photograph is of Huang Xiang's house in Pittsburgh. Quoting Hryckowian's description of the image: Huang Xiang is a poet from the Hunan Province of China. 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'Twere it not for various on-line reminders and communications\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":240,"url":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/2005\/09\/28\/banned-book-reading-another-fine-event-last-night\/","url_meta":{"origin":322,"position":5},"title":"Banned Book reading: Another fine event last night","author":"Nic McPhee","date":"28 Sep 05","format":false,"excerpt":"Caf\u00e9 Scientifique wasn't the only excellent event on the schedule last night. As part of the 2005 Banned Book Week our fine library hosted a reading last night from various banned books. WeatherGirl, Sub-Evil Boy, and I hoofed it over there ASAP after Caf\u00e9 Scientifique wrapped up and enjoyed a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/archives\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/UnhinderedByTalent.com\/Phi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}