With an acre of red frizz
and home-sewn clothes,
she made Allen Ginsberg
look like Ozzie & Harriet.

I build new jars on spec,
she replied to a question.
Most prove to be useless.
Sometimes someone likes
one if it's unique or pretty.
Once in a while, though,
something someone lost
flies into one of the jars,
a genius of some kind or
even a terrible sorrow.

A woman who'd erupted
in sobs during the reading
nodded melodramatically.
This was not her first jar.

Then Silva autographed
chapbooks full of poetry
they'd already forgotten.




[New Jars on Spec series www.poetrycircle.com/index.php/topic,16199]

Am I correctly reading three different uses of jar here?  Jar as in spectacles;  in that jar as in that category; jar as gig - performance

I love this poem, the phrase 'jars on spec', the 'terrible sorrow' and all of it.  Am thankful to Pete for letting me in on other uses for jar--makes it even better.

cheryl

Peter, you are correct in reading whatever you read, I think, and I thank you for adding to my knowledge of possible meanings for the word, which hadn't gotten farther than the glass/ceramic vessel, the English beerglass, and the jolt! Tom

Thanks, Cheryl, for reading and encouragement. Always good to hear, if true, that new project isn't a total stinker! Tom

ahhhhh...on spec !

Well Tom somehow your poem brought thoughts about this topic

i think you might want to also speak to our friend Soapy Ibbotson about it, as well
as with Milner.


http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/video/Unbreakable-Beer-Glass-Tested/Video/201002115542008





Shatterproof beer glasses unveiled in U.K.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/02/04/consumer-pint-glasses-britain.html

British government hopes to reduce glass-related injuries in pub fights


British Home Secretary Alan Johnson holds two prototype pint glasses designed not to break up into dangerous shards on impact. The British government wants pubs to try out shatterproof pint glasses as a way to cut back on beer-related violence. (Associated Press)
Two prototypes of shatterproof pint glasses have been unveiled by the British government in an effort to curb the number of injuries from violence in pubs.

The government spearheaded the redesign effort after learning that fights involving broken pint glasses are costing the equivalent of $170 million a year, after factoring in the National Health Service, policing and court costs.

In 2009, there were 87,000 incidents in England and Wales in which pint and other pub glasses were smashed and used as weapons in slashings and stabbings.

The prototypes were produced under the government-funded Design Out Crime program, an initiative of the Home Office.

"Having that weapon in your hand is an enormous part of why these injuries take place in the first instance," British Home Secretary Alan Johnson said in an interview.

The two final prototypes, winnowed down from an initial 50, are the "Glass Plus" and the "Twin Wall," with each employing a different shatterproof technology.

The "Glass Plus" version has a thin, transparent coating of bio-resin on the inside, making the glass stronger so that it may crack upon being dropped or hurled, but it won't form dangerous shards.

The "Twin Wall" version has two ultra-thin layers of glass that are bonded together by resin, and it behaves similarly to a windshield when impacted.

"What this does — it highlights what most people don't think of, and that is that you can actually obliterate the chances for people to inflict violence on each other in the first place. It's like giving someone a rubber baseball bat," said David Helps, director of 3D and innovation at Design Bridge, one of the design teams involved in the effort.

Some in the pub world are calling the new designs the most revolutionary things to happen to pint glasses since their last update 50 years ago, when the "Nonik" (no nick) was introduced. The nonik had a strengthened bulge a couple centimetres from the rim to prevent the edges from rubbing together and chipping.

The new prototypes still have to undergo more testing before being sold to pubs next year.

Efforts are also underway to get the costs down, and while they may come in at a slightly higher cost the current glasses, the added benefit of these is the fact it takes less time to pour an ale and they keep beer colder for longer.

Thank you, Silent! I scoured your article to see how the got the idea in last paragraph that with the new jars, "it takes less time to pour an ale". With your considerable powers of interpretation, do you see it??
87,000 violent beer-glass incidents. I think UK should commission us to write 87,000 Insult Poems to make available in big jars in pubs, as a substitute. I know I've got 3 or 4 thousand in me. -Tom

New jars on spec. Great phrase, but - to me - rather baffling. She reminded me of the BFG. (Didn't he have jars full of stuff?)

"This was not her first jar" - I thought that was the English usage, as in drink.

Enjoyably intriguing.

Cheers

David

David, thank you for looking at this. Yes, a bit of a joke in L18 there. Of course, as Freud famously said, "Sometimes a jar is just a jar, and it's time to put the lid back on it." Tom

Insult Pub Poems Unveiled in U.K.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/02/04/consumer-pub-poems-britain.html

In hopes of reducing glass-related injuries in pub fights, the British government wants pubs to try out Insult Poems as a way to cut back on beer-related violence, and two prototypes have been unveiled in an effort to curb the number of injuries from violence in pubs.

The government spearheaded the new design effort after learning that fights involving broken pint glasses are costing the equivalent of £170 million a year, after factoring in the National Health Service, policing and court costs--70 times the combined income of every poet in the realm.

In 2009, there were 87,000 incidents in England and Wales in which pint and other pub glasses were smashed and used as weapons in slashings and stabbings.

The insult poem prototypes were produced under the government-funded Write Out Crime program, an initiative of the Home Office.

"Having that weapon in your hand is an enormous part of why these injuries take place in the first instance," British Home Secretary Alan Johnson said in an interview.

The two final prototypes, winnowed down from an initial 50, are "Glass Plus" and "Twin Wall," with each employing a different insult methodology.

The "Glass Plus" version has a thin, transparent coating of humor on the inside, making the poem stronger so that it may stun upon being hurled, but it won't form dangerous shards.

"Glass Plus"

Suck my butt, you bastard!
Next time, before you eye
my wife, take a good long
gander at the mirror first!

The "Twin Wall" version has two ultra-thin layers of irony that are bonded together by consonance, and it behaves similarly to a windshield when impacted.

"Twin Wall"

Blowing smoke's what you
do best, but go blow
it outside, cretinous beast!

"What this does — it highlights what most people don't think of, and that is that you can actually obliterate the chances for people to inflict violence on each other in the first place. It's like giving someone a rubber baseball bat," said David Helps, director of poetics innovation at Derision Bridge, one of the literary design teams involved in the effort.

Some in the pub world are calling the new insult poem designs the most revolutionary things to happen to pubs since 50 years ago, when the "Nonik" (no nick) pint glass was introduced. The nonik had a strengthened bulge a couple centimetres from the rim to prevent the edges from rubbing together and chipping.

The new prototypes still have to undergo more testing before being provided to pubs next year.

LOL

..moving from Workshop to Submit..