Tamale Pie
Dorothy was Canadian; frizzy
red hair, pale flushed skin,
piercing eyes behind round
learned spectacles.
She insisted on serving fresh tea
- as opposed to diluted stewed essence -
and stunned me, at least, one day by
making a superb Tamale Pie.
She was manic about global learning
networks/learning - even tried to set
up a Learning Exchange in Dalston
with lots and lots of index cards.
When she became too manic she
stopped talking altogether and then
allowed herself to be booked into
the German Hospital.
Ken and I visited her after a shift.
We talked, Dorothy smiled and wrote
quick little notes to us. On the way
back I said she looked well; Ken looked
at me very doubtfully.
Dorothy was heavily influenced by
Ivan Illich - we don't hear much
of him these days, but I remember
Dorothy and her Tamale Pie.
3 comments:
Please don't reduce Dorothy (see: last stanza Doroth) she seems a nice woman.
As for her and Ivan Illich, I recall someone we are acquainted with reminding us that it's an also/and world rather than an either/or one.
And of course, there's the matter of degree.
don't reduce Dorothy (see: Doroth)
especially in the final stanza
she seems such a good sort
and as for Ivan Illich remember
it's an also/and world and
a matter of degree of course
Dorothy fully reinstated...
matter of degree?
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