We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done

[sovay]

My poem "The Clock House" is now online at Stone Telling.

I have a hard time writing about this poem; its subjects are dear to me and it took me a year to write. It is for Christopher Morcom, July 13 1911—February 13 1930. It is also for Alan Turing, 23 June 1912—7 June 1954. The reasons are different, but they both should have had more life. I can't give it back to them: memory is all you can give the dead. And not myth, if you can help it. Not tactful forgetting. This year is Turing's centenary; I doubt many people who haven't read Andrew Hodges know Christopher's name. We should not lose any more like them.

This is Stone Telling's queer issue; I think it's the best the magazine has produced so far. You want to read every poem. There's myth, there's astronomy, there's history, there's epic, there's nothing fantastic (but people) going on at all. None of them say quite the same thing.

The fact that a brain can do it seems to suggest that the difficulties may not really be so bad as they now seem.
—Alan Turing, "Can digital computers think?" (1951)

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

It's a superb issue, and a moving poem.

[sovay]

It's a superb issue, and a moving poem.

Thank you. I am glad of the company it's in.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

It's a worthy tribute to them both. Did you hear about the petition to get Turing on the £10 note?

[sovay]

It's a worthy tribute to them both.

Thank you. I mean it. It's not so much that there's a lot of bad poetry about Alan Turing (or any about Christopher Morcom, aside from Geoffrey Hill's "A Cloud in Aquila") as that I really didn't want to start the trend. They have been important to me for years.

Did you hear about the petition to get Turing on the £10 note

No! That's marvelous. I wish I lived in the right country to sign!

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

There is an Eighth Doctor novel called "The Turing Test" that is mostly narrated by AT (he also shares storytelling duties with Graham Greene and Joseph Heller). I've not actually read it. Given the narrators, it could be win or spectacular bomb: I do know that Turing has a massive crush on the Doctor, but that's it. Perhaps I should hunt down two copies?

[sovay]

Given the narrators, it could be win or spectacular bomb: I do know that Turing has a massive crush on the Doctor, but that's it. Perhaps I should hunt down two copies?

Oh, hell: I'll read it if you will.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

Okay. I'll go and have a look for it.

[rose-lemberg.livejournal.com]

It is an amazing, amazing poem.

I think it's the best the magazine has produced so far.
I agree; and that scares me. Certainly it has been the most painful issue to produce so far.

[sovay]

It is an amazing, amazing poem.

Thank you. I am very glad it found its home with you.

I agree; and that scares me. Certainly it has been the most painful issue to produce so far.

Well, you have rather raised the bar . . .

[domparisien.livejournal.com]

It is a very powerful, very beautiful poem.

[sovay]

It is a very powerful, very beautiful poem.

Thank you. It matters to hear.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

The black and white never does people justice. And in older pictures Mr. Turing always looks more shellacked into place by sheer social terror than the gentle, odd, actually fairly raffishly decent-looking fellow at Bletchley...

In their honor, with a shandy for the fine weather:

My bonny is stationed at Bletchley...

[sovay]

The black and white never does people justice. And in older pictures Mr. Turing always looks more shellacked into place by sheer social terror than the gentle, odd, actually fairly raffishly decent-looking fellow at Bletchley...

I've always liked this one, with the same pose nearly replicated here. He could fold up impressively for a man who wasn't all that tall. Honestly, though, I think my favorite is Turing and the bus.

(This is a surprisingly non-terrible headshot! I wonder who got him to look straight at the camera. It looks like the same vintage as his passport photos, only—not being a passport photo—it doesn't suck.)

My bonny is stationed at Bletchley...

"And all his relations and me!"

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

The surprisingly-non-terrible headshot is the one I'm using for my ink sketch, which is here on my desk at work.... some...where. I had never seen Turing and the Bus, and I think it's perfect. It gets him in an excellent moment, even more so than the one I'll call, sans apology, Dorks in a Row.

[sovay]

The surprisingly-non-terrible headshot is the one I'm using for my ink sketch, which is here on my desk at work.... some...where.

Yay!

I had never seen Turing and the Bus, and I think it's perfect.

Yes. He looks like himself. You can fullscreen it if you fiddle around with the settings.

It gets him in an excellent moment, even more so than the one I'll call, sans apology, Dorks in a Row.

On the other hand, I looked up the rightmost fellow in the front row because he had an interesting face and he turned out to be still alive.

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

Goodness. In his youth he looked like my grandfather; now he looks like a professor of some sort who spends a lot of time seabirding on St. Kilda. (I think it's the windblown look.)

[rose-lemberg.livejournal.com]

Do you want me to change the picture? I was not aware of the existence of Turing and the Bus!

[sovay]

Do you want me to change the picture? I was not aware of the existence of Turing and the Bus!

The statue is fine! It's a work of art, which seems appropriate to the images of re-creation. But you see why I like the photograph.

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

The issue is amazing, and I love that poem (I have from the first, but I love that poem in the issue, additionally).

[sovay]

The issue is amazing, and I love that poem (I have from the first, but I love that poem in the issue, additionally).

Thank you. I really am glad.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

The fact that a brain can do it seems to suggest that the difficulties may not really be so bad as they now seem.

It's a long way from your sublime, and you almost certainly already know it, but if you don't you should read this story.

[sovay]

It's a long way from your sublime, and you almost certainly already know it, but if you don't you should read this story.

Heh. It's the first thing I ever read by Terry Bisson.

Thank you!

[gwynnega]

It's a beautiful poem.

[sovay]

It's a beautiful poem.

Thank you.

[selidor]

Your poem made me nearly tear up at the end. I therefore believe it works.

I concur that this is a scarily impressive issue - and so multi-faceted!

[sovay]

Your poem made me nearly tear up at the end. I therefore believe it works.

Thank you. I keep saying this, but I am very glad.

I concur that this is a scarily impressive issue - and so multi-faceted!

I'm honored to share it with you!

[selidor]

*blush*

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! It's a wonderful poem. It was when first I read it, and it still is.

I'm glad it's gone online in such fine company.

[sovay]

I'm glad it's gone online in such fine company.

Thank you.