Produced by Blue Trumpet for Radio 2RRR, Jove’s Pearls is a collection of verse 'chiefly in the Australian vernacular' by Jovial Mark ... painter, poet, dilettante, and ratbag, hailing from the deep south of South Australia...
The poem...
A man of deeds and not of words
Is sometimes seen but never heard
A man whose head is likest to break
Is like a greasy T-bone steak
A man who often breaks his back
Commits a sacreligious act
And when that back begins to grind
It’s like the flying man of pie
And when that pie is full of crust
It’s like the soul who’s turned to dust
And when that journey the soul it takes
It’s like a car without the brakes
And when the brakes begin to go
It’s like a glasshouse full of snow
And when the snow begins to melt
It’s like the fiery iron we smelt
And when that iron doth rust away
It’s time to start another day
And when the day is almost done
It’s time to drink a old flagoon
And when that goon has filled a drunk
It’s time to be a trappist monk
And when on that flesh the vultures feed
You’re dead, and dead and dead indeed
A take off of the well known poem, ‘A man of words and not of deeds’.
Music...
Music featured in the poem comes from 'If You Want the Rainbow' as sung Annette Hanshaw, 1928
Credits...
Produced by Blue Trumpet for Radio 2RRR
Original verse by Jovial Mark
Adapted for radio by James Benn
With special thanks to Johnny Boxer
Poems interpreted by…
- Johnny Boxer
- James Benn
Introductions and credits by Amie Maguire