"God, A Poem" by James Fenton (poetry reading)

America and Britain are countries divided by a common language. I think Oscar Wilde said that, but I haven't checked. A girl told me she had spent a morning in New York trying to buy Drawing Pins. She visited several stores which looked as though they should stock them. Eventually out of exasperation she explained what she wanted them for. The sales girl said "Why don't you use thumbtacks?"

Figuratively, crumpet is a collective term for women considered as sexual snacks. Literally, a crumpet is a teacake usually toasted and buttered and possibly spread with jam or marmalade.

Pissed always means "drunk" in Britain - it never means "angry", but "pissed-off" means "disgruntled" or "frustrated".

Soteriology is the theological idea that finding Jesus will save your soul.

The Diet of Worms is just a joke in the poem. Its other meaning is one of several venues that took place at Worms, which is a town in Germany on the Rhine. Usually it means the one when Martin Luther answered to charges of heresies brought by the Roman Catholic Church. Martin Luther prayed and fasted and answered honestly and bravely and when it became obvious that this wasn't going to work he ran away.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_of_Worms

Maybe he had heard the wise saying of the Indigenous American people - or whatever this week's politically-correct expression is for Red Indians - "If you meet a bear, do nothing. If that doesn't work, run away.

The painting is "The Eternal Father", 1570, by Paolo Veronese (Caliari)

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[SpokenVerse]

@franklekens Yes, you're right.  In practice it'e hard not to make minor errors of syntax and even harder to patch over them. I tend to let them go if they make little difference to sense. Thank you for mentioning it.

[franklekens]

@SpokenVerse

There's a minor slip in one line (handshake instead of shake) that causes another one in the next to compensate for the rhythmic unbalance, but it doesn't 'butcher the sense', as I first wrote, sorry for that. Should have listened properly.

[wbrutus22]

love it

[vudu8ball]

Ahmen!!!

[irreverentreverend]

A wonderful piece wonderfully delivered.

[rosasparx]

i mean, just amazing.

[rosasparx]

amazing

[Unrepentantcelt76]

Excellent, very well read once again

[sonofwalt]

What else could I say but, "Wow?" I enjoy your readings, and I thank you for this one. This is my first experience with this poem and I am grateful for such a fine introduction.