Pristine Beauty
The magic woven by Terry Pratchett in ‘Going
Postal' took my mind like a wave invading every
lonely space, filling me with a sense of delight
and the desire to keep on digging for meaning
Since I cannot be content with the mere fact that
I exist in the way Golems can, I have to assign
meaning to everything in order to prevent my
inner self turning from quiet and calm into
A raging torrent of existential dread and my spirit
from acquiring a waiflike quality, moving between
states of consciousness, too confused to choose
between moments of being to settle quietly
Long enough to enjoy the delight of existence as
escape from non-being, it took a while to drag my
mind away from a feeling of guilt about this holiday
and the concomitant fear that a short escape
From my robotic existence at the office might corrupt
my heart to develop a passionate longing for freedom;
confident enough to skip over disturbing passages on
Reacher Gilt, I hate his guts; loving the excellent mind
Pratchett assigns to Vetinari, sharing his trait of loving
ideas as principles: music as signet ideals, staves on
paper, notes safely ensconced thereon with no attempt
at execution to spoil its pristine beauty - just like him
I adore romance as an ethereal ideal formulated in en-
chanting writing but not any attempt at execution which
always falls short changing the idea into a hopeless
Don Quixotic longing for the impossible…
Going Postal - Terry Pratchett - Doubleday 2004
Quoted from p.78
************************************* *************
Painful And Joyous Reading
The library open, a miracle found several
titles interesting, normally everything seems
boring, I'm courageous enough to tackle ‘
Briar Rose' about the Second World War
And sisters fighting in ‘When She Was Good'
hoping to find insight into my relationship with
my twin sis, I'm ready to face abandonment in
Lynne Markham's ‘Getting It Right'
And two lives intertwined in ‘Faith, Hope and Ivy
June' - being adventurous I also bought two books
at second hand book shops - Graham Hancock's
Underworld - Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age -
Blazing trails where unconventional Colin Wilson
fears to tread, and ‘Mars Mystery' with its theme of
precession and the solar system orbit and carousel
movement about the Milky Way Galaxy's
Black Hole centre; hours of painful and joyous reading
before me - now I have entered the spirit of this holiday!
***************************************** **********
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Related quotes
Displacement
Just finished rereading “Wee Free Men” introducing
Tiffany, displacing suffocating allergic reaction due to
culinary indulgence by diving into the enchantment of
Terry Pratchett’s wonderful prose
Did not want the book to end, the story should continue
for eternity… sometimes I try to leave the land of dreams,
Tiffany found dreams were used to lead people astray –
then I eat things that make my life miserable
And remember why transcending reality is necessary, I
cannot give up the rearrangements I make since living in
physical discomfort is counterproductive; dreams enable
me to experience marvellous adventures
Which cannot exist in my little world and although I would
like to be practical and impress with my common sense, it
is impossible to stay within the boring inter-subjective con-
sensus we call reality, even when clever people say
It is irresponsible and childish to let the mind stray from the
life at hand - I will not give up this delight to impress anybody,
the joy of creative fantasy outweighs all arguments offered by
people with deep frowns and drooping mouths
As the virtues they try to urge on me left them feeling cheated
and bitterly disappointed, I see no reason to join their misery if
I can do my job adequately with several other worlds spinning
wildly in my mind and heart
“The Wee Free Men” – Terry Pratchett – Doubleday 2003
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Experience The Divine - Best Gift
Maria von Trapp complained
she couldn’t stop singing and
saying everything that comes
into her mind, in tribute to his
favourite flibbertigibbet
Pratchett invented the Chattering
Order of Saint Beryl Articulatus with
Sister Loquacious and Sister Voluble
who were free to be quiet for one hour
on Thursdays only
Pratchett’s causal narrative makes
redress for all past injustice, fills me
with inspiration to visualise the office
as a Chattering Convent and to project
the holiday resort
Which we are going to visit as a corner
of unsullied paradise and YOU as the
best gift the universe could ever provide,
thank you for every moment of time
you spend
It is the highest compliment and when you
polish uneven lines, you do the work of
angels and change my consciousness
into an experience of the Divine…
Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Corgi edition published 1991, pp 33,36,38, & 41
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Emotional Upheaval
Only Terry Pratchett can be forgiven for irreverently sending
an unrefined Sam Vines into the pristine company of Pride
and Prejuduce - calling this classic a silly romance
Vimes launches into a diatribe against the stifling gentility that
held rich people enthralled within a useless existence, tells
author Jane Austen to write about
Corpses, murder and war – a cross between Mickey Spillane
and Margaret Mitchell; I love his advice about earning one’s
own keep leading to self-esteem
Enjoy the psychological tension Austen described –without
much action she creates more excitement and emotional
upheaval than Mike Hammer and
Scarlett O’Hara combined – only Wuthering Heights and
Jane Eyre can rival Jane Austen in making me
experience hallucinations!
Snuff – Terry Pratchett; Doubleday 2011
pp 69-72
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Hallucination (Revised)
Reading ‘I Shall Wear Midnight' I whirl,
hallucinating my own making, becoming
my own protagonist, everyone becomes
Wintersmith turning into eyeless men
stalking everything good
Prosecuted not knowing how darkness
would lift, Wizard Eskarina entered so
Tiffany could understand, she must
dance again; forces unleashed solving
enduring winter by giving a death-
dealing kiss to the snow spirit
Everywhere it threatens goodness; evil
of hatred created slain ages ago by witch-
hunting victim's frenzy of misguided zeal -
all social comment based on reality, a
Dark Ages Spanish Inquisition when the
religion of Om, the one god, misused
To suppress and subdue, the Age of Reason
yet to come to require use of verifiable
sensory evidence to determine meaning of
guilt and secure freedom for the innocent -
I had to stop reading, too much meaning,
overwhelming emotion and feeling
'I Shall Wear Midnight' - Terry Pratchett
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Vivaldi
Being forced to listen to Vivaldi by
a compilation of classical music, his
musical themes & unwavering beat,
his notes like stiff-necked soldiers
marching on with robotlike idiocy
drive me insane
Awakening memories of ALL things that
irked me recently, the contrast between
the delight reading Pratchett and being
enraged by Vivaldi-effigies led to the
suspicion there is a poem on anger
waiting in the wings
Meantime, these cold notes on the deficiency
of three-dimensional holographic images as
simile of reality made me reflect on life’s
shortcomings - but Men At Arms is lying
next to me, their mischievous irrational
levity is waiting
To grab me again and whisk me away from
inadequate, imperfect and painful reality –
up to the heights of cloud nine…
“Men At Arms” – Terry Pratchett, Corgi edition
published 1994
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Damien-kid
Hunting for recipe books in the bookshop, I bought
Good Omens, what FUN, the Damien-kid playing
Spanish Inquisition, dunking the witch, a little girl
tied to a chair, in the pond until the Inquisitors so
hot, they dunked themselves
Never thought of playing this when I was small, just
danced around in my mother’s wide dress and sang
songs, my brothers’ gang sat on the rafters, tried
sleeping in a hole in the ground though it got too
cold and they crept back inside
A theme running like gold thread through the book
all tapes turn into Queen’s music if left in the car for
too long, Freddy Mercury replacing the classics to
the demon’s chagrin, brings on fits of laughter;
Sister Loquacious switching the babies
So Damien’s hell-hound changed into a sweet little
doggie; both demon and angel lamenting imminent
Armageddon as heaven is too boring - its highlight
the Sound of Music* and hell’s excitements too
painful - both trying to save the world
Since human beings are the source of real grace and
real heart-stopping evil*, both demons and angels are
needed – the secret is, they only exist inside the
human mind, once humanity is destroyed, they
also lose their existence
Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman,
Corgi Books,2006
* Quoted from p.93
Damien –The Omen – An ominous film
The Sound of Music – A film about the life of Maria
von Trapp, changed her story too much, read the book,
though the film is good fun, don’t watch it over and over
too much syrup makes people go funny in the end
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Far Away
I learnt the universe is infinitely huge; not
confined to the Milky Way Galaxy as I had
read in Arthur Mee’s Children’s Encyclopaedia
when I was small - there are infinite galaxies;
a stupendous discovery that left me high
with excitement
I was enthralled by Vincent Gaddis’ Invisible
Horizons and The Secret Life Of Plants early
in life, later discovering Charles Fort and his
rains of fishes and strange footprints which
just added grist to my mill
Erich von Daniken and Zechariah Sitchin
destroyed all fear of a prosaic life; the small,
Calvinist world of my youth with pain and duty
was reduced to a miniscule part of this
wonderfully exciting inter-subjective
illusion
Reading about Atlantis, Lemuria, Mu and
ancients astronauts gives me infinite delight,
I became an instant a Pyramidiot on discovery
of Graham Hancock, Charles Bauval’s and
Wayne Herchel’s theories – and I keep
reading Charles von Berlitz’s books
I love the mystery of the disappearance of the
Marie Celeste, the lost fighter pilots and ships
in Bermuda’s green mist, enchanted by accounts
of the Philadelphia Experiment and explanations
of crew men in deep freeze
I am amazed by occult mediums introduced by
Arthur Findlay and Arthur Conan Doyle’s support
for attempts to probe consciousness surviving
physical life; and I ponder Peter Wilcock’s
hexagonal distribution of galaxy
structures
I enjoy reading about extraterrestrial contacts,
octaves of colours, sounds and forms, Mayan
prophecies, astrogenetics by Maurice Cotterel
and Lyall Watson explaining Chladni’s figures
making geometric patterns in sand, grounding
Dr Emoto’s ideas on water crystals
I am amazed by quantum physics, quarks and Many
World’s theory, adore the holographic universe, am
thrilled by pyramids being built without identifiable
technology, by OOPARTS and ziggurats and
ancient alien visitors from the stars –
- and I must live in a prosaic world of boredom, no
accomplishment and squashed dreams – thank
heaven, Terry Pratchett saves me from all this by
recording, expanding and embroidering the ideas
and theories I love
Presenting by mouth of his youthful characters,
combining mystery and fun, speculation and free
imagination in one heady mixture that sets my
imagination alight, takes me on spiritual flights,
far, far away from this little life…
(Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman,
Corgi Books,2006)
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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All The Emotion Evoked
Now where shall I take the high tide of emotion
seeing that I have finished reading the story of
Tiffany Aching - the book is too short; the great
promise of it beginning when she demanded a
full-scale hearing while every element seemed
to be against her - which made me shudder on
her behalf - turned benevolent universe MUCH
too soon and with the odds not stacked against
her victory was too easy and she was given all
help, suddenly she was such a sure-fire winner
riding the tide and I no longer identified with the
protagonist - my heroines always have to suffer
much longer with more challenges to overcome
I was ready to face a lot of pain - just to find the
ride too short, too few obstacles, the bride-to-be
was a special witch great at dealing with ghosts;
all misunderstanding solved too easily - I prefer
complications and intrigues for a sweet heroine
but Terry Pratchett spun a beautiful tale - to be
embroidered - until it contains all the pain I can
imagine - he remains my favourite author - all
the emotion evoked will be used to experience
and recreate fairytales old and new in my head
I Shall Wear Midnight - Terry Pratchett -
What a Wonderful Book!
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Delight In Variety
Others tell us what ‘truth’ should be when we
are small and with this tunnel vision we tackle
the world of experience and symbolism, bored
in our mental citadels
My life began when I discovered mysteries of
the unexplained: Egyptian pyramid blocks too
heavy for forklifts, ancient astronaut theories,
spontaneous human combustion
The face on Mars, levitation, spiritualism, the
Bermuda Triangle, UFO’s, theosophy, Sufi
dancers and the Mahabharata – requiring
a new definition of ‘truth’
Which I found in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld
law that belief always manifest in reality, thus
faith is the magic ingredient which determines
‘truth’ and being
By using beauty and harmony, love and wisdom
as guidelines, I choose how much reality to
accord any symbol I come across without
demanding consistency because
Quantum physics allows for everything to be
possible in an infinity of space and time; I do
not allow assumptions & preconceptions
to limit my mental freedom
As I strive to embrace everything which inspires
wonder, love and respect in my heart, no contra-
diction allowed to spoil my delight in variety
as the spice of life
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Unseen Academicals- 22/11/09
Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals was a
joy from beginning to end, the author is
a prince among men
Ridiculed fashion items like six-inch
stiletto heels and all kinds of bling,
empty-headed models
Remunerated exorbitantly for glittering
while toiling labourers doing necessary
things are paid next-to-nothing
Pratchett’s depiction of the Discworld
is bathed in a golden light of happiness
everybody joyously engaged
In activities normally depicted as unmitigated
Misery; does Pratchett realize how much the
positive attitude of his main characters
Contrast with his cynical omnipresent narrator
perspective, does he see the juxtaposition
between two aspects
His protagonists acting with integrity and his blasé
narrative voice, the dualism must cause a war
in his mind – verily, I suspect
That is happening at present, while Pratchett is
telling a world-weary tale of human nature, his
characters are presenting a morality play
He cannot subdue them, cannot force decadence
on his characters, they are whiter than snow –
how much does this irk him?
I would love to know...
Terry Pratchett ‘Unseen Academicals’ Doubleday 2009
poem by Margaret Alice
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Magic On The Quiet
Charmed by the wonderful wit of Terry Pratchett
in Carpe Jugulum, sharing Agnes Nitt’s admiration
for the Right Reverend Mightily Oats’ kindness in
helping Granny Weatherwax under the ruse that
she was helping him and Granny’s grudging res-
pect for a priest of Om no longer burning witches,
not burning in holy fire himself meaning he is truly
an honest man and bringer of light to dark places
The ramifications of the situations which reveal the
true nature of the protagonists who face them, form
a string of magical events that glisten and shine in
my imagination just as they do in Indra’s heaven
where every pearl reflects all the other pearls
The logical consistent action of Pratchett’s main
characters forming a musical theme that plays
through all his books, carefully camouflaged from
the regard of the casual passer-by who does not
pick up the shining strands to follow them to their
harmonious conclusions
Led astray by the science of materialism used to
lull unobservant connoisseurs into believing that
empiricism forms the basis of Pratchett’s edifice –
And I shall leave it at that, delighting in magic
on the quiet…
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Laissez-Faire Despair
I measure my state of depression by the books I am able to read,
when it becomes impossible to enjoy any hilarious romp by Terry
Pratchett, when Ecclesiastes and Proverbs are the only reading
material with any relevance - my mental gyroscope has come to
a standstill
As noise irritates me more and pressure is forcing me out of my
head and all I want is darkness, silence and death, it is time to
take drastic steps to feel better again, as I waft about in a smell
of Vicks VapoRub and swallow coloured pills by the handful
hour after hour
And start to hate and despise all forms of consciousness and life,
seeking the meaning of existence as opposed to happy non-being,
it is time to visit a quack to obtain poisonous concoctions and life-
shortening toxins to take the seasonal discomfort away, to stop
the disease
Which leads straight to the nihilism of laissez-faire despair
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Coloured By Octarine Light
Started on Dodger the new novel by Sir Terry
Prachett, the magic of storytelling moving my
mind into a fantastic realm and I'm off - my
spirit riding the story in seething emotions
and feelings
Images conjured in lines of artifice varying in
degree, pedantic words put in the mouth of a
protagonist, no matter - it remains delightful,
the awareness that this story was woven by
a past master
Of social commentary, the author's spirit illu-
minating lines that would have fallen if uttered
by anybody else, my heart pliable in Pratchett's
hands, the novel coloured and shaped by the
octarine light
Shining bright after years of bringing the Disc-
world alive; following unnatural speeches my
eyes ride every line creating a musical tune
by rendering the emotional tones in the
musical score
Of the text - all other noise is intrusion, not
registered while taking in the book I hold In
my hands - dreaming within the London
of a Charles Dickens, presented within
the eldritch perspective
Of a masterful Pratchett…
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Miracle Disclosure (Revised)
Reading ‘Good Omens’ – Antichrist Adam Young and
his gang have fun with Tibetans and Flying Saucers –
in conjunction with The Science of Discworld which
‘David Attenboroughishly’ explains evolution as if it
were an already proven and therefore universally
accepted Gospel Truth – while it
is still only another childish theory, a speculative
hypothesis no better or worse than Creationism, but
creating the same reputation for itself by launching
attacks on other theories and posing as the Modern
Age equivalent of Miracle Disclosure; while ALL
these theories are illusion
made-up narratives explaining mysteries of existence
with no entitlement to claim any final revelation of the
true state – sanctimonious and condescending tones of
New Western Materialism sounds even worse than the
Middle Ages Inquisition – and in our universe ALL
being as speculative and unprovable as each other!
“Good Omens” – Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman,
Corgi Edition 1991
“The Science of the Discworld 1” Revised Edition
Jack, Pratchett, Terry, Stewart and Ian Cohen
Kindle – bought from Amazon
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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The Magic Pratchett Weaves
Driven my mind into a ravine, sought escape by
transforming mental state from despondent to
a receiver of the magic Pratchett weaves by
mixing enchanting quantum into everything
‘All things that might have been, have to be, in
thousands of universes twisting together like
plaited ropes’, somewhere among this, our
minds exist as a shadow play of light
I felt myself changing into a different being while
reading, looking forward to living, breathing and
thinking, conversing about sad news items like
the tentacular financial crisis – because of a
Discworld where Mustrum Ridcully, Master Mage
and Esme Weatherwax, Witch, remember their
feet hardly touched the ground doing trans-
migration spells in their youth
A beautiful time which will forever exist in another
universe, one of many – where my spirit is also
spinning in tandem with all these inspiring
ideas…
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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A Surrreal Place
Escape, for me, is reading a book
based on Terry Pratchett's 'Thief of Time' where
perfect moments are kept in a glass palace – I have
decided to dream about 'perfect moments' and keep
them divine, unspoiled by the one-dimensional
interpretation of inter-subjective reality
Making my escape to a surreal place - an
unending glass palace - perfect moments
kept in space - resembling Indra’s heaven
every perfect pearl strung in such a way to
reflect every other pearl
A hologram in which virtual reality allows us
to learn how to fulfil our dreams and Carine
happy today, fulfilling my vision of her warm
and content - a sweet dream unfolding in
my heart - frozen blossoms
Will start blooming one day - and once bearing
fruit, a new dream will manifest, imparting the
happy glow of quantum physics in which a Mr
Darcy stares at Elizabeth and a Mr Rochester
calls on Jane Eyre - why -
Because we always recreate the world
in our minds
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Scintillating Humour
French class is cancelled, I remain stuck in my
little space, faced with administration, Tim LaHaye
is ready to tell me about temperament and marital
presence, the last thing I want to hear today, a forced
break have me enjoying phrases by Terry Pratchett
like a gourmet enjoying culinary delights
The cool spearmint of Pratchett's scintillating humour
makes the heavy meals of Cataclysmic Egyptian events
more palatable while I'm spicing my Bibliotherapy with
the mixed chocolate and strawberry ices provided by
the temperament theories of Tim LaHaye
"Igneous had always found the general denial more
reliable than the specific refutation" - and I am even
more amused by "If you want to be successful in the
criminal world, you need a reputation for honesty"
Ohmygoodness, this is wisdom indeed, I love it!
Feet of Clay - Terry Pratchett - Victor Gollancz,1996
p.81
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Shivers Of Excitement
Lord Vetinari understands the human psyche so well
he thinks smuggling is rather swell, develops enterprise,
stealth and original thinking, allowing average people
to experience shivers of excitement
Lord Vetinari recommends everyone to break the law in
delightfully delicious ways from time to time, it keeps the
brain sane - lovely advice; though I break the law simply
because my brain wiring is wrong - it still is
Necessary to combat the pangs of conscience when my
brain synapses misfire while I am paid to play at being a
machine, a robot on autopilot, the problem being auto-
function is non-existent in me - it seems
Just to be alive is already a transgression against the well-
regulated people I meet who enjoy being machines and
do not know the meaning of the term existential crisis;
they KNOW they were born to serve
While I always suspect a conspiracy to hide that we were
born to LIVE – to have fun while knowing we can’t get it
done, there is no objective right or wrong, simply a set
of self-made human rules
Snuff – Terry Pratchett, Doubleday,2011
Quotes from pp 18&19
poem by Margaret Alice Second
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Feelings: Contradicting Ideas, Passionate Mind
Contradicting Ideas
In a love-hate relationship with the
Internet, for every beautiful thought
that elevates, ten dissenters appear
two sentences later
Bizarre ideas resonate with me, cold
facts are repelling; only small aspects
of truth can be discerned, I’m swayed
by everything
Creating an exciting life, creating havoc
never sure where I am or what I feel, but
committing to one alternative only
is not an option
I prefer weaving about in a sea of
contradicting ideas, rather than
end the journey with one viewpoint
only, safely in port
For me, the journey is everything!
Passionate Mind
Only challenges make life worthwhile
I love excitement and wild adrenalin
an office job, a quiet suburban life
can’t keep me occupied - quite clear
it is an act to appear sane, bohemian
spirit masquerading under middle-class
respectability, covering inner turmoil
with urban veneer, trying to cut out
ungainly parts of my passionate mind
like a Cinderella only fitting the shoe
once her feet are cut down to size…
Though rebellion is cut away, the quest
for meaning goes on, one day I hope to
settle down and be calm like you...
poem by Margaret Alice
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The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.
quote by Terry Pratchett
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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