92 Friday, November 25, 1983 • THE DETROIT JEWISH' NEWS Welsh Poet By JOSEPH COHEN NEW ORLEANS — Growing up in the interior of America, I never saw any of the exotic birds that live close to the tropical seas until I moved to New Or- leans, a grown man, enter- ing my 30s. Recalling that time, I remember the sense of wonder and pleasure I ex- perienced when I went to the zoo and saw a whole host of flamingos standing one- legged in the shallows, their brilliant pinks, oranges and starlets a striking contrast to the sunburnt greens and browns of the land and the pale blues of the sky. Those first flamingos, and others I have since seen, have seemed to me not just like images of poetry, but in their abstracted gaze, their total serenity and their marvelous balance, like poems themselves, exotic creatures perfect in their beauty. that Subsequently, aesthetic connection be- tween flamingos and poems has been reinforced for me, so that today the two are even more strongly in- tertwined than when the bonding of bird and poem first occurred. I never read "Sunday Morning," Wallace Stevens' great poem, with its description of the "visionary south" without seeing in my mind's eye (though I am sure it is not r what Stevens saw) a flock of flamingos imaged in his lines: I am content when wakened birds, Before they fly, test the reality Of misty fields, by their sweet questionings; But when the birds are gone and their warm fields Return no more, where, then is Paradise? I have always thought it curious and ironic that Ste- vens, who was no special friend of the Jews, emphati- cally advocates in these lines the Jewish view of immortality over the Chris- tian view which he rejects, arguing that it is only in this world that we may ex- perience "some imperisha- ble bliss." Still, Stevens' magnifi- cent lines are all but peripheral in my experience of flamingos and poems. What, then, is in the center? Four flamingos are! They stand one-legged not on Louisiana's coastal shores but in far-off London in a shallow stream that traverses Golders Hill Park, just off Hampstead Heath. Those four flamingos were first pointed out to me in the summer of 1975 by the Welsh Jewish poet, Dannie Abse, who lives in Golders Green. I saw them again in 1976 and 1982. However unlikely it To: The Jewish News 17515 W. 9 Mile Rd. Suite 865 Southfield, Mich. 48075 WEI JUST ,014. from: Paste in old label TO: NAME Effective Date Dannie Abse's Flamingos in Winter may seem to find flamin- gos in that northern clime they are not only there literally but, now, they have been given a figura- five presence as well and a permanence in Dannie Abse's poetry where they are seen, unruffled by the London winter's cold winds and snows, stand- ing "One-Legged on Ice." Dannie Abse has used these words for the American title of his newest volume of poems, just released by the Uni- versity of Georgia Press. The images of the birds including the peacocks who frequent Golders Hill Park are found in the poem entitled "A Winter's Visit" in which the poet antici- pates the approaching death of his 90-year-old mother: Now she's ninety I walk through the local park where, too cold, the usual peacocks do not screech and neighboring lights come on before it's dark. Dare I affirm to her, so aged and so frail, that from one pale dot of peacock's sperm spring forth all the colors of a peacock's tail? I do. But she like the sibyl says, would die'; then complains,' his winter I'm half dead, son.' And because it's true I want to cry. Yet must not (although only Nothing keeps) for I inhabit a white coat not a black even here — and am not qualified to weep. So I speak of small approx- imate things, of how I saw, in the park, four flamingos standing, one-legged on ice, heads beneath wings. Here, the flamingos be- come not a symbol of loss but a symbol of the beauty of life and of endurance and survival in the face of cer- tain tragedy. Through this capability in composing such poems as those found in "One-Legged on Ice, "Dannie Abse has emerged in recent years as a major English poet. This new volume confirms a sen- sibility comprised of equal parts of versatility (if he were not so modest, I would say "genius"), technical mastery and human warmth and compassion. Though Abse has enjoyed a rich diversity of experi- ence, best described by the American poet Daniel Hoffman in these dualities: "British/Jewish; English/ Welsh, seeker/skeptic, bourgeois/bohemian, poet/ doctor," it seems to me clear that he is turning more and more to Jewish wellsprings for the substance of his poems. Increasingly, he draws on midrashic and hasidic sources. For example, "Snake" begins: When the snake bit Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa While he was praying the snake died (Each day is attended by surprises or it is nothing) Other poems which em- ploy Jewish themes in won- der and delight include "Of Rabbi Yose," "Bedtime Story" (Its opening isAdam, the first man, my father said, perfect' like the letter A. Blessed be all alephs.) "Of Itzig and His Dog," and "Lesson In Reality (1) and (2)," modeled after the He- brew poems of the Israeli poets T. Carmi and Amir Gilboa. Many of my favorite poems have been written by Dannie Abse. For the pre- sent these have been over- taken by the charming lines which conclude the new poem in "One-Legged on Ice" called "Last Words": And how should I wish to go? Not as in opera— that would offend — nor like a blue-eyed cowboy shot and short of words, but finger-tapping still our private morse, ". . love, you" before the last flowers and flies descend. This poem and others in Dannie Abse's new volume provide for me a sense of satisfaction akin to what I have obtained contemplat- ing the beauty of flamingos. It is sufficiently exquisite to want to share it with everyone. Britain Scuttles Oil Deal With Israel By MAURICE SAMUELSON LONDON (JTA) — In the spring of 1981, Britain vet- oed a private deal under which 13 tanker loads of North Sea oil worth more than $200 million would have been shipped to Israel. The matter has finally come to light following a prolonged legal battle bet- ween two of the companies involved. As a result, the British government is now trying to prevent the Euro- pean Court of Justice from deciding whether or not Bri- tain's refusal to supply Is- rael breaches its commit- ments as a member of the European Economic Com- munity (EEC). The dispute stems from a refusal to load a cargo of oil, sold by Sun International, the world's 12th biggest oil company, to a Swiss sub- sidiary of Bulk Oil, an in- ternational shipping and oil refining concern. Hearing that the oil was bound for Haifa, British Petroleim (BP) refused to load the first tanker at the giant Sul- lom Voe terminal in the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland. BP operates the terminal which was officially opened only two weeks before this in- cident occurred. Instead, the oil was re- moved by BP for sale on the spot market. Sun has sued Bulk Oil for breach of con- tract, claiming a total of $15 million in lost profits and interest. The two companies have also been involved in paral- lel court battles in Italy and in the United States where the Commerce Department is also probing alleged vio- lations of anti-boycott legis- lation. Inquiries by this corres- pondent show that the deal between Sun Oil and Bulk Oil was nipped in the bud when BP discovered that the oil was bound for Haifa, even though Gibraltar was given as its initial destina- tion. The whole deal was for nearly 900,000 tons of crude oil over a period of 18 months. It would have con- stituted the first known ex- port of British oil to Israel. At least six companies were involved in various stages of the deal. The oil had been produced in the North Sea by BP which sold it to Svenska Pet- roleum, the SWedish state oil company, which in turn sold it to Sun. Bulk Oil had ordered it on be- half of Delek, one of Is- rael's three main petrol groups, whcih arranged for it to be transported by Tanker Services, a Haifa chartering agency. The deal started to take shape early in 1981 when world oil markets were be- ginning to recover from the shortages caused by the re- volution in Iran. The Is- raelis had previously relied on Iran for nearly half their oil requirements. But the fall of the Shah forced them to seek long-term secure al- ternatives. Israel had already turned to Mexico and Egypt for 40 percent and 25 percent of its needs, respectively; it had a United States guarantee that if those supplies were terminated it would not be left without oil. The contract between Sun and Bulk contained a clause reading: "Destination free but always in line with ex- porting country's govern- ment policy. United King- dom government policy at present does not allow de- livery to South Africa." The first shipment was to have been collected by the 50,000-ton Greek- registered tanker George B. Sphikas, commanded by Capt. Triantafiliou. On May 19, 1981, British Petroleum ques- tioned the vessel's bill of lading which said "Gib- raltar for orders." This meant the cargo was go to go Gibraltar where the master would receive further sailing instruc- tions. Asked to report the final destination, Bulk checked with the vessel's Israeli charterers and was in- structed to designate Haifa. On May 24, the George B. Sphikas reached the sea lanes off the Sullom Voe Harbor but was told that it would not be granted entry. While further telex mes- sages were exchanged by the parties concerned, the ship steamed around slowly. Finally, on May 30 it was told to leave the area, with its tanks still empty. In refusing to load her, the British oil authorities were following guidelines first issued on Jan. 31 by the then Energy Secretary, Tony Benn. At the time, Benn had been asked in Parliament how he was dealing with the threat to oil supplies caused by the cessation of Iranian exports. He replied: "The govern- ment will expect oil com- panies exporting North Sea crude to do so in the markets of our partners in the International Energy Agency and in the European Commun- ity. This expectation in no way cuts across the maintenance, to the ex- tent possible, of any exist- ing patterns of trade out- side those regions." Although Benn had not named Israel, he had effec- tively excluded it because Israel was not a member of either of the organizations he mentioned and was not an existing customer. He did not exclude Finland which, although belonging to neither the IEA nor EEC, was an existing customer. Ironically, although this ruling was issued to deal with an international oil shortage, it was to remain the basis of British oil ex- port policy even though the oil market has since been transformed from famine to feast. The policy was restated as recently as October when the question was raised at a London meeting between Peter Waker, the present Energy Secretary, and his Israeli counterpart, Yit- zhak Modai. British officials strongly deny that it is intended to discriminate against Israel, pointing out that although other countries are affected by it only Israel continues to protest publicly. They also point out that Britain sells Israel coal. Benn told this corres- pondent that he was aware, when first an- nouncing the guidelines four years ago, that Israel would be excluded but he had first ascertained that the U.S. had guaranteed Israel's oil supplies. Despite British assur- ances, Israel's oil purchas- ing agents believe that the elaborate formula for refus- ing to supply Israel is in- tended to protect major British oil companies with stakes in the Arab world.