Word: hawk
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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Journalist Poliakoff circles over Europe like a hawk. He slaps no backs but never forgets a name or a face. At home in his six-storied London house he claims London's biggest private telephone bill. His work day begins at 5:30. Stopping only for snacks, Augur swiftly turns out his well-turned, exclusive, thrice-a-week Diplomatic Letters, restricted to 72 copies, over which every embassy in London pores. Poliakoff is equally proud of his weekly piece for the provinces, his occasional cabled stories to the New York Times. Somewhere he finds time to write books...
...negotiations continued last week with the secrecy already publicly announced by His Majesty's Government. The London corps of correspondents, about as well informed last week as a group of orphan puppies, came tail-wagging to the Prime Minister, tendered him a birthday party. In high good humor, hawk-faced Neville Chamberlain, who at close range can be a very clubable man, shyly compared himself to a camel, citing a proverb which he said he thinks is Chinese: "One decrepit camel still bears the burden of many asses...
...with the job of making saves. If one of his teammates makes a slip, it is too bad, but if a goalie makes a slip, it is a score against him and his team. Target of whizzing pucks, he must be nimble as a squirrel, sharp-eyed as a hawk. And since a perfect performance for him is a shutout, he works for naught on the scoreboard...
...followers. In his 100 churches, pastors exhort the faithful for contributions, and during services, which lean heavily upon singing and chanting, there are likely to be frequent sales talks and demonstrations of Daddy Grace Toothpaste, Daddy Grace Cold Cream, Daddy Grace Hair Straightener. Pastors also hawk the Grace Magazine, a "miraculous publication" over which prayers are said as it goes through the presses. Believing that this journal has the power to heal, members of the cult wear copies of it strung around their necks or under their clothing...
...engendering little hopes, little fears, throwing up small sprays of dust, spray by spray, till they have made a universe of dust." In vigorous poetic passages like this, I Live Under a Black Sun sometimes produces a darkly exciting agitation-something like the distress of chickens when an unseen hawk is overhead, or like the uneasiness of readers who do not know what the author is driving...