feu de joie

The French expression feu de joie refers to a military celebration when all the riflemen of a regiment fire one shot after another, in close succession: ideally the sound should be continuous, like a drumroll.

It still strikes me as a handy metaphor for the poetic succession, especially because, in the feu de joie, nobody got hurt.

With the contagious crackle of the feu de joie still rattling in my ears, let me flash back to Opportunity School at Hurstville, Sydney, whose supposedly playful regime was symbolised by its rule that every pupil, at the end of the day, had to stand beside his desk and recite a memorised poem before he was allowed to go home.

I first saw a feu de joie performed at an Australian army tattoo, in the main arena at the Sydney Showground, while I was still in short trousers.

The supplies taken on the victorious Everest ascent of 1953 "included mortars and bombs so that a feu de joie could be fired off when conquest was assured".