OT ~ Welcome to Saturday!
Sit-a-while
on swinging porch
where tin-dippers and
sweet water
in cool touches
meet lips
from hand dug wells.
"Who Needs Another Show? [...]
'That’s a full-time job.'
"It is. Accept awards, take selfies, eat things you don’t necessarily want to eat… but at the end of the evening, you walk home alone, in the darkness." ~ Ai Weiwei
Good morning good people,
Love to Budapest ...
"Severely damaged during the Second World War and closed to the public for more than 70 years, the Romanesque Hall at the heart of Budapest’s Szepmuveszeti Muzeum (Museum of Fine Arts) will be a highlight of its reopening tomorrow (31 October), following a three-year restoration. The total cost of the renovation was around €40m.
"Built during the early 1900s, when the Hungarian half of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was seeking to assert its national pedigree, the museum houses a large collection of European art, including masterworks such as Raphael’s Esterhazy Madonna (around 1508), Giorgione’s Portrait of a Young Man (around 1508-10) and The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist (1566) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder." https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/romanesque-hall-returned-to-former-...
This reply got my attention when reading interview with Weiwei: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/ai-weiwei-moving-to-connecticut-over-m...
After the show, the awards, "you walk home alone, in the darkness." A feeling empathetic for theatre folks, for sure, likely universal to seven billion going and coming.
Fragments
We live and in living feelings get hurt, deeply at times and in seething comes anger, bursting out, releasing, and in surviving, we let go. Peace.
Growing old is so hard to do, yet simple; a complex simple born anew reaching for ultimate delights.
Destiny stay away, a while, the rose can smell, eyes can read, no need for eternal light, not yet, anyways.
.....
A film of mist clings to the storm windows
as the thunder gets pocketed and carried away
in the rain’s dark overcoat. A good reading night—
car wheels amplified by the flooded street,
leaf-clogged gutters bailing steadily, constant
motion beyond my walls echoing
my body’s gyroscopic stillness. Sonnevi says
Only if I touch do I dare let myself be touched,
and that familiar and somewhat terrifying curtain
of reading slips around me, pinning sound
to the room’s lost corners, pinning the room
to an emptying sky. I’m in the glacial grooves
of Sonnevi’s words as he makes love
and listens to Mozart in a spare apartment,
now reawakens to her voice saying goodnight
so much that I couldn’t sleep I was elated.
His world slips through the waterfall
of language and hovers here, on the other side,
in my apartment, where we listened to jazz
showering with the door open, soft-boiled eggs
by the pink light of the Chinese takeout,
made love against the footsteps of morning
commuters, smoked cigarettes on the fire escape
right up to the minute you left. Here,
we are in this continuousness —our lives
dissolved in the channels of written lines—
every word I’ve read was in me before I read it.
They’re pulled from me like seconds
from the cistern of an unfinished life. Love’s
endless weathering moves the body
of our words: We read to understand
we’re not alone in it—we carry one another,
assuredly—
though we do this alone.
Reading Sonnevi on a Tuesday Night
~ Wayne Miller
Wherever you are, hope you wake to a grand day.
The porch is yours ...
Comments
So beautiful, Smiley and so wise:
You are a museum-level treasure yourself
Thank you and have a wonderful week.
I agree . . .
The poetry is especially good this week.
Thank you sincerely.
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
Hi Marilyn,
Thanks for reading and being here.
Plan to get out and about more, so, predicting that i'll concentrate on Saturdays and not be around as much during the week. I need to back off politics for sanity for a while, besides can more BS roll up higher than it already is in our politic?
Hope all is well with you. Have a wonderful week.
PS: on the to do list is fixing my oven, so i can bake Italian bread. Yeah.
Mornin, smiley
If you're taking a break you can always work on your essay about your days skiing. We have gotten enough snow to open the ski resorts this weekend. And more is on the way tomorrow.
The message echoes from Gaza back to the US. “Starving people is fine.”
Hi snoopy,
Yeah for the snow. Really enjoyed your photo, brought back good memories. Looking like nationwide, we're off to a good start in the ski industry. Have old friends teaching near you and my director's daughter is in her third year at Deer Valley.
As i've said before, the camaraderie of ski schools is special.
My last Western season was at Breck, about 12 years ago. And way back, my son was conceived and toddled around Steamboat.
A good snow season, i presume is critical for you folks in many ways beyond skiing.
Maybe, an essay about the funny things i've observed over the years, something about humans on slippery skis makes for wild unpredictable happenings.
Thanks for the encouragement, reading and being here. Think snow and get out there. Have a wonderful week.
My mom
She wasn't the most coordinated person, but she was willing to try stuff. We were cross country skiing and had to cross a stream. No idea how she managed to do it, but she got stuck with one ski going one direction and the other going another. I can still see her smiling and laughing at herself.
Oh yeah.. we definitely need lots of snow this year. I think last year was one of the worst for the ski resorts.
The message echoes from Gaza back to the US. “Starving people is fine.”
Good morning, Henry,
Very gracious of you, your words mean a lot and as you wished all yesterday, "Love on you, Henry."
A great week back to you and thanks for reading.
My reading Caucusers' incredibly good open threads is my
privilege and joy. I do it every morning I can. Each is so very different from all the others, except in one respect: They're all wonderful. So thank you, my dear smiley7.
a complex simple born anew
Words to live by. Thanks smiley!
Zionism is a social disease
My pleassure, OMS,
thank you for reading and being here. Have a great week!
Good morning Smiley..
Here's hoping you never have to walk home alone unless you want to.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Good morning, dk,
you thoughts bring a smile and thoughts of walking, dreaming a little of Europe as i write ...
back to Weiwei, such talent artists like him share, the special presence; magic. Reading his interview brought inspiration the other day, impressed with the completeness of his thinking; and his casual, normal presentation, very human, to me.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
~ The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost
Good to see you, dk; hoping you've a wonderful week.
One of my favorites. Thank you Smiley
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
“The Earth-Spirit” by William Ellery Channing (1818–1901)
https://dailyinspirationblog.wordpress.com/2018/11/29/the-earth-spirit/
— via Josh Mitteldorf’s Daily Inspiration
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ellery_Channing_%28poet%29
Extraordinary poem, lotlizard;
harmony. Saved.
Thank you for the good link and for reading. Have a splendid week over the sea hoping it's full of good music.
Good morning smileypoet brightening yet another
Saturday. I have a link I must share - the headline of the decade, if not the century, a must see:
https://boingboing.net/2018/12/01/jimmy-carter-outlives-another.html
Have yourself a great day and thanks for the OT, poetry and music.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
HA, Ha, Ha, great surprise at your link, love it,
laughing out loud here.
A good day and week to you, sir. Still laughing ...
good morning
smiley et al. thanks for the lovely poetry and the ot. raining like crazy here still. all good so far.
posted the song below by Mercedes Sosa Thursday but so taken by its history I wanted to post the lyrics. too.
A friend said to me over the holiday that she remembered the rhythm of the 'trabajando si' part. She had a friend who had played it when she was young - he had grown up in the fields of Mexico. His father used to sing it to him. funny how life makes circles. The words are below. Both lenguas.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Hi magi, thanks for introducing Mercedes Sosa and including
the lyrics; wonderful. Happy i'm home this afternoon to read more about Nueva canción.
Meant to tell you that a large solar project is planned for Eastern NC if the politicians don't stop it.
Thanks for reading, magi, hope the rain causes no tragic mudslides but brings instead nourishment to all things.
shared the wayne miller
with a friend over coffee this morning. We were talking about writing, mostly technical. She read it and asked me to send it to her so she could share it. Deeply moving words.
Staying positive in face of everything is challenging - we talked about that too. Thank you for pointing me back towards the arts. Appreciate it.
Hope the solar project comes through. Other good news this week is...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyOJ-A5iv5I&feature=youtu.be&list=RDEM65...
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook
Great news, don't these young kids lift spirits?
Cheers for sharing the poem.
Made potato salad this afternoon, purchased fresh red ones yesterday. Joining beets and sauerkraut and cornbread for dinner.
Thanks to you, spent the last hours listening to Sosa. Been a pleasant day.
Good Morning Smiley
Thanks for the wonderful treat...
My love affair with words always heightens reading poetry. Any wonder why?
It's been deliciously cool here in Southern California this past week after a long brutal Summer. The rains came and sweetened the garden. The leaves are turning color and decorate the yard in patchwork of yellows and oranges. The messiness of Autumn never fails to enchant me somehow.
I'm suffering this morning with bit of a hangover. Went out last night to see some co-workers perform at an open mic. Fortunately for all, they were quite good and played some great songs. We cheered them on and danced to the music until the placed closed. Someone suggested going to another place to dance and drink and so I didn't get home until 2am in the morning.
Had a fun time but I'm not as young as I used to be. Time for the aspirin.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Hi zoebear,
Glad you enjoyed the poetry; me too. Been feeling lately the news upsets my rhythms and decided in talks with my son and daughter-in-law over thanksgiving that i'm going to back off consuming so much, news junkie i can be. Those kids amaze me; a green life of yogi, martial arts, mountain climbing, eating a very special diet of quality foods and loving dogs.
Promised myself to focus more upon things i enjoy and needs i may fulfill with that time. Plus, it's ski season and i want to do a little work; made it two hours on the snow in clinics yesterday before the legs gave out; better than i anticipated, but i'm home resting today. Docs have given me the longest leash i've had in more than a year, two months between appointments and tests; yeah.
Two am, huh? Well, hair-of-the-dog, i've heard; not that i would know much about imbibing and toking ... happy you celebrated; hell i've older friends mid 80's who drink like fishes after four o'clock and they do quite well and are happy people.
El Niño usually means a wet winter for us, which is great if we get arctic cold as well; lots of snow, another yeah.
Music for the afternoon:
Have a wonderful week, zoebear.
edit for sp.
Embracing the things we love doing
Is the best medicine in life. Glad to hear you held up on the ski slopes. Such a picturesque sport. Enjoy your week too!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
"I'm a woman. I'm allowed to change my mind." Ugh
Dropping my rant here in the OT.
Recently, it is rumored that the president of the college I work for recently told the head of security, "I'm a woman. I'm allowed to change my mind."
If anyone wants to know what she changed her lady-mind about, I'll tell ya, but that's not why I'm pissed. I'm pissed because a woman in power said that at all -- especially in the 21st effing century!
I can only imagine the screams of 'sexism', 'misogynist', etc. had the head of security, a man, said, "You're a woman so [fill in the blank]." His head would have been paraded around campus on a proverbial stake.
He was reportedly the only man at the meeting. I generally can't stand him. He's such a cocky asshole, my nickname for him is The Rooster, but this type of double standard is what keeps good men, who believe in equal treatment/rights/pay on the sidelines of equality rather than having them as allies, and who could blame them?
Side note: I'm willing to bet The Rooster had to swallow a little vomit after that. I know I did after hearing about it.
Yes, she's from a much older generation, but that's no excuse. If it can't be an excuse for old men, then it can't be an excuse for old women. Her mentality and behavior is indicative of why our school lags behind others in information technology infrastructure and even facilities. Retire and pass the torch already, woman!
/rant
Good rant Deja
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Hi Deja,
First, good to see you.
Rants can be good, clean away the tension, so thanks for bringing it.
If you haven't, see the lyrics of Sosa above. As i read them, i thought of how little has changed in 70 years in that "people work as slaves as their children wonder where their mommy is today all across this earth; the newly elected Senator from Mississippi, a prime example.
Can we end the hate, greed, sexism, prejudice? Easy to loose hope, especially if it's in your face everyday, and also, unfortunately, it seems this evil wind that should be stopped by now in this country at least, uses social media platforms for it's furtherance.
One person at a time, and have faith as Maya shared, "still, we rise." may it become so.
Thanks for sharing, Deja.
Thanks, smiley
I guess you're right. Things haven't changed all that much, despite it being inevitable. Except, a little has. My stepdad is from Mississippi, and he no longer uses the n word, at least not around me, or in public. He probably still thinks it, but I don't have to hear it anymore.
As for archaic views about genders and the double standards all around them, baby steps, I guess.
Now, I'm off to see my man friend for a nice, relaxing evening. Have a good one!
Hey, have fun!
My favorite headline today
Amongst all the gushing over "the man who won the cold war" (gack), I saw this refreshing little tidbit. Jimmy Carter Outlives Another
https://boingboing.net/2018/12/01/jimmy-carter-outlives-another.html
pindar's revenge,
Sorry i missed you comment yesterday. Biggest belly laugh of the day, the link.
Good to see you; looking forward to more conversations.
Have a great week and thanks again for being here.
I had to share that when I saw it.
Good to hear from you, and glad you enjoyed it. It gave me some relief from all the toadying.