Welcome to Saturday ...
We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth
And when we come to it
To the day of peacemaking
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms
When we come to it
When the curtain falls on the minstrel show of hate
And faces sooted with scorn are scrubbed clean
When battlefields and coliseum
No longer rake our unique and particular sons and daughters
Up with the bruised and bloody grass
To lie in identical plots in foreign soil
When the rapacious storming of the churches
The screaming racket in the temples have ceased
When the pennants are waving gaily
When the banners of the world tremble
Stoutly in the good, clean breeze
When we come to it
When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders
And children dress their dolls in flags of truce
When land mines of death have been removed
And the aged can walk into evenings of peace
When religious ritual is not perfumed
By the incense of burning flesh
And childhood dreams are not kicked awake
By nightmares of abuse
When we come to it
Then we will confess that not the Pyramids
With their stones set in mysterious perfection
Nor the Gardens of Babylon
Hanging as eternal beauty
In our collective memory
Not the Grand Canyon
Kindled into delicious color
By Western sunsets
Nor the Danube, flowing its blue soul into Europe
Not the sacred peak of Mount Fuji
Stretching to the Rising Sun
Neither Father Amazon nor Mother Mississippi who, without favor,
Nurture all creatures in the depths and on the shores
These are not the only wonders of the world
When we come to it
We, this people, on this minuscule and kithless globe
Who reach daily for the bomb, the blade and the dagger
Yet who petition in the dark for tokens of peace
We, this people on this mote of matter
In whose mouths abide cankerous words
Which challenge our very existence
Yet out of those same mouths
Come songs of such exquisite sweetness
That the heart falters in its labor
And the body is quieted into awe
We, this people, on this small and drifting planet
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living
Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow
And the proud back is glad to bend
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines
When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear
When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.
A Brave and Startling Truth ~ Maya Angelou
Comments
Time to come to it...
isn't it?
Lovely poem and music this AM, smiley.
Perhaps there is an awakening as we are enveloped with cascades of crisis.
Have a good one everybody!
The Awakening
James Weldon Johnson - 1871-1938
I dreamed that I was a rose
That grew beside a lonely way,
Close by a path none ever chose,
And there I lingered day by day.
Beneath the sunshine and the show’r
I grew and waited there apart,
Gathering perfume hour by hour,
And storing it within my heart,
Yet, never knew,
Just why I waited there and grew.
I dreamed that you were a bee
That one day gaily flew along,
You came across the hedge to me,
And sang a soft, love-burdened song.
You brushed my petals with a kiss,
I woke to gladness with a start,
And yielded up to you in bliss
The treasured fragrance of my heart;
And then I knew
That I had waited there for you.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning, Lookout,
Thank you for The Awakening, a classic.
Let us hope this burn grows deep enough to implore people across the globe to at least realize that we must 'come to it.'
Good morning, smiley ~~
You Cannot Go Back
The grim reaper is here
asking for an evaluation
of the life you have led
and asking you to look
where you need to restructure;
where are you over doing life;
eliminating excess things,
curbing the need for
more, more, more.
Can you discern what is real,
what is fake in the world?
Fake money, fake news,
fake markets, fake banks,
fake pensions, fake bailouts.
Life based on debt is fake
and unsustainable.
The glass has shattered
into a million pieces.
It cannot be put back together,
so create something new.
There is no going back.
Go inside yourself
for something new
is awakening,
something new
is coming along,
something new
is happening.
It is time to get back to the simple.
It is time to create a world
moving toward the unknown.
You cannot go back.
Forward together, my friends.
Have a beautiful Saturday!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Good morning, RA,
We are fortunate to have your uplifting spirit and talent in our community. Thank you for this morning's work.
A beautiful day back-at-you. Be safe out there.
Pandemic Poetry
is the title of my computer folder. This intelligent little virus is inspiring me as it is trying to make the world a better place. We are shifting consciousness - notice the riots - people have had enough. We need to walk into the chaos and help lift society to a better world. We CAN make this happen!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
You may enjoy this ...
New York
is a
ghost town
where
even the
birds took
the last
train
to Jersey
and
the night
rises blue
black as
an alley
cat and
my combat
boots echo
across
Broadway
like gun
shots or
a heartbeat
fading into
a silence
so complete
you can
hear the
crying
voice of
each and
every star.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/18/war-poems-of-the-pandemic
Absolutely lovely,
thanks!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
morning smiley
Thanks for Maya, the art and the music.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrcUnDorY7E]
More on Maya
https://jamarattigan.com/2015/12/11/amazing-peace-a-christmas-poem-by-ma...
Finding peace as we can among those of like heart.
Take good care and have a good one.
Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation
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Good morning, magi,
Thanks for the Maya.
Just returned from a brief morning walk; my friends from App Voices are setting up a main-street vigil; good friends, they are.
Peace, my friend, and be safe out there.
Damn ...
Might very well be true …Anyway, life is too short to let
anything President Orange Man says get my goat.
Good morning smiley. Thanks. Slept in a bit and better
for it. Nowhere to go and nothing to do in any real, meaningful, earth shaking sense, though the morning routine, like the Saturday one is already in motion. Crows mobbing something today, as every morning lately, but my back yard corvid blithely ignores them and it and eats the peanuts I leave out for him in *his tree*. Heh.
Mind calls forth a memory of a book and poem by Keroac, one version and title from front to back and yet another, inverted, on other pages from back to front, dealing with El Camino Real. Can't locate because can't recall better than that, so here's a tittle from Mexico City Blues instead:
Well, late start and tempus fugits, and for yet another hour or two I need to make myself give a shit about it. Pizza tonite on the grill if it doesn't rain and in the oven if it does, with tempranillo or sangiovese or barbera, the real issue of concern today.
be well and have a good one
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 --
Good morning, el,
Truck farmer returned for the season yesterday, so my shopping is done, great to have vegetables and fruit again.
Thanks for the poem and memories of Keroac, seems all a dream, so long ago.
Enjoy the day and be safe out there.
We have a pharmacy in our small town
grocery store.
Seems the pharmacy headquarters told the locals they were not permitted to wear masks or gloves, as that would possibly scare off customers.
The pharmacist died from COVID-19.
One of the employees is in a divorce, and I represent her husband.
Although nobody is allowed inside my office, and I do interview clients in my office back yard, that is really close, isn't it?
Dangerous times.
I hope the pharmacists' family sues the pharmacy corporation to oblivion.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Even my local Rite Aid chain has gone mask and gloves
And shielding between pharmist and customers and also regular check out. Gotta to be crazy I got my meds there and even canned foods. Not too many people in there so no worries of being stuck in a closed crowd.
Sorry to hear of your community's loss, OtC.
Similarly, the local health department contributed tests to local nursing homes, but corporate is refusing to use them in my Mom's place.
I hope the pharmacist’s family asks you to represent them
Jesus Fucking Christ people can be such assholes in pursuit of their own greed.
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Thank you Smiley
Maya Angelou is one of my favorite poets. Have to run to work. Will probably come back on my lunch hour to re-read her poem and look at the video.
Be well!
There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier
Aftrernoon, Anja,
Cheers for popping in and be safe out there.
Spacex happening now
https://youtu.be/ToLmVF1xneo
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Cheers, magi, watching now.
Sorry that your local government's letting you down, Smiley.
We've been very lucky--our local government is very strict, and, cases are nominal in a 7-county radius. Thankfully, there have been no deaths for almost two months, until the one, this week. (and, number of new cases dropping like a stone) The 'hotspots' are Nashville, an affluent bedroom community of N'ville, and Memphis.
Our AL residence not only has imposed an extraordinarily strict lockdown--there's a curfew; also, they require Everyone who enters a government building--municipal or county or state--to have their temp taken, and, wear a face mask.
Hope you're doing well.
Mollie
“I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me, they are the role model for being alive.”
~~Gilda Radner, Comedienne
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Hi Molly,
The county is a red sea, and home to Billy Graham jr's samaritan purse. Town is better.
Today's BS from Barr and Trump would put them both down in normal days; but, it is what it is.
Re-visited the local vigil this afternoon, going well, very peaceful, as Magi wrote today, friends in peace.
Regards to all, and please be safe out there.
well, no wonder--didn't realize it was Franklin
Graham's backyard. That explains a lot, unfortunately. We missed both Barr's and DT's statements today--figure it's probably better for our blood pressure that we did!
glad you had a nice vigil--does a lot for the soul, I know.
Mr M told me that one of his first cousins attended Appalachian State (of course, it was decades ago, since she's only a couple years younger than us) which he thought was near, or maybe in, Boone. Small world, as they say.
You stay safe, too.
Mollie
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
Afternoon smiley
Hope you're doing well. Glad you have the farmer's market fresh fruit and veggies available now. I just made my first batch of pesto of the season from my basil. It tastes so green (and exceedingly garlicy). Thanks for the calming OT and the beautiful music.
I'm sounding a different note with this Blake poem because it's startling how he lived through a similar socially constructed hell as we are living through. He was not so uplifting as the wonderful Maya Angelou but he was a fierce, strong, and passionate, critic of society. He would not give up or compromise his view.
Hi, will talk later, Blake, yes ...
That was a lovely version of Pachelbel's Canon in D.
I had the front door painted. It looked so out of place, I had to paint the whole house. Rotted boards were discovered. Had to replace the siding. Some actual beams were sort of iffy. Had to re-build a corner of my room. In so doing, it cause part of the roof to need repairs. Since I couldn't match the existing shingles, as the manufacturer went out of business, I had to re-roof the house.
A hurricane cause my home to be unlevel. I saw cracks in the walls. The "experts" leveled it, had to re-do it 3 times. Caused more cracks.
When it became unlevel again, I had to replace the door I had originally painted. By the time I repaired the cracks in the wall, some mysterious bugs had infiltrated, and I had to hire an exterminator.
I bought a bunch of kitchen cabinets at a fire sale.
The guy who installed them put them in the wrong place. I hired another guy to take them down. That destroyed them, and the wall, so I had to start over.
Then, it seems the glue the "expert" plumber used on all my house's plumbing was defective. When a pipe sprung a leak on one end of my home, I would repair it, and the water pressure would blow out a pipe on the other end of the home.
The guy who built a wing on my home had a heart attack. Work was delayed, and I had to hire another crew to finish it. The two crews were not on the same page.My Dad had to pitch in to help.
When I gutted and redesigned my kitchen, I bought a new fridge. When it was installed, it got scraped and dented. That contractor had a heart attack. It took 7 months to complete the kitchen, during which time I ate microwave dinners and washed dishes in my bathroom sink.
A guy put in a new bathroom sink. He knocked a hole in an adjacent wall.
Another guy repaired a commode. He knocked a hole in an adjacent wall.
While repairing the wall of one of my bathrooms, some liquid from some product dripped down the side of my tub. It ate through the enamel.
Another repair guy had some piece of equipment in my foyer. A hose broke loose, sprayed some brown something under pressure all over the ceiling.
While repairing a window sill, the contractor broke the window.
The state of the art windows I put in my home, the pricey ones, do not open. They were specifically bought to open. Fresh air, doncha know? Net screens that fit them can't be found. That manufacturer is out of business.
I had my kitchen sink repaired. The leak stopped. Now, the rinse hose will not pull out and is unusable.
I hired a guy to put up curtains. I just now noticed one of the curtains is on the rod backwards.
While painting a bathroom, the painters removed their taped protective paper that was on the floor. When they pulled up the tape, they broke a tile. They do not manufacture that tile anymore.
Since they know I will have to have a new floor, they yanked the plastic tape that sealed my tub and floor. Now, you see hideous glue.
Yes, the Canon was very lovely, got my mind away from all the shit that just happens.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Understand, as completely as you've written it,
thanks for sharing.
We've an attorney general lying and leading propaganda, he's good, too; and a president pouring fuel on fires; and no one in DC and no corporate fascist's leaders are stepping up to the plate to say NO.
It seems you have more problems than we do. Although,
similar stories homesteading here in France. Including our primary builder who achieved a hernia, then tried to come back too soon. Lost six months altogether. We ordered a large canvas tent from Canvas Camp called a bell tent: for sleeping (queen sized bed), clothes, and small reading area. Then put up a rectangular tent for our kitchen. We are not sure when we will have a working interior kitchen.
Since the projects all started because of bad use of wallboard which trapped moisture between the stone walls and the renovated portions with wallboard. Also unlined glass wool insulation under an asbestos roof with many fissures in it. Totally saturated and full of mold. Twenty fives times the allowed levels and very bad for health. Before we move back in the house needs a thorough cleaning in three stages. Medical people say we shouldn't do it, but there really isn't any one who knows what to do.
Infra red heaters are great.
So sorry about your house. Check for mold if you've had leaks as it can cause serious health issues.
Hope your home is now what you want. If only we could all just get on with living instead of chasing repairs and upkeep.
Have fun, be safe.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
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Welcome to Sunday, smiley
Thanks for Saturday.
It was interesting for me to watch the Jackson Pollock critique, especially in the context of having recently watched a couple short documentaries about Georgia O’Keeffe, mostly in her own voice. I didn’t have a clue when I first encountered her paintings (later 70s) about why they had such a strong impact on me. I’ve always appreciated her art and her life, and have come to understand more about myself as a result. I never tire of looking at her paintings, or herself in Stieglitz’s photographs and glimpses of her later life.
Anyway, In one of the documentaries I watched, O'Keeffe responded (barely) to a reference by the interviewer to Jackson Pollock. I don’t remember her words, but the impression of what she mumbled came off as dismissive. However, it matched my lack of appreciation for Pollock. Your video presented a perspective and evaluation of a specific painting that slightly adjusted that perception. In other words it expanded my view, thank you.
I didn’t know what I was looking at in Arkley’s painting. My first impression was that it was some kind of plastic 2 or 3 dimensional construction. I found it riveting in a very bold geometric and harmoniously colourful way. It’s air-brushed! Thanks for all the nice surprises, smiley
Piet Mondrian
In landscape
http://surrelart.blogspot.com/2012/05/piet-mondrians-abstract-trees-art....
Hi janis. Thanks for sll your beautiful photos.
Take good care and have a good one.
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Of course, magi, Piet Mondrian
Thanks for the context, and prompting a look at his work again after so long. I was very happy to see this painting again ...