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To me, deep inside, poets really aspire to silence.

This speaks to things I've heard and read. Great comment, Simon.


~ Lizzy

When we're looking for clarity and meaning in this crazy mixed up world of ours, words may be as illusive as blowing bubbles, and if you grab for one it will burst. Sometimes, life may plunge us all helplessly into a place blacker than black . . . and it's through words, those honest, heartfelt, and at times painful communications that lead us back to the light.
And so I try for a little balance.
Laughter amidst tears.
The beauty of life ~ and the horrors . . .
In war or peace ~ roses bloom.
What if anything does that tell us?

Hi Harriet ~

There are many messages, I feel, within all of that. Without writing an essay, I feel that life has its own driving force, an inherent will for survival that's a characteristic of life itself, evident in the animal and plant worlds, as well... and that "life goes on... " ~ that overused and trite, but true, phrase.


I feel the silence that Simon refers to is the stillness of peace that resides beyond words and expression. I agree with you on the power of words to give expression to one's pain, to process and work through it, to return you to the light of life vs. the feelings of impending death.

Your comment "In war or peace ~ roses bloom" reminds me of a true story I read about someone in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan [I can't remember which, except that it was in one of those war-torn regions] about a man who bonded with a kitten and as he cared for it, the kitten brought meaning to the man's life. The kitten was the rose.

The tiny wildflower somehow finds a place to live and thrive in a crack of the cement or the crag of a mountain.

I love reading your postings, Harriet.


~ Lizzy

Simon wrote: Language being more of the cause of the human condition than it is of the cure. To me, deep inside, poets really aspire to silence.

On The Road Home, Wallace Stevens

It was when I said,
"There is no such thing as the truth,"
That the grapes seemed fatter.
The fox ran out of his hole.

You....You said,
"There are many truths,
But they are not parts of a truth."
Then the tree, at night, began to change,

Smoking through green and smoking blue.
We were two figures in a wood.
We said we stood alone.

It was when I said,
"Words are not forms of a single word.
In the sum of the parts, there are only the parts.
The world must be measured by eye."

It was when you said,
"The idols have seen lots of poverty,
Snakes and gold and lice,
But not the truth;"

It was at that time, that the silence was largest,
And longest, the night was roundest.
The fragrance of the autumn warmest,
Closest, and strongest.

Another gift for G from me. So good to see you.

I'm going mad
there is no time
or reality in sight
my cat cuddles
with the killer
or saint
the same
Happiness is a tin
of tuna or sardines.
I've gotten fat.

Dar

dar wrote:
>Another gift for G from me. So good to see you . . .

Thank you, Dar. As Leonard once wrote: "Deprivation is the mother of poetry." No mention of any father. And why, in 'Suzanne', did Jesus want only drowning MEN to see him?

So good to see you too, no matter how fat you're getting ;-)

Luv & fuk
g

And why, in 'Suzanne', did Jesus want only drowning MEN to see him?

Because the women don't drown; and if anything, they rescue .

"Deprivation is the mother of poetry." No mention of any father.

Obviously, referring to the direct-birth process .


Oh, dear, sexist, sexist, sexist .


~ Lizzy

I enjoy reading your posts too, Lizzy.
Wishing everyone a peaceful weekend.

H

Geoffrey wrote:And why, in 'Suzanne', did Jesus want only drowning MEN to see him?

Is that what Jesus wanted or was it what he got Geoffrey? I will have to go and listen again to make sure of my memory of those lines.

Suzanne, in my opinion is untangeable, it makes perfect sense but the moment of this perfection is when the meaning opposses itself, one moment you are Jesus the next you are Suzanne; one of the greatest pieces of modern music to reflect the ancient ideal of yin and yang.

But to feel this from a westernized biblical view, would this make one Jesus or Suzanne, and if so what then?

lizzytysh wrote:
>Because the women don't drown; and if anything, they rescue

Ha ha ha - has somebody been spinning yarns? I am almost inclined to get out my Ouija board and ask Harriet Shelley about this; and I've always wondered if she's still pregnant - or do they have maternity wards in the hereafter? Failing this I'll put Virginia Woolf's name over the spiritual P.A. system and see if we can't find out who's body that was on the river-bed - pockets filled with stones. Spooky - huh?

Well, you know that line: "I took the dust from a long sleepless night and I put it in your little shoe"? That is derived from the middle of Matthew's tenth chapter (10:14) - the part where Jesus tells us to "shake the dust from our feet"

I don't think so.



YdF

Geoffrey wrote:But you are strong
and dare lift your smile
like a lamp that shines
along a murky road.

When I get up in the morning, my real concern is to discover whether or not I'm in a state of grace. And I make that investigation and if I'm not in a state of grace I try to go to bed. A state of grace is that kind of balance with which you ride the chaos that you find around you...

Leonard Cohen, from an interview included in Ladies and Gentlemen, Mister Leonard Cohen