All the Feelings...

Stormy Monday

2011-09-05T01:22:00.001+01:00

storm n.

1. An atmospheric disturbance manifested in strong winds accompanied by rain, snow, or other precipitation and often by thunder and lightning.

2. A wind with a speed from 48 to 55 knots (55 to 63 miles per hour; 89 to 102 kilometers per hour), according to the Beaufort scale. Also called whole gale.

3. A heavy shower of objects, such as bullets or missiles.

4. A strong or violent outburst, as of emotion or excitement: a storm of tears.

5. A violent disturbance or upheaval, as in political, social, or domestic affairs: a storm of protest.

6. A violent, sudden attack on a fortified place.

7. A storm window.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,

"Human misery must somewhere have a stop; there is no wind that always blows a storm." (Euripides)

*Photo by Igor Lihovidov

Storm Windows

People are putting up storm windows now,

Or were, this morning, until the heavy rain

Drove them indoors. So, coming home at noon,

I saw storm windows lying on the ground,

Frame-full of rain; through the water and glass

I saw the crushed grass, how it seemed to stream

Away in lines like seaweed on the tide

Or blades of wheat leaning under the wind.

The ripple and splash of rain on the blurred glass

Seemed that it briefly said, as I walked by,

Something I should have liked to say to you,

Something... the dry grass bent under the pane

Brimful of bouncing water... something of

A swaying clarity which blindly echoes

This lonely afternoon of memories

And missed desires, while the wintry rain

(Unspeakable, the distance in the mind!)

Runs on the standing windows and away.

Howard Nemerov

Justice

2011-09-03T16:13:00.001+01:00

justice

— n
1.	the quality or fact of being just
2.	ethics
	a.the principle of fairness that like cases should be treated alike
	b.a particular distribution of benefits and burdens fairly in accordance with a particular conception of what are to count as like cases
	c.the principle that punishment should be proportionate to the offence
3.	the administration of law according to prescribed and accepted principles
4.	conformity to the law; legal validity
5.	a judge of the Supreme Court of Judicature
6.	short for justice of the peace
7.	good reason (esp in the phrase with justice ): he was disgusted by their behaviour, and with justice
8.	do justice to
	a.to show to full advantage: the picture did justice to her beauty
	b.to show full appreciation of by action: he did justice to the meal
	c.to treat or judge fairly
9.	do oneself justice to make full use of one's abilities
10.	bring to justice to capture, try, and usually punish (a criminal, an outlaw, etc)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009

"The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom." (Aristotle)

*Photo by unknown author

Justice

That Justice is a blind goddess
Is a thing to which we black are wise:
Her bandage hides two festering sores
That once perhaps were eyes.

Langston Hughes

Outsiderness

2011-08-31T14:25:00.003+01:00

out·sid·er

a. One who is excluded from a party, association, or set.

b. One who is isolated or detached from the activities or concerns of his or her own community.

2. A contestant given little chance of winning; a long shot.

out·sider·ness n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,

"You can be a rank insider
as well as a rank outsider."
(Robert Frost)

*Photo by Bloddrope, "Dancing the Night Away"

Outside History

These are outsiders, always. These stars—
these iron inklings of an Irish January,
whose light happened
thousands of years before
our pain did; they are, they have always been
outside history.
They keep their distance. Under them remains
a place where you found
you were human, and
a landscape in which you know you are mortal.
And a time to choose between them.
I have chosen:
out of myth in history I move to be
part of that ordeal
who darkness is
only now reaching me from those fields,
those rivers, those roads clotted as
firmaments with the dead.
How slowly they die
as we kneel beside them, whisper in their ear.
And we are too late. We are always too late.

Eavan Boland

Being consumed with desire

2011-08-30T01:49:00.001+01:00

desire


— n
3.	a wish or longing; craving
4.	an expressed wish; request
5.	sexual appetite; lust
6.	a person or thing that is desired

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition 2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009

"Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." (Robert Frost)

*Author's Photo

Sonnet 100: Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long

Where art thou, Muse, that thou forget'st so long
To speak of that which gives thee all thy might?
Spend'st thou thy fury on some worthless song,
Darkening thy power to lend base subjects light?
Return, forgetful Muse, and straight redeem
In gentle numbers time so idly spent;
Sing to the ear that doth thy lays esteem,
And gives thy pen both skill and argument.
Rise, resty Muse, my love's sweet face survey
If time have any wrinkle graven there;
If any, be a satire to decay,
And make time's spoils despisèd everywhere.
Give my love fame faster than Time wastes life;
So thou prevent'st his scythe and crooked knife.

William Shakespeare

Pain

2011-08-29T00:23:00.000+01:00

pain (pn)
n.
1. An unpleasant sensation occurring in varying degrees of severity as a consequence of injury, disease, or emotional disorder.
2. Suffering or distress.
3. pains The pangs of childbirth.
4. pains Great care or effort: take pains with one's work.
5. Informal A source of annoyance; a nuisance.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

"The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain."
(Aristotle)

*Photo by unknown author

Dark Trinity

Said I to Pain: "You would not dare
Do ill to me."
Said Pain: "Poor fool! Why should I care
Whom you may be?
To clown and king alike I bring
My meed of bane;
Why should you shirk my chastening?"
Said Pain.

Said I to Grief: "No tears have I,
Go on your way."
Said Grief: "Why should I pass you by,
While others pay?
All men must know the way of woe,
From saint to thief,
And tears were meant to overflow,"
Said Grief.

Said I to Death: "From ail and fret
Grant me relief."
Said Death: "I know you are beset
By Pain and Grief.
But my good will you must await
Since human breath
To suffering is consecrate,"
Said Death.

Said I to God: "Pale Sister Grief,
Bleak Brother Pain,
Bedevil me beyond belief,
And Death's unfain . . ."
Said God: "Curse not that blessed Three,
Poor human clod!
Have faith! Believe the One with Me,"
Said God.

Robert Service

Congé

2010-12-28T13:31:00.006Z

con·gé

1. leave-taking; farewell.
2. permission to depart.
3. sudden dismissal.
4. a bow or obeisance.
(...)

Based on the Random House Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2010.

"A man never knows how to say goodbye; a woman never knows when to say it."
(Helen Rowland)

*Photo by unknown author

The Inventory Of Goodbye

I have a pack of letters,
I have a pack of memories.
I could cut out the eyes of both.
I could wear them like a patchwork apron.
I could stick them in the washer, the drier,
and maybe some of the pain would float off like dirt?
Perhaps down the disposal I could grind up the loss.
Besides -- what a bargain -- no expensive phone calls.
No lengthy trips on planes in the fog.
No manicky laughter or blessing from an odd-lot priest.
That priest is probably still floating on a fog pillow.
Blessing us. Blessing us.

Am I to bless the lost you,
sitting here with my clumsy soul?
Propaganda time is over.
I sit here on the spike of truth.
No one to hate except the slim fish of memory
that slides in and out of my brain.
No one to hate except the acute feel of my nightgown
brushing my body like a light that has gone out.
It recalls the kiss we invented, tongues like poems,
meeting, returning, inviting, causing a fever of need.
Laughter, maps, cassettes, touch singing its path -
all to be broken and laid away in a tight strongbox.
The monotonous dead clog me up and there is only
black done in black that oozes from the strongbox.
I must disembowel it and then set the heart, the legs,
of two who were one upon a large woodpile
and ignite, as I was once ignited, and let it whirl
into flame, reaching the sky
making it dangerous with its red.

Anne Sexton

The story (interlude)

2010-12-04T19:17:00.003Z

Ache

2010-10-30T23:45:00.004+01:00

ache

–verb (used without object)
1.to have or suffer a continuous, dull pain: His whole body ached.
2.to feel great sympathy, pity, or the like: Her heart ached for the starving animals.
3.to feel eager; yearn; long: She ached to be the champion. He's just aching to get even.
–noun
4.a continuous, dull pain (in contrast to a sharp, sudden, or sporadic pain).

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.

"If you are still being hurt by an event that happened to you at twelve, it is the thought that is hurting you now. "
(James Hillman)

*photo by Lonely Pierot

After Many Days

I WONDER if with you, as it is with me,
If under your slipping words, that easily flow
About you as a garment, easily,
Your violent heart beats to and fro!

Long have I waited, never once confessed,
Even to myself, how bitter the separation;
Now, being come again, how make the best
Reparation?

If I could cast this clothing off from me,
If I could lift my naked self to you,
Of if only you would repulse me, a wound would be
Good; it would let the ache come through.

But that you hold me still so kindly cold
Aloof my floating heart will not allow;
Yea, but I loathe you that you should withhold
Your pleasure now.

D.H. Lawrence

Bitter sorrow

2010-10-18T23:01:00.003+01:00

bit·ter
–adjective
1. having a harsh, disagreeably acrid taste, like that of aspirin, quinine, wormwood, or aloes.
2. producing one of the four basic taste sensations; not sour, sweet, or salt.
3. hard to bear; grievous; distressful: a bitter sorrow.
4. causing pain; piercing; stinging: a bitter chill.
5. characterized by intense antagonism or hostility: bitter hatred.
6. hard to admit or accept: a bitter lesson.
7. resentful or cynical: bitter words.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.

"The only antidote to mental suffering

is physical pain."
(Karl Marx)

*Image by Alex Everitt

Sweet hours have perished here;1767

Sweet hours have perished here;
This is a mighty room;
Within its precincts hopes have played,—
Now shadows in the tomb.

Emily Dickinson

I Wish You Love

2010-10-10T18:30:00.000+01:00

Wound

2010-10-05T14:20:00.003+01:00

wound

— n
1. any break in the skin or an organ or part as the result of violence or a surgical incision
2. an injury to plant tissue
3. any injury or slight to the feelings or reputation

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins

"There is something beautiful about all scars of whatever nature. A scar means the hurt is over, the wound is closed and healed, done with."
(Harry Crews)

*Photo by Scott James Preble

Here Is A Wound That Never Will Heal, I Know

Here is a wound that never will heal, I know,
Being wrought not of a dearness and a death,
But of a love turned ashes and the breath
Gone out of beauty; never again will grow
The grass on that scarred acre, though I sow
Young seed there yearly and the sky bequeath
Its friendly weathers down, far Underneath
Shall be such bitterness of an old woe.
That April should be shattered by a gust,
That August should be levelled by a rain,
I can endure, and that the lifted dust
Of man should settle to the earth again;
But that a dream can die, will be a thrust
Between my ribs forever of hot pain.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

Jack

2010-09-18T21:29:00.003+01:00

Jack (dʒæk)

— n
informal ( Brit ) I'm all right, Jack
a. a remark indicating smug and complacent selfishness
b. ( as modifier ): an ``I'm all right, Jack'' attitude

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins

jack definition

1.n.
money. : I don't have the jack for a deal like that.
2.n.
tobacco for rolling cigarettes. : You got some jack I can bum?
3.n.
nothing. (Probably from jack-shit.) : Your last idea wasn't worth jack. Do I pay you to come up with stuff that bad?
4.n.
a strange person; an annoying person. (Possibly from jackass or jack-shit.) : Willy, stop acting like such a jack!
5.tv.
to steal something. : I didn't buy it, I jacked it!

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.

Sonnet 121: Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed

'Tis better to be vile than vile esteemed
When not to be receives reproach of being,
And the just pleasure lost, which is so deemed
Not by our feeling, but by others' seeing.
For why should others' false adulterate eyes
Give salutation to my sportive blood?
Or on my frailties why are frailer spies,
Which in their wills count bad what I think good?
No, I am that I am, and they that level
At my abuses reckon up their own.
I may be straight though they themselves be bevel.
By their rank thoughts, my deeds must not be shown,
Unless this general evil they maintain:
All men are bad, and in their badness reign.

William Shakespeare

Blues

2010-09-16T15:09:00.003+01:00

"A guy will promise you the world and give you nothin', and that's the blues."
(Otis Rush)

*Photo by unknown author

Sonnet (1928)

I am in need of music that would flow
Over my fretful, feeling finger-tips,
Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,
With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.
Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,
Of some song sung to rest the tired dead,
A song to fall like water on my head,
And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!

There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.

Elizabeth Bishop

Cup of Tea

2010-09-15T12:56:00.000+01:00

Slang Dictionary

cup of tea definition

1.n.
something preferred or desired. (Often negative.) : Driving children around all afternoon is not my cup of tea.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.

"That's not my cup of tea"
(American proverb)

*Photo by Derron Yuhara, "Cup o' Change"

The Choice

Some inherit manly beauty,
Some come into worldly wealth;
Some have lofty sense of duty,
Others boast exultant health.
Though the pick may be confusing,
Health, wealth, charm or character,
If you had the chance of choosing
Which would you prefer?

I'm not sold on body beauty,
Though health I appreciate;
Character and sense of duty
I resign to Men of State.
I don't need a heap of money;
Oh I know I'm hard to please.
Though to you it may seem funny,
I want none of these.

No, give me Imagination,
And the gift of weaving words
Into patterns of creation,
With the lilt of singing birds;
Passion and the power to show it,
Sense of life with love expressed:
Let my be a bloody poet,--
You can keep the rest.

Robert Service

Can of Worms

2010-09-14T22:32:00.003+01:00

Slang Dictionary

can of worms definition

1.n.
an intertwined set of problems; an array of difficulties. (Often with open.) : When you brought that up, you opened a whole new can of worms.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.

"That's an all new can of worms."
(American Proverb)

*Photo by Dellacroix & Dellfina

Lip-Stick Liz

Oh Lip-Stick Liz was in the biz, That's the oldest known in history;
She had a lot of fancy rags, Of her form she made no myst'ry.
She had a man, a fancy man, His name was Alexander,
And he used to beat her up because he couldn't understand her.

Now Lip-Stick Liz she loved her man And she couldn't love no other
So when she saw him with a Broadway Blonde, Her rage she could not smother.
She saw him once and she saw him twice But the third time nearly crazed her,
So she walked bang into a hardware store, And she bought a brand new razor.

Now Lip-Stick Liz she trailed them two For she was tired of weeping;
She trailed them two, in a flash hotel And there she found them sleeping;
So she gashed them once and she gashed them twice Their ju'lar veins to sever,
And the bright blood flowed like a brook between. And their lives were gone forever.

Now Lip-Stick Liz went to the p'lice And sez she: "Me hands are gory,
And you'll put me away in a deep dark cell When once you've heard me story."
So they've put her away in a deep dark cell, Until her life be over
And what is the moral of the whole damn show, I wish I could discover.

Chorus:
Oh Lip-Stick Liz! What a lousy life this is.
It's a hell of a break for a girl on the make,
Oh Lip-Stick Liz!

Robert Service

Aloofness

2010-09-13T01:42:00.000+01:00

a·loof –adverb
1. at a distance, esp. in feeling or interest; apart: They always stood aloof from their classmates.
–adjective
2. reserved or reticent; indifferent; disinterested: Because of his shyness, he had the reputation of being aloof.

—Related forms
a·loof·ly, adverb
a·loof·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,

"But curb thou the high spirit in thy breast, for gentle ways are best, and keep aloof from sharp contentions. "

(Homer)

*Photo by unknown author

After great pain, a formal feeling comes
341

After great pain, a formal feeling comes—
The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs—
The stiff Heart questions was it He, that bore,
And Yesterday, or Centuries before?

The Feet, mechanical, go round—
Of Ground, or Air, or Ought—
A Wooden way
Regardless grown,
A Quartz contentment, like a stone—

This is the Hour of Lead—
Remembered, if outlived,
As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow—
First—Chill—then Stupor—then the letting go—

Emily Dickinson

Savvy

2010-09-12T12:58:00.005+01:00

Slang Dictionary

savvy definition
[ˈsævi]

1.tv. & in.
to understand (someone or something). (Adapted from Spanish sabe, he knows.) : Do you savvy?
2.n.
knowledge; know-how. : I don't have the savvy necessary to do the job.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007.

"Who can I trust? You have to invest in somebody and chances are you're probably going to invest in somebody who's going to deceive you. I've been conned a couple of times, but now I'm a little more savvy. "

(Maggie Gyllenhaal)

*Photo by unknown author

Tom

That Tom was poor was sure a pity,
Such guts for learning had the lad;
He took to Greek like babe to titty,
And he was mathematic mad.
I loved to prime him up with knowledge,
A brighter lad I never knew;
I dreamed that he would go to college
And there be honoured too.

But no! His Dad said, "Son, I need you
To keep the kettle on the boil;
No longer can I clothe and feed you,
Buy study books and midnight oil.
I carry on as best I'm able,
A humble tailor, as you know;
And you must squat cross-legged a table
And learn to snip and sew."

And that is what poor Tom is doing.
He bravely makes the best of it;
But as he "fits" you he is knowing
That he himself is a misfit;
And thinks as he fulfils his calling,
With patient heart yet deep distaste,
Like clippings from his shears down-falling,
--He, too, is Waste.

Robert Service

An Eye for an Eye

2010-06-23T22:20:00.006+01:00

Cultural Dictionary

an eye for an eye definition

The principle of justice that requires punishment equal in kind to the offense (not greater than the offense, as was frequently given in ancient times). Thus, if someone puts out another's eye, one of the offender's eyes should be put out. The principle is stated in the Book of Exodus as “Thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

"And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe".
(Exodus 21:23-25)

*Picture by unknown author

Lessons In Hunger

"Do you like me?"
I asked the blue blazer.
No answer.
Silence bounced out of his books.
Silence fell off his tongue
and sat between us
and clogged my throat.
It slaughtered my trust.
It tore cigarettes out of my mouth.
We exchanged blind words,
and I did not cry,
and I did not beg,
blackness lunged in my heart,
and something that had been good,
a sort of kindly oxygen,
turned into a gas oven.
Do you like me?
How absurd!
What's a question like that?
What's a silence like that?
And what am I hanging around for,
riddled with what his silence said?

Anne Sexton

Pitching (the) Woo

2010-06-14T14:27:00.006+01:00

Idioms & Phrases
pitch woo

Court, make love to, flatter,
This idiom, which may be obsolescent, uses pitch in the sense of "talk." [Slang; early 1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.

"Men are April when they woo, December when they wed. Maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives."

(William Shakespeare)

*Cartoon by unknown author

Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

William Shakespeare

2010-06-05T00:49:00.003+01:00

weep·ing
adj. 1.Shedding tears; tearful.

2.Dropping rain: weeping clouds.

3.Having slender drooping branches.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

"Oh, I am very weary, Though tears no longer flow; My eyes are tired of weeping, My heart is sick of woe."
(Anne Bronte)

*Painting by Edvard Munch

The Weeping

I have shut my windows.
I do not want to hear the weeping.
But from behind the grey walls.
Nothing is heard but the weeping.

There are few angels that sing.
There are few dogs that bark.
A thousand violins fit in the palm of the hand.
But the weeping is an immense angel.
The weeping is an immense dog.
The weeping is an immense violin.
Tears strangle the wind.
Nothing is heard but the weeping.

Federico García Lorca

Nympho(mania)

2010-05-20T13:47:00.007+01:00

"Hypersexuality is an abnormally increased desire to engage in sexual activities at a level high enough to be considered problematic and clinically significant. The concept replaced the older concepts of nymphomania (or furor uterinus) and satyriasis. Nymphomania was believed to be a female psychological disorder characterized by a hyperactive sex desire and an obsession with sex, and lowered sexual inhibitions, and the sufferer of this condition was colloquially referred as a "nymphomaniac", "nympho" or "sex addict". In males the disorder was called satyriasis (for etymology of the words, see nymph and satyr). "Nymphomania" and "satyriasis" are no longer listed as specific disorders in the DSM-IV, though they remain a part of ICD-10."

in Wikipedia

"Nymphomaniac:

a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man."
(Mignon McLaughlin)

*photo by Picasso

Yes Yes

when God created love he didn't help most
when God created dogs He didn't help dogs
when God created plants that was average
when God created hate we had a standard utility
when God created me He created me
when God created the monkey He was asleep
when He created the giraffe He was drunk
when He created narcotics He was high
and when He created suicide He was low

when He created you lying in bed
He knew what He was doing
He was drunk and He was high
and He created the mountians and the sea and fire at the same time

He made some mistakes
but when He created you lying in bed
He came all over His Blessed Universe.

Charles Bukowski

Traveller

2010-05-05T01:13:00.000+01:00

trav·el·er or trav·el·ler
n.
One who travels or has traveled, as to distant places.

(...)

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"A good traveller is one who does not know where he is going to, and a perfect traveller does not know where he came from. "
(Lin Yutang)

*Photo by Michael Kent, "Kiss"

The Traveller

They pointed me out on the highway, and they said
'That man has a curious way of holding his head.'

They pointed me out on the beach; they said 'That man
Will never become as we are, try as he can.'

They pointed me out at the station, and the guard
Looked at me twice, thrice, thoughtfully & hard.

I took the same train that the others took,
To the same place. Were it not for that look
And those words, we were all of us the same.
I studied merely maps. I tried to name
The effects of motion on the travellers,
I watched the couple I could see, the curse
And blessings of that couple, their destination,
The deception practised on them at the station,
Their courage. When the train stopped and they knew
The end of their journey, I descended too.

John Berryman

Being Sweet On

2010-04-30T00:05:00.000+01:00

being sweet on - 4 thesaurus results

Main Entry: admire
Definition: hold in high regard
(...)
Main Entry: adore
Definition: love intensely
(...)
Main Entry: dote on/dote upon
Definition: lavish affection on
(..)
Main Entry: like
Definition: enjoy, be fond of

"Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love."
(Charles Maurice de Talleyrand)

*Photo by SpineRoses, "Kiss"

Sweet Love, Sweet Thorn, When Lightly To My Heart

Sweet love, sweet thorn, when lightly to my heart
I took your thrust, whereby I since am slain,
And lie disheveled in the grass apart,
A sodden thing bedrenched by tears and rain,
While rainy evening drips to misty night,
And misty night to cloudy morning clears,
And clouds disperse across the gathering light,
And birds grow noisy, and the sun appears
Had I bethought me then, sweet love, sweet thorn,
How sharp an anguish even at the best,
When all's requited and the future sworn,
The happy Hour can leave within the breast,
I had not so come running at the call
Of one who loves me little, if at all.

Edna St. Vincent Millay

History

2010-04-25T12:11:00.000+01:00

his·to·ry
–noun
1.the branch of knowledge dealing with past events.
2.a continuous, systematic narrative of past events as relating to a particular people, country, period, person, etc., usually written as a chronological account; chronicle
3.the aggregate of past events.
4.the record of past events and times, esp. in connection with the human race.
5.a past notable for its important, unusual, or interesting events
6.acts, ideas, or events that will or can shape the course of the future; immediate but significant happenings
7.a systematic account of any set of natural phenomena without particular reference to time
8.a drama representing historical events

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2010.

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment."
(Buddha)

History Of The Night
(*translated to English)

Throughout the course of the generations
men constructed the night.
At first she was blindness;
thorns raking bare feet,
fear of wolves.
We shall never know who forged the word
for the interval of shadow
dividing the two twilights;
we shall never know in what age it came to mean
the starry hours.
Others created the myth.
They made her the mother of the unruffled Fates
that spin our destiny,
they sacrificed black ewes to her, and the cock
who crows his own death.
The Chaldeans assigned to her twelve houses;
to Zeno, infinite words.
She took shape from Latin hexameters
and the terror of Pascal.
Luis de Leon saw in her the homeland
of his stricken soul.
Now we feel her to be inexhaustible
like an ancient wine
and no one can gaze on her without vertigo
and time has charged her with eternity.

And to think that she wouldn't exist
except for those fragile instruments, the eyes.

Jorge Luis Borges

Heartbreak

2010-04-20T00:15:00.003+01:00

heart·break
n. Overwhelming sorrow, grief, or disappointment.

The American Heritage®
Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"For the most part, that message hasn't changed a lot over the years - love is still love, and heartbreak is still heartbreak."
(Casey Kasum)

Heart! We will forget him!
47

Heart! We will forget him!
You and I—tonight!
You may forget the warmth he gave—
I will forget the light!

When you have done, pray tell me
That I may straight begin!
Haste! lest while you're lagging
I remember him!

Emily Dickinson

Survival

2010-04-15T00:04:00.005+01:00

sur·viv·al
–noun
1.the act or fact of surviving, esp. under adverse or unusual circumstances.
2.a person or thing that survives or endures, esp. an ancient custom, observance, belief, or the like.
3.Anthropology. (no longer in technical use) the persistence of a cultural trait, practice, or the like long after it has lost its original meaning or usefulness.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2010.

"You must change in order to survive."
(Pearl Bailey)

Sonnet For The End Of A Sequence

So take my vows and scatter them to sea;
Who swears the sweetest is no more than human.
And say no kinder words than these of me:
"Ever she longed for peace, but was a woman!
And thus they are, whose silly female dust
Needs little enough to clutter it and bind it,
Who meet a slanted gaze, and ever must
Go build themselves a soul to dwell behind it."

For now I am my own again, my friend!
This scar but points the whiteness of my breast;
This frenzy, like its betters, spins an end,
And now I am my own. And that is best.
Therefore, I am immeasurably grateful
To you, for proving shallow, false, and hateful.

Dorothy Parker

Pierrot

2010-04-10T23:30:00.005+01:00

Pierrot is a stock character of pantomime and Commedia dell’Arte whose origins are in the late seventeenth-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. His character in postmodern popular culture—in poetry, fiction, the visual arts, as well as works for the stage, screen, and concert hall—is that of the sad clown, pining for love of Columbine, who usually breaks his heart and leaves him for Harlequin. (...) The defining characteristic of Pierrot is his naïveté: he is seen as a fool, always the butt of pranks, yet nonetheless trusting. Especially after his appropriation by the late nineteenth-century Symbolist poets, he is also portrayed as almost tragically moonstruck, distant from and oblivious to reality.

in Wikipedia

"I am not a sad clown. I am not a sad clown."
(Nathan Lane)

Clown In The Moon

My tears are like the quiet drift
Of petals from some magic rose;
And all my grief flows from the rift
Of unremembered skies and snows.

I think, that if I touched the earth,
It would crumble;
It is so sad and beautiful,
So tremulously like a dream.

Dylan Thomas

Prerogative

2010-04-05T23:23:00.000+01:00

pre·rog·a·tive
–noun
1.an exclusive right, privilege, etc., exercised by virtue of rank, office, or the like
2.a right, privilege, etc., limited to a specific person or to persons of a particular category
3.a power, immunity, or the like restricted to a sovereign government or its representative

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010

"A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave."
(Mohandas Gandhi)

Cut

What a thrill ----
My thumb instead of an onion.
The top quite gone
Except for a sort of hinge

Of skin,
A flap like a hat,
Dead white.
Then that red plush.
Little pilgrim,
The Indian's axed your scalp.
Your turkey wattle
Carpet rolls

Straight from the heart.
I step on it,
Clutching my bottle
Of pink fizz. A celebration, this is.
Out of a gap
A million soldiers run,
Redcoats, every one.

Whose side are they one?
O my
Homunculus, I am ill.
I have taken a pill to kill

The thin
Papery feeling.
Saboteur,
Kamikaze man ----

The stain on your
Gauze Ku Klux Klan
Babushka
Darkens and tarnishes and when
The balled
Pulp of your heart
Confronts its small
Mill of silence

How you jump ----
Trepanned veteran,
Dirty girl,
Thumb stump.

Sylvia Plath

Comfort

2010-04-01T16:44:00.000+01:00

com·fort
n.
A condition or feeling of pleasurable ease, well-being, and contentment.

Solace in time of grief or fear.

Help; assistance: gave comfort to the enemy.

One that brings or provides comfort.

The capacity to give physical ease and well-being: enjoying the comfort of my favorite chair.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

"There`s no comfort in the truth,

pain is all you`ll find."
(George Michael)

Waking at 3 a.m.

Even in the cave of the night when you
wake and are free and lonely,
neglected by others, discarded, loved only
by what doesn't matter--even in that
big room no one can see,
you push with your eyes till forever
comes in its twisted figure eight
and lies down in your head.

You think water in the river;
you think slower than the tide in
the grain of the wood; you become
a secret storehouse that saves the country,
so open and foolish and empty.

You look over all that the darkness
ripples across. More than has ever
been found comforts you. You open your
eyes in a vault that unlocks as fast
and as far as your thought can run.
A great snug wall goes around everything,
has always been there, will always
remain. It is a good world to be
lost in. It comforts you. It is
all right. And you sleep.

William Stafford

Ordinary

2010-03-30T12:52:00.000+01:00

or·di·nar·y
–noun
.the commonplace or average condition, degree, etc.
.something regular, customary, or usual.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.

"Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well."
(John W. Gardner)

"More than Ordinary"

ordinary wind is winding(cold face blush

ordinary wind is winding(cold face blush
wind is winding here there tomorrow)(
graceful dove wind
theatrical scar wind
thunderclapclapclap(clapclapstrike)
struckwinding wind

e.e. cummings

Wound

2010-03-25T05:18:00.000Z

wound
–noun
1.an injury, usually involving division of tissue or rupture of the integument or mucous membrane, due to external violence or some mechanical agency rather than disease.
2.a similar injury to the tissue of a plant.
3.an injury or hurt to feelings, sensibilities, reputation, etc.

http://dictionary.reference.com

"An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind."
(Buddha)

Anestesia

2010-03-20T10:00:00.002Z

an·es·the·sia
n.
1. Total or partial loss of sensation, especially tactile sensibility, induced by disease, injury, acupuncture, or an anesthetic, such as chloroform or nitrous oxide.
2. Local or general insensibility to pain with or without the loss of consciousness, induced by an anesthetic.
3. A drug, administered for medical or surgical purposes, that induces partial or total loss of sensation and may be topical, local, regional, or general, depending on the method of administration and area of the body affected.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Updated in 2009.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

"Alcohol is the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life."

(George Bernard Shaw)

*Photo by Priribeiro, "Sem Rede", work by Joana Vasconcelos, Portuguese artist,

chair made of Valium pills
In Exhibition at the CCB, Lisbon, until May 2010, free entrance.

It ceased to hurt me, though so slow

It ceased to hurt me, though so slow
I could not feel the Anguish go—
But only knew by looking back—
That something—had benumbed the Track—

Nor when it altered, I could say,
For I had worn it, every day,
As constant as the Childish frock—
I hung upon the Peg, at night.

But not the Grief—that nestled close
As needles—ladies softly press
To Cushions Cheeks—
To keep their place—

Nor what consoled it, I could trace—
Except, whereas 'twas Wilderness—
It's better—almost Peace—

Emily Dickinson

Fragile

2010-03-15T23:13:00.000Z

frag·ile
–adjective
1.easily broken, shattered, or damaged; delicate; brittle; frail
2.vulnerably delicate, as in appearance
3.lacking in substance or force; flimsy

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2010.

"Like fragile ice anger passes away in time."
(Ovid)

Time does go on—

Time does go on—
I tell it gay to those who suffer now—
They shall survive—
There is a sun—
They don't believe it now—

Emily Dickinson

Nay

2010-03-10T22:49:00.000Z

nay [neɪ]
sentence substitute
a word for no1: archaic or dialectal except in voting by voice
n
a. a person who votes in the negative
b. a negative vote
adv
(sentence modifier) Archaic an emphatic form of no1 Compare aye1
[from Old Norse nei, from ne not + ei ever, ay1]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 6th Edition 2003.

"Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening."
(Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Never Give All The Heart

Never give all the heart, for love
Will hardly seem worth thinking of
To passionate women if it seem
Certain, and they never dream
That it fades out from kiss to kiss;
For everything that's lovely is
But a brief, dreamy. Kind delight.
O never give the heart outright,
For they, for all smooth lips can say,
Have given their hearts up to the play.
And who could play it well enough
If deaf and dumb and blind with love?
He that made this knows all the cost,
For he gave all his heart and lost.

William Butler Yeats

Being No More

2010-03-05T09:41:00.001Z

Main Entry: die
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: pass away; stop living
Synonyms: be no more (..)

in www.thesaurus.reference.com

"A person starts dying when they stop dreaming."
(Brian Williams)

'Tis not that Dying hurts us so

335

'Tis not that Dying hurts us so—
'Tis Living—hurts us more—
But Dying—is a different way—
A Kind behind the Door—

The Southern Custom—of the Bird—
That ere the Frosts are due—
Accepts a better Latitude—
We—are the Birds—that stay.

The Shrivers round Farmers' doors—
For whose reluctant Crumb—
We stipulate—till pitying Snows
Persuade our Feathers Home.

Emily Dickinson

Hots

2010-02-28T20:42:00.010Z

hots (hŏts)
Slang Strong sexual attraction or desire. Used with the.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

hot

mod.
and hot under the collar. angry.
mod.
wanted by the police.
mod.
stolen.
mod.
carrying contraband and subject to arrest if caught.
mod.
having a run of good luck in gambling.
mod.
of great renown; doing quite well for the time being.
mod.
alcohol intoxicated.
mod.
selling well.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.

"It's hot as hell as can be."
(Eugene Ormandy)

Hot and Cold

A woman who my mother knows
Came in and took off all her clothes.

Said I, not being very old,
'By golly gosh, you must be cold!'

'No, no!' she cried. 'Indeed I'm not!
I'm feeling devilishly hot!'

Charles Bukowski

Oblivion

2010-02-20T00:59:00.000Z

o·bliv·i·on
n.
The condition or quality of being completely forgotten

The act or an instance of forgetting; total forgetfulness

Official overlooking of offenses; amnesty.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

"Apathy is a sort of living oblivion."
(Horace Greeley)

"Forgotten Fairytales" by unknown authors

Let It Be Forgotten

Let it be forgotten, as a flower is forgotten,
Forgotten as a fire that once was singing gold.
Let it be forgotten forever and ever,
Time is a kind friend, he will make us old.

If anyone asks, say it was forgotten
Long and long ago,
As a flower, as a fire, as a hushed footfall
In a long-forgotten snow.

Sara Teasdale

Adieu

2010-01-22T00:44:00.008Z

a⋅dieu

–interjection 1. good-bye; farewell.

–noun 2. the act of leaving or departing; farewell.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2009.

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
(William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

*"That Girl", by unknown author

Já gastámos as palavras pela rua, meu amor,
e o que nos ficou não chega
para afastar o frio de quatro paredes.
Gastámos tudo menos o silêncio.
Gastámos os olhos com o sal das lágrimas,
gastámos as mãos à força de as apertarmos,
gastámos o relógio e as pedras das esquinas
em esperas inúteis.

Meto as mãos nas algibeiras e não encontro nada.
Antigamente tínhamos tanto para dar um ao outro;
era como se todas as coisas fossem minhas:
quanto mais te dava mais tinha para te dar.
Às vezes tu dizias: os teus olhos são peixes verdes.
E eu acreditava.
Acreditava,
porque ao teu lado
todas as coisas eram possíveis.

Mas isso era no tempo dos segredos,
era no tempo em que o teu corpo era um aquário,
era no tempo em que os meus olhos
eram realmente peixes verdes.
Hoje são apenas os meus olhos.
É pouco mas é verdade,
uns olhos como todos os outros.

Já gastámos as palavras.
Quando agora digo: meu amor,
já não se passa absolutamente nada.
E no entanto, antes das palavras gastas,
tenho a certeza
de que todas as coisas estremeciam
só de murmurar o teu nome
no silêncio do meu coração.

Não temos já nada para dar.
Dentro de ti
não há nada que me peça água.
O passado é inútil como um trapo.
E já te disse: as palavras estão gastas.

Adeus.

Eugénio de Andrade

Grotesque

2010-01-17T10:28:00.003Z

The word grotesque comes from the same Latin root as "grotto", meaning a small cave or hollow. The original meaning was restricted to an extravagant style of Ancient Roman decorative art rediscovered and then copied in Rome in the 15th century. The "caves" were in fact rooms and corridors of the Domus Aurea, the unfinished palace complex started by Nero after the great fire from AD 64, which had become overgrown and buried, until they were broken into again, mostly from above.

In modern English, grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, fantastic, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or bizarre, and thus is often used to describe weird shapes and distorted forms such as Halloween masks. More specifically, the grotesque forms on Gothic buildings, when not used as drain-spouts, should not be called gargoyles, but rather referred to simply as grotesques, or chimeras.

in Wikipedia

"The grotesque emerges as a contradiction between attractive and repulsive elements, of comic and tragic aspects, of ludicrous and horrifying features. Emphasis can be placed on either its bright or its dark side. However, it does not seem to exist without a certain collision between playfulness and seriousnes, fun and dread, humor and horror, glee and gloom."

Deiter Meindl

"Vou suprimir a vida, porque a vida mete-me medo [...] Fui sempre ridículo, mas nem sempre me senti ridículo. A vida foi sempre atroz, mas nem sempre a senti atroz. Quando dei pelo que ela tem de reles e de grotesco, de trágico e de grotesco, veio-me um vómito de tristeza. [...] Pior, pior... Olhei para mim, olhei para dentro de mim mesmo e ao mesmo tempo encarei [...] com esta coisa prodigiosa que é a Vida, feia para a desgraça, para a dor, para o sonho - e que dura um minuto, um só minuto [...]"

O Doido e a Morte, Raul Brandão

Painting by Paula Rego

Dylan Thomas

Denial

2010-01-14T17:01:00.004Z

Denial is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. The subject may use:

simple denial - deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether
minimisation - admit the fact but deny its seriousness, or
projection - admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility.

The concept of denial is particularly important to the study of addiction. The theory of denial was first researched seriously by Anna Freud. She classified denial as a mechanism of the immature mind, because it conflicts with the ability to learn from and cope with reality. Where denial occurs in mature minds, it is most often associated with death, dying and rape.

(...)

Denial of fact
In this form of denial, someone avoids a fact by lying. This lying can take the form of an outright falsehood (commission), leaving out certain details to tailor a story (omission), or by falsely agreeing to something (assent, also referred to as "yessing" behavior). Someone who is in denial of fact is typically using lies to avoid facts they think may be painful to themselves or others.

in Wikipedia

The worst thing a guy can do is let a girl fall in love when he doesn't intend to catch her fall.

(Unknown author)

*Photo by Picasso

The Inventory Of Goodbye by Anne Sexton

I have a pack of letters,
I have a pack of memories.
I could cut out the eyes of both.
I could wear them like a patchwork apron.
I could stick them in the washer, the drier,
and maybe some of the pain would float off like dirt?
Perhaps down the disposal I could grind up the loss.
Besides -- what a bargain -- no expensive phone calls.
No lengthy trips on planes in the fog.
No manicky laughter or blessing from an odd-lot priest.
That priest is probably still floating on a fog pillow.
Blessing us. Blessing us.

Am I to bless the lost you,
sitting here with my clumsy soul?
Propaganda time is over.
I sit here on the spike of truth.
No one to hate except the slim fish of memory
that slides in and out of my brain.
No one to hate except the acute feel of my nightgown
brushing my body like a light that has gone out.
It recalls the kiss we invented, tongues like poems,
meeting, returning, inviting, causing a fever of need.
Laughter, maps, cassettes, touch singing its path -
all to be broken and laid away in a tight strongbox.
The monotonous dead clog me up and there is only
black done in black that oozes from the strongbox.
I must disembowel it and then set the heart, the legs,
of two who were one upon a large woodpile
and ignite, as I was once ignited, and let it whirl
into flame, reaching the sky
making it dangerous with its red.

Knocking

2010-01-05T00:24:00.006Z

Main Entry: ask
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: request
Synonyms: (...) knock* (...)
* = informal/non-formal usage

in www.thesaurus.reference.com

*Photo by Loren

Why Did I Dream Of You Last Night?

Why did I dream of you last night?
Now morning is pushing back hair with grey light
Memories strike home, like slaps in the face;
Raised on elbow, I stare at the pale fog
beyond the window.

So many things I had thought forgotten
Return to my mind with stranger pain:
- Like letters that arrive addressed to someone
Who left the house so many years ago.

Philip Larkin

Birthday

2009-11-08T01:03:00.001Z

"Like a mother to a child,

There's a time in everyone's lives when you have to let go.

Wish him all the best. Become invisible.

Give way to happiness.

That's my biggest gift for you."

(A.D.L.)

Poema de aniversário

Porque fizeste anos, Bem-Amada, e a asa do tempo roçou teus cabelos negros, e teus grandes olhos calmos miraram por um momento o inescrutável Norte...
Eu quisera dar-te, ademais dos beijos e das rosas, tudo o que nunca foi dado por um homem à sua Amada, eu que tão pouco te posso ofertar. Quisera dar-te, por exemplo, o instante em que nasci, marcado pela fatalidade de tua vinda. Verias, então, em mim, na transparência do meu peito, a sombra de tua forma anterior a ti mesma.
Quisera dar-te também o mar onde nadei menino, o tranqüilo mar de ilha em que perdia e em que mergulhava, e de onde trazia a forma elementar de tudo o que existe no espaço acima – estrelas mortas, meteoritos submersos, o plancto das galáxias, a placenta do Infinito.
E mais, quisera dar-te as minhas loucas carreiras à toa, por certo em premonitória busca de teus braços, e a vontade de grimpar tudo de alto, e transpor tudo de proibido, e os elásticos saltos dançarinos para alcançar folhas, aves, estrelas – e a ti mesma, luminosa Lucina, e derramar claridade em mim menino.
Ah, pudesse eu dar-te o meu primeiro medo e a minha primeira coragem; o meu primeiro medo à treva e a minha primeira coragem de enfrentá-la, e o primeiro arrepio sentido ao ser tocado de leve pela mão invisível da Morte.
E o que não daria eu para ofertar-te o instante em que, jazente e sozinho no mundo, enquanto soava em prece o cantochão da noite, vi tua forma emergir do meu flanco, e se esforçar, imensa ondina arquejante, para se desprender de mim; e eu te pari gritando, em meio a temporais desencadeados, roto e imundo do pó da terra.
Gostaria de dar-te, Namorada, aquela madrugada em que, pela primeira vez, as brancas moléculas do papel diante de mim dilataram-se ante o mistério da poesia subitamente incorporada; e dá-Ia com tudo o que nela havia de silencioso e inefável - o pasmo das estrelas, o mudo assombro das casas, o murmúrio místico das árvores a se tocarem sob a Lua.
E também o instante anterior à tua vinda, quando, esperando-te chegar, relembrei-te adolescente naquela mesma cidade em que te reencontrava anos depois; e a certeza que tive, ao te olhar, da fatalidade insigne do nosso encontro, e de que eu estava, de um só golpe, perdido e salvo.
Quisera dar-te, sobretudo, Amada minha, o instante da minha morte; e que ele fosse também o instante da tua morte, de modo que nós, por tanto tempo em vida separados, vivêssemos em nosso decesso uma só eternidade; e que nossos corpos fossem embalsamados e sepultados juntos e acima da terra; e que todos aqueles que ainda se vão amar pudessem ir mirar-nos em nosso último leito; e que sobre nossa lápide comum jazesse a estátua de um homem parindo uma mulher do seu flanco; e que nela houvesse apenas, como epitáfio, estes versos finais de uma cançâo que te dediquei:

... dorme, que assim
dormirás um dia
na minha poesia
de um sono sem fim...

Vinicius de Moraes

in Para viver um grande amor (crônicas e poemas)
in Poesia completa e prosa: "A lua de Montevidéu"
in Poesia completa e prosa: "Para viver um grande amor"

Oblivion

2009-11-01T08:57:00.000Z

oblivion
–noun
1. the state of being completely forgotten or unknown
2. the state of forgetting or of being oblivious
3. official disregard or overlooking of offenses; pardon; amnesty.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2009.

How happy I was if I could forget

898

How happy I was if I could forget
To remember how sad I am
Would be an easy adversity
But the recollecting of Bloom

Keeps making November difficult
Till I who was almost bold
Lose my way like a little Child
And perish of the cold.

Emily Dickinson

Hollowness

2009-10-27T09:49:00.000Z

hol·low
n.

A void; an emptiness: a hollow in one's life.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,

Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

"Loving can cost a lot but not loving always costs more, and those who fear to love often find that want of love is an emptiness that robs the joy from life. "

(Merle Shain)

*Photo by Picasso

Empty my Heart, of Thee
587

Empty my Heart, of Thee—
Its single Artery—
Begin, and leave Thee out—
Simply Extinction's Date—

Much Billow hath the Sea—
One Baltic—They—
Subtract Thyself, in play,
And not enough of me
Is left—to put away—
"Myself" meanth Thee—

Erase the Root—no Tree—
Thee—then—no me—
The Heavens stripped—
Eternity's vast pocket, picked—

Emily Dickinson

Madness

2009-10-26T10:24:00.001Z

mad·ness
n.

The quality or condition of being insane.

Great folly

Fury; rage.

Enthusiasm; excitement.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,

Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company

"If this be not love, it is madness,

and then it is pardonable."

(William Congreve)

Gigolo

Pocket watch, I tick well.
The streets are lizardly crevices
Sheer-sided, with holes where to hide.
It is best to meet in a cul-de-sac,

A palace of velvet
With windows of mirrors.
There one is safe,
There are no family photographs,

No rings through the nose, no cries.
Bright fish hooks, the smiles of women
Gulp at my bulk
And I, in my snazzy blacks,

Mill a litter of breasts like jellyfish.
To nourish
The cellos of moans I eat eggs --
Eggs and fish, the essentials,

The aphrodisiac squid.
My mouth sags,
The mouth of Christ
When my engine reaches the end of it.

The tattle of my
Gold joints, my way of turning
Bitches to ripples of silver
Rolls out a carpet, a hush.

And there is no end, no end of it.
I shall never grow old. New oysters
Shriek in the sea and I
Glitter like Fontainebleu

Gratified,
All the fall of water an eye
Over whose pool I tenderly
Lean and see me.

Sylvia Plath

...

2009-10-25T11:14:00.001Z

"Today, I woke up with her on my mind.

And I'm not sorry for it.

I want her to be mine."

(D.G.)

*Photo by unknown author

But Not To Me

The April night is still and sweet
With flowers on every tree;
Peace comes to them on quiet feet,
But not to me.

My peace is hidden in his breast
Where I shall never be;
Love comes to-night to all the rest,
But not to me.

Sara Teasdale

Feelings "still to be explained"

2009-10-24T11:29:00.000+01:00

That is solemn we have ended

934

That is solemn we have ended
Be it but a Play
Or a Glee among the Garret
Or a Holiday

Or a leaving Home, or later,
Parting with a World
We have understood for better
Still to be explained.

Emily Dickinson

Letting go...

2009-10-23T01:21:00.000+01:00

let go

a. to release one's grasp or hold: Please let go of my arm.
b. to free; release.
c. to cease to employ; dismiss: Business was slack and many employees were let go.
d. to become unrestrained; abandon inhibitions: She'd be good fun if she would just let go and enjoy herself.
e. to dismiss; forget; discard: Once he has an idea, he never lets go of it.

(unknown source)

"Sometimes you just have to let go..."

(A. D. L.)

*Photo by unknown author

That Day

This is the desk I sit at
and this is the desk where I love you too much
and this is the typewriter that sits before me
where yesterday only your body sat before me
with its shoulders gathered in like a Greek chorus,
with its tongue like a king making up rules as he goes,
with its tongue quite openly like a cat lapping milk,
with its tongue -- both of us coiled in its slippery life.
That was yesterday, that day.
That was the day of your tongue,
your tongue that came from your lips,
two openers, half animals, half birds
caught in the doorway of your heart.
That was the day I followed the king's rules,
passing by your red veins and your blue veins,
my hands down the backbone, down quick like a firepole,
hands between legs where you display your inner knowledge,
where diamond mines are buried and come forth to bury,
come forth more sudden than some reconstructed city.
It is complete within seconds, that monument.
The blood runs underground yet brings forth a tower.
A multitude should gather for such an edifice.
For a miracle one stands in line and throws confetti.
Surely The Press is here looking for headlines.
Surely someone should carry a banner on the sidewalk.
If a bridge is constructed doesn't the mayor cut a ribbon?
If a phenomenon arrives shouldn't the Magi come bearing gifts?
Yesterday was the day I bore gifts for your gift
and came from the valley to meet you on the pavement.
That was yesterday, that day.
That was the day of your face,
your face after love, close to the pillow, a lullaby.
Half asleep beside me letting the old fashioned rocker stop,
our breath became one, became a child-breath together,
while my fingers drew little o's on your shut eyes,
while my fingers drew little smiles on your mouth,
while I drew I LOVE YOU on your chest and its drummer
and whispered, "Wake up!" and you mumbled in your sleep,
"Sh. We're driving to Cape Cod. We're heading for the Bourne
Bridge. We're circling the Bourne Circle." Bourne!
Then I knew you in your dream and prayed of our time
that I would be pierced and you would take root in me
and that I might bring forth your born, might bear
the you or the ghost of you in my little household.
Yesterday I did not want to be borrowed
but this is the typewriter that sits before me
and love is where yesterday is at.

Anne Sexton

Moan

2009-10-22T01:06:00.001+01:00

moan
n.

A low, sustained, mournful cry, usually indicative of sorrow or pain.

A similar sound: the eerie moan of the night wind.

Lamentation.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,

Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

*Photo by unknown author

moan... (7)

moan
(is)
ing

the she of the
sea
un

der a who
a he a moon a
magic out

of the black this which of
one street leaps quick
squirmthicklying lu

minous night
mare som
e w

hereanynoevery
ing(danc)ing
wills&weres

e.e. cummings

Foreboding

2009-10-21T14:46:00.004+01:00

fore·bod·ing
n.
A sense of impending evil or misfortune.

An evil omen; a portent.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

"No more the blue skies.
No more sunny sundays, walking hand in hand,
smiling kisses, naked bodies.
The rain has come."

(A. D. L.)

*Photo by Picasso

October

Books litter the bed,
leaves the lawn. It
lightly rains. Fall has
come: unpatterned, in
the shedding leaves.

The maples ripen. Apples
come home crisp in bags.
This pear tastes good.
It rains lightly on the
random leaf patterns.

The nimbus is spread
above our island. Rain
lightly patters on un-
shed leaves. The books
of fall litter the bed.

James Schuyler

Tough Luck (tough cookies)

2009-10-15T18:26:00.008+01:00

tough luck

(and tough cookies)

interj.
That is too bad.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.

"Bad Day.
Desperately need a hair cut,

a change of colour (going dark),

and a strong drink."

(A. D. L.)

*Photo by Ellen von Unwerth

Bad Day At The Beauty Salon

I was a 20 year old unemployed receptionist with dyed orange dreadlocks sprouting out of my skull. I needed a job, but first, I needed a haircut.

So I head for this beauty salon on Avenue B.
I'm gonna get a hairdo.
I'm gonna look just like those hot Spanish haircut models, become brown and bodacious, grow some 7 inch fingernails painted bitch red and rake them down the chalkboard of the job market's soul.

So I go in the beauty salon.

This beautiful Puerto Rican girl in tight white spandex and a push-up bra sits me down and starts chopping my hair:
"Girlfriend," she says, "what the hell you got growing outta your head there, what is that, hair implants? Yuck, you want me to touch that shit, whadya got in there, sandwiches?"

I just go: "I'm sorry."

She starts snipping my carefully cultivated Johnny Lydon post-Pistols hairdo. My foul little dreadlocks are flying around all over the place but I'm not looking in the mirror cause I just don't want to know.

"So what's your name anyway?" My stylist demands then.
"Uh, Maggie."
"Maggie? Well, that's an okay name, but my name is Suzy."
"Yeah, so?"
"Yeah so it ain't just Suzy S.U.Z.Y, I spell it S.U.Z.E.E, the extra "e" is for extra Suzee."

I nod emphatically.

Suzee tells me when she's not busy chopping hair, she works as an exotic dancer at night to support her boyfriend named Rocco. Suzee loves Rocco, she loves him so much she's got her eyes closed as she describes him:
"6 foot 2, 193 pounds and, girlfriend, his arms so big and long they wrap around me twice like I'm a little Suzee sandwich."

Little Suzee Sandwich is rapt, she blindly snips and clips at my poor punk head. She snips and clips and snips and clips, she pauses, I look in the mirror: "Holy shit, I'm bald."

"Holy shit, baby, you're bald." Suzee says, finally opening her eyes and then gasping.

All I've got left is little post-nuke clumps of orange fuzz. And I'll never get a receptionist job now.

But Suzy waves her manicured finger in my face: "Don't you worry, baby, I'm gonna get you a job at the dancing club."

"What?"

"Baby, let me tell you, the boys are gonna like a bald go go dancer."

That said, she whips out some clippers, shaves my head smooth and insists I'm gonna love getting naked for a living.

None of this sounds like my idea of a good time, but I'm broke and I'm bald so I go home and get my best panties. Suzee lends me some 6 inch pumps, paints my lips bright red, and gives me 7 shots of Jack Daniels to relax me.

8pm that night I take the stage.

I'm bald,
I'm drunk,
and by god,
I'm naked.

HOLY SHIT I'M NAKED IN A ROOM FULL OF STRANGERS THIS IS NOT ONE OF THOSE RECURRING NIGHTMARES WE ALL HAVE ABOUT BEING BUTT NAKED IN PUBLIC, I AM NAKED, I DON'T KNOW THESE PEOPLE, THIS REALLY SUCKS.

A few guys feel sorry for me and risk getting their hands bitten off by sticking dollars in my garter belt. My disheveled pubic hairs stand at full attention, ready to poke the guys' eyes out if they get too close.

Then I notice this bald guy in the audience, I've got a new empathy for bald people, I figure maybe it works both ways, maybe this guy will stick 10 bucks in my garter.

I saunter over.

I'm teetering around unrhythmically, I'm the surliest, unsexiest dancer that ever go-go across this hemisphere. The bald guy looks down into his beer, he'd much rather look at that than at my pubic mound which has now formed into one vicious spike so it looks like I've got a unicorn in my crotch.

I stand there weaving through the air.

The strobe light is illuminating my pubic unicorn. Madonna's song Borderline is pumping through the club's speaker system for the 5th time tonight: "BORDERLINE BORDERLINE BORDERLINE/LOVE ME TIL I JUST CAN'T SEE." And suddenly, I start to wonder: What does that mean anyway?

"LOVE ME TIL I JUST CAN'T SEE"

What?

Screw me so much my eyes pop out, I go blind, end up walking down 2nd Avenue crazy, horny, naked and blind? What?

There's a glitch in the tape and it starts to skip.

"Borderl...ooop.....Borderl....ooop...Borderlin.....ooop"

I stumble and twist my ankle. My g-string rides between my buttcheeks making me twitch with pain. My head starts spinning, my knees wobble, I go down on all fours and puke all over the bald guy's lap.

So there I am. Butt naked on all fours. But before I have time to regain my composure, the strip club manager comes over, points his smarmy strip club manager finger at me and goes:
"You're bald, you're drunk, you can't dance and you're fired."

I stand up.

"Oh yeah, well you stink like a sneaker, pal." I peel off one of my pumps and throw it in the direction of his fat head then I get the hell out of there.

A few days later I run into Suzee on Avenue A. Turns out she got fired for getting me a job there in the first place. But she was completely undaunted, she dragged me up to this wig store on 14th Street, bought me a mouse brown shag wig, then got us both telemarketing jobs on Wall Street.

And I never went to a beauty salon again.

Maggie Estep

OH!

2009-10-14T18:19:00.006+01:00

oh
interj.
1. Used to express strong emotion, such as surprise, fear, anger, or pain.
2. Used in direct address: Oh, sir! You forgot your keys.
3. Used to indicate understanding or acknowledgment of a statement.

in The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

'But I don't want to go among mad people,' said Alice.

'Oh, you can't help that,' said the cat. 'We're all mad here.'

(Lewis Carroll)

*Photo by Picasso

Oh

It is snowing and death bugs me
as stubborn as insomnia.
The fierce bubbles of chalk,
the little white lesions
settle on the street outside.
It is snowing and the ninety
year old woman who was combing
out her long white wraith hair
is gone, embalmed even now,
even tonight her arms are smooth
muskets at her side and nothing
issues from her but her last word - "Oh." Surprised by death.

It is snowing. Paper spots
are falling from the punch.
Hello? Mrs. Death is here!
She suffers according to the digits
of my hate. I hear the filaments
of alabaster. I would lie down
with them and lift my madness
off like a wig. I would lie
outside in a room of wool
and let the snow cover me.
Paris white or flake white
or argentine, all in the washbasin
of my mouth, calling, "Oh."
I am empty. I am witless.
Death is here. There is no
other settlement. Snow!
See the mark, the pock, the pock!

Meanwhile you pour tea
with your handsome gentle hands.
Then you deliberately take your
forefinger and point it at my temple,
saying, "You suicide bitch!
I'd like to take a corkscrew
and screw out all your brains
and you'd never be back ever."
And I close my eyes over the steaming
tea and see God opening His teeth.
"Oh." He says.
I see the child in me writing, "Oh."
Oh, my dear, not why.

Anne Sexton

Heavyheartedness

2009-10-09T19:26:00.005+01:00

heav⋅y-heart⋅ed
–adjective sorrowful; melancholy; dejected.

Related forms:

heav⋅y-heart⋅ed⋅ly, adverb
heav⋅y-heart⋅ed⋅ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.

"Go, forget me - why should sorrow, O'er that brow a shadow fling? Go, forget me - and to-morrow, brightly smile and sweetly sing. Smile - though I shall not be near thee; Sing - though I shall never hear thee. "

(Charles Wolfe)

*Photo by unknown author

Why Did I Laugh Tonight? No Voice Will Tell

Why did I laugh tonight? No voice will tell:
No God, no Demon of severe response,
Deigns to reply from Heaven or from Hell.
Then to my human heart I turn at once.
Heart! Thou and I are here, sad and alone;
I say, why did I laugh? O mortal pain!
O Darkness! Darkness! ever must I moan,
To question Heaven and Hell and Heart in vain.
Why did I laugh? I know this Being's lease,
My fancy to its utmost blisses spreads;
Yet would I on this very midnight cease,
And the world's gaudy ensigns see in shreds;
Verse, Fame, and Beauty are intense indeed,
But Death intenser—Death is Life's high meed.

John Keats

On Sadness, Loneliness, Darkness and (living) Death...

2009-10-08T22:34:00.003+01:00

*Photo by Nils Vils

Nothing But Death

There are cemeteries that are lonely,
graves full of bones that do not make a sound,
the heart moving through a tunnel,
in it darkness, darkness, darkness,
like a shipwreck we die going into ourselves,
as though we were drowning inside our hearts,
as though we lived falling out of the skin into the soul.

And there are corpses,
feet made of cold and sticky clay,
death is inside the bones,
like a barking where there are no dogs,
coming out from bells somewhere, from graves somewhere,
growing in the damp air like tears of rain.

Sometimes I see alone
coffins under sail,
embarking with the pale dead, with women that have dead hair,
with bakers who are as white as angels,
and pensive young girls married to notary publics,
caskets sailing up the vertical river of the dead,
the river of dark purple,
moving upstream with sails filled out by the sound of death,
filled by the sound of death which is silence.

Death arrives among all that sound
like a shoe with no foot in it, like a suit with no man in it,
comes and knocks, using a ring with no stone in it, with no
finger in it,
comes and shouts with no mouth, with no tongue, with no
throat.
Nevertheless its steps can be heard
and its clothing makes a hushed sound, like a tree.

I'm not sure, I understand only a little, I can hardly see,
but it seems to me that its singing has the color of damp violets,
of violets that are at home in the earth,
because the face of death is green,
and the look death gives is green,
with the penetrating dampness of a violet leaf
and the somber color of embittered winter.

But death also goes through the world dressed as a broom,
lapping the floor, looking for dead bodies,
death is inside the broom,
the broom is the tongue of death looking for corpses,
it is the needle of death looking for thread.

Death is inside the folding cots:
it spends its life sleeping on the slow mattresses,
in the black blankets, and suddenly breathes out:
it blows out a mournful sound that swells the sheets,
and the beds go sailing toward a port
where death is waiting, dressed like an admiral.

Pablo Neruda

High Spirits

2009-09-25T20:33:00.006+01:00

high spirits
–noun
a mood of joy, elation, etc.; vivacity.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2009.

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

(Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Cheer

It's a mighty good world, so it is, dear lass,
When even the worst is said.
There's a smile and a tear, a sigh and a cheer,
But better be living than dead;
A joy and a pain, a loss and a gain;
There's honey and may be some gall:
Yet still I declare, foul weather or fair,
It's a mighty good world after all.

For look, lass! at night when I break from the fight,
My Kingdom's awaiting for me;
There's comfort and rest, and the warmth of your breast,
And little ones climbing my knee.
There's fire-light and song -- Oh, the world may be wrong!
Its empires may topple and fall:
My home is my care -- if gladness be there,
It's a mighty good world after all.

O heart of pure gold! I have made you a fold,
It's sheltered, sun-fondled and warm.
O little ones, rest! I have fashioned a nest;
Sleep on! you are safe from the storm.
For there's no foe like fear, and there's no friend like cheer,
And sunshine will flash at our call;
So crown Love as King, and let us all sing --
"It's a mighty good world after all."

Robert Service

Bereavement

2009-09-24T20:39:00.007+01:00

be·reave

To leave desolate or alone, especially by death

Archaic To take (something valuable or necessary), typically by force.

be·reave'ment n., be·reav'er n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares."

(Henri Nouwen)

*Photo by unknown author, entitled "Bury my Heart"

Buried Love

I have come to bury Love
Beneath a tree,
In the forest tall and black
Where none can see.

I shall put no flowers at his head,
Nor stone at his feet,
For the mouth I loved so much
Was bittersweet.

I shall go no more to his grave,
For the woods are cold.
I shall gather as much of joy
As my hands can hold.

I shall stay all day in the sun
Where the wide winds blow, --
But oh, I shall cry at night
When none will know.

Sara Teasdale

Broken Heart

2009-09-21T01:27:00.000+01:00

broken heart
–noun
despair; disillusionment; devastating sorrow, esp. from disappointment in love.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,

"The heart is the only broken instrument that works."

(T. E. Kalem)

La Canción Desesperada

Emerge tu recuerdo de la noche en que estoy.
El río anuda al mar su lamento obstinado.

Abandonado como los muelles en el alba.
Es la hora de partir, oh abandonado!

Sobre mi corazón llueven frías corolas.
Oh sentina de escombros, feroz cueva de náufragos!

En ti se acumularon las guerras y los vuelos.
De ti alzaron las alas los pájaros del canto.

Todo te lo tragaste, como la lejanía.
Como el mar, como el tiempo. Todo en ti fue naufragio!

Era la alegre hora del asalto y el beso.
La hora del estupor que ardía como un faro.

Ansiedad de piloto, furia de buzo ciego,
turbia embriaguez de amor, todo en ti fue naufragio!

En la infancia de niebla mi alma alada y herida.
Descubridor perdido, todo en ti fue naufragio!

Te ceñiste al dolor, te agarraste al deseo.
Te tumbó la tristeza, todo en ti fue naufragio!

Hice retroceder la muralla de sombra,
anduve más allá del deseo y del acto.

Oh carne, carne mía, mujer que amé y perdí,
a ti en esta hora húmeda, evoco y hago canto.

Como un vaso albergaste la infinita ternura,
y el infinito olvido te trizó como a un vaso.

Era la negra, negra soledad de las islas,
y allí, mujer de amor, me acogieron tus brazos.

Era la sed y el hambre, y tú fuiste la fruta.
Era el duelo y las ruinas, y tú fuiste el milagro.

Ah mujer, no sé cómo pudiste contenerme
en la tierra de tu alma, y en la cruz de tus brazos!

Mi deseo de ti fue el más terrible y corto,
el más revuelto y ebrio, el más tirante y ávido.

Cementerio de besos, aún hay fuego en tus tumbas,
aún los racimos arden picoteados de pájaros.

Oh la boca mordida, oh los besados miembros,
oh los hambrientos dientes, oh los cuerpos trenzados.

Oh la cópula loca de esperanza y esfuerzo
en que nos anudamos y nos desesperamos.

Y la ternura, leve como el agua y la harina.
Y la palabra apenas comenzada en los labios.

Ese fue mi destino y en él viajó mi anhelo,
y en él cayó mi anhelo, todo en ti fue naufragio!

Oh, sentina de escombros, en ti todo caía,
qué dolor no exprimiste, qué olas no te ahogaron!

De tumbo en tumbo aún llameaste y cantaste.
De pie como un marino en la proa de un barco.

Aún floreciste en cantos, aún rompiste en corrientes.
Oh sentina de escombros, pozo abierto y amargo.

Pálido buzo ciego, desventurado hondero,
descubridor perdido, todo en ti fue naufragio!

Es la hora de partir, la dura y fría hora
que la noche sujeta a todo horario.

El cinturón ruidoso del mar ciñe la costa.
Surgen frías estrellas, emigran negros pájaros.

Abandonado como los muelles en el alba.
Sólo la sombra trémula se retuerce en mis manos.

Ah más allá de todo. Ah más allá de todo.

Es la hora de partir. Oh abandonado!

Pablo Neruda

Distance

2009-09-20T01:52:00.001+01:00

dis·tance

The extent of space between two objects or places; an intervening space
The fact or condition of being apart in space; remoteness
(...)
The extent of space between points on a measured course
(...)
A point or area that is far away
A depiction of a such a point or area
A stretch of space without designation of limit; an expanse
The extent of time between two events; an intervening period
A point removed in time
(...)
An amount of progress
Difference or disagreement
Emotional separateness or reserve; aloofness.

tr.v. dis·tanced, dis·tanc·ing, dis·tanc·es
To place or keep at or as if at a distance
To cause to appear at a distance
To leave far behind; outrun

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

"Do we need distance to get close?"

(Sarah Jessica Parker)

Distance

Were you to cross the world, my dear,
To work or love or fight,
I could be calm and wistful here,
And close my eyes at night.

It were a sweet and gallant pain
To be a sea apart;
But, oh, to have you down the lane
Is bitter to my heart.

Dorothy Parker

Lingering

2009-09-19T08:25:00.006+01:00

lin⋅ger

1. to remain or stay on in a place longer than is usual or expected, as if from reluctance to leave
2. to remain alive; continue or persist, although gradually dying, ceasing, disappearing, etc
3. to dwell in contemplation, thought, or enjoyment
4. to be tardy in action; delay; dawdle
5. to walk slowly; saunter along

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,

"Press forward. Do not stop, do not linger in your

journey, but strive for the mark set before you. "

(George Whitefield)

*Photo by Andrea-H

Chant For Dark Hours

Some men, some men
Cannot pass a
Book shop.
(Lady, make your mind up, and wait your life away.)

Some men, some men
Cannot pass a
Crap game.
(He said he'd come at moonrise, and here's another day!)

Some men, some men
Cannot pass a
Bar-room.
(Wait about, and hang about, and that's the way it goes.)

Some men, some men
Cannot pass a
Woman.
(Heaven never send me another one of those!)

Some men, some men
Cannot pass a
Golf course.
(Read a book, and sew a seam, and slumber if you can.)

Some men, some men
Cannot pass a
Haberdasher's.
(All your life you wait around for some damn man!)

Dorothy Parker

Weariness

2009-09-18T22:54:00.004+01:00

weariness

fatigue: temporary loss of strength and energy resulting from hard physical or mental work;

Fatigue (also called exhaustion, lethargy, languidness, languor, lassitude, and listlessness) is a weariness. It can describe a range of afflictions, varying from a general state of to a specific work-induced burning sensation within one's muscles. It can be both physical and mental.

exhaustion, fatigue or tiredness; a lack of interest or excitement
physically or mentally exhausted by hard work, exertion, strain, etc.

in wordnetweb.princeton.edu

"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish it's source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings."

(Anais Nin)

Ballade Of A Great Weariness

There's little to have but the things I had,
There's little to bear but the things I bore.
There's nothing to carry and naught to add,
And glory to Heaven, I paid the score.

There's little to do but I did before,
There's little to learn but the things I know;
And this is the sum of a lasting lore:
Scratch a lover, and find a foe.

And couldn't it be I was young and mad
If ever my heart on my sleeve I wore?
There's many to claw at a heart unclad,
And little the wonder it ripped and tore.
There's one that'll join in their push and roar,
With stories to jabber, and stones to throw;
He'll fetch you a lesson that costs you sore:
Scratch a lover, and find a foe.

So little I'll offer to you, my lad;
It's little in loving I set my store.
There's many a maid would be flushed and glad,
And better you'll knock at a kindlier door.
I'll dig at my lettuce, and sweep my floor,
Forever, forever I'm done with woe.
And happen I'll whistle about my chore,
"Scratch a lover, and find a foe."

L'ENVOI

Oh, beggar or prince, no more, no more!
Be off and away with your strut and show.
The sweeter the apple, the blacker the core:
Scratch a lover, and find a foe!

Dorothy Parker

Acedia

2009-09-17T03:24:00.000+01:00

Acedia is a word from ancient Greece describing a state of listlessness or torpor, of not caring or not being concerned with one's position or condition in the world. It can lead to a state of being unable to perform one's duties in life. Its spiritual overtones make it related to but distinct from depression. Acedia was originally noted as a problem among monks and other ascetics who maintained a solitary life.

in Wikipedia

"Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat.
I don't much care where- said Alice.
Then it doesn't matter which way you go, said the Cat."

— Lewis Carroll (Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There)

*Photography by Diana G.

Observation

If I don't drive around the park,
I'm pretty sure to make my mark.
If I'm in bed each night by ten,
I may get back my looks again,
If I abstain from fun and such,
I'll probably amount to much,
But I shall stay the way I am,
Because I do not give a damn.

Dorothy Parker

Gloom

2009-09-16T03:06:00.001+01:00

Gloom, a melancholy, depressing, darkness, shade or despondent atmosphere.

in Wikipedia

"And so we remained till the red of the dawn began to fall through the snow gloom. I was desolate and afraid, and full of woe and terror. But when that beautiful sun began to climb the horizon life was to me again."

(Bram Stoker)

*Photo by Nuno Milheiro

If Death Is Kind

Perhaps if Death is kind, and there can be returning,
We will come back to earth some fragrant night,
And take these lanes to find the sea, and bending
Breathe the same honeysuckle, low and white.

We will come down at night to these resounding beaches
And the long gentle thunder of the sea,
Here for a single hour in the wide starlight
We shall be happy, for the dead are free.

Sara Teasdale

Mortality

2009-09-15T10:41:00.005+01:00

Mortality is the condition of being mortal, or susceptible to death

in Wikipedia

"I have been unexpectedly confronted with my own mortality as I was told that I had cancer."

(Jodi Rell)

Less Time

Less time than it takes to say it, less tears than it takes to die; I've taken account of everything, there you have it. I've made a census of the stones, they are as numerous as my fingers and some others; I've distributed some pamphelts to the plants, but not all were willing to accept them. I've kept company with music for a second only and now I no longer know what to think of suicide, for if I ever want to part from myself, the exit is on this side and, I add mischievously, the entrance, the re-entrance is on the other. You see what you still have to do. Hours, grief, I don't keep a reasonable account of them; I'm alone, I look out of the window; there is no passerby, or rather no one passes (underline passes). You don't know this man? It's Mr. Same.
May I introduce Madam Madam? And their children. Then I turn back on my steps, my steps turn back too, but I don't know exactly what they turn back on. I consult a schedule; the names of the towns have been replaced by the names of people who have been quite close to me. Shall I go to A, return to B, change at X? Yes, of course I'll change at X. Provided I don't miss the connection with boredom! There we are: boredom, beautiful parallels, ah! how beautiful the parallels are under God's perpendicular.

André Breton

Sexual Abstinence

2009-09-14T10:40:00.000+01:00

Sexual abstinence is the practice of voluntarily refraining from some or all aspects of sexual activity.

in Wikipedia

Doctor: You mustn't have sex during the following 8 days. Remember! You can't have sex until next week!

Patient: You have no idea how right you are...

Photo by Jessica Weiser, "Sex on the Beach"

Hot

she was hot, she was so hot
I didn't want anybody else to have her,
and if I didn't get home on time
she'd be gone, and I couldn't bear that-
I'd go mad. . .
it was foolish I know, childish,
but I was caught in it, I was caught.
I delivered all the mail
and then Henderson put me on the night pickup run
in an old army truck,
the damn thing began to heat halfway through the run
and the night went on
me thinking about my hot Miriam
and jumping in and out of the truck
filling mailsacks
the engine continuing to heat up
the temperature needle was at the top
HOT HOT
like Miriam.
leaped in and out
3 more pickups and into the station
I'd be, my car
waiting to get me to Miriam who sat on my blue couch
with scotch on the rocks
crossing her legs and swinging her ankles
like she did,
2 more stops. . .
the truck stalled at a traffic light, it was hell
kicking it over
again. . .
I had to be home by 8,8 was the deadline for Miriam.
I made the last pickup and the truck stalled at a signal
1/2 block from the station. . .
it wouldn't start, it couldn't start. . .
I locked the doors, pulled the key and ran down to the
station. . .
I threw the keys down. . .signed out. . .
your goddamned truck is stalled at the signal,
I shouted,
Pico and Western. . .
. . .I ran down the hall,put the key into the door,
opened it. . .her drinking glass was there, and a note:

sun of a bitch:
I waited until 5 after ate
you don't love me
you sun of a bitch
somebody will love me
I been wateing all day

Miriam

I poured a drink and let the water run into the tub
there were 5,000 bars in town
and I'd make 25 of them
looking for Miriam
her purple teddy bear held the note
as he leaned against a pillow
I gave the bear a drink, myself a drink
and got into the hot
water.

Charles Bukowski

The Wait

2009-09-13T07:37:00.001+01:00

wait
n.
The act of waiting or the time spent waiting.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"There's nothing more stressful than waiting for an answer..."

(A. D. L.)

*Painting by Vermeer

The Wait

It is life in slow motion,
it's the heart in reverse,
it's a hope-and-a-half:
too much and too little at once.

It's a train that suddenly
stops with no station around,
and we can hear the cricket,
and, leaning out the carriage

door, we vainly contemplate
a wind we feel that stirs
the blooming meadows, the meadows
made imaginary by this stop.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Too many feelings to entitle this...

2009-09-12T06:43:00.002+01:00

Alone With Everybody

the flesh covers the bone
and they put a mind
in there and
sometimes a soul,
and the women break
vases against the walls
and the men drink too
much
and nobody finds the
one
but keep
looking
crawling in and out
of beds.
flesh covers
the bone and the
flesh searches
for more than
flesh.

there's no chance
at all:
we are all trapped
by a singular
fate.

nobody ever finds
the one.

the city dumps fill
the junkyards fill
the madhouses fill
the hospitals fill
the graveyards fill

nothing else
fills.

Charles Bukowski

Wounds

2009-09-11T11:35:00.001+01:00

wound
n.
An injury, especially one in which the skin or another external surface is torn, pierced, cut, or otherwise broken.
An injury to the feelings.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"When love beckons to you, follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you."

(Kahlil Gibran)

Photo by Takala, "Protect Me"

Sonnet 120: That you were once unkind befriends me now

That you were once unkind befriends me now,
And for that sorrow, which I then did feel,
Needs must I under my transgression bow,
Unless my nerves were brass or hammered steel.
For if you were by my unkindness shaken
As I by yours, y'have passed a hell of time,
And I, a tyrant, have no leisure taken
To weigh how once I suffered in your crime.
O, that our night of woe might have remembered
My deepest sense how hard true sorrow hits,
And soon to you, as you to me then, tendered
The humble salve which wounded bosoms fits!
But that your trespass now becomes a fee;
Mine ransoms yours, and yours must ransom me.

William Shakespeare

Longing for you...

2009-09-10T23:08:00.002+01:00

*Photo from Sony World Photography Awards

Clenched Soul

We have lost even this twilight.
No one saw us this evening hand in hand
while the blue night dropped on the world.

I have seen from my window
the fiesta of sunset in the distant mountain tops.

Sometimes a piece of sun
burned like a coin in my hand.

I remembered you with my soul clenched
in that sadness of mine that you know.

Where were you then?
Who else was there?
Saying what?
Why will the whole of love come on me suddenly
when I am sad and feel you are far away?

The book fell that always closed at twilight
and my blue sweater rolled like a hurt dog at my feet.

Always, always you recede through the evenings
toward the twilight erasing statues.

Pablo Neruda

Detachment

2009-09-09T11:52:00.006+01:00

de·tach·ment
n.
The act or process of disconnecting or detaching; separation.
The state of being separate or detached.
Indifference to or remoteness from the concerns of others; aloofness
Absence of prejudice or bias; disinterest

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"He who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment."

(Meister Eckhart)

*Photo by Janaka Rodrigue

Rain

a symphony orchestra.

there is a thunderstorm,

they are playing a Wagner overture

and the people leave their seats under the trees

and run inside to the pavilion

the women giggling, the men pretending calm,

wet cigarettes being thrown away,

Wagner plays on, and then they are all under the

pavilion. the birds even come in from the trees

and enter the pavilion and then it is the Hungarian

Rhapsody #2 by Lizst, and it still rains, but look,

one man sits alone in the rain

listening. the audience notices him. they turn

and look. the orchestra goes about its

business. the man sits in the night in the rain,

listening. there is something wrong with him,

isn't there?

he came to hear the

music.

Charles Bukowski

Heaven and Hell

2009-09-08T21:57:00.012+01:00

In many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict Hell as an intermediary period between incarnations.
Punishment in Hell typically corresponds to sins committed in life. Sometimes these distinctions are specific, with damned souls suffering for each wrong committed (see for example Plato's myth of Er or Dante's The Divine Comedy), and sometimes they are general, with sinners being relegated to one or more chamber of Hell or level of suffering. In Islam and Christianity, however, faith and repentance play a larger role than actions in determining a soul's afterlife destiny.
In Christianity and Islam, Hell is traditionally depicted as fiery and painful, inflicting guilt and suffering. Some other traditions, however, portray Hell as cold and gloomy. Despite the common depictions of Hell as a fire, Dante's Inferno portrays the innermost (9th) circle of Hell as a frozen lake of blood and guilt. Hell is often portrayed as populated with demons, who torment the damned. Many are ruled by a death god, such as Nergal or the Christian Satan.

In contrast to Hell, other types of afterlives are abodes of the dead and paradises. Abodes of the dead are neutral places for all the dead rather than prisons of punishment for sinners. A paradise is a happy afterlife for some or all the dead. Modern understandings of Hell often depict it abstractly, as a state of loss rather than as fiery torture literally under the ground.

Paradise is a place in which existence is positive, harmonious and timeless. It is conceptually a counter-image of the miseries of human civilization, and in paradise there is only peace, prosperity, and happiness. Paradise is a place of contentment, but it is not necessarily a land of luxury and idleness. (...)
Paradisaical notions are cross-cultural, often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both. In eschatological contexts, paradise is imagined as an abode of the virtuous dead. In Christian and Islamic understanding heaven is a paradisaical relief, evident for example in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus tells a penitent criminal crucified alongside him that they will be together in paradise that day. In Native American beliefs, the other-world is an eternal hunting ground. In old Egyptian beliefs, the other-world is Aaru, the reed-fields of ideal hunting and fishing grounds where the dead lived after judgment. For the Celts, it was the Fortunate Isle of Mag Mell. For the classical Greeks, the Elysian fields was a paradisaical land of plenty where the heroic and righteous dead hoped to spend eternity. The Vedic Indians held that the physical body was destroyed by fire but recreated and reunited in the Third Heaven in a state of bliss. In the Zoroastrian Avesta, the "Best Existence" and the "House of Song" are places of the righteous dead. (...)

in Wikipedia

"Between us and heaven or hell there is only life,

which is the frailest thing in the world."

(Blaise Pascal)

Who has not found the heaven below, Quem por cá falhou o céu
Will fail of it above. Não o achará lá em cima.
God’s residence is next to mine, A casa de Deus, que é amor,
His furniture is love. Fica mesmo ao pé da minha.

Poem by Emily Dickinson
Tradução: Maria Helena de Paiva Correia

Joy

2009-09-07T15:44:00.000+01:00

joy
–noun
1. the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation
2. a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated
3. the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety.
4. a state of happiness or felicity.

unknown source

"Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough."

(Emily Dickinson)

*Photography by unknown author, "Joie de Vivre"

Joy

Let a joy keep you.
Reach out your hands
And take it when it runs by,
As the Apache dancer
Clutches his woman.
I have seen them
Live long and laugh loud,
Sent on singing, singing,
Smashed to the heart
Under the ribs
With a terrible love.
Joy always,
Joy everywhere--
Let joy kill you!
Keep away from the little deaths.

Carl Sandburg

Ignorance

2009-09-06T11:45:00.000+01:00

ig·no·rance
n. The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance."

(Confucius)

Ignorance

Strange to know nothing, never to be sure
Of what is true or right or real,
But forced to qualify or so I feel,
Or Well, it does seem so:
Someone must know.

Strange to be ignorant of the way things work:
Their skill at finding what they need,
Their sense of shape, and punctual spread of seed,
And willingness to change;
Yes, it is strange,

Even to wear such knowledge - for our flesh
Surrounds us with its own decisions -
And yet spend all our life on imprecisions,
That when we start to die
Have no idea why.

Philip Larkin

Some old feelings... same old feeling

2009-09-05T04:51:00.005+01:00

NO DEFINITIONS TODAY.
WHAT IS THERE TO DEFINE?
NO COMMENTS AND NOTHING TO QUOTE.
JUST LISTEN TO THE MUSIC.

Raw With Love

Little dark girl with
kind eyes
when it comes time to
use the knife
I won't flinch and
i won't blame
you,
as I drive along the shore alone
as the palms wave,
the ugly heavy palms,
as the living does not arrive
as the dead do not leave,
i won't blame you,
instead
i will remember the kisses
our lips raw with love
and how you gave me
everything you had
and how I
offered you what was left of
me,
and I will remember your small room
the feel of you
the light in the window
your recordds
your books
our morning coffee
our noons our nights
our bodies spilled together
sleeping
the tiny flowing currents
immediate and forever
your leg my leg
your arm my arm
your smile and the warmth
of you
who made me laugh
again.
little dark girl with kind eyes
you have no
knife.the knife is
mine and i won't use it
yet.

Charles Bukowski

Futility

2009-09-04T02:28:00.002+01:00

Main Entry: fu·til·i·ty
Pronunciation: \fyü-ˈti-lə-tē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural fu·til·i·ties
Date: circa 1623
1 : the quality or state of being futile : uselessness

2 : a useless act or gesture

in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

"Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right.

As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established."

(George Carlin)

Futility

Dusting my books I spent a busy day:
Not ancient toes, time-hallowed and unread,
but modern volumes, classics in their way,
whose makers now are numbered with the dead;
Men of a generation more than mine,
With whom I tattled, battled and drank wine.

I worshipped them, rejoiced in their success,
Grudging them not the gold that goes with fame.
I thought them near-immortal, I confess,
And naught could dim the glory of each name.
How I perused their pages with delight! . . .
To-day I peer with sadness in my sight.

For, death has pricked each to a flat balloon.
A score of years have gone, they're clean forgot.
Who would have visioned such a dreary doom?
By God! I'd like to burn the blasted lot.
Only, old books are mighty hard to burn:
They char, they flicker and their pages turn.

And as you stand to poke them in the flame,
You see a living line that stabs the heart.
Brave writing that! It seems a cursed shame
That to a bonfire it should play it's part.
Poor book! You're crying, and you're not alone:
Some day someone will surely burn my own.

No, I will dust my books and put them by,
Yet never look into their leaves again;
For scarce a soul remembers them save I,
Re-reading them would only give me pain.
So I will sigh, and say with curling lip:
Futility! Thy name is authorship.

Robert Service

Frenzy

2009-09-03T02:14:00.001+01:00

fren·zy (frěn'zē)
n. pl. fren·zies

A state of violent mental agitation or wild excitement.
Temporary madness or delirium.
A mania; a craze.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"I'm in an absolute frenzy towards doing as many things as I can that I want to do today.

The rest can wait till tomorrow, next week, if I'm around we'll take a look."

(Buck Owens)

*Photo by Annie Leibowitz

Frenzy

I am not lazy.
I am on the amphetamine of the soul.
I am, each day,
typing out the God
my typewriter believes in.
Very quick. Very intense,
like a wolf at a live heart.
Not lazy.
When a lazy man, they say,
looks toward heaven,
the angels close the windows.

Oh angels,
keep the windows open
so that I may reach in
and steal each object,
objects that tell me the sea is not dying,
objects that tell me the dirt has a life-wish,
that the Christ who walked for me,
walked on true ground
and that this frenzy,
like bees stinging the heart all morning,
will keep the angels
with their windows open,
wide as an English bathtub.

Anne Sexton

Forgetfulness

2009-09-02T01:54:00.001+01:00

for·get·ful (fər-gět'fəl, fôr-)
adj.
Tending or likely to forget.
Marked by neglectful or heedless failure to remember: forgetful of one's responsibilities.
Causing one to be unable to remember.

for·get'ful·ness n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"There is some pleasure even in words,

when they bring forgetfulness of present miseries."

(Sophocles)

Forgetfulness

The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

Billy Collins

Fairness and Unfairness

2009-09-01T08:49:00.001+01:00

fair
–adjective
1.
free from bias, dishonesty, or injustice: a fair decision
2.
legitimately sought, pursued, done, given, etc.; proper under the rules
3.
moderately large; ample
4.
neither excellent nor poor; moderately or tolerably good
5.
marked by favoring conditions; likely; promising
6.
unobstructed; not blocked up
9.
without irregularity or unevenness
10.
free from blemish, imperfection, or anything that impairs the appearance, quality, or character
11.
easy to read; clear
12.
pleasing in appearance; attractive
14.
courteous; civil
16.
in a fair manner
19.
straight; directly, as in aiming or hitting
20.
favorably; auspiciously

–noun
22.
Archaic. something that is fair.
23.
Archaic.
a.
a woman.
b.
a beloved woman.

Dictionary.com (abridged and adapted)
Based on the Random House Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2009.

un⋅fair
–adjective
1.
not fair; not conforming to approved standards, as of justice, honesty, or ethics
2.
disproportionate; undue; beyond what is proper or fitting

un⋅fair⋅ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2009.

"These men ask for just the same thing, fairness, and fairness only.

This, so far as in my power, they, and all others, shall have."
(Abraham Lincoln)

Painting by Johannes Vermeer

Fair And Unfair

The beautiful is fair. The just is fair.
Yet one is commonplace and one is rare,
One everywhere, one scarcely anywhere.

So fair unfair a world. Had we the wit
To use the surplus for the deficit,
We'd make a fairer fairer world of it.

Robert Francis

Escapism

2009-08-31T06:16:00.003+01:00

Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" from the perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life.
It can also be used as a term to define the actions people take to try to help relieve persisting feelings of depression or general sadness.

Some believe that this diversion is more inherent in today's urban, technological existence because it removes people from their biologically normal natures. Entire industries have sprung up to foster a growing tendency of people to remove themselves from the rigors of daily life. Amongst these are fiction literature, music, religion, sports, films, television, roleplaying games, pornography, recreational drugs, video games and the internet. Many activities that are normal parts of a healthy existence (e.g., eating, exercise, sexual activity) can also become avenues of escapism when taken to extreme.
In the context of being taken to an extreme, the word "escapism" carries a negative connotation, suggesting that escapists are unhappy, with an inability or unwillingness to connect meaningfully with the world.
However, there are some who challenge the idea that escapism is fundamentally and exclusively negative. For instance, J.R.R. Tolkien, responding to the Anglo-Saxon academic debate on escapism in the 1930s, wrote in his essay "On Fairy-Stories" that escapism had an element of emancipation in its attempt to figure a different reality. C. S. Lewis was also fond of humorously remarking that the usual enemies of escape were jailers.
Some social critics warn of attempts by the powers that control society to provide means of escapism instead of actually bettering the condition of the people. For example, Karl Marx wrote about religion as being the "opium of the people". This is to be compared to the thought of Saint Augustine of Hippo, who argued that people try to find satisfaction in material things to fill a void within them that only God can fill.
Escapist societies appear often in literature. The Time Machine depicts the Eloi, a lackadaisical, insouciant race of the future, and the horror their happy lifestyle belies. The novel subtly criticizes capitalism, or at least classism, as a means of escape. Escapist societies are common in dystopian novels for example Fahrenheit 451, where society uses television and "seashell radios" to escape a life with strict regulations and the threat of the forthcoming war.
German social philosopher Ernst Bloch wrote that utopias and images of fulfillment, however regressive they might be, also included an impetus for a radical social change. According to Bloch, social justice could not be realized without seeing things fundamentally differently. Something that is mere "daydreaming" or "escapism" from the viewpoint of a technological-rational society might be a seed for a new and more humane social order, it can be seen as an "immature, but honest substitute for revolution".

in Wikipedia

"A great book provides escapism for me.

The artistry and the creativity in a story are better than any drugs."

(Wentworth Miller)

*Photo by Rebecca Miller

A Book

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!

Emily Dickinson

Escape

2009-08-30T06:09:00.001+01:00

es·cape (ĭ-skāp')
n.
The act or an instance of escaping.
A means of escaping.
A means of obtaining temporary freedom from worry, care, or unpleasantness
A gradual effusion from an enclosure; a leakage.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"Hiding places there are innumerable, escape is only one,

but possibilities of escape, again, are as many as hiding places."
(Franz Kafka)

*Photo by Aurelia24, "Escape"

Escape

Tell me, Tramp, where I may go
To be free from human woe;
Say where I may hope to find
Ease of heart and peace of mind;
Is there not some isle you know
Where I may leave Care behind?

So spoke one is sore distress,
And I answered softly: "Yes,
There's an isle so sweet and kind
So to clemency inclined,
So serene in loveliness
That the blind may lead the blind.

"Where there is no shade of fear,
For the sun shines all the year,
And there hangs on every tree
Fruit and food for you and me:
With each dawn so crystal clear
How like heaven earth can be!

"Where in mild and friendly clime
You will lose all count of time,
See the seasons blend in one,
Under sovereignty of sun;
Day with day resolve in rhyme,
Reveries and nothing done.

"You will mock the ocean roar,
Knowing you will evermore
Bide beside a lorn lagoon,
Listen to the ripples croon
On the muteness of the shore,
Silver-shattered in the moon.

"Come, let's quit this sorry strife,
Seek a sweeter, saner life,
Go so far, so very far
It just seems another star.
Go where joy and love are rife,
Go where peace and plenty are."

But he answered: "Brother, no,
To your isle I'll never go,
For the pity in my heart
Will not let me live apart
From God's world of want and woe:
I will stay and play my part,
Strive and suffer . . . Be it so."

Robert Service

Despair

2009-08-29T09:59:00.001+01:00

de·spair
To lose all hope
To be overcome by a sense of futility or defeat
n.
Complete loss of hope.
One despaired of or causing despair

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"Don't despair,

not even over the fact that you don't despair."

(Franz Kafka)

*Photo by Brigid, "Despair"

Despair

Who is he?
A railroad track toward hell?
Breaking like a stick of furniture?
The hope that suddenly overflows the cesspool?
The love that goes down the drain like spit?
The love that said forever, forever
and then runs you over like a truck?
Are you a prayer that floats into a radio advertisement?
Despair,
I don't like you very well.
You don't suit my clothes or my cigarettes.
Why do you locate here
as large as a tank,
aiming at one half of a lifetime?
Couldn't you just go float into a tree
instead of locating here at my roots,
forcing me out of the life I've led
when it's been my belly so long?

All right!
I'll take you along on the trip
where for so many years
my arms have been speechless

Anne Sexton

Darkness

2009-08-28T11:51:00.001+01:00

Darkness (also called lightlessness) is the absence of light. Scientifically it is only possible to have a reduced amount of light. The emotional response to an absence of light has inspired metaphor in literature, symbolism in art, and emphasis.

(...)

As a poetic term, darkness can also mean the presence of shadows, evil, or depression.

Darkness can have a strong psychological impact. It can cause depression in people with seasonal affective disorder, fear in nyctophobics, comfort in lygophilics, or attraction as in gothic fashion. These emotions are used to add power to literary imagery.

Religious texts often use darkness to make a visual point. In the Bible, darkness was the second to last plague (Exodus 10:21) and the location of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12) The Qur’an has been interpreted to say that those who transgress the bounds of what is right are doomed to “burning despair and ice-cold darkness.” (Nab 78.25) In Greek Mythology, three layers of night surround Tartarus, a place for the worst sinners as far beneath Hades as heaven is high above earth.

The Hindu goddess Kalí (black, dark colored) is also closely associated with darkness and violence, though she is equally associated with motherhood and benevolence.

In Chinese philosophy Yin is the feminine part of the Taijitu and is represented by a dark lobe.

The use of darkness as a rhetorical device has a long standing tradition. Shakespeare, working in the 16th and 17th centuries, made a character called Satan, the “prince of darkness” (King Lear: III, iv) and gave darkness jaws with which to devour love. (A Midsummer Night’s Dream: I, i) Chaucer, a 14th century Middle English writer, wrote that knights must cast away the “workes of darkness.” Dante described hell as “solid darkness stain’d.”

(...)

in Wikipedia

"Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness."

(Yousuf Karsh)

*Photo by ou... comme Blandine

Darkness

I had a dream, which was not all a dream.
The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars
Did wander darkling in the eternal space,
Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth
Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;
Morn came and went—and came, and brought no day,
And men forgot their passions in the dread
Of this their desolation; and all hearts
Were chilled into a selfish prayer for light;
And they did live by watchfires—and the thrones,
The palaces of crowned kings—the huts,
The habitations of all things which dwell,
Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed,
And men were gathered round their blazing homes
To look once more into each other's face;
Happy were those which dwelt within the eye
Of the volcanoes, and their mountain-torch;
A fearful hope was all the world contained;
Forests were set on fire—but hour by hour
They fell and faded—and the crackling trunks
Extinguished with a crash—and all was black.
The brows of men by the despairing light
Wore an unearthly aspect, as by fits
The flashes fell upon them: some lay down
And hid their eyes and wept; and some did rest
Their chins upon their clenched hands, and smiled;
And others hurried to and fro, and fed
Their funeral piles with fuel, and looked up
With mad disquietude on the dull sky,
The pall of a past world; and then again
With curses cast them down upon the dust,
And gnashed their teeth and howled; the wild birds shrieked,
And, terrified, did flutter on the ground,
And flap their useless wings; the wildest brutes
Came tame and tremulous; and vipers crawled
And twined themselves among the multitude,
Hissing, but stingless—they were slain for food;
And War, which for a moment was no more,
Did glut himself again;—a meal was bought
With blood, and each sate sullenly apart
Gorging himself in gloom: no love was left;
All earth was but one thought—and that was death,
Immediate and inglorious; and the pang
Of famine fed upon all entrails—men
Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh;
The meagre by the meagre were devoured,
Even dogs assailed their masters, all save one,
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept
The birds and beasts and famished men at bay,
Till hunger clung them, or the drooping dead
Lured their lank jaws; himself sought out no food,
But with a piteous and perpetual moan,
And a quick desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answered not with a caress—he died.
The crowd was famished by degrees; but two
Of an enormous city did survive,
And they were enemies: they met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place
Where had been heaped a mass of holy things
For an unholy usage: they raked up,
And shivering scraped with their cold skeleton hands
The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath
Blew for a little life, and made a flame
Which was a mockery; then they lifted up
Their eyes as it grew lighter, and beheld
Each other's aspects—saw, and shrieked, and died—
Even of their mutual hideousness they died,
Unknowing who he was upon whose brow
Famine had written Fiend. The world was void,
The populous and the powerful was a lump,
Seasonless, herbless, treeless, manless, lifeless—
A lump of death—a chaos of hard clay.
The rivers, lakes, and ocean all stood still,
And nothing stirred within their silent depths;
Ships sailorless lay rotting on the sea,
And their masts fell down piecemeal; as they dropped
They slept on the abyss without a surge—
The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,
The Moon, their mistress, had expired before;
The winds were withered in the stagnant air,
And the clouds perished! Darkness had no need
Of aid from them—She was the Universe!

Lord Byron

Kindliness

2009-08-27T16:33:00.010+01:00

kind⋅li⋅ness
–noun
1. the state or quality of being kindly; benevolence.
2. a kindly deed.

in Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2009.

"One could laugh at the world better if it didn't mix tender kindliness with its brutality."

(David Herbert Lawrence)

Be Kind

we are always asked
to understand the other person's
viewpoint
no matter how
out-dated
foolish or
obnoxious.

one is asked
to view
their total error
their life-waste
with
kindliness,
especially if they are
aged.

but age is the total of
our doing.
they have aged
badly
because they have
lived
out of focus,
they have refused to
see.

not their fault?

whose fault?
mine?

I am asked to hide
my viewpoint
from them
for fear of their
fear.

age is no crime

but the shame
of a deliberately
wasted
life

among so many
deliberately
wasted
lives

is.

Charles Bukowski

The Joke and The Joker (fooling and being fooled)

2009-08-24T01:30:00.002+01:00

fool
n.
One who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding.
One who acts unwisely on a given occasion
One who has been tricked or made to appear ridiculous; a dupe
(...)

v. fooled, fool·ing, foolsv. tr.
To deceive or trick; dupe
(...)

Foolish; stupid: off on some fool errand or other.

in The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
Fourth EditionCopyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved

"If one does not understand a person,

one tends to regard him as a fool."

(Carl Jung)

a clown's smirk in the skull of a baboon... (LI)

a clown's smirk in the skull of a baboon
(where once good lips stalked or eyes firmly stirred)
my mirror gives me,on this afternoon;
i am a shape that can but eat and turd
ere with the dirt death shall him vastly gird,
a coward waiting clumsily to cease
whom every perfect thing meanwhile doth miss;
a hand's impression in an empty glove,
a soon forgotten tune,a house for lease.
I have never loved you dear as now i love

behold this fool who,in the month of June,
having certain stars and planets heard,
rose very slowly in a tight balloon
until the smallening world became absurd;
him did an archer spy(whose aim had erred
never)and by that little trick or this
he shot the aeronaut down,into the abyss
-and wonderfully i fell through the green groove
of twilight,striking into many a piece.
I have never loved you dear as now i love

god's terrible face,brighter than a spoon,
collects the image of one fatal word;
so that my life(which liked the sun and the moon)
resembles something that has not occurred:
i am a birdcage without any bird,
a collar looking for a dog,a kiss
without lips;a prayer lacking any knees
but something beats within my shirt to prove
he is undead who,living,noone is.
I have never loved you dear as now i love.

Hell(by most humble me which shall increase)
open thy fire!for i have had some bliss
of one small lady upon earth above;
to whom i cry,remembering her face,
i have never loved you dear as now i love

e.e. cummings

the joke:

the joker:

The Blues

2009-08-23T01:24:00.000+01:00

Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre created within the African-American communities in the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form (...) is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll.

(...)

The term "the blues" refers to the "the blue devils", meaning melancholy and sadness; (...) In lyrics the phrase is often used to describe a depressed mood.

in Wikipedia

"Like you and your woman ain't gettin' along and you're in love. You can't sleep at nights. Your mind is on her - on whatever. You know, that's the blues. You can't hug that money at night. You can't kiss it."
(John Lee Hooker)

*Photo by Marina Lippert, "Night Blues"

"Nobody can tell you how the blues feel unless they have the blues. We all take it differently."
(Otis Rush)

Bluebird

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pur whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?

Charles Bukowski

The Prick and the Whore (cocktail of feelings)

2009-08-22T15:38:00.006+01:00

"The main difference between men and women is that men are lunatics and women are idiots."
(Rebecca West)

A Man

George was lying in his trailer, flat on his back, watching a small portable T.V. His dinner dishes were undone, his breakfast dishes were undone, he needed a shave, and ash from his rolled cigarettes dropped onto his undershirt. Some of the ash was still burning. Sometimes the burning ash missed the undershirt and hit his skin, then he cursed, brushing it away. There was a knock on the trailer door. He got slowly to his feet and answered the door. It was Constance. She had a fifth of unopened whiskey in a bag.

"George, I left that son of a bitch, I couldn't stand that son of a bitch anymore."

"Sit down."

George opened the fifth, got two glasses, filled each a third with whiskey, two thirds with water. He sat down on the bed with Constance. She took a cigarette out of her purse and lit it. She was drunk and her hands trembled.

"I took his damn money too. I took his damn money and split while he was at work. You don't know how I've suffered with that son of a bitch." "

Lemme have a smoke," said George. She handed it to him and as she leaned near, George put his arm around her, pulled her over and kissed her.

"You son of a bitch," she said, "I missed you."

"I miss those good legs of yours , Connie. I've really missed those good legs."

"You still like 'em?"

"I get hot just looking."

"I could never make it with a college guy," said Connie. "They're too soft, they're milktoast. And he kept his house clean. George , it was like having a maid. He did it all. The place was spotless. You could eat beef stew right off the crapper. He was antisceptic, that's what he was."

"Drink up, you'll feel better."

"And he couldn't make love."

"You mean he couldn't get it up?"

"Oh he got it up, he got it up all the time. But he didn't know how to make a woman happy, you know. He didn't know what to do. All that money, all that education, he was useless."

"I wish I had a college education."

"You don't need one. You have everything you need, George."

"I'm just a flunkey. All the shit jobs."

"I said you have everything you need, George. You know how to make a woman happy."

"Yeh?"

"Yes. And you know what else? His mother came around! His mother! Two or three times a week. And she'd sit there looking at me, pretending to like me but all the time she was treating me like I was a whore. Like I was a big bad whore stealing her son away from her! Her precious Wallace! Christ! What a mess!" "He claimed he loved me. And I'd say, 'Look at my pussy, Walter!' And he wouldn't look at my pussy. He said, 'I don't want to look at that thing.' That thing! That's what he called it! You're not afraid of my pussy, are you, George?"

"It's never bit me yet." "But you've bit it, you've nibbled it, haven't you George?"

"I suppose I have."

"And you've licked it , sucked it?"

"I suppose so."

"You know damn well, George, what you've done."

"How much money did you get?"

"Six hundred dollars."

"I don't like people who rob other people, Connie."

"That's why you're a fucking dishwasher. You're honest. But he's such an ass, George. And he can afford the money, and I've earned it... him and his mother and his love, his mother-love, his clean l;ittle wash bowls and toilets and disposal bags and breath chasers and after shave lotions and his little hard-ons and his precious love-making. All for himself, you understand, all for himself! You know what a woman wants, George."

"Thanks for the whiskey, Connie. Lemme have another cigarette."

George filled them up again. "I missed your legs, Connie. I've really missed those legs. I like the way you wear those high heels. They drive me crazy. These modern women don't know what they're missing. The high heel shapes the calf, the thigh, the ass; it puts rythm into the walk. It really turns me on!"

"You talk like a poet, George. Sometimes you talk like that. You are one hell of a dishwasher."

"You know what I'd really like to do?"

"What?"

"I'd like to whip you with my belt on the legs, the ass, the thighs. I'd like to make you quiver and cry and then when you're quivering and crying I'd slam it into you pure love."

"I don't want that, George. You've never talked like that to me before. You've always done right with me."

"Pull your dress up higher."

"What?"

"Pull your dress up higher, I want to see more of your legs."

"You like my legs, don't you, George?"

"Let the light shine on them!"

Constance hiked her dress.

"God christ shit," said George.

"You like my legs?"

"I love your legs!" Then george reached across the bed and slapped Constance hard across the face. Her cigarette flipped out of her mouth.

"what'd you do that for?"

"You fucked Walter! You fucked Walter!"

"So what the hell?"

"So pull your dress up higher!"

"No!"

"Do what I say!" George slapped again, harder. Constance hiked her skirt.

"Just up to the panties!" shouted George. "I don't quite want to see the panties!"

"Christ, george, what's gone wrong with you?"

"You fucked Walter!"

"George, I swear, you've gone crazy. I want to leave. Let me out of here, George!"

"Don't move or I'll kill you!"

"You'd kill me?"

"I swear it!" George got up and poured himself a shot of straight whiskey, drank it, and sat down next to Constance. He took the cigarette and held it against her wrist. She screamed. HE held it there, firmly, then pulled it away.

"I'm a man , baby, understand that?"

"I know you're a man , George."

"Here, look at my muscles!" george sat up and flexed both of his arms.

"Beautiful, eh ,baby? Look at that muscle! Feel it! Feel it!"

Constance felt one of the arms, then the other.

"Yes, you have a beautiful body, George."

"I'm a man. I'm a dishwasher but I'm a man, a real man."

"I know it, George." "I'm not the milkshit you left."

"I know it."

"And I can sing, too. You ought to hear my voice."

Constance sat there. George began to sing. He sang "Old man River." Then he sang "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen." He sang "The St. Louis Blues." He sasng "God Bless America," stopping several times and laughing. Then he sat down next to Constance. He said, "Connie, you have beautiful legs." He asked for another cigarette. He smoked it, drank two more drinks, then put his head down on Connie's legs, against the stockings, in her lap, and he said, "Connie, I guess I'm no good, I guess I'm crazy, I'm sorry I hit you, I'm sorry I burned you with that cigarette."

Constance sat there. She ran her fingers through George's hair, stroking him, soothing him. Soon he was asleep. She waited a while longer. Then she lifted his head and placed it on the pillow, lifted his legs and straightened them out on the bed. She stood up, walked to the fifth, poured a jolt of good whiskey in to her glass, added a touch of water and drank it sown. She walked to the trailer door, pulled it open, stepped out, closed it. She walked through the backyard, opened the fence gate, walked up the alley under the one o'clock moon. The sky was clear of clouds. The same skyful of clouds was up there. She got out on the boulevard and walked east and reached the entrance of The Blue Mirror. She walked in, and there was Walter sitting alone and drunk at the end of the bar. She walked up and sat down next to him. "Missed me, baby?" she asked. Walter looked up. He recognized her. He didn't answer. He looked at the bartender and the bartender walked toward them They all knew eachother.

Charles Bukowski

Schadenfreude

2009-08-20T15:28:00.005+01:00

Schadenfreude is pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others. Philosopher and sociologist Theodor Adorno defined schadenfreude as “largely unanticipated delight in the suffering of another which is cognized as trivial and/or appropriate.”

in Wikipedia

"To feel envy is human,

to savour schadenfreude is devilish"

(Arthur Schopenhauer)

*Photo by Dan Rosen

Frustration

If I had a shiny gun,
I could have a world of fun
Speeding bullets through the brains
Of the folk who give me pains;

Or had I some poison gas,
I could make the moments pass
Bumping off a number of
People whom I do not love.

But I have no lethal weapon-
Thus does Fate our pleasure step on!
So they still are quick and well
Who should be, by rights, in hell.

Dorothy Parker

Under Construction

2009-08-19T15:19:00.000+01:00

Under Construction
in the building process, currently being built

in dictionary.Babylon.com

"The road to success is always under construction."

(Lily Tomlin)

Finish

We are like roses that have never bothered to
bloom when we should have bloomed and
it is as if
the sun has become disgusted with
waiting

Charles Bukowski

Wisdom

2009-08-18T14:58:00.001+01:00

Wisdom is an ideal that has been celebrated since antiquity as the application of knowledge needed to live a good life. Beyond simply knowing/understanding what options are available, "Wisdom" provides the ability to differentiate between them and choose the one that is best. What this means exactly depends on the various wisdom schools and traditions claiming to help foster it. In general, these schools have emphasized various combinations of the following: knowledge, understanding, experience, discretion, and intuitive understanding, along with a capacity to apply these qualities well towards finding solutions to problems. In many traditions, the terms wisdom and intelligence have somewhat overlapping meanings; in others they are arranged hierarchically, with intelligence being necessary but not sufficient for wisdom.
Neo-Platonists like Cusanus, endorsed a 'docta ignorantia' in which the greatest wisdom was to recognize one's own ignorance of the divine.

in Wikipedia

"Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh,

and too selfish to seek other than itself."

(Kahlil Gibran)

*image by toolo

Wisdom

This I say, and this I know:
Love has seen the last of me.
Love's a trodden lane to woe,
Love's a path to misery.
This I know, and knew before,
This I tell you, of my years:
Hide your heart, and lock your door.
Hell's afloat in lovers' tears.
Give your heart, and toss and moan;
What a pretty fool you look!
I am sage, who sit alone;
Here's my wool, and here's my book.
Look! A lad's a-waiting there,
Tall he is and bold, and gay.
What the devil do I care
What I know, and what I say?

Dorothy Parker

Delusion

2009-08-17T13:04:00.002+01:00

delusion

in psychology, a rigid system of beliefs with which a person is preoccupied and to which the person firmly holds, despite the logical absurdity of the beliefs and a lack of supporting evidence. Delusions are symptomatic of such mental disorders as paranoia, schizophrenia, and major depression and of such physiological conditions as senile psychosis and delirium. They vary in intensity, extent, and coherence and may represent pathological exaggeration of normal tendencies to rationalization, wishful thinking, and the like. Among the most common are delusions of persecution and grandeur; others include delusions of bodily functioning, guilt, love, and control.

in Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008.
Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

"No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities."
(Christian Nestell Bovee)

Purposely Ungrammatical Love Song

There's many and many, and not so far,
Is willing to dry my tears away;
There's many to tell me what you are,
And never a lie to all they say.

It's little the good to hide my head,
It's never the use to bar my door;
There's many as counts the tears I shed,
There's mourning hearts for my heart is

There's honester eyes than your blue eyes,
There's better a mile than such as you.
But when did I say that I was wise,
And when did I hope that you were true?

Dorothy Parker

Dilemma

2009-08-16T12:27:00.009+01:00

A dilemma (Greek δί-λημμα "double proposition") is a problem offering at least two solutions or possibilities, of which none are practically acceptable; one in this position has been traditionally described as "being on the horns of a dilemma", neither horn being comfortable; or "being between a rock and a hard place", since both objects or metaphorical choices being rough.

The dilemma is sometimes used as a rhetorical device, in the form "you must accept either A, or B"; here A and B would be propositions each leading to some further conclusion. Applied in this way, it may be a fallacy, a false dichotomy.

In formal logic, the definition of a dilemma differs markedly from everyday usage. Two options are still present, but choosing between them is immaterial because they both imply the same conclusion. Symbolically expressed thus:

Which can be translated informally as "one (or both) of A or B is known to be true, but they both imply C, so regardless of the truth values of A and B we can conclude C."

in Wikipedia

“Dilemma means difficult choices. None of them are easy.”
(Tariq Hussain)

Dilemma

If I were mild, and I were sweet,
And laid my heart before your feet,
And took my dearest thoughts to you,
And hailed your easy lies as true;
Were I to murmur "Yes," and then
"How true, my dear," and "Yes," again,
And wear my eyes discreetly down,
And tremble whitely at your frown,
And keep my words unquestioning
My love, you'd run like anything!

Should I be frail, and I be mad,
And share my heart with every lad,
But beat my head against the floor
What times you wandered past my door;
Were I to doubt, and I to sneer,
And shriek "Farewell!" and still be here,
And break your joy, and quench your trust-
I should not see you for the dust!

Dorothy Parker

Affection

2009-08-13T06:47:00.001+01:00

"Affection" is popularly used to denote a feeling or type of love, amounting to more than goodwill or friendship. Writers on ethics generally use the word to refer to distinct states of feeling, both lasting and spasmodic. Some contrast it with passion as being free from the distinctively sensual element. More specifically the word has been restricted to emotional states the object of which is a person. (...) However, on various grounds (e.g., that it does not involve anxiety or excitement and that it is comparatively inert and compatible with the entire absence of the sensuous element), it is generally and usefully distinguished from passion. In this narrower sense the word has played a great part in ethical systems, which have spoken of the social or parental affections as in some sense a part of moral obligation. (...)

in Wikipedia

"The fact is that people are good, Give people affection and security, and they will give affection and be secure in their feelings and their behavior."

(Abraham Maslow)

*Photo by António Macedo

The Big Heart

"Too many things are occurring for even a big heart to hold." - From an essay by W. B. Yeats

Big heart,
wide as a watermelon,
but wise as birth,
there is so much abundance
in the people I have:
Max, Lois, Joe, Louise,
Joan, Marie, Dawn,
Arlene, Father Dunne,
and all in their short lives
give to me repeatedly,
in the way the sea
places its many fingers on the shore,
again and again
and they know me,
they help me unravel,
they listen with ears made of conch shells,
they speak back with the wine of the best region.
They are my staff.
They comfort me.

They hear how
the artery of my soul has been severed
and soul is spurting out upon them,
bleeding on them,
messing up their clothes,
dirtying their shoes.
And God is filling me,
though there are times of doubt
as hollow as the Grand Canyon,
still God is filling me.
He is giving me the thoughts of dogs,
the spider in its intricate web,
the sun
in all its amazement,
and a slain ram
that is the glory,
the mystery of great cost,
and my heart,
which is very big,
I promise it is very large,
a monster of sorts,
takes it all in--
all in comes the fury of love.

Anne Sexton

Inspiration

2009-08-12T06:57:00.001+01:00

Inspiration refers to an unconscious burst of creativity in an artistic, musical, or other intellectual endeavor such as the invention of a new scientific theory. Literally, the word means "breathed upon," and it has its origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism. Homer and Hesiod believed that inspiration derived from Gods such as the oracle of Delphi. Similarly, in the Ancient Norse religions, inspiration derives from the Gods. Inspiration is also a divine matter in Hebrew poetics. In the Book of Amos the prophet speaks of being overwhelmed by God's voice and compelled to speak. In Christianity, inspiration is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

In the 18th century John Locke proposed a model of the human mind in which ideas associate or resonate with one another in the mind. In the 19th century, Romantic poets such as Coleridge and Shelley believed that inspiration came to a poet because the poet was attuned to the (divine or mystical) "winds" and because the soul of the poet was able to receive such visions. In the early 20th century, Sigmund Freud located inspiration in the inner psyche of the artist. Carl Gustav Jung's theory of inspiration suggests that an artist is one who was attuned to racial memory, which encoded the archetypes of the human mind.

The Marxist theory of art sees it as the expression of the friction between economic base and economic superstructural positions, or as an unaware dialog of competing ideologies, or as an exploitation of a "fissure" in the ruling class's ideology. In modern psychology inspiration is not frequently studied, but it is generally seen as an entirely internal process. In each view inspiration is, by its nature, viewed as beyond the control of a person.

in Wikipedia

"Dreams are not without meaning wherever thay may come from-from fantasy, from the elements, or from other inspiration."

(Paracelsus)

Photo by Isidro Dias

Inspiration

How often have I started out
With no thought in my noodle,
And wandered here and there about,
Where fancy bade me toddle;
Till feeling faunlike in my glee
I've voiced some gay distiches,
Returning joyfully to tea,
A poem in my britches.

A-squatting on a thymy slope
With vast of sky about me,
I've scribbled on an envelope
The rhymes the hills would shout me;
The couplets that the trees would call,
The lays the breezes proffered . . .
Oh no, I didn't think at all -
I took what Nature offered.

For that's the way you ought to write -
Without a trace of trouble;
Be super-charged with high delight
And let the words out-bubble;
Be voice of vale and wood and stream
Without design or proem:
Then rouse from out a golden dream
To find you've made a poem.

So I'll go forth with mind a blank,
And sea and sky will spell me;
And lolling on a thymy bank
I'll take down what they tell me;
As Mother Nature speaks to me
Her words I'll gaily docket,
So I'll come singing home to tea
A poem in my pocket.

Robert Service

Gratification

2009-08-11T07:00:00.002+01:00

grat⋅i⋅fi⋅ca⋅tion
–noun
1. the state of being gratified; great satisfaction.
2. something that gratifies; source of pleasure or satisfaction.
3. the act of gratifying.
4. Archaic. a reward, recompense, or gratuity.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,
© Random House, Inc. 2009

"The gratification comes in the doing,

not in the results."

(James Dean)

*Photo by Isidro Dias

Gratitude—is not the mention

Gratitude—is not the mention
Of a Tenderness,
But its still appreciation
Out of Plumb of Speech.

When the Sea return no Answer
By the Line and Lead
Proves it there's no Sea, or rather
A remoter Bed?

Emily Dickinson

Narcissism

2009-08-10T01:54:00.001+01:00

Narcissism describes the trait of excessive self-love based on self-image or ego.
The term is derived from the Greek mythology of Narcissus. Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth who rejected the desperate advances of the nymph Echo. As punishment, he was doomed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus pined away and changed into a flower that bears his name, the narcissus.
Sigmund Freud believed that some narcissism is an essential part of all of us from birth and was the first to use the term in the reference to psychology. Andrew Morrison claims that, in adults, a reasonable amount of healthy narcissism allows the individual's perception of his needs to be balanced in relation to others.

in Wikipedia

"Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people."

(Andre Dubus)

*Photo by Céu Guitart

Narcissus

Encircled by her arms as by a shell,
she hears her being murmur,
while forever he endures
the outrage of his too pure image...
Wistfully following their example,
nature re-enters herself;
contemplating its own sap, the flower
becomes too soft, and the boulder hardens...
It's the return of all desire that enters
toward all life embracing itself from afar...
Where does it fall? Under the dwindling
surface, does it hope to renew a center?

Rainer Maria Rilke

Misunderstanding

2009-08-09T12:10:00.007+01:00

mis·un·der·stand·ing
n.
1. A failure to understand or interpret correctly.
2. A disagreement or quarrel.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

"In the whole round of human affairs little is so fatal to peace as misunderstanding."
(Margaret E. Sangster)

Understanding

I understood the rest too well,
And all their thoughts have come to be
Clear as grey sea-weed in the swell
Of a sunny shallow sea.

But you I never understood,
Your spirit's secret hides like gold
Sunk in a Spanish galleon
Ages ago in waters cold.

Sara Teasdale

Flaws

2009-08-08T09:12:00.002+01:00

Noun
flaw (plural flaws)

A crack or breach, a gap or fissure; a defect of continuity or cohesion.

A defect, fault, or imperfection, especially one that is hidden.

A defect or error in a contract or other document which may make the document invalid.

in Wiktionary

"I think people who have faults are a lot more interesting than people who are perfect."
(Spike Lee)

A character flaw is a limitation, imperfection, problem, phobia, or deficiency present in a character who may be otherwise very functional. The flaw can be a problem that directly affects the character's actions and abilities, such as a violent temper. Alternatively, it can be a simple foible or personality defect, which affects the character's motives and social interactions, but little else.
Flaws can add depth and humanity to the characters in a narrative. For example, the sheriff with a gambling addiction, the action hero who is afraid of heights, or a lead in a romantic comedy who must overcome his insecurity regarding male pattern baldness are all characters whose flaws help provide dimension. Perhaps the most widely cited and classic of character flaws is Achilles' famous heel.
In general, flaws can be categorized as minor, major, or tragic.

A minor character flaw is an imperfection which serves to distinguish the character in the mind of the reader / viewer / player / listener, making them memorable and individual, but otherwise does not affect the story in any way.
Examples of this could include a noticeable scar, a thick accent or a habit such as cracking their knuckles.
Protagonists and other major characters may (and usually do) have multiple minor flaws, making them more accessible, and enabling the reader / viewer / listener to relate to the character (in the case of a sympathetic character) or otherwise influence the audience's opinions of the character.
Many insignificant or archetypal characters which are encountered only once or rarely are defined solely by a single minor flaw, differentiating them from the stock character or archetype that they adhere to.

A major character flaw is a much more noticeable and important hindrance which actually impairs the individual, whether physically, mentally or morally. Sometimes major flaws are not actually negative per se (such as devout religious beliefs or a rigid code of honour), but are classified as such in that they often serve to hinder or restrict the character in some way.
Examples of this type of flaw could include blindness, amnesia or greed.
Unlike minor flaws, major flaws are almost invariably important to either the character's personal development or the story as a whole.
For villains, their major flaw is usually the cause of their eventual downfall.
For heroes, their major flaw usually must be overcome (either temporarily or permanently) at some point in the story, often at the climax, by their own determination or skill.
For neutral characters, or those that shift allegiance, the major flaw is usually the cause of either their corruption, redemption or both.
For the protagonist himself, his most visible flaw generally serves a more vital interest, as well, as it defines his or her core problem. It is the protagonist's reluctant (and usually unconscious) journey to address this problem that forms the spine of the story, sometimes acting as the MacGuffin to stimulate the plot.

in Wikipedia

"Faults are beauties in a lover's eye."
(Theocritus)

Fault

They came to tell your faults to me,
They named them over one by one;
I laughed aloud when they were done,
I knew them all so well before, --
Oh, they were blind, too blind to see
Your faults had made me love you more.

Sara Teasdale

Feeling Fucked up (2)

2009-08-07T09:16:00.002+01:00

“I am trying to figure out the exact moment my life got so fucked up.”

(unknown)

Feeling Fucked Up

Lord she's gone done left me done packed / up and split
and I with no way to make her
come back and everywhere the world is bare
bright bone white crystal sand glistens
dope death dead dying and jiving drove
her away made her take her laughter and her smiles
and her softness and her midnight sighs--

Fuck Coltrane and music and clouds drifting in the sky
fuck the sea and trees and the sky and birds
and alligators and all the animals that roam the earth
fuck marx and mao fuck fidel and nkrumah and
democracy and communism fuck smack and pot
and red ripe tomatoes fuck joseph fuck mary fuck
god jesus and all the disciples fuck fanon nixon
and malcom fuck the revolution fuck freedom fuck
the whole muthafucking thing
all i want now is my woman back
so my soul can sing

Etheridge Knight

Fidelity

2009-08-06T21:19:00.005+01:00

Fidelity is a notion that, at its most abstract level, implies a truthful connection to a source or sources. (...)
In modern human relationships, the term can refer to sexual monogamy. In western culture this often means adherence to marriage vows, or of promises of exclusivity or monogamy, and an absence of adultery. However, some people do not equate fidelity in personal relationships with sexual or emotional monogamy. (For example, see polyamory and Open marriage.) Often, however, females in Shakespeare are associated with it in a negative sense, such as "She is with little fidelity". (...)

in Wikipedia

"Fidelity is a gift not a requirement."
(Lilli Palmer)

Fidelity

Being a shorty, as you see,
A bare five footer,
The why my wife is true to me
Is my six-shooter.
For every time a guy goes by
Who looks like a lover,
I polish it to catch his eye,
And spin it over.

He notes its notches as I say:
'Believe me, Brother,
If Junie ever goes astray,
They'll be another.'
A husband has to have a gun
And guts to pull it:
Few fellows think a bit of fun
Is worth a bullet.

For June would sit on any knee
If it wore pants,
Yet she is faithful unto me,
As gossip grants.
And though I know some six-foot guy
Would better suit her,
Her virtue triumphs, thanks to my
Six shooter.

Robert Service

Weltschmerz

2009-08-01T17:26:00.008+01:00

Weltschmerz (from the German, meaning world-pain or world-weariness) is a term coined by the German author Jean Paul and denotes the kind of feeling experienced by someone who understands that physical reality can never satisfy the demands of the mind. This kind of pessimistic world view was widespread among several romantic authors such as Lord Byron, Giacomo Leopardi, François-René de Chateaubriand, Alfred de Musset, Nikolaus Lenau, Herman Hesse, and Heinrich Heine. It is also used to denote the feeling of sadness when thinking about the evils of the world (...).
The modern meaning of Weltschmerz in the German language is the psychological pain caused by sadness that can occur when realizing that someone's own weaknesses are caused by the inappropriateness and cruelty of the world and (physical and social) circumstances. Weltschmerz in this meaning can cause depression, resignation and escapism (...). The modern meaning should also be compared with the concept of anomie, or a kind of alienation, that Émile Durkheim wrote about in his sociological treatise Suicide.

in Wikipedia

"People fear death even more than pain. It's strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over. Yeah, I guess it is a friend."

(Jim Morrison)

Clouds

1

Dawn. First light tearing
at the rough tongues of the zinnias,
at the leaves of the just born.

Today it will rain. On the road
black cars are abandoned, but the clouds
ride above, their wisdom intact.

They are predictions. They never matter.
The jet fighters lift above the flat roofs,
black arrowheads trailing their future.

2

When the night comes small fires go out.
Blood runs to the heart and finds it locked.

Morning is exhaustion, tranquilizers, gasoline,
the screaming of frozen bearings,
the failures ofwill, the TV talking to itself

The clouds go on eating oil, cigars,
housewives, sighing letters,
the breath of lies. In their great silent pockets
they carry off all our dead.

3

The clouds collect until there's no sky.
A boat slips its moorings and drifts
toward the open sea, turning and turning.

The moon bends to the canal and bathes
her torn lips, and the earth goes on
giving off her angers and sighs

and who knows or cares except these
breathing the first rains,
the last rivers running over iron.

4

You cut an apple in two pieces
and ate them both. In the rain
the door knocked and you dreamed it.
On bad roads the poor walked under cardboard boxes.

The houses are angry because they're watched.
A soldier wants to talk with God
but his mouth fills with lost tags.

The clouds have seen it all, in the dark
they pass over the graves of the forgotten
and they don't cry or whisper.

They should be punished every morning,
they should be bitten and boiled like spoons.

Philip Levine

Supertramp - It's Raining Again
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