retirement is great: you can worry obsessively about all your health issues without
distraction. nothing new to report. still awaiting results of tests and waiting to see neurologist.
i may be becoming a bit of a pain but so far i haven't got tired of replying to anyone who says " gotta run, i've gotta go to work" . "oh, i don't have to go today" .
I finished an excellent book last week. I enjoyed it alot and i may not have been the only one who liked it since it won the Nat'l Book award last year:
by Richard Powers
The Echo Maker
Farrar, Straus & Giroux
About the Book
Set in Nebraska during the Platte River’s massive spring migrations, this novel explores the power and limits of human intelligence.
About the Author
Richard Powers is the author of eight previous novels, including Operation Wandering Soul, which was a nominated for a National Book Award in 1993. He has received numerous honors including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Lannan Literary Award, and the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Historical Fiction. He lives in Illinois.
Not everyone liked it i guess. here is an excerpt from a not so glowing review in the NATION:
Richard Powers has a lot of ideas: complex, articulate, deeply informed ideas about artificial intelligence, virtual reality, relativity, genetics, music and much more. But poems, as Mallarmé told Degas, are not made of ideas, and neither are novels. The Echo Maker will tell you a great deal about neuroscience, environmental degradation and the migratory patterns of the sandhill crane, but like Powers's other novels, it won't tell you much about what its laboriously accumulated information and elaborately constructed concepts have to do with what it means to be alive at a particular time and place, or what it feels like. And that, crudely put, is what novels are for. .....
Monday, October 22, 2007
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Thoughts on turning 60
i don't consider it a great accomplishment. millions do it.
It just reminds me of the old days which seem to keep getting better.
When asked when my birthday was I once thought it clever to reply
that it was the day before Friedrich Nietzsche's so every October 15th
I would remember my birthday was the day before. Thus employing the
logic of one of my favorite grooks on Timing Toast by Piet Hein:
TIMING TOAST
Grook on how to char for yourself
There's an art to knowing when.
Never try to guess.
Toast until it smokes and then
twenty seconds less.
(A grook ("gruk" in Danish) is a form of short aphoristic poem. It was invented by the Danish poet and scientist Piet Hein. He wrote over 7,000 of them, most in Danish or
English, published in 20 volumes. Some say that the name is short for "GRin & sUK" ("laugh & sigh" in Danish), but Piet Hein said he felt that the word had come out of thin
air. His gruks first started to appear in the daily newspaper "Politiken" shortly after the Nazi Occupation in April 1940 under the signature Kumbel Kumbell. The poems were
meant as a spirit-building, yet slightly coded form of passive resistance against Nazi occupation during World War II. The grook are characterized by irony, paradox, brevity,
precise use of language, sophisticated rhythms and rhymes and often satiric nature.)
Speaking of the 60's on my birthday we saw the nostalgic musical film "Across the Universe".
Sort of like HAIR only with all Beatles music. I really enjoyed it though it brought back some
painful memories of when it seemed "events were in the saddle and ride mankind" (Emerson)
and Yeats "Second Coming" was truer than ever :
...
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand...
It just reminds me of the old days which seem to keep getting better.
When asked when my birthday was I once thought it clever to reply
that it was the day before Friedrich Nietzsche's so every October 15th
I would remember my birthday was the day before. Thus employing the
logic of one of my favorite grooks on Timing Toast by Piet Hein:
TIMING TOAST
Grook on how to char for yourself
There's an art to knowing when.
Never try to guess.
Toast until it smokes and then
twenty seconds less.
(A grook ("gruk" in Danish) is a form of short aphoristic poem. It was invented by the Danish poet and scientist Piet Hein. He wrote over 7,000 of them, most in Danish or
English, published in 20 volumes. Some say that the name is short for "GRin & sUK" ("laugh & sigh" in Danish), but Piet Hein said he felt that the word had come out of thin
air. His gruks first started to appear in the daily newspaper "Politiken" shortly after the Nazi Occupation in April 1940 under the signature Kumbel Kumbell. The poems were
meant as a spirit-building, yet slightly coded form of passive resistance against Nazi occupation during World War II. The grook are characterized by irony, paradox, brevity,
precise use of language, sophisticated rhythms and rhymes and often satiric nature.)
Speaking of the 60's on my birthday we saw the nostalgic musical film "Across the Universe".
Sort of like HAIR only with all Beatles music. I really enjoyed it though it brought back some
painful memories of when it seemed "events were in the saddle and ride mankind" (Emerson)
and Yeats "Second Coming" was truer than ever :
...
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand...
Friday, October 12, 2007
doing ok
new pacemaker seems to be working ok. i'll go over to fitness center today and give it a test drive around the block.
the National Book Award nominations were announced yesterday. David Kirby was nominated in Poetry. He is a poet i think is noteworthy. The other nominees were:
Poetry
Linda Gregerson, Magnetic North (Houghton Mifflin Company)
Robert Hass, Time and Materials (Ecco/HarperCollins)
David Kirby, The House on Boulevard St. (Louisiana State University Press)
Stanley Plumly, Old Heart (W.W. Norton & Company)
Ellen Bryant Voigt, Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976-2006 (W.W. Norton & Company)
here is a sample :
Broken Promises
By David Kirby
I have met them in dark alleys, limping and one-armed;
I have seem them playing cards under a single light-bulb
and tried to join in, but they refused me rudely,
knowing I would only let them win.
I have seen them in the foyers of theaters,
coming back late from the interval
long after the others have taken their seats,
and in deserted shopping malls late at night,
peering at things they can never buy,
and I have found them wandering
in a wood where I too have wandered.
This morning I caught one;
small and stupid, too slow to get away,
it was only a promise I had made to myself once
and then forgot, but it screamed and kicked at me
and ran to join the others, who looked at me with reproach
in their long, sad faces.
When I drew near them, they scurried away,
even though they will sleep in my yard tonight.
I hate them for their ingratitude,
I who have kept countless promises,
as dead now as Shakespeare's children.
"You bastards," I scream,
"you have to love me—I gave you life!"
David Kirby, "Broken Promises" from Big-Leg Music (Washington, DC: Orchises Press, 1995).
the National Book Award nominations were announced yesterday. David Kirby was nominated in Poetry. He is a poet i think is noteworthy. The other nominees were:
Poetry
Linda Gregerson, Magnetic North (Houghton Mifflin Company)
Robert Hass, Time and Materials (Ecco/HarperCollins)
David Kirby, The House on Boulevard St. (Louisiana State University Press)
Stanley Plumly, Old Heart (W.W. Norton & Company)
Ellen Bryant Voigt, Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976-2006 (W.W. Norton & Company)
here is a sample :
Broken Promises
By David Kirby
I have met them in dark alleys, limping and one-armed;
I have seem them playing cards under a single light-bulb
and tried to join in, but they refused me rudely,
knowing I would only let them win.
I have seen them in the foyers of theaters,
coming back late from the interval
long after the others have taken their seats,
and in deserted shopping malls late at night,
peering at things they can never buy,
and I have found them wandering
in a wood where I too have wandered.
This morning I caught one;
small and stupid, too slow to get away,
it was only a promise I had made to myself once
and then forgot, but it screamed and kicked at me
and ran to join the others, who looked at me with reproach
in their long, sad faces.
When I drew near them, they scurried away,
even though they will sleep in my yard tonight.
I hate them for their ingratitude,
I who have kept countless promises,
as dead now as Shakespeare's children.
"You bastards," I scream,
"you have to love me—I gave you life!"
David Kirby, "Broken Promises" from Big-Leg Music (Washington, DC: Orchises Press, 1995).
Thursday, October 11, 2007
smooth as a sow's ear
The pace maker change out went smoothly (or as the iowa heart referred to it the "generator change out"). I had to ask because they kept saying generator and not pacemaker so they explained the terminology to me. The pacemaker is the generator aka
battery plus the wire leads that connect the "battery" to the heart's electrical nodes.
Since they did not have to replace the wires they call it a generator change out.
I have to take it easy for a couple of days to let the incision heal but i plan on
excercising tomorrow. I had been feeling extremely lethargic for awhile so i'm anxious to see if the new "battery" helps. i think it includes a new computer too.
I was unsure if the tiredness was due the battery being low or the anti-seizure meds or both.
I just heard Doris Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Litature :
Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so.
Doris Lessing
battery plus the wire leads that connect the "battery" to the heart's electrical nodes.
Since they did not have to replace the wires they call it a generator change out.
I have to take it easy for a couple of days to let the incision heal but i plan on
excercising tomorrow. I had been feeling extremely lethargic for awhile so i'm anxious to see if the new "battery" helps. i think it includes a new computer too.
I was unsure if the tiredness was due the battery being low or the anti-seizure meds or both.
I just heard Doris Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize for Litature :
Any human anywhere will blossom in a hundred unexpected talents and capacities simply by being given the opportunity to do so.
Doris Lessing
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
pace maker
my pace maker check today showed that my battery is low so they will replace it October 10th at 12:30 pm. I shouldn't have to stay overnight. So i guess i'm getting a new pacemaker for my birthday.
the staff at Iowa Heart couldn't tell if that had anything to do with my seizure but
they did not think so at least there was no information that indicated it did. I will have to see what the neurologist says October 31st.
My sister pointed out to me that my neurologist name is not Dr. Feelgood as i first optimistically thought but Dr Freedgood.
the staff at Iowa Heart couldn't tell if that had anything to do with my seizure but
they did not think so at least there was no information that indicated it did. I will have to see what the neurologist says October 31st.
My sister pointed out to me that my neurologist name is not Dr. Feelgood as i first optimistically thought but Dr Freedgood.
shine
Joni Mitchell's answer to "what to make of a diminished thing?" was to create a new album called SHINE.
Solomon said "There is nothing new under the sun". Gerswin said "It ain't necessarily so".
Here are the lyrics to the song SHINE on Joni's new cd:
Shine
by Joni Mitchell
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on Wall Street and Vegas
Place your bets
Shine on the fishermen
With nothing in their nets
Shine on rising oceans and evaporating seas
Shine on our Frankenstein technologies
Shine on science
With its tunnel vision
Shine on fertile farmland
Buried under subdivisions
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on the dazzling darkness
That restores us in deep sleep
Shine on what we throw away
And what we keep
Shine on Reverend Pearson
Who threw away
The vain old God
kept Dickens and Rembrandt and Beethoven
And fresh plowed sod
Shine on good earth, good air, good water
And a safe place
For kids to play
Shine on bombs exploding
Half a mile away
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on world-wide traffic jams
Honking day and night
Shine on another asshole
Passing on the right!
Shine on the red light runners
Busy talking on their cell phones
Shine on the Catholic Church
And the prisons that it owns
Shine on all the Churches
They all love less and less
Shine on a hopeful girl
In a dreamy dress
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on good humor
Shine on good will
Shine on lousy leadership
Licensed to kill
Shine on dying soldiers
In patriotic pain
Shine on mass destruction
In some God's name!
Shine on the pioneers
Those seekers of mental health
Craving simplicity
They traveled inward
Past themselves...
May all their little lights shine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2007; Crazy Crow Music
Printed from the official Joni Mitchell website: JoniMitchell.com
Solomon said "There is nothing new under the sun". Gerswin said "It ain't necessarily so".
Here are the lyrics to the song SHINE on Joni's new cd:
Shine
by Joni Mitchell
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on Wall Street and Vegas
Place your bets
Shine on the fishermen
With nothing in their nets
Shine on rising oceans and evaporating seas
Shine on our Frankenstein technologies
Shine on science
With its tunnel vision
Shine on fertile farmland
Buried under subdivisions
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on the dazzling darkness
That restores us in deep sleep
Shine on what we throw away
And what we keep
Shine on Reverend Pearson
Who threw away
The vain old God
kept Dickens and Rembrandt and Beethoven
And fresh plowed sod
Shine on good earth, good air, good water
And a safe place
For kids to play
Shine on bombs exploding
Half a mile away
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on world-wide traffic jams
Honking day and night
Shine on another asshole
Passing on the right!
Shine on the red light runners
Busy talking on their cell phones
Shine on the Catholic Church
And the prisons that it owns
Shine on all the Churches
They all love less and less
Shine on a hopeful girl
In a dreamy dress
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on good humor
Shine on good will
Shine on lousy leadership
Licensed to kill
Shine on dying soldiers
In patriotic pain
Shine on mass destruction
In some God's name!
Shine on the pioneers
Those seekers of mental health
Craving simplicity
They traveled inward
Past themselves...
May all their little lights shine
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2007; Crazy Crow Music
Printed from the official Joni Mitchell website: JoniMitchell.com
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
random thoughts - lemonaid
there are a couple of Robert Frost poems I encountered
in college that keep rambling around in my memory:
A two line couplet :
The Span Of Life
The old dog barks backwards without getting up.
I can remember when he was a pup.
and
The Oven Bird
There is a singer everyone has heard,
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,
Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.
He says that leaves are old and that for flowers
Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.
He says the early petal-fall is past
When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers
On sunny days a moment overcast;
And comes that other fall we name the fall.
He says the highway dust is over all.
The bird would cease and be as other birds
But that he knows in singing not to sing.
The question that he frames in all but words
Is what to make of a diminished thing.
when hopes falter, expectations fail and dreams
suddenly realizing the lack of wings
feel their weight and fall
when metaphors grow old and bite
what do you make of a diminished thing ?
The answer? take a bus, take a train, make lemonaid?
in college that keep rambling around in my memory:
A two line couplet :
The Span Of Life
The old dog barks backwards without getting up.
I can remember when he was a pup.
and
The Oven Bird
There is a singer everyone has heard,
Loud, a mid-summer and a mid-wood bird,
Who makes the solid tree trunks sound again.
He says that leaves are old and that for flowers
Mid-summer is to spring as one to ten.
He says the early petal-fall is past
When pear and cherry bloom went down in showers
On sunny days a moment overcast;
And comes that other fall we name the fall.
He says the highway dust is over all.
The bird would cease and be as other birds
But that he knows in singing not to sing.
The question that he frames in all but words
Is what to make of a diminished thing.
when hopes falter, expectations fail and dreams
suddenly realizing the lack of wings
feel their weight and fall
when metaphors grow old and bite
what do you make of a diminished thing ?
The answer? take a bus, take a train, make lemonaid?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
