in January 2008 I made 12 resolutions which were to summarize (for more detailed list see archive) :
1) read 10 non-fiction books
2) read 10 books on Buddhism and Mediation
3) resee 10 film classics
4) Attend 10 live concerts
5) see live theatre when possible
6) Travel - see friends, wildlife refuges and nat'l parks
7) See 10 bird species
8) write 10 bad poems
9) Make CD compilations
10) laugh as much as possible (with of course not at)
11) lie less (except to produce laughs - see #10)
12) lose 30 pounds
I am happy, even proud to report that i accomplished 11 of the 12. That's 91.666 per cent. My only failure though it was an utterly complete failure was #11 .
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
the history of forgetting
Man is the Only Animal that Blushes. Or needs to.
Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897)
to paraphrase mark twain:
man is the only animal that forgets or needs to.
here is a good poem by lawrence raab:
The History of Forgetting
When Adam and Eve lived in the garden
they hadn't yet learned how to forget.
For them every day was the same day.
Flowers opened, then closed.
They went where the light told them to go.
They slept when it left, and did not dream.
What could they have remembered,
who had never been children? Sometimes
Adam felt a soreness in his side,
but if this was pain it didn't appear
to require a name, or suggest the idea
that anything else might be taken away.
The bright flowers unfolded,
swayed in the breeze.
It was the snake, of course, who knew
about the past—that such a place could exist.
He understood how people would yearn
for whatever they'd lost, and so to survive
they'd need to forget. Soon
the garden will be gone, the snake
thought, and in time God himself.
These were the last days—Adam and Eve
tending the luxurious plants, the snake
watching from above. He knew
what had to happen next, how persuasive
was the taste of that apple. And then
the history of forgetting would begin—
not at the moment of their leaving,
but the first time they looked back.
Lawrence Raab
New Ohio Review
Fall 2008
Mark Twain, Following the Equator (1897)
to paraphrase mark twain:
man is the only animal that forgets or needs to.
here is a good poem by lawrence raab:
The History of Forgetting
When Adam and Eve lived in the garden
they hadn't yet learned how to forget.
For them every day was the same day.
Flowers opened, then closed.
They went where the light told them to go.
They slept when it left, and did not dream.
What could they have remembered,
who had never been children? Sometimes
Adam felt a soreness in his side,
but if this was pain it didn't appear
to require a name, or suggest the idea
that anything else might be taken away.
The bright flowers unfolded,
swayed in the breeze.
It was the snake, of course, who knew
about the past—that such a place could exist.
He understood how people would yearn
for whatever they'd lost, and so to survive
they'd need to forget. Soon
the garden will be gone, the snake
thought, and in time God himself.
These were the last days—Adam and Eve
tending the luxurious plants, the snake
watching from above. He knew
what had to happen next, how persuasive
was the taste of that apple. And then
the history of forgetting would begin—
not at the moment of their leaving,
but the first time they looked back.
Lawrence Raab
New Ohio Review
Fall 2008
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