November 01, 2007
The reason I like Edna St Vincent Millay
Is that her name
sounds like a basketball
falling down stairs.
The reason I like Walt Whitman
Is that his name
sounds like Edna St Vincent Millay
falling down stairs.
David Mamet
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August 23, 2007
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, Ignorance
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September 28, 2006
I realized Mother's Day was just two days
away, so I went into the florist and said, "I'd
like to send my mother a dozen long-stern red
roses." The guy looked at me and said, "My mother's
dead" I thought this was slightly unprofessional
of him, so I said, "How much would that be?"
--The Florist
Justine called on Christmas Day to say she
was thinking of killing herself. I said "We're
in the middle of opening presents, Justine. Could
you possibly call back later, that is, if you're
still alive?"
-- Making the Best of the Holidays
From "Return to the City of White Donkeys" by James Tate, a curious little book I've been reading at a slow pace, one poem every night before going to sleep.
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September 21, 2006
"The astonishing reality of things
Is my discovery every day.
Each thing is what it is,
And it’s hard to explain to someone how much this makes me happy,
How much it’s enough for me.
It’s enough to exist to be whole."
From "Poemas Inconjuntos" by Alberto Caeiro (one of Pessoa's heteronyms), taken from a wonderful online project at the Portuguese National Library
(translation stolen from this wonderful blog which owes its existence to the fact that Pessoa's writings are now in the public domain)
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July 18, 2006
A rug was too tired to fly. --- James Tate
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July 12, 2004
Pablo Neruda
Today would be the 100th anniversary of one of my favourite poets: Pablo Neruda.
Photo: Fundación Pablo Neruda
| Veinte poemas de amor y una
canción desesperada
XX Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche. Escribir, por ejemplo: "La noche está estrellada, El viento de la noche gira en el cielo y canta. Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche. En las noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos. Ella me quiso, a veces yo también la quería. Puedo escribir los versos más tristes esta noche. Oir la noche inmensa, más inmensa sin ella. Qué importa que mi amor no pudiera guardarla. Eso es todo. A lo lejos alguien canta. A lo lejos. Como para acercarla mi mirada la busca. La misma noche que hace blanquear los mismos árboles. Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero cuánto la quise. De otro. Será de otro. Como antes de mis besos. Ya no la quiero, es cierto, pero tal vez la quiero. Porque en noches como ésta la tuve entre mis brazos, Aunque éste sea el último dolor que ella me causa, | Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair XX Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Write for example, 'The night is shattered The night wind revolves in the sky and sings. Tonight I can write the saddest lines. Through nights like this one I held her in my arms. She loved me, sometimes I loved her too. Tonight I can write the saddest lines. To hear immense night, still more immense without her. What does it matter that my love could not keep her. This is all. In the distance someone is singing. In the distance. My sight searches for her as though to go to her. The same night whitening the same trees. I no longer love her, that's certain, but how I loved her. Another's. She will be another's. Like before my kisses. I no longer love her, that's certain, but maybe I love her. Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer |
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